Roughly by practical weight in electional work:
- Void of course Moon: Often treated as a “do nothing” period; many avoid major starts here unless the void is short and ends with a strong placement.
- Mercury retrograde/station: High impact for contracts, travel, launches, comms; especially dicey near stations or when combust.
Other major factors practitioners watch closely:
- Eclipses / nodes: Starting under or near an eclipse (or close Sun/Moon–node contact) is often avoided.
- Afflicted ASC or chart ruler: If the rising sign ruler is cadent/afflicted/combust or on a malefic, it weakens the chart; malefics on ASC/MC can be red flags unless mitigated.
- Moon condition: Waning vs waxing; applying aspects (especially to malefics) and combustion/under beams.
- Saturn/Mars angular: Angular malefics can be problematic, especially if they rule the ASC or the topic house.
- Combustion/under beams: Mercury/Venus/Mars too close to the Sun; combustion can “burn” the planet’s functions.
- Critical degrees / via combusta: Late anaretic degrees or Libra/Scorpio 15° sector; many avoid for starts.
- Benefic support: Jupiter/Venus angular or aspecting ASC/MC/topic rulers is a strong plus and can mitigate issues.
- Planetary day/hour alignment: Favorable rulers (Jupiter/Venus) vs Saturn/Mars; extra weight if angular.
- Topic fit: For contracts: Mercury, 3rd/7th rulers; for launches: ASC/MC rulers; for travel: 9th/3rd; for money: 2nd ruler.
- Retrogrades of malefics/benefics: Mars/Saturn retrogrades can be rough for their topics; Jupiter/Venus retrogrades can weaken their beneficence.
If you want to prioritize the biggest “stop/go” levers in your scorer, emphasize: VOC Moon, Mercury retro/station (and Mercury combustion), eclipse/node proximity, afflicted/combust chart ruler, angular malefics vs angular benefics, and Moon’s condition/aspects. Benefic angular support is the main mitigation knob.
A few more “watch-list” items many electional practitioners use:
- Mars/Uranus-type “accident” configurations: Hard aspects between Mars and Uranus, especially angular, are often avoided for launches or travel due to volatility.
- Saturn on the angles at dawn/dusk: Saturn rising or culminating near sunrise/sunset can be treated as extra heavy; some avoid early Saturn rises for fresh starts.
- Moon’s last aspect before sign change: Even if not strictly VOC, a final applying aspect to a malefic before changing signs is a negative signal; to a benefic is a plus.
- Parans (stars rising/setting with planets): Certain stars on the angles with key planets can be marked as positive/negative (e.g., Algol paran often avoided).
- Lunar mansions/nakshatras by activity: Some mansions/nakshatras are considered hostile to contracts or travel; practitioners sometimes filter by activity-specific suitability.
- Day ruler vs topic: Certain day rulers are avoided for some activities (e.g., Saturn day for joyous launches, Mars day for delicate negotiations).
- Ingress sensitivity: Starts within minutes/hours of a planet’s sign ingress can be unstable (good or bad), especially when malefics ingress.
- Out-of-bounds Moon/planets: If a body exceeds declination bounds, some flag it as erratic; avoids for predictable outcomes.
- House 12 activity: For most starts, a heavy 12th (malefics or chart ruler in 12) is avoided due to hidden obstacles.
- Fixed vs mutable emphasis: For lasting structures, a strong fixed emphasis is preferred; for launches needing flexibility, mutable can be acceptable, but a weak cardinal/fixed axis may underpower a “build” initiative.
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