Astrocalc for Windows User Instructions

Version 6.0 - November 2005

For latest information on Astrocalc programs visit our Web site at

www.astrocalc.com

and for questions about Astrocalc programs

see our FAQ’s and Helpful Hints

This manual is contained in a file called ASTROCALC6.RTF and will be put to the
C:\Program Files\Astrocalc Software\Astrocalc sub-directory (or wherever you have
installed the Astrocalc program). It is in the form of a Windows Word RTF file so it can
be viewed and printed using the Windows WordPad program or any Windows Word-
processor..

HELP

Most of the instructions for running the program are contained within the program
itself, usually in the form of the help box. Whenever you select a field on one of the
data entry screens information and instructions will appear in this box at the bottom or
side of the screen. Please read these!

PROGRAM INSTALLATION

If downloaded, locate the Ast60setup_en.exe file and just double click it to start
installation. If the program comes on CD just put it into your CD unit. If the Autorun
feature isn’t switched off the initial Setup dialog will appear after a few seconds. If NOT,
then click the START button, and then select RUN. After this type D:\SLCDMENU
(replace D with the letter of your CD drive if needed) and press Enter or click on OK.
When the setup dialog appears, click on Install Astrocalc to start the installation and then
follow the instructions.

If you install the downloaded version you will be asked to enter your license information.
When the program comes on CD this is taken care of automatically. Depending on your
license, the download version may also do further downloads of the Atlas and any text
files as part of the main installation.

Although you can install the program to any directory you are recommended to accept the
suggested default. However, if you know what you are doing and want to install it
elsewhere you need to know the following. Several of the Astrocalc programs works
together and/or uses common resources such as the Atlas, client files etc. For this reason,
all of our programs use a common Install directory and will install itself to a sub directory
beneath that. So if the install directory is C:\Program Files\Astrocalc Software\ the
program goes into C:\Program Files\Astrocalc Software\Astrocalc\. Once you have
selected an installation directory, which by default will be C:\Program Files\Astrocalc
Software, any of our new setup programs will sense it and install there by default.

If you upgrade from a previous version of Astrocalc, and it is installed at its default
location, you will be given the option to do retain old files that can be used (for orbs,
clients, and text files etc.). The retain option will be on the first dialog of Setup and if
checked it will collect the needed files. The actual process will then happen on first run of
the Astrocalc program and NOT during setup. NOTE: the default install path changed
with version 5.7; it was previous C:\Astrocw and now defaults to C:\Program
Files\Astrocalc Software. If your old version (prior to 5.7) was installed to a different
location and you want its data and settings retained you need to make a copy or move it
to C:\Astrocw. You should NOT do this with 5.7 though.

CREATING AN ASTROCALC ICON ON YOUR DESKTOP

The setup program can create an icon on your desktop as well as in the Start and Quick
Launch menu, but if you for any reason need to do it manually this can be done in various
ways. After a successful installation you will find the Astrocalc Software group in the
Start menu under Programs and within that is the yellow Astrocalc icon which points to
the main program. You can put this on to the main desk top by simply pointing to it with
the mouse, click and hold down the right mouse button and drag it on to the desk top.
When you release the mouse button a small menu appears asking if you want to move,
copy or create a shortcut. Select the copy option as this already is a shortcut. Other
programs can be put on the desk top in a similar way.

PROBLEMS

If you have any problems and cannot solve them then seek help on our web site first of
all. There you will find several resources - Knowledge Base, Helpful Hints and a support
forum where you can ask questions about your program. Below are a few common
problems and solutions.

The printed Chart wheel is spread over 2 or more pages or the aspect grid is blank.
From the Data Entry Screen select File, then Print, then Alter Size, then Other and first
try a value .98, then .97, etc. When you find a value that works click on Save Changes.
Note that if your Windows printer driver is set to Landscape - it must be set to Portrait.
Alternatively try altering the top margin to a value from -8 to 8. To do this select File,
then Print, then Margins, then Top and enter a value. In version 6.0 the latest values will
be automatically retained.

I don't want any Name/Address on the printouts. To prevent any name being printed go
to the Chart Design form (Options menu) and uncheck the Print Copyright Notice
selection. The change is saved automatically.

I want to alter my Name/Address on the printouts. From the Data Entry screen select the
Options, then Chart Design, then check the Print Copyright Notice selection and fill in
the field beneath it. Please notice your printed name will always be your license name but
you can add address, phone etc. as you like - don’t make it too long.

I can't find my old Client/Gaz files. Version 6.0 uses a database to store any client/chart
data and on the first run it looks for the presence of any old files and gives you the option
to import them. The Gaz files are not used anymore; instead the Atlas now is editable
storing all data in a database. At the moment there are no means to import the old gaz
data but we are working on a tool for it.

PROGRAM COPY PROTECTION & LICENSE

Our software is not copy protected anymore, nor do you need a new code each time you
need to reinstall. Instead it has a protection system based on your personal license. The
license consists of 3 parts, your name, your Customer ID and the Program Key. Together
they create a unique fingerprint for your person. Additionally, your license is tied to a
License agreement (separate document) which states what you are and are not allowed to
do with the program. Your license is valid and doesn’t expire as long as you respect the
license agreement. However, if you don’t and it comes to our knowledge your license
will expire and disqualify you from any future free or discounted upgrades. So please
read the license agreement. It’s a fairly short and simple document that aims to protect
your investment. If you purchase online and choose digital delivery (not on CD), your
license will come by email so store it in a safe place as it will be asked for when you
install the program.

PROGRAM CONFIGURATION

Users familiar with previous Astrocalc versions will now find most of what was the
configuration program is either directly available in the Settings menu, or via one of 8
separate screens that are accessible from the Options menu and the top menu bar (Zodiac,
Calendar, House Systems, etc.).

The separate screens are:

Planets and Aspects
Interpretation Text Entry
Chart Design
Aspects/Orbs
Alternate Symbols
Alternate Colours
Edit Palette
Research Files Setup
 SCREEN DISPLAY

The programs are designed to run automatically in varying screen modes but you can also
alter the size of the screen using the Screen Scaling Factors (see under HELP). If part of
the screen to the right is invisible then adjust the Screen Scaling (see Help box when
selecting Options and Screen Scaling from main data entry screen).

All screen displays basically use 2 fonts. There is your system font (MS Sans Serif),
which is a 'fixed', non-scaleable font and the special ASTROCALC XP font which is a
True-Type scaleable font. The system font is used mainly for all text information such as
labels and menus whilst the ASTROCALC XP font is used for astrological symbols,
numbers and other special requirements.

SCREEN COLOURS

Palettes: There are 2 palettes that you can choose from in a fairly immediate way. One is
principally intended for the printer where colour printing is possible, the other for the
screen. These are set up via the Alternate Symbols/Colours Screen

As supplied, the program will use a fixed white background for the printer and black for
the screen. These and most colours used for the symbols and letters, etc., are user-
definable. You can switch palettes immediately by using the switch palette option on the
Screen Wheel display (under options).

Mono Screens: A further option in the Alternate Symbols/Colours Screen allows you to
switch between a screen colour palette and a straight black and white one. This may be
useful if saving screens as bitmaps or if you have a mono screen.

PRINTING

All printing is done using standard Windows printer drivers. These should be supplied
either with your Windows software, or with the printer itself. Printer Setup is on the first
data entry screen, under File. All other screens show it under Print.

If you have any problems with printing anything then check that you have selected the
right printer driver as default. If you have problems not covered below, then you may
need to contact your supplier for the latest version of the printer drivers.

Printing over 2 or more pages - aspect grid empty: When printing we try to use as
much of the paper as possible. However, some printers may not allow you to use the
whole page for printing. This manifests itself in the screen wheel spilling over more
than one page or aspects not shown in the aspect grid. If this happens try reducing the
paper size - start with a value of .98 and save the changes when you find a value that
works. Alternatively you can set the printer side and top margins (under File and Print
from the Data Entry screen). Allowable values are +/-1 to +/- 8, which correspond to
values of about 1/4 inch, 1/2 inch, etc., either way.

Print Size. Under File and Print you will find an Alter Size option. This shows A3,
A4/11/12 inch, A5, Half and Other. Under normal circumstances you would always have
the A4/11/12 inch option set as being the size of paper that you use and have set up in
Print Manager. This option to alter size is available from all screens where printing is
possible and you will normally do any alterations at that stage.

All scaling, whether larger or smaller, will be done based on the A4 or Letter size paper.
You cannot therefore use 11 inch wide-carriage listing paper and expect to get a larger
printout. It is the paper length that determines printouts larger than the standard size.

The A5 size is quite useful in that, if you use the largest size of planetary symbol (20)
then the printout is not only still quite legible, but uses less ink and takes less time to be
produced.

In printing we use 3 fonts, the Astrocalc font for symbols, etc., a font for printing
interpretations plus one other. This latter is usually Arial and used mainly for text
headings in the same way as on screen. However, you are not limited in quite the same
way and there is an option to choose the font that you wish (again under Print and Font
on the first screen). Not all fonts are suitable for use in this way and you may have to
experiment to find the best one for use with your printer. The Ephemeris print is designed
for Arial and Astrocalc. For interpretations the font choice is up to you and your printer.

The printed output can be modified in a number of ways using the Chart Design screen.
Thus with dot matrix, inkjet/bubble-jet printers you may find that the best value for the
thickness of the Ascendant and Midheaven is 1, whereas with Lasers and the better ink
and bubble-jets, a value of 2 or 3 will be better. You should experiment to determine
which is best for your printer.

PROGRAM OPERATION

HELP: In general we have tried to follow normal Windows conventions. However, some
of these are, in our view, a little cumbersome, so there are certain differences. The most
notable one is the use of HELP directly on screen rather than as something you have to
search through.

You can also search each data screen for any word or phrase. Note that the search is
limited to the particular screen you are working on so that something under Alternate
Symbols won't necessarily be found from the Data Entry screen.

Navigating on screen: Most fields and controls can be accessed either by using the
Mouse or a combination of the ALT key and a letter. The TAB key and the 4 cursor keys
(to the right of the ENTER key and below Delete and END) can be used to quickly move
from one field to another in most cases.
The ESC key (but not CTRL Z) will restore information in text boxes where you have
started to enter something then realised that you have made a mistake.

The ENTER key will frequently beep at you and is used by the program when you enter
the names of people or places to tell it to go and search etc.. If nothing appears to happen
after entering data either press ENTER or look to see if the Go button is in focus - if so
click on this or press ALT G

For newcomers to Windows we would like to point out that instead of pointing the mouse
at a field and clicking, the same effect can be achieved from the keyboard by pressing the
ALT key plus another one at the same time. Thus the Go (Display) button has the G
underlined so that the combination ALT+G will do the same as clicking on Go.
Similarly, ALT+F will do the same as clicking on File in a menu.

Chart Groups and Storage: In version 6.0 all charts are saved in a database and
categorized in named groups. This lets you store thousands, even millions of charts and
still have them very organized and available in a fraction of a second. The program
comes with two groups ready to use (Client and Famous), but you can Add, Rename and
Delete at will (see under File and Chart Groups) – you just can’t delete the very last
group. Users of previous versions of Astrocalc will have the option to import/retain old
client files on the very first run of the program. Each file will then be added to its own
group with an arbitrary name, which then can be renamed.

For further details on dealing with charts see below on ‘Search & Select Charts’.

Permanent saving of charts to the database is done automatically when displaying the
natal chart. If you don’t want to keep the chart, just click the Delete button when done.

New Chart: To enter a new chart you start by clicking the ‘New Chart’ button (or Alt+N
on the keyboard). This will zero all entry fields and put the cursor in the Name field.
Type the wanted name and press the Enter key to move to next field (Please notice this
differs from previous versions where a search also was conducted). Continue by typing
data for date, time etc. (see below for some special fields) and when done click the GO
(Display) button to calculate and display the chart wheel.

Most numeric fields have a preset number of digits that you need to enter. Thus a time of
6 am should be entered as 06 00 00. As you type 06 the cursor will automatically move
to the minute field, although you can also simply type 6 and press the Enter key and the
field is then formatted to 06. However, to simplify matters a little there is an option to
bypass all second’s fields (time, latitude and longitude - see under SETTINGS) and the
program will automatically tab to the next field when the required number of digits have
been entered.

There are a few other special cases when a new chart also can be started; this is
mentioned with its context below.
Search & Select Charts: To search for or select a saved chart you don’t use the Name
field (as in previous versions) but the multi-function field ‘Search & Select’, located in
centre of the Data Entry form. This field works in conjunction the ‘Active Group”
selector and the ‘Search Options’ located above. When you type anything into this field
and press the Enter key a search is made in the database. Alternatively click the right-
hand down arrow and a selectable list of charts from the Active Group is shown. When
the list is down you can also type one or more letters into the field to make it scroll the
list for a name. This only works when the list is down.

On a successful search the data for the first chart found will be shown in ‘Chart Details’
frame and the Go button will be 'highlighted' so pressing the Enter key a second time will
display the Wheel for this chart. If no chart is found, you will be asked if you want to
start a New Chart based on your search key, or make another search. If you answer Yes
to a new chart the search key will be transferred to the Name field and the program goes
into New Chart mode. In this situation you don’t have to click the New Chart button.

A complete search may give you more then one ‘hit’ and when this is the case all the
charts are collected in a search list. You can browse this list with the 4 arrow buttons and
the data is displayed in Chart Details. The 2 outer buttons allow you to jump to the start
and end of the list and other 2 are for stepping one chart at a time backwards and
forwards. In fact you can do the same thing with the charts in Active Group, when the
search list isn’t active. The search list stays active as long as you don’t click the New
Chart button or select a chart from the Select list or the ‘Recent Charts List’ (see below).

Note that although the search list is of a temporary nature, it relates directly to the chart
database. So if you delete a chart in the list it will also be deleted on disk. This can come
useful though as you can compose a search key that finds charts you want to delete and
delete them sequentially.

You can alter the search using the Search Options. Thus you can Search all Groups or
just the Active one and for an Exact Match, a Partial Match or on Any Part of the
Name.

Recently used Charts List: As you work and calculate charts they will be added to a
memory list for easy selection “on the fly”. You display this list by simply RIGHT
CLICK a free area of the Data Entry form. This will pop-up a context menu to select a
chart from. This is also the charts that are available to you in Synastry and Multi-wheels
or where more then one chart can be used. The list can hold up to 12 charts at any one
time. This list is also available in the Wheel menu. The list is filled from top and ‘pushes’
charts down, so when it’s full and another chart is calculated the current 12th will be
pushed out of the list. You can clear the complete list (not individual charts) from the
context menu. This will only remove them from the list, not on disk so they can always
be recalled from the Group where they were saved.

Against each calculated chart will be one or more letters indicating the calculations
performed on the chart. Thus N for Natal, P for Progressions, etc.
Date Entry: The program is set up to accept the date order of Day, Month and Year.
However, this can be changed to Month, Day, Year, or Year, Month, Day if required - see
under Settings. BC dates should be enter with a - sign in front of the Year (e.g. -0050).
These are printed out with BC instead of - and show the actual year entered NOT the
astronomical year, which is 1 less.

Birth Time: This should be entered as the Given Time using the 24 hour clock.
Adjustments for Zone and Summer-time should be entered in the Zone Field. If you have
the Time Zone module for a country this will be done automatically when you look up a
place.

Aspect choice: In the middle of the screen is a list of aspects with ticks against them.
This indicates the aspects that will be used for the particular routine (natal, progressions,
etc). To alter aspects click on the boxes and Save Changes.

The Astrocalc Atlas

This consists of Countries, Places, Latitudes, Longitudes and Time Zones plus a form
from which you can view and select countries and places and is stored in a very fast
database. The names latitudes and longitudes can be edited, but NOT the Time Zones.
The size of the Atlas depends on Astrocalc Edition/Program. The Professional Edition
includes the full Atlas and Time Zones for approx. 220 000 places, but other Editions just
have a subset of this which normally coordinates and time zones for one country or group
of countries. So although the selection list will show all the countries some of them may
not contain any places. However, when you add your own places to the atlas you must
put them under the correct country. The program function Current Location, by
definition belongs to the atlas, although it’s not a part of the atlas as such.

Country: This field limits any search for a place (in the Place field) to the selected
country, if blank the whole atlas will be searched. When a place is found the country is
filled in if it’s blank. If you click the Atlas View button it will also open the selected
country Atlas for selections. You can still type a non-existent country name into the field,
to display it on the chart. However, when such a country is entered it will switch off the
search function.

With the Atlas/Time Zone routine a default country will be displayed - e.g. England. If
this is the one that you want to use then simply enter the Place name, press Enter and the
program will look up both the Place co-ordinates (latitude and longitude) and supply the
time zone correction in the zone field. If the default country is not the one you want then
click on the Country down arrow and select the country you want. Once you have
selected the country you now have the option to View the Atlas files and select a town by
clicking on it.

Local times will be used where the dates are before the introduction of 'standard' time
zones.
Place: The entry of a place name (or part of it) will cause the program to search for the
details. If found all the following fields will be filled in although with the time zone it
depends on if you have the data or not (see below). If not found in the Atlas you get the
option to add the place to the Atlas collection. You then have to supply the co-ordinates
yourself, of course.

To add a place you click the Add Place button shown, you can do this before or after
you have entered the co-ordinates as it will open the Atlas add dialog anyway – so it’s a
matter of taste how you do it. You can also add a place beforehand by opening the Atlas
by clicking the View button and New on the opened form. If you add a place for a
country you have time zone data for, the added place can take advantage of this but you
need to carefully read the following. Custom added places can only use the first set of
data available (Time Zone 1) and some countries have more than one set (the USA and
Canada had over 300 before 1966), and these relate to different time periods and dates. In
these instances we can’t guarantee that YOUR calculated time zone will be correct – it is
your responsibility to check this! Or better still get the Full Atlas.

Note: If you have the Country Time Zones for the place you are adding you can
almost certainly get the correct Time Zone for that place by entering a nearby Place
which is in the Atlas – make sure you use the same time and date. It would also be
helpful to us if you emailed us with any that you have added so that we can add
them to future Atlas releases.

The search facility give you some options, apart from limiting the search scope with the
country field and you can also set it to exact or partial matching. Where more than one
place is found all hits are stored in a search list and the browse buttons with arrows
become visible. Just click the buttons to step through the list and see the details and select
accordingly.

For our UK users, the UK Grid Ref and UK Summertime facilities are no longer in
the program as it has been replaced by the Atlas which covers many more places.

All fields described below will automatically be filled when a successful Place search is
done, but you can still override the values by manual editing. The Time zone field is a
special case though – see below.

Latitude and Longitude: Enter the details in the normal manner. Note that as supplied
the program will skip over the seconds field and will make assumptions about the
compass directions. If you often want to enter seconds then alter the Bypass Seconds
option (see under menu Settings).

The default compass direction is determined from the Current Location, so if you want to
change it go to Settings, Current Location and Set new Current location.

You can change the order in which you enter Latitude and Longitude so that you can
enter Longitude first by clicking on Settings in the menu bar, then Latitude/Longitude
and changing the option there.

Time Zone: If you have the time zone routine for a country, these fields will be
automatically filled in (and this includes any summertime corrections). If you want to
override any values just enter your values. Note that for countries East of Greenwich the
values should be preceded by a - sign and that you should add together both the Zone and
any Summertime correction. Thus, if summertime is applicable in New Zealand where
the time zone is -12, then you would enter a value of -13. If summertime is applicable in
somewhere in the USA with a time zone of 5 hours (West) then you would enter a value
of 4.

Chart Rectification
Astrocalc doesn’t have a rectification tool in sense of following any named rectification
technique. Instead you have the Clock option which enables you to step the Chart Wheel
back and forth in time, then test out progressions, transits, etc. We also show the very
similar NOW option here as the program operations are very similar. When you select
either of these the fields Display Interval and Calculation Interval, will appear with
pre-assigned values of 5 (for 5 secs). You can alter the values for these fields as high as
+/-86400 (seconds = 1 day) for Calculations; for Display anything over 300 (5 minutes)
will be queried.

Clock: When activated the Name field changes to Clock keeping the rest of input data
intact. If you click on Go the program will start calculate a chart according to the current
input details displaying the chart wheel. This chart will then automatically be updated by
5 seconds every 5 seconds (unless you changed the interval values). Both the display and
calculation intervals can be altered as required and negative values can be entered for the
calculation interval to make it go backwards in time. There are 3 buttons available for this
situated at the bottom right of the Chart wheel screen: Hold, Alter and Stop. Use the latter
when you are finished and, if you then go back to the Data Entry form you can now
change the Name field to an ordinary name, click Go again and the chart will display and
save as a normal chart.

Now: This is merely a special case of the Clock. When this button is clicked the
computer will read your computer clock and display the current time and date, Current
Location and Time Zone. If your computer clock is wrong the details will be wrong! As
with the Clock tool you can also change this into a normal chart in the same manner.

Note that with both the moving Clock and Now chart wheels the menu bar will be
greyed-out (disabled) - except for Back. But as soon as you select Hold or Stop the
Wheel menu bar will be enabled again. You can then do Multi-wheels (Not with
Beginners and Basic Editions) or apply the other Chart Options as with a normal chart.
On going back you can also do progressions etc. from the Routines menu.

A NEW FEATURE in version 6 allows you to control the movement of the Clock or
Now wheel instead of waiting for it to move by itself. Click either the Stop or Hold
buttons (bottom right) and the menu bar is enabled. If you now click on Next the chart
will move on by the number of seconds previously entered. If you click Previous it will
move back in time by that number of seconds. (Note if you have entered a negative value
to start with the actions of Previous and Next will be reversed!).

THE DATA ENTRY TOP MENU BAR

File: All options under this refer to various file or printing operations.

Print: Most of the options here have already been covered under the section on Printing.
The Client Files option allows you to print (on paper not screen) all the details held on
the Client Files.

Import: Astrocalc 6.0 uses a different way of storing charts from previous versions but
you can still import charts from earlier versions. Moreover, you can also import charts
from some versions of Electric Ephemeris, Astrolabe, Solar Fire (v3-5), Janus, AAF and
Blue Star and WinStar Quick Charts. The relevant files (NAMEFILE.DAT, NOVA.ASC
or BSTAR.ASC, etc) must first have been created. Then simply select the appropriate
option in the sub-menu Chart Files. This brings up a standard Windows Open dialog
where you can browse and select the relevant chart file. Imported chart are converted to
the new Astrocalc format and saved under the current Active Group. If you don’t want
these charts mixed up with others, make sure you first have Added a New Group (see
below) for them. Once imported they work the same way as any other Astrocalc chart.

Chart Groups: This let you Add, Rename and Delete Groups to sort your charts under.
The only limitations are that a group name can consist of max 32 character and you can’t
delete the last Group. The program comes with 2 groups ready to use, Client and Famous,
which you can rename if you like.

Although you can add a group from this menu the easiest way is to simply type the new
group name into the group selection control and press the Enter key. The program will
then ask if you want to add it as a new group. Answer Yes and you are done.

Exit: This returns you to Windows and in the process will store the natal input details of
all charts currently held in the Chart List. On restarting the program you then continue
where you left off.

Routines: This lists all the main chart routines as Progressions, Synastry etc. available in
your Edition of the program. Routines available in the program but not in your Edition
will not be visible. Sometimes one or more of these routines will be temporarily greyed-
out (disabled) for various reasons.

Although the Natal chart is necessary for most of these routines you generally don’t have
to calculate it first. This is taken care of in the background, even with Synastry, provided
that they have been brought into the ‘Recently used Charts’ list on a previous occasion.

House Systems: This will show the house systems available in your Edition. The house
system is saved with each individual chart and the setting here mainly affects the system
used for a New Chart. But you also use it to change the House system for the current
chart. This will then be effective on (re)calculation of that chart, not before. Note that
Table of Houses has now been moved to Tools menu.

Zodiac: If you choose any option herein a warning message will be given to alert you to
the fact that the calculated planetary positions will be altered by varying amounts

The Tropical Zodiac is the one normally used by Western astrologers. This takes its
starting point as the location of the Sun at the moment when it crosses the Ecliptic on, or
about March 21st each year, this being the point known as 0 degrees Aries. Because of
the phenomenon known as precession, this causes the Tropical Zodiac to differ from the
Sidereal Zodiac by a constantly increasing amount each year.

The Sidereal Zodiac is used mainly in Hindu / Eastern astrology. This measures positions
against the 'Fixed' Stars and takes its starting point of 0 degrees Aries as defined at some
particular date in the distant past. Different authorities give different dates for this starting
point (when both Tropical and Sidereal Zodiacs coincided), hence there are different
values for the Ayanamsas. This term is the name for the difference which is usually
defined at being from a certain date - usually 0 hrs on Jan 1st 1900). The value set in the
program is the 'Official' Indian Government value (called the Lahori value). You can
change it if you wish.

The Draconic Mean and True Zodiacs are esoteric options that work by subtracting the
values of the Mean or True Node from the other planetary positions. In these zodiacs the
Node used is thus always shown as 0 degrees Aries.

The Heliocentric option is only currently of use in the Ephemeris print program.
Heliocentric positions are given for most charts in the form of lists of positions.

If you are not familiar with the differences between the Zodiacs then stick to the one
normally used by Western astrologers - the Tropical.

Calendar: This shows 2 alternatives, the Gregorian and the Julian. The one in standard
use everywhere in the world today is the Gregorian. Changing this to the Julian one, or
vice versa, will cause the program to display a warning message about the possible
difference in the planetary calculations. If you are unfamiliar with the differences always
stick to the Gregorian Calendar. For a full discussion see later.

OPTIONS

Options shown here all refer to other screens where you can specify various parameters.
These are Planets/Aspects, Chart Design, Interpretation Text Entry, Aspects/Orbs,
Alternate Symbols, Alternate Colours, Edit Palette and Research Files Setup. The
Research Files is dealt with separately under Research Files (see later).
 PLANETS and ASPECTS

This shows 2 columns of Y and N, a list of planets and points and a further 2 columns of
Y and N.

The left hand columns have a heading 'Lists' whilst the right hand columns are headed
'Wheels' and both have further headings of P and A.

Lists refer to those screens which show lists of aspects, Wheels refer to those charts
which display screen wheels.

The P refers to planets and the A to aspects. If a Y appears against a planet under P it
means that it will be used in Lists or shown in Wheels. If a Y appears against a Planet
under the A then it means that, in the case of Lists that Aspects to that Planet will be
shown and, if under the Wheel then any aspects made will be drawn on screen.

To change anything you simply click on the appropriate Y or N box. To make any
changes permanent click on Save Changes. These changes can also be made from the
Wheel screen, but only on a temporary basis.

ASPECTS/ORBS

This screen enables you to set the aspects and orbs used in the various routines. If you
click on 1 then the heading will change from Natal to Progressions, then Harmonics, etc.
If you click on 2 then the associated heading (which shows the sub-routines available
within the main routine) may also change, depending upon the main heading. At the same
time the orbs shown against Aspects will change and various other options may appear on
the screen.

There are 2 basic methods used in calculating Aspects. The standard Astrocalc method
used in all previous Astrocalc programs allows you to vary the orb by planet using a
percentage figure. This is the top option shown under Aspect Orb Types. When selected
the three right hand columns will become visible showing the orbs and any percentage
changes.

Underneath 'use percentage' are 3 further options which all relate to orbs by planet. The
orbs used here are shown in the middle column under P against which will be the Sun
symbol. These are the aspect orbs used when the Sun is involved in any aspect with
another planet or point. If you click on P then the Moon will be shown together with the
aspect orbs used for it. Click again and you have Mercury, and so on.

It is very important to note that the values shown for each planet under the particular
main heading (natal, progressions, harmonics, etc.,) apply to ALL the sub-routines
within that main heading, whereas with the percentage method the values used can be
different for each sub-routine. Thus orbs for Solar Arc Directions could be different
from those used in Day For A Year Progressions if you choose the percentage method,
but not if using the by Planet method.

