Void Of Course

The Moon is usually said to be “void of course” (VoC) after it has made its last aspect to another planet in its current sign, and the void of course period ends when the Moon makes it ingress into the next sign. Thus there is a VoC period corresponding to every time the Moon comes to the end of a sign, approximately each 2 ½ days, and the length of this VoC period can vary depending on the positions of all the other planets in the chart. This is generally held to be a pause or still period, where new initiatives tend not to go anywhere, generally because the necessary energy for the initiative is lacking.  

The end of a VOC period is always the ingress into a new sign, which re-energizes the Moon. The beginning is usually when the last aspect the Moon can make to a planet or the Sun has come to perfection (i.e. become exact, 0º orb). There is one exception – in the rare case where the Moon is applying to an aspect with a planet (which is in the late degrees of a sign) and then the planet the Moon is aspecting moves into the next sign (following the one it had been in) before the Moon reaches the position where the aspect is perfected, then the VoC period begins at that time.

Consider the following three example Void of Course events below.  In this Dynamic Report format (V) indicates the start of VoC, and (S) indicates the Moon’s ingress into a sign, signifying the end of that particular VoC.

The first VoC begins with the Moon's exact sextile to Mars at 8:18pm (shown be the "V" in the "EXL column), with no further exact aspects until 12:14am, for a VoC period of almost 4 hours. The next one is extraordinarily short; the Moon is conjunct the Sun just 11 seconds before it moves into Pisces, so technically the VoC lasts only 11 seconds. In both of these cases the VoC period begins with the exact aspect, reflected by the same degrees and minutes of the positions of the two points in the Position columns.

The third VoC, on February 20, is one of the rare ones that begins when a planet (other than the Moon) moves into it's next sign. The moon is moving through Pisces, approaching a conjunction with Venus. But at 8:06pm, Venus enters Aries, and there are no other exact aspects before the moon follows into Aries at 11:14pm. This means that there’s no longer any energy building for the Moon in the sign of Pisces, and so the VoC period is considered to begin at that moment. This unusual situation can be detected in the report by looking at the Position columns for the VoC event, where the degrees and minutes of the Moon and Venus are different (and not the same as usual). So even though the Moon in Pisces is still in applying aspect to Venus in Aries (and so the Moon hasn't finished making it's last aspect to another planet before the Moon ingresses into it's next sign) the VoC Period is said to have begun.

VoC calculations always use the primary five aspects – Conjunction, Opposition, Trine, Square, and Sextile. The possible options for VoC calculations are as follows, and are available in In the "Preferences" dialog, "Calculations" tab:

•Modern - uses aspects to the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

•Traditional - uses aspects to the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn.

•Lilly – uses aspects to the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. The signs Taurus, Cancer, Sagittarius and Pisces are deemed never to have void of course occurring in them.