What an election is
An election is a chosen birthday. Classical authors from Ptolemy to Lilly held that an undertaking succeeds more smoothly when its chart of beginnings — the moment the contract is signed, the ceremony starts, the business opens — has certain boxes ticked. The relevant planet should be well-placed, the Moon swift and aspecting, and nothing major retrograde on the point.
Each kind of work has its own significator. Venus rules marriage and partnership, Jupiter business and money, Mercury signing and contracts, the Moon travel, the Sun ventures and launches, and Saturn land and property. The tool scores candidate days against the ruler of your chosen purpose — not a generic 'lucky day' filter.
How we compute it
Pick the purpose, the first day of your window and its length (30, 60 or 90 days), plus the place where the event will happen.
For each day we cast the chart of local noon at that place with sub-arcsecond astronomy (VSOP87/ELP via astronomy-engine) and apply a fixed rubric. Each rule is worth exactly one point in a transparent list: significator in domicile or exaltation (+2), in fall or detriment (−2), retrograde (−2), combust or under the Sun's beams (−2/−1), sitting on the 1st or 10th angle (+1), applying aspect to a benefic (+1), Moon dignified (+1), Moon waxing (+1) or waning (−0.5).
Nothing is hidden inside a black-box 'score'. Every day lists the reasons behind its points, so you can disagree with a rule and still see the raw facts underneath. The scan deliberately judges whole days, not hours — the hour-level layer of election (planetary hours) lives in its own dedicated tool.
What you get
After scanning, the report shows:
- A top-five shortlist of days, each with its score, the Moon's sign and phase, and every scoring reason spelled out.
- An 'avoid' list: the window's weakest days with the classical complaints against them spelled out.
- The significator for your purpose and why the whole scan is keyed to it.
- A full transparent rubric, so you can see exactly what each point meant.
How to use a shortlist honestly
Think of the score as counting classical conditions, not measuring fate. A +4 day genuinely means four traditional boxes are ticked — the lord is at home or exalted, the Moon is waxing and dignified — which in the tradition is a strong election. A day of score 0 is not cursed, merely plain.
The sensible use is triage. When you have several practically fine dates, let the sky break the tie, and when the whole window scores negative, take that as permission to simply move the window.
The tradition itself layers qualifications — the activity's lord's condition matters more than the Moon's, a well-aspected malefic on an angle can suit forceful undertakings, and no election overrides an unready plan. Our rubric is deliberately simple where the old texts are subtle; read the reasons, not just the number.
A worked example: signing contracts, October 2026, London
Scanning 31 days from 1 October for 'Signing & contracts' (significator: Mercury), the top of the board is 22 October at +3, with the reasons lined up plainly. Mercury itself sits on an angle — in the 10th house of the noon chart — while the Moon in Pisces is both dignified and waxing. The neighbouring 23rd scores the same.
In that same window, most early-October days carry the classical complaint against the enterprise itself. Venus, in full retrograde fall from 3 October, is not the issue for contracts, but a swift, aspecting Moon is — and the scan shows exactly which days have one.
Switching purpose to 'Marriage & partnership' over November 2026 flips the whole board — the ruler is now Venus, newly direct on 13 November — and the best day becomes 14 November at +4: the first strong day of Venus's direct run, proving the point that an election is always relative to what you're electing for.
What this tool does not claim
The chart of each day is real astronomy; the claim that a day's sky suits or unsuits an activity is traditional doctrine without controlled empirical support. The scoring rubric is one simplified reading of a contested art: electional schools differ on weights, on whether to judge at noon or at the event's actual hour, and on how heavily to weigh the Moon's void-of-course periods (this day-level scan deliberately does not track them — see the Void-of-Course Moon tool for the live minute-level answer).
No date makes an unprepared venture ready and no 'bad' date stops a well-built one. Use this the way the classical authors themselves advised: as tie-breaker weather for decisions your practical judgement has already made. All computation runs locally; nothing is uploaded.
Where it sits next to other readings
Electional (chosen timing) and horary (found timing) are the two judicial arts and this site pairs them on the same shelf — try the Horary Question Chart for 'will this particular thing work out?' The Planetary Days & Hours tool drops the same logic to the hour level for the moment within your elected day, and the Void-of-Course Moon page tells you when the lunar mail is officially closed.
Our method in one line
Each candidate day cast at local noon at the event's place with sub-arcsecond astronomy (VSOP87/ELP via astronomy-engine), scored on a published, fixed ±rule rubric keyed to the activity's classical significator, every point reported with its reason. Reviewed by Dr. Amara Osei, Astronomy Reviewer.
Step by step
- 1
Choose the purpose
Marriage, business, contracts, travel, a launch or property — each keys the scan to a different planetary ruler.
- 2
Set the window and place
First day plus 30, 60 or 90 days, and where the event will actually happen (angles depend on latitude).
- 3
Scan
Every noon chart is computed and scored; nothing needs your birth data — elections belong to the event, not the asker.
- 4
Read reasons, then decide
Tip: use the shortlist as a tie-breaker between practically good dates. Tip: check the chosen day's planetary hour before you commit the exact minute.
Frequently asked questions
- Do you need my birth chart to pick an auspicious date?
- No — classical electional works from the sky of the event itself, which is why this tool asks only for a purpose, a window and a place. Some modern practitioners also cross-check the election against each party's natal chart (the Natal Chart and Synastry tools cover that); the day-scan here is the pure event-only mode the tradition calls for.
- Why is each day judged at noon?
- Because a 'day' election has no single instant — the ceremony, signature or opening hour varies. Judging at local noon gives every day one consistent, reproducible chart, which is what makes the shortlist comparable. Once you have picked the day, cast that day properly at the real hour, or use the Planetary Hours tool to choose it.
- What makes a retrograde or combust planet a disqualification?
- In the classical checklist, a retrograde significator 'goes backwards' on its business — delays, revisits, reversals — and a planet within roughly 8–17° of the Sun is either burnt to invisibility (combust) or blinded just ahead/behind the Sun (under the beams): it cannot act visibly. Both are cheap to test for and hard to argue with, which is why every electional author lists them first.
- Why doesn't the score count the void-of-course Moon?
- Because void-of-course stretches are measured to the minute — a day can run half-course-bound and half-void — and scanning 90 days of minute-level lunar aspect-hunting costs far more computation than a day-level table deserves. The honest split: this tool elects the day, and the dedicated Void-of-Course Moon page answers the hour. We say so on the results screen rather than faking precision.
- Is my data sent anywhere?
- Calculations run entirely in your browser. Your birth data is never uploaded, never stored on a server, and never shared. Every noon chart in the window is computed locally in your browser; nothing is uploaded or stored.
Written by
Elena Marchetti
Founder & Staff Astrologer
Methodology reviewed by
Dr. Amara Osei
Astronomy Reviewer
Published 2026-10-01 · Updated 2026-10-01 · Calculated with sub-arcsecond astronomy (VSOP87/ELP via astronomy-engine)