There are also some further differences within certain routines. Thus the Fixed Star and
Huber Routines always use the by Planet method, whilst Harmonic Chart Analysis uses
just the orbs set by the percentage method without any other adjustments. Transits don't
have orbs set on this screen and Midpoints use separate orbs which are shown when the
individual sub-routines are selected.

Further adjustments are possible by using the Applying and Separating Ratio. If a value
of 1 is set then the orbs used, by whatever method, are unaffected. If a value is set greater
than 0 and less than 1, then the program will differentiate between applying and
separating aspects.

Thus with an orb of 7 degrees where the maximum orb is 8 degrees and with an
applying/separating aspect ratio of .75, an applying aspect of 7 degrees will be shown,
but a separating aspect of 7 degrees will not. The program uses 8 degrees as the applying
orb of 6 degrees (.75 x 8) as the separating orb. The use of any percentages against
particular planets will also be taken into account.

The bi-wheel aspect ratio is used to reduce the number of aspects that might be otherwise
found in, for instance, natal comparisons.

To alter any orb click on the value to highlight it, this will cause a separate text box to
appear underneath, also highlighted. Enter the new value. To make changes permanent,
click on Save Changes.

ALTERNATE SYMBOLS

The screen simply allows you to choose which symbol you want to use for certain planets
and points.

ALTERNATE COLOURS

This screen allows you to choose the colours used for aspects, signs and various parts of
the circle. The program uses 2 basic palettes, one for the screen and one for the printer -
they can be the same if you so desire. The program as supplied uses a black background
for the screen (which can be changed) and a white background for the printer (which
cannot be changed).

To change a colour, simply click on the appropriate number which will be incremented
by 1 (there are 16 possible numbers/colours).

Planets always take on the colour of the sign in which they appear.

The central options mainly concern the screen wheel and allow you to customise its
appearance on screen and printer. There are 2 options for every item, the first relating to
the screen, the second to the printer. In addition, you can work with a black and white
palette - Click on Colour Palette.

CHART DESIGN

This determines how the screen and printer wheels appear. Many of the options can be
changed from the wheel screen itself on a temporary basis and it is a good idea to
experiment to see which you like best before making permanent changes using this
screen. Note that most changes made from the wheel screen will apply (temporarily) to
both screen and printer, whereas in the Chart Design screen the options are separate as
shown.

The size of the symbols can be varied both on screen and printer, within certain limits.
On screen it is just the Planet symbols and the variation is slight (12 to 14 points) though
significant. The printer options are much wider with the planet sizes varying from 14 to
20 and the Sign sizes from 14 to 26. Obviously, as the planet sizes gets larger, so the
space for the central aspect lines becomes smaller. Similarly, if you choose degrees and
minutes then the central space is again diminished slightly.

Against House Box, House Lines, As/Mc Lines and Aspects lines are further numbers.
With the single numbers these refer to the Width or Thickness of the lines that are drawn.
Allowable values are 1 to 4.

With the House and Aspect lines you can also choose the style of lines as shown under
line styles. Note that line thickness other than 1 always give a continuous line, no
matter what line style you choose.

If the Aspect Strength box is checked, then the program will use its own standards for
aspect lines. These are a continuous line for aspects within 20% of orb, line style 2 for
aspects within 20% to 40% of the maximum orb, line style 3 for aspects within 40 to
60%, etc.

When selecting the Aspect Grid printer option note that the end result will depend upon
how many planets you have chosen. The more planets are chosen the less room there is
for information to be printed. The program makes an 'intelligent' decision on what is
shown depending upon the number of planets. Thus it will first eliminate seconds of
longitude, then house cusp positions, etc. In addition all aspects will be shown,
irrespective of the last aspect selected either via the first data entry screen, or in the
Aspects/Orbs screen. Thus if you have selected a sextile as the last aspect and there is a
quintile between 2 planets, it will be shown in the grid but not drawn in the wheel.

With the Aspect Grid you can have symbols only in the grid or no grid at all. The latter
option only applies to single charts and results in a simplified chart wheel with just the
heading and the wheel - for those who like the uncluttered look!

In bi-wheels only the major planets, As, Mc and Node can be shown in the grid. In
addition the program will only show the planets, not the degrees and minutes.
House Cusps. You can specify whether the house cusps are shown Inside or Outside the
chart wheel. This option can also be selected temporarily from the Chart wheel screen.

Flat Charts. If this is ticked then the houses are shown as if they all have 30 degrees
with the cusp information inside the outer sign wheel. This option is only suitable if you
have a colour printer as we do not show the sign of the planet - in order to increases
readability.

No. of Planets. This option determines the size of the inner aspect circle by varying the
maximum number of planets that can be shown together. The higher the number you
select here (from 1 to 3), the SMALLER the aspect circle. However, this option will be
overwritten by the program depending upon your selection of degrees and minutes. Thus
the maximum number that can be used with degrees and minutes is 2. The size of the
aspect circle can be further adjusted at the chart wheel stage (see under Wheel, Options,
Aspects and Adjust), or directly here by entering values against Circle Adjustment.

Copyright Notice. If checked this will be printed at the top of most pages. It always
consist of your license name at the start, plus any information, such as address, phone,
email, etc., that you enter.

Limitations: Not all options can be guaranteed to work in all situations.

In particular, it is best to work with degrees only with VGA screens - degrees and
minutes may give some overwriting. This is most likely if you have a lot of planets near
the Ascendant but should not be a problem in printing.

EDIT PALETTE

This routine should allow you to customise the colours you use and was introduced in
order to produce a darker yellow for printing - the normal one is rather indistinct on a
white background.

On the right are 2 rows of coloured numbers from 1 to 14. In the centre will be a small
blue square which corresponds to screen colour number 1, which is blue. If you click on
the Screen Colour number it will change to 2 which is a green, and so on. If you click on
the printer colour number the background will change to white and you are presented
with the printer colours.

If you now move the RED, GREEN or BLUE cursors, the colour in the centre box will
change. When you have altered the colour to that which you require you should save
changes. You should then be able to see that the first colour number in the columns has
now changed to the one you created, whilst the second colour number is as it was. To
undo changes you click on undo.

TEXT INTERPRETATION SCREEN

This allows you to select the planets and aspects you want to use in your interpretations,
and to enter and alter the text. Three methods of creating the output text are available .
All text created here is used from the Chart Wheel Screens - click on Interpretation and
select one of the named configurations (see below) - or when doing Transits (Monthly
only) and Midpoints.

There are two types of text, Linked Phrases (or Link Text) and Block Text. The latter
means that text for each parameter (e.g. Planet in Sign) is typed in and used as a block of
text. Ready-made text for Natal is supplied as standard for the Link method while the
Block text needs to be purchased separately (although you can create your own) unless
you have the Professional Edition where it is included.

With Block text the program will automatically create headings for the planets by
sign/house/aspect etc.

The top central part of this screen has the three most vital controls where you select
which routine you use to edit text as well as managing the configurations. The Main and
Subroutine, in combination, makes one selection (some Main routines lack Subs though).
Each such selection will have one or more Named Configurations, where the name will
show up in menus. This enables you to select an interpretation based on particular texts.
For example, for Natal you may have one configuration “Natal for Youngsters” and one
“Natal for Oldies” and each can have its own special text, its special collection of planets
and aspects. etc..

On the left hand side of the screen are the selections of Planets and Aspects used in the
interpretation. What you select here, in each configuration, will show up in
interpretations, as simple as that. Changes are saved automatically.

The central area of the screen is where you type in your text. Just above the main text
field you will see one to three controls (depending interpretation method etc.) where you
set which factor you will edit text for.

With the Link Text only one will show at a time enabling you to select Planet, Sign,
House or Aspect.

With Block Text you will see two or three controls. These will be Planet and Sign, Planet
and House or Planet1, Aspect and Planet2. As you make a selection with any of these
controls the text (if present) will change. When you have finished editing ANY text it is
very important to remember to click the Save button shown to the right – or you will
loose all your changes!

For most routines you will want to use similar text so, to avoid typing it all in again use
the Copy Text option - a check box in the right hand middle part of the screen.
Checking/Unchecking this reveals/hides further options. Click on these to decide on the
new text files you want to create, then on Save Text. The text for the routine currently
selected is then transferred to the new routine just created. Thus if you with Natal shown
at the top and Progressions, Day for a Year under Copy Text, the program will copy the
Natal text files and method and create identical files for the Day for a Year Progressions.

IMPORTANT

Whenever you enter a text you must save it before moving on to the next interpretation.
Otherwise you lose everything and will have to retype it.

INTERPRETATION METHOD & EDIT RANGE

As a text base for Interpretation is a rather complex composition we have divided the
selection (apart from the astrological factors) into 2 sections, Interpretation Method and
Edit Range, which you find in the upper right part of the screen. There are currently 2
methods of interpretation for you to use. Natal text is supplied for the first method only -
Linking Phrases. For the second method, which is Block Text (planets in signs, houses
and aspects), only the headings are created when starting a text - unless you have the
Professional Edition or have purchased our Natal Text Files. When you change between
these two options it may also change what is shown in the Edit Range.

You use the Range options to select which part of the interpretation you like to edit, e.g.
Planets in Signs, Planet in Houses etc. and when you make your selection the
functionality of the controls above the main edit field will change.

Link Phrase method. The text for this consists of key phrases which, when joined
together, give the essential interpretation using the basic principles of the planets, signs
and houses. Thus, for someone with the Sun in Aries in the First House, the text
displayed would consist of a sentence made up from that in the Planet box, followed by a
Link phrase, then the Sign and House text. With the Aspects a sentence is constructed
using the Planet text, the Aspect text plus the text for the Planet which is being aspected.
Version 6.0 has the significators set as standard. These can be switched off via checkbox
in the lower left part of the Screen.

Link Phrases. You enter the link phrases in the small text boxes in the lower left part of
the screen. Up to 3 link phrases can be entered and selected. These are used to connect
the text for the Planet with the one for Sign. The program will select the phrases
according to the method selected in the Link Method frame (lower left corner). If you
don't want any link phrases then simply delete all link phrase text. After making any
changes Save the Link Phrases.

Block Text method. The text for the second method will consist of sentences as entered
for each of the planets, signs, houses, or aspects. Unless you have any of our Text Files
(Natal, Synastry, Transits and Midpoints), only the headings will be shown, and only for
the major planets and aspects.

Sorted Remarks. This is a version of our Remark Sorter adapted for Windows. It is
primarily intended for students or those who like to write up their reports at the computer
with the Chart Wheel displayed in a similar manner to that done with the Notes option.
However, Sorted Remarks allows you to categorise your remarks under various headings
such as Character, Mentality, Recreations, Love & Marriage, etc.

All that you need to is to decide which category you want your remark to appear and
simply enter the appropriate letter, or letters, followed by a space and then the remark.
When the remark is finished you press the Enter Key then enter another. This need not be
in the same category. When you have finished all the remarks you press the $ key and all
your remarks will be sorted into the various categories. These can be saved or printed in
the usual ways.

New categories can be created as and when you want and Remark files previously created
can be added to. A good idea is to start each remark with the source (that is after you
have enter the category followed by a space. Thus C Sun Leo Generous. You can also use
a scoring system in a similar manner. Simply add a value after the source - e.g. C Sun
Leo 12 Generous.

The non-Windows Remark Sorter program would, at the end of entering the information,
ask you to reselect the items in each category in the order you wanted them using a
numbering system. In Windows it is much simpler to cut and paste in a word processor
either using the saved disc ASCII file, or the Clipboard file loaded directly into the word
processor of your choice.

STRUCTURE

This is a method used in France to detect the leading/dominant planet in a chart. It allows
you to determine two levels of structure: general and individual. The general structure
represents the individual’s potential. The individual structure symbolises what life has
brought to the person, his achievements or defeats, etc.

The calculation of the general structure is based on the location of the planets in the signs
sorted by element, positive/negative, season, cardinal/fixed/mutable, with each planet
being multiplied by a factor depending upon its relative importance.

The individual structure is based on the same calculations, but for the Houses.

The importance of each planet is weighted by a multiplication factor as follows:

Sun, Ascendant, “leading planet” = 4: Moon = 3; Mercury to Saturn = 2; Uranus to Pluto

= 1.

The calculation of the leading planet is the result of the application of the following rules
in the indicated order.

1. The planet is situated within 5 degrees (+ or -) from the Ascendant

2. 5 degrees from the Midheaven
 3. 3 degrees from the Descendant
4. 3 degrees from the IC
5 3 degrees from the Sun
6. 3 degrees from the Moon
7. The planet is alone in a quadrant and forms 2 aspects at least whereby the aspects
to the angles are not taken into account.
8. The planet with the greater number of aspects (3 at least), excluding the aspect to
the angles.
9. The planet is in its own sign
10. The planet forms no aspect at all.

In practice it is rare for the last 3 or 4 rules to be used. The first rule encountered is
shown as Main Rule.

ASCARA

This is a set of techniques used in Germany for chart evaluation. All instructions are
contained within the program and can be printed out.

CALCULATING AND DISPLAYING THE INTERPRETATIONS

Calculate a chart in the normal way so that you have the chart wheel on screen. Now
from the menu bar select Interpretation and then any of the sub menus Block Text or Link
Text. Under those menues your named configurations will show, provided that you have
created any or the submenus will be disabled. All interpretations are displayed on screen
in a text box to the left of the Chart Wheel which can be edited and then output using any
of the 3 options shown on the bottom right of the Chart Wheel Screen (Disc, Print, Clip).

Print will output to the printer in a fairly simple format using the printer font specified in
the data entry screen (see under File, Print and Fonts). The default font is Times New
Roman.

Disc will output an unformatted text ASCII file under the file name you specify.

Clip will copy the text to the CLIPBOARD and this can then be immediately used in
WRITE, NOTEPAD, WORDPAD or WORD or any other WINDOWS word processors.
Thus having selected Clip and saved the text, if you click on the top left down arrow, go
to Accessories, click on WORDPAD, then select Edit and Paste, the text is immediately
available for use in WORDPAD.

SETTINGS Menu Bar

Unlike previous version, 6.0 automatically saves these changes.

Current Location: This is set up when you first enter the program but can be changed at
any time. This also sets the default compass direction for any new charts entered.
Date Entry: There are 3 options as shown. Alter if required.

True/Apparent: 'True' positions are the instantaneous positions of the planets calculated
as viewed from the centre of the Earth. They take no account of the time it takes for light
to reach the Earth. Nor do they take account of any bending of light that may occur when
a planet is near the horizon. Thus when you see the Sun or Moon rising or setting they
may in fact be below or above the horizon.

If you choose the 'Apparent' option the program will calculate positions taking account of
the time that it takes for light from the planet to reach the Earth. For the Sun this is about
8 minutes so that True and Apparent positions will differ by about 20 seconds of
longitude (1/3 min). The positions of the other planets, apart from the Moon which is too
close to be affected, will differ by varying amounts depending upon their orbital speeds
and positions.

For really high accuracy with Apparent positions you would also take account of the
geographical latitude and the height above sea level, though the largest variation would
probably be caused by light refraction on planets near the horizon.

As with other calculations (e.g. the Node), the use of the word True does not mean that
the calculations are better, merely they are different. Your choice in this matter will
depend upon how you view the action of 'planetary' influences. Are they
instantaneous/synchronistic? In which case the True positions would be correct. Or do
they operate at the speed of light? In which case the Apparent positions are correct.

For most practical purposes and where birth times are not known to closer than 5 or 10
minutes it probably doesn't matter which method you use. But beware of techniques
which call for 'great' accuracy and yet ignore these potential problems.

Node: You can choose either the Mean or the True Node as your standard for display in
chart wheels. Where lists of longitudes are concerned both will normally be displayed so
that you can see the difference between the two. As mentioned above the appellation
'True' does not mean better, only different. In fact, as you will see when you click on the
other options, there are an increasing number of variations on both Mean and True Node
calculations. In practice it is doubtful whether the difference between the two, which will
never be more than about 1.75 degrees, is worth worrying about. Astronomy, astrology
before about 1960 and Eastern astrology all use the Mean Node without any corrections.
The Huber School always uses the True Node.

Polar Angles: Funny things start to happen to charts at latitudes beyond about 66
degrees (north or south). Some house systems don't work, although we have not put a
stop on any as we used to in our DOS programs. Other house systems only partially work
and most, except for Equal, produce charts with very large and very small houses. The
'Ascendant' can also start to 'Descend' and for this reason there is an argument which says
that the charts should then be 'reversed' so that the Descendant becomes the Ascendant.
This has never really been taken seriously but the option is there if you want to try it out.
Delta T: This is the difference between what is called Ephemeris Time and Greenwich
Mean Time. The Earth is not a perfectly regular time-keeper and is subject to all delays
and accelerations due to tides, earthquakes, sunspots and all manner of irregularities
within, and possibly without, the Solar System.

The equations for calculating sidereal time and the planetary positions assume that the
earth behaves in a regular manner. But as it doesn't some adjustment has to be made so
that there is a correlation between 'real' or Greenwich Mean Time and Ephemeris Time.
This adjustment cannot be predicted in advance although an equation which attempts to
describe its behaviour is incorporated in the program for the 20th century. This uses
observed values from 1900 and is accurate to within a couple of seconds up until 1992.
From thereon the program uses an incremental value of .5 second per year up until the
year 2000. You can set the program to continue using this equation beyond the year 2000.
If you do this then the program will also correct for dates before 1700 AD using the
following equation:-

Delta T = .41 + 1.2053 * T + .4992 * T * T

where T is the Time in centuries since 1900 and the answer is in minutes. This gives a
value of about 2.5 hours difference at the time of Christ.

Please note that the estimated values for Delta T during the 19th century were never
greater than 8 seconds and the estimated values before that until around 1700 were also
relatively small - still seconds rather than minutes.

Bypass Seconds: If set the program will automatically tab past any fields involving
seconds (of time, latitude or longitude).

Latitude/Longitude First. To change the order in which you enter Latitude and
Longitude, that is to enter Longitude first, click on Options, then Latitude/Longitude and
alter.
HELP

What’s New. This gives information on the new version 6.0.

Search: Selecting this gives you the chance to search for any word or phrase contained in
the Help file for the Data Entry Screen. It does not search other screens such as the
Planets/Aspects Screen. Other screens have their own Help and Search options.

Enter License: If decide to upgrade your program e.eg from Standard to Professional
version, you will receive new license information and this is where you enter it. After
entering a new license, you need to restart the program in order to make the new features
available.

Backup and Restore: This option has been removed in the program as this is much
better handled by a separate program. The Windows system already have a fairly good
backup feature, read the Windows Help for how to use it.

Important: Although important to regularly back up your data files, but it is not
necessary to restore data every time you run the program, only when you have had
problems with the hard disc, or want to recapture information inadvertently deleted.

Warnings: When changing zodiacs, calendars, or using precession in the Solar and
Lunar Returns routine, the program will give a warning message. If you habitually use
one or other of the alternative zodiacs then it is best turned off.

Chart Aspect Ratio. Different screens and differing screen resolutions may produce
charts which are slightly flattened or elongated on screen, or even cases where the MC
and IC legends on the screen wheels are slightly cut off. In these cases use the Chart
Aspect Ratio to adjust the screen circle as described in the Help box.

OTHER PROGRAMS

This show you all the other available Astrocalc programs. If you click on a button you
will see a description of the programs (except for Astrotutor III and Chartmaster - see
below). If you have any of these programs they will be shown in the Start Menu under
Astrocalc Software, or as separate icons on your Desk Top.

Programs such as Astrotutor III (Synthesis) and Chartmaster read files saved by the
calculation programs. Thus, from the Screen Wheel display, click on File, then Save and
then select the appropriate option. To run the programs start it from the Astrocalc
Software group in the Start Menu or its icon on the Desktop, if present.

UTILITIES

Sunrise/Sunset and Moonrise/Moonset times for any chart currently entered on the
Data Entry screen can be obtained by clicking on the appropriate button and following
the instructions. Similarly with Find Ascendant and Day of the Week.

Lists of Symbols displays all the symbols currently used by the Astrocalc program. For
reference purposes you can print all of these, or various selected groups.

Faculty and Mayo Forms. You can print out the various forms used by the Faculty of
Astrological Studies and the Mayo School of Astrology. The Blank Form option allows
you to print out a blank chart wheel form.

Rulerships, etc., gives you the traditional rulerships, dates, meanings etc., of the signs.

Ingresses allows you to calculate and print the ingresses for the Sun and Moon for any
year/month.

Arabic Parts allows you to modify and add to the existing Arabic Parts calculated by the
program.

Zodiac Calendar is a utility for creating a yearly calendar with astrological information.
This can be created in a wide number of languages, such as French, German, Dutch,
Danish, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish. Full information is given in the
program.

Lunar Calendar gives you the option of printing a Lunar calendar for any year.

Note that both the Zodiac and Lunar calendars and Ingresses
are only available
with the Standard or larger Editions of the program.

THE CHART WHEEL SCREEN

The Chart wheel display will depend upon the planets chosen in the Planets/Aspects
screen, the Aspects/Orbs chosen, etc. These choices are discussed in their relevant
sections.

Planet information is displayed on the left of the screen together with the House cusps.
Only Cusps 2, 3, 11 and 12 are shown, cusps 8, 9, 5 and 6 being 'opposite' to these (i.e.
180 degrees apart).

Retrograde/Stationary: The letters r and s are used to denote Retrograde and Stationary
planets. A planet is defined as stationary if the motion is less than approximately 1/35 of
its mean motion.

Vx: This is the Vertex. This is an angle (sometimes called the third angle) and is formed
by the intersection of the ecliptic and the Prime Vertical, and is said to be related to fated
events. For births in latitudes between 30 and 60 degrees the Vertex occurs within 2 signs
of the Descendant.

Ep: This is the East Point and is the most commonly proposed alternative to the
Ascendant there being no problems with high latitudes (above 66 degrees). The East
Point is where the horizon and Prime Vertical intersect in the east, hence it is the same in
all altitudes. The East Point and Ascendant are used in Uranian astrology to signify self,
the former in worldly terms, the latter in personal terms.

Cd: This is the Co-Descendant. This is the Descendant for the co-latitude of the birth
place. The co-latitude is defined as 90 - L where L is the latitude of the birth place.

CHART WHEEL MENU BAR

File: Options shown here are Save, Copy and Exit.

Save: Shows a further menu of Screen, Astrotutor III, Chartmaster and Research, some of
which may be greyed out.
If you choose Screen then a bitmap copy of the chart wheel will be saved according to the
name and path you choose. All screens are limited by their resolution, which is much less
than can be achieved by most printer drivers. Applications which operate purely on a
WYSIWYG basis may therefore not be able to produce high quality charts from bitmap
screens saved by the program unless they effectively rewrite the screen to use the highest
printer resolution.

TIP: If you have a PDF writer, you can “print” the chart wheel to a Acrobat PDF
document, getting a far better resolution, and take it from there using external tools to
produce a vastly improved wheel image for other documents, etc.

Choosing Astrotutor III or Chartmaster (where available) will create files which can be
read by these programs. For use of this information refer to any of these programs
documentation. Both programs always use the last data you saved.

The Research File option allows you to save the calculated natal chart information in
varying formats according to what you have previously specified in the Research Files
Setup screen.

Copy: This places a copy of the screen on to the Clipboard.

Chart Options: These show, Planets (aspects to), Aspects, House Cusps, Zodiac, Switch
Palette, Degree Numbers, House Numbers, House Circle. To see the effect of any option
you must ReDraw or have the Instant Redraw option set in the Chart Design Screen.

Chart Rotation allows you to set any of the major planets or any other point on the
Ascendant so that they appear as if at 0 Aries.

Aspects, House Cusps, House Numbers and House Circle are all on/off switches to
determine whether aspect lines, house cusps, house numbers and the house circle are
shown in the chart wheel. Zodiac operates in the same way as from the Data Entry
Screen.

Planets (aspects to): Selections made here also apply (temporarily) to the printed output.
If you don't have planets other than the 10 majors ones then the selections have no effect.

Switch Palette: This enables you to switch between the printer and screen palettes. As
supplied the screen palette would have a black background and the printer palette a white
background.

Degree Numbers: Determines if degrees, or degrees and minutes are shown.

Symbol Size: You can temporarily change the planet symbol size shown on screen or
when printed. The Printer option also allows a temporary change to the Sign symbol
size.
Print: This offers the same options as from the main data entry screen. Apart from the
Printer Setup, all changes made here are temporary.

Multiwheels: This allows you to create bi or triwheels using any previously calculated
charts. Simply select the option and then the charts. Under Biwheels you also have the
options Reverse and Planets. Please notice, for any of these items to be enabled there
need to be enough with charts available in the ‘Recently used Charts’ list, or they will be
greyed out.

IMPORTANT NOTE. Biwheels and triwheels are temporary charts which can be
printed off as soon as shown and contains the relevant information either on screen or on
the printed page. If, having displayed the bi/triwheel you select other options such as
Aspects, these will be of one of the bi/triwheel charts rather than of the bi/triwheel itself.
Similarly, if you go back to the bi/triiwheel display and then select print, the program will
print one of the natal charts rather than the bi/triwheel itself.

Note that the aspect biwheel ratio can be used to reduce the number of inter-chart aspects
for all charts except progressions (see under Aspects/Orbs)

The Planets option shows Separated and Together. Thus you can either have the planets
of both charts in the same section of the wheel or separated with one chart inside the
other. With the Together option the house cusps of the first chart are shown outside the
wheel and the planets of the 2 charts are shown in 2 colours only. These colours can be
selected from the Alternate Colours screen - colours for biwheel 1 and biwheel 2. The
central part of the together wheel now contains the aspects between the 2 charts. We
would suggest that when printing the 'together' biwheel, you show degrees only (if in
black and white), or degrees or none if in colour.

The Together and Separated options can be selected permanently from the Chart Design
form.

Reverse: Clicking on this with the biwheel displayed will reverse the positions of the
chart so that the outer becomes the inner and vice versa.

Do be careful when working on a large number of charts and switching from one to
another that you do not confuse yourself over what you are comparing with what. Also, if
you have done a lot of comparisons and switching between chart types it is possible that,
on exit from the biwheels back to the main data entry screen, the chart information shown
may be a mixture of what you have been using. Select a chart from any of the available
options to get fresh data.

Options: This lists other screens that can be 'derived' from the chart wheel screen. Those
currently enabled are Aspects, Latitudes/Declinations, Arabic Parts and Notes. Aspects
has 2 options, Grid and Lists, Latitudes/Declinations shows the further natal information
on screen (latitudes, declinations, heliocentric positions, distance values, etc.), Arabic
Parts shows the Arabic parts and Notes enables you to create a file of notes about that
chart (see below).

Notes: For compatibility with previous versions and because we are not altogether sure
what additional programs our customers will have and be able to use, we have retained
the NOTES option. When this is selected a scrollable window opens at the bottom of the
screen where you can type notes and save as an ASCII file. Those more familiar with
Windows will probably want to use another program and write directly into that. The
Sorted Remarks option now offers a better way of creating these notes.

Interpretation: Here you find 2 sub menus, Block Text and Link Text, were you find
your Named Configurations which been created in the Interpretation Text Entry form (see
that part for details). Thus letting you select a particular text base for creating an
interpretation on screen, which then can be edited, printed or saved to Disk/Clipboard.

Previous/Next: This will load and display the next/previous chart appropriate for the
chart type you are working on. With the natal charts this will be the next/previous
‘Recently used Chart’, with progressed charts it will be the progressed chart for the
next/previous year, with harmonic charts the next/previous harmonic number, etc.

Chart List: This is natal only and shows the charts which are loaded into memory. Select
a chart to have it calculated and displayed.

ASPECT SCREENS

There are 2 separate screens available from the Chart Wheel which show aspects. The
first gives aspects in the form of a grid, the second as lists. The grid merely indicates the
aspect type and whether it is applying or separating. Aspect lists also show the orb which
is 'highlighted' in a different colour if it is a 'strong' aspect. A strong aspect is taken as
being when the orb is within 1/6 of the maximum orb between the planets concerned –
this is the orb that you have set.

Options shown on the top menu bar are the same as within the Chart Wheel screen itself.
Back returns you to the Chart Wheel screen.

The printed Aspect Grid may be a little more detailed than that shown on the screen as all
chosen points can be shown. This includes the East Point, Vertex, etc.

Applying aspects are denoted with a + sign after the aspect. An aspect is said to be
applying if the planets are moving closer together. This is can be true even if both planets
are moving direct where the one behind is moving faster than the one in front, or if both
are retrograde and the one in front is moving faster than the one behind, and so on

What research there is would seem to indicate that applying aspects are more powerful
than separating ones, and that the maximum effect is likely to take place just before an
aspect becomes exact. There is an option in the program which allows you to vary the orb
used according to whether it is an applying or separating aspect (Aspects/Orbs screen). A
value of .75 for the applying and separating ratio will result in an 8 degree orb being used
as 8 degrees applying, 6 degrees separating.

LATITUDES/DECLINATIONS SCREEN

This screen gives more detailed technical information, including Declinations, Latitudes,
Heliocentric Longitudes, Geocentric Nodes and Distance Values, plus the sidereal time.

Distance Values: These calculations are based upon the distance of the planet from the
Earth as a straight percentage of its average maximum and minimum values. Thus a value
of 100 will indicate that the planet is the closest it can possibly be to the earth and it may
therefore have greater influence. If you see calculated tables of distance values these
may give different values since there is another method of calculating them. This uses the
sine of the maximum and minimum values and the result is more akin to a 'gravitational'
kind of effect. Values outside the range of 0 to 100 may be calculated for remote periods.

ACCURACY

We do not use precalculated disc ephemerides. All calculations are performed directly
using algorithms from various sources. This enables us to produce relatively small
programs and produce information relating to declinations, latitudes, etc., which would
not otherwise be possible.

For the outer planets (Jupiter to Pluto) we use a set of planetary algorithms calculated for
us by John Dice. These are based on the A.P.A.E. Volume 22. Many published
ephemerides still use Volume 12 and may therefore be slightly inaccurate, particularly
with regard to Pluto near the year 2000. Our calculations give 1 minute accuracy over a
5000 year period (2500 BC to 2500 AD).

In fact, in practice the accuracy of all planetary calculations will normally be within a few
seconds of arc - but note the comments on time problems (see Time Zones) and the
difference between true and apparent positions.

Adjustments to the algorithms used by NASA and others are always being made, but the
changes are usually very small indeed. The only possible exceptions to this would be
with Neptune and Pluto whose orbits have not yet been accurately observed over a full
revolution. Even so future changes will have no noticeable effect on the calculated values
over the past 400 years.

The values for the Asteroids (including Chiron) are obtained using mean values. These
will, on average, be within 1 degree of longitude. Note that Chiron has been accurately
observed over about 1/3 of a revolution. Published ephemerides for Chiron also rely on
unverified and inconsistent observations prior to 1978 and some use inappropriate
integration periods. When ephemerides claiming 1 minute accuracy differ from current
observed values by as much as 20 mins then no ephemerides can be regarded as better
than 1 degree in accuracy! In fact, the starting point information calculations involving
Chiron is so sensitive to small changes (the butterfly effect) that historical calculations
must always be treated with caution.

The values for the hypothetical planets are based on hypothetical algorithms.

THE JULIAN/GREGORIAN CALENDARS

The normal calendar we use in everyday life is the Gregorian calendar. For births in
Great Britain and the USA prior to 3rd September 1752, the Julian calendar was used.
Other countries changed over at varying dates so it is necessary to tell the program which
calendar is being used if you want to input historical data. If you do select the Julian
calendar then the program will make an internal adjustment to calculate the correct
planetary positions whilst still continuing to show the Julian date or dates. All subsequent
dates for that chart should also be input using the Julian calendar, and any charts which
you use to do Synastry with this chart.

Other reasons why automatic date correction is not done include the following:

1). Historians sometimes convert dates before 3rd September 1752 into Gregorian format,
or Gregorian dates into the Julian format!

2). Prior to the introduction of the Gregorian calendar the New Year could begin on a
variety of dates of which December 25th, January 1st, March 1st and March 25th were
the most common. Therefore a date we would write as January 25th 1749 might be
written as January 25th 1748!!

3) Most Catholic countries adopted the Gregorian calendar very soon after its institution
by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, but Protestant countries tended to introduce it much later.
With some countries, such as Belgium, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and the Chinese
provinces, different authorities give different dates for the changeover. Egypt (1875),
Japan (1873), Yugoslavia (1919), Rumania (April 1st, 1919), Turkey (1927), USSR (Feb
1st, 1914), Lithuania (1915), Esthonia (January 1918), Albania (December 1912),
Bulgaria (1915-1916), China (1912 to 1928!), Denmark and Norway (Feb 19th, 1700),
Sweden and Finland (Feb 18th, 1753) should be particularly noted. The Catholic parts of
Switzerland and Germany mainly changed over in the period 1583 to 1584, the Protestant
parts in 1700 and 1701.

4) Great care is needed in choosing which calendar to use with dates in the early
Christian era. The Julian calendar was established in the Roman Empire by Julius Caesar
in 46 BC (a year which was 445 days long!), but didn't reach its final form until 8 AD.
Thereafter its use was widely spread by the growth of the Roman Empire. However, other
calendars such as the Egyptian were also in use during the first few centuries AD. The
latter was preferred by astronomers and astrologers such as Ptolomey (except for his
treatise on annual phenomena). The conversion of dates in the Babylonian calendar to
exact equivalent Julian dates is at best very difficult.

Because of these factors it is very important that Astrologers take great care in
checking historical dates before calculating charts.

To enter BC dates you should enter a negative year. No other date adjustment is
required.

In general, attempts at great accuracy in timings for charts before the 17th century are
largely a waste of time. The earth is NOT a regular time-keeper and the difference
between Ephemeris time and Greenwich Mean Time is not known with any great
certainty, and the further back you go the greater the uncertainty (see section on Delta T).
Stop watches weren't available in ancient days, so if you can be certain you have a chart
accurate to a quarter of an hour that is indeed accurate! It's actually not bad even by
today's standards.

THE ROUTINES SUBMENUS

When you select any of these options the Natal chart will automatically be calculated in
the background, based on the currently displayed ‘Chart Details’ (not for Now and Clock)
and in most cases you are supposed to enter/alter specific parameters as explained below.

The routines that are available to you depends on the Astrocalc Edition you have. Thus
with the Beginners Edition only the Natal options will be available, with the Basic
Edition you have additionally some of the Progressions and Transits options, and so on.

PROGRESSIONS

Accessible from Routines in menu bar, starting with the Basic Edition but content will
vary depending on Edition. The full menu is currently:

Day For a Year Arc Directions

Daily Progressed Angles True Solar Arc Directions
DFY (noon/midnight date) Radix/Naibod
Tertiaries 1 Perpetual Noon/Midnight Date
Tertiaries 2

The standard options available in the Basic to Standard Edition range of programs are:
Day for a Year, DFY (noon/midnight date) and Perpetual Noon/Midnight Date.

General Notes about Progressions:

1) Unlike our older programs this Windows versions always uses the progressed
Ascendant to calculate house positions. The biwheel option can be used to clearly show
the progressed chart in the natal chart with the progressed planets 'in' the natal houses.

2) Equal House positions are used with Arc Directions, True Solar Arc and the
Radix/Naibod methods - progressed house cusps have no real meanings here.

3) In Synastry the progressed positions used are those relating to the LAST method used
in progressing the chart.

4) Many of the methods of progressions give very similar results. For those of you using
the sidereal time to manually calculate the progressed positions instead of the noon-date,
the correct value to use is 3 mins 56.55536 secs not 3 mins 56 secs. The extra 1/2 second
or so is not important for most astrological purposes, but will obviously give different
answers for the angles when multiplied up, especially in the higher latitudes and with
signs of short ascension.

5) The orbs and aspects used in progressions can be set temporarily when entering the
data, or on a more permanent basis from within the Aspects/Orbs screen.

6) After selecting a progression method the program will display suggested entry data
using your computer clock. Methods such as Daily Progressed Angles and True Solar Arc
Directions will display the current date. If your computer clock is incorrectly set then the
information displayed will be 'wrong'. Methods such as Day for A Year, require the entry
of the 'age'. The value initially displayed will be the current year minus the birth year.
Aspects to Progressed planets are shown with a P after the Progressed planet.

7) Clicking on the Next/Previous option shown on the Wheel menu will produced a chart
of the Next/Previous Progressed 'Year'.

8) CONVERSE PROGRESSIONS can be obtained by entering a negative number for

the age.

9) Although these methods are all listed as Progression, some are more properly called
Directions.

To see the lists of Mutual Aspects, Progressed to Natal and Lunar Aspects by month, or
whatever is appropriate to the method you have selected you should, after the chart
wheel has been displayed, select Options, then Aspects, Lists. Note that the dates shown
here always use a starting day which is the same as the birthday. So where this is near
the end of the month, the period implied more properly covers the next month.
Conjunctions and Oppositions, being more powerful, are shown covering 2 months.

DAY FOR A YEAR: The end planets and end aspects can all be changed as can the year
for which progressions are required. The progressed chart is calculated in the same way
as the natal chart using the natal time and place N days on, where N is the age you have
entered. Version 3.5 has an option to enter a date instead of the Age. This will give a
decimal age and the progressed planetary positions for that date.

The Angles will be interpolated between the 2 progressed date on the assumption that
only 3 mins 57 secs of sidereal time has elapsed rather than 24 hours 3 mins 57 secs as
with the planets. The heading information shows the progressed date (if on the birthday)
and the date from which the progressions apply. Where a date other than the birth day
and month is entered the program will show an interpolated progressed time and date.
DAILY PROGRESSED ANGLES: This is effectively Day for a Year progressions for
a date with the angles progressed through approximately 361 degrees for every
progressed year.

DFY (NOON/MIDNIGHT DATE): This option is as used by the Faculty of

Astrological Studies. The perpetual noon or midnight date is first calculated then used to
calculate the value of the Solar Arc. This is added to the natal positions in order to
calculate the progressed positions, but the Angles are calculated as for the Day for a Year
method. Version 3.5 has the date option as describe above in Day-For-A-Year.

PERPETUAL NOON/MIDNIGHT DATE: This option merely displays the noon or

midnight date as used in the previous method in the Help box.

TERTIARIES I: This calculates the positions for a certain age based on a day for every
lunar month of life. The relative positions of planets therefore change much more
quickly.

TERTIARIES 2:This calculates the positions for a certain age based on a lunar month
for every year of life. The relative positions of planets therefore change much more
quickly.

ARC DIRECTIONS: The age is displayed and should be adjusted as necessary. The
number of degrees by which the chart is to be advanced for each year is displayed as 1 0
0. This can similarly be altered as required. An Equal House chart is displayed and
Aspects lists can be obtained as above.

TRUE SOLAR ARC DIRECTIONS: The current date is displayed and should be
altered as required. The program will calculate the necessary information and display a
chart using Equal House positions. The calculation is based on your age at the input date
and this is used to progress the position of the Sun. The distance that the Sun has
travelled since birth is then added to the other planets and points.

RADIX/NAIBOD: This is similar to Arc Directions.There are 3 options here. The first is
'traditional' Astrocalc one where all natal planets and points, except the Moon, are
incremented by the age times the mean Solar Arc (about 59 mins 8 secs). With the Moon
the value used is about 12 deg 12 mins. The second option (Major) is where all the
planets are incremented by the Solar Arc and the third (Minor) where all are incremented
by Mean Lunar arc.

HARMONICS

Harmonics are calculated by taking the natal positions, multiplying them by the harmonic
number, then reducing the results to values between 0 and 360 degrees. Harmonic options
starts with the Standard Edition, the full range of options which your program may
contain is:

Single Harmonic Chart Analysis

Decimal Progressed Harmonic Chart Analysis
Planetary Harmonic Contacts
Lists Tutorial

Harmonic orbs and aspects can be set up in the Aspects/Orbs screen on a permanent basis
or temporarily changed at the data entry screen stage.

SINGLE

Enter the particular number you require (e.g. 5 for the 5th harmonic), then click on Go. A
Chart will be displayed in the normal way using the Equal House system (Houses are not
normally used in harmonic analysis). Aspects Lists can be obtained by selecting Options
and Aspects. Mutual Aspects are aspects within the harmonic chart.

DECIMAL or DATED

Alter the date if necessary and the program will calculate the exact 'age' of the client: e.g.
25.75 instead of a whole number. This number will then be used to calculate harmonic
positions in the same way as with Single Harmonics.

PLANETARY

A method advocated by John Greig. As he now states this has really nothing to do with
‘conventional’ Harmonics, but it is more convenient for us to continue to include this
method within harmonics.

Select a planet then click on Go (Display) and a chart will be displayed. The calculations
are based on the natal position of the chosen planet. This is divided into 360 to get a
number. e.g. if the Sun is at 10 degrees Taurus, the calculation will be 360 / 40 = 9. This
number is then used to multiply the positions of all the other planets and the results
reduced to 0 to 360 degrees.

HARMONIC CHART ANALYSIS

Anyone with this routine will also have the Astrocalc Harmonic Tutorial program and
booklet (possibly in digital form) and should familiarise themselves with the background
theory of harmonics as stated therein. Please note though that the Tutorial may be
included without this option being available.

After selecting this routine you are asked whether output is to Screen or Printer (black or
coloured), the default being Screen (simply press Enter or Click on ok)
The first parameter is the conjunction orb. This is set in the Aspects/Orb screen and is
not asked for here.

The next parameter is the Aspects required. These are (default o):

(m) Major aspects only (o) Major+octile (d) Major+octile + duodecile

The final parameter is the Highest Harmonic to be used (default=60).

Note that the octile = semisquare or sesquiquadrate, duodecile = semisextile or quincunx.

If you accept the default parameters then all HCs (harmonic charts) will use harmonic
orbs on a basis of 12 degrees conjunction (or whatever has been set in the Aspects/Orbs
screen), with the 5 major aspects + octiles and no aspect to be shown if the true harmonic
number exceeds 60. This means that octiles would show up in HC5, because 5 x 8 = 40,
but not in HC9, because 9 x 8 =72. Note that the program will use the Harmonic Orbs
rule no matter what conjunction orb you enter. (This rule states that for any aspect, we
divide the conjunction orb by whatever number the aspect has divided the circle by.) The
conjunction orb is the one set in the very first column in the Aspects/Orbs screen under
Harmonic Chart Analysis.

After selecting the parameters the program requests the harmonic chart number. Enter
this and click on Go (Display). The new planetary positions will be calculated together
with the HCA information. Remember that only in HC1 are the sign positions valid - in
other charts they are simply an indication where to place the planets round the wheel.
Angles and Nodes are also given for interest and experiment, though so far, their
meanings in HCs have not been established. Level with each planet (not Angles and
Nodes) is a list of aspects in coded form for brevity and neatness.

Example: against the Sun we might see

ª6­.77- 2±15: 8³.95=

This shows that the Sun has three aspects, to Venus, Uranus and Pluto respectively. The
number before the planet shows what aspect, using its (internal) number rather than its
name. Just to make this crystal clear, here is a table:

1 Conjunction 6 Sextile
2 Opposition 8 Octile (Semisquare, Sesquiquadrate)
3 Trine d Duodecile (Semisextile, Quincunx)
4 Square

A d is used in the last aspect rather than 12 for alignment purposes.

We can now see that, in our example, Sun is sextile Venus, opposite Uranus, and octile
Pluto. Remember that harmonic orbs are being used (see above).

Following each planet is a fraction, e.g. .77; this indicates the closeness of the actual orb
as a fraction of 1, so .77 is a 77% power (100% would be exact, .00 would be right on the
maximum orb allowed for the aspect.) These are fractions of whatever is the maximum
orb allowed under the harmonic orb system. We now know the exact strength of each
aspect; but you are also recommended (when you draw the chart) to use three types of
aspect lines; double line for any aspect closer than 1/6 of maximum orb (strong), broken
line for orbs greater than 1/2 maximum (weak) and solid line for the rest (medium).
Immediately after each strength number we see a symbol, (= for strong, - for medium, :
for weak) showing you what kind of line to draw
.
Other information: There is further information lower down your screen. First a
horizontal list of the 10 planets, each followed by its total aspect score. This is arrived at
by treating a 100% close aspect as 20 points and working accordingly. Fractions are
rounded to the nearest point. Following this line is the total of all the aspects in the chart
(Chart Strength). This figure is half the total of the ten planets because each aspect
involves two planets.

Finally the computer has detected all planetary pictures involving 3 planets and given
them a score which consists of the combined strengths of all three aspects. (Like all other
calculations, it is worked out exactly, then rounded to the nearest whole number).

Drawing the Harmonic Chart: At this stage you can draw the chart if you wish (we
hope to produce a special HCA chart eventually). You can use standard chart forms, or
for ease and speed draw a circle and mark twelve ticks on its perimeter to represent the
sign cusps. Have 0 Aries on the left. At first you will need to write the sign glyphs on the
outside of each 30 degree segment; with practice you can omit them because you always
know where each sign comes. It is only necessary to put the planet glyphs in their
approximate positions because the computer has accurately found all the correct aspects
anyway. You don't even need to write in the degree numbers, for the same reason! Join
up the planets with the correct type of lines, using two colours for hard and soft as
recommended in the Harmonics Tutorial. Planetary pictures such as T-squares will
emerge, confirming the computer's selection.

Hints on Interpretation: Most of what you need will be found in Harmonics Tutorial,
but there are a few further points here. When you have set up a suitable group of HCs
such as 1,4, 5 & 7, it is always interesting to compare the Chart Strengths; this gives clues
to what dominates the native. But bear in mind the parameters you have set. If you have
set 60 as the highest harmonic to be used, but selected option d (all aspects up to
duodeciles), then duodeciles will appear in all charts except HC7 (7 x 12 = 84, which is
higher than the 60 limit); so you can expect the Chart Strength of HC7 to be a little lower
than the rest (not much). But if you put up HC25, for example (and it is quite useful) you
would see nothing but conjunctions and oppositions, so a high Chart Strength is hardly to
be expected. Nevertheless Chart Strength is a useful guide in normal circumstances. By
the way, 100 points is about average; over 200 is extraordinary; below 50 is very weak.

Run your eye along the individual planet scores: any planet receiving 0 is obviously
unaspected: put a ring round it on the chart. You may as well treat a score of 5 or less in
the same way, or at least put brackets round the planet. It may also be worthwhile to ring
a pair of conjunct planets if they aspect nothing else. In all charts, note well: 1) the
strongest aspects; 2) the strongest planets; 3) the strongest 3-planet combinations. With
regard to the latter, remember that if all aspects were exact, the score would be 60, so
judge accordingly.

PROGRESSED HARMