Fundamental to horary astrology is the concept of planetary dignity and reception. Dignity comes in two forms, essential and accidental. Essential refers to the quality of a planet at a particular degree of the zodiac and its ability to express its true/good nature. For instance, a horoscope is drawn and Mars is in Scorpio. Using traditional rulerships, Mars here is in its own sign, so it is considered essentially strong; a well-behaved Mars. Mars in Taurus, on the other hand, is in its detriment, so is essentially weak. In a horary question where Mars is a significator, Mars's essential dignity will indicate something of the quality of the quesited. Accidental dignity refers to how the planet "finds itself". That is, if the planet is in a traditionally bad house (6th, 8th, or 12th) in the chart, if it is retrograde, aspected by a malefic planet (Saturn or Mars), combust, etc, then it is considered an accidental debility.

As a metaphor, consider an actor who breaks his leg on opening night; essential good, accidentally debilitated. The converse is true. A planet in poor essential dignity may have considerable accidental power. Taking the earlier example of Mars, if Mars was in Scorpio, and in an angular house in the horary chart (1st, 7th, 10th, 4th) then it is considered accidentally as well as essentially strong. It has quality, and power to act, to express.

Reception refers to how each planet in a horary question chart "view" or "receive'" each other, either favourably, unfavourably, or somewhere in between. If Mars is in Taurus, and Venus is in Scorpio, then each of the planets is in the sign the other planet rules. (Venus is ruler of Taurus, Mars of Scorpio). This is called mutual reception by rulership, and although each planet is in its detriment, it nevertheless receives the other planet favourably. In some horary questions, a thorough understanding of receptions (and the above example skims the surface of this topic) is required to delineate the interplay of how the various significators view each other what sort of attitudes are taking place in the area of the question.