querent

Querent is a term used in divination to refer to the person who poses a question or seeks guidance from a reader. In astrology and tarot, the querent is the client or questioner who is the focus of the reading. The word highlights the inquiry-centered role of the client rather than the practitioner.

Originating from the Latin quaerere, meaning “to seek,” the term has been absorbed into English through legal, philosophical, and esoteric usage. In modern occult and psychological contexts, it is commonly used to denote the individual who initiates the inquiry.

In horary astrology, a chart is cast for the exact time and place of the question, and the astrologer interprets planetary positions in relation to the querent and the issue asked. In natal or synastry work, the querent’s birth chart provides context for assessing tendencies, motives, and potential outcomes in the matter at hand.

In tarot and other divination practices, the querent is the person for whom the reading is performed. The reader interprets the spread with the querent’s question, life circumstances, and aims in view, emphasizing the interplay between the cards and the querent’s situation. Privacy, consent, and ethical considerations are standard expectations.

Outside esoteric contexts, the term is infrequent but may appear in scholarly descriptions of historical divination practices or in discussions of questionnaire-based assessments where the “querent” is the person seeking guidance or information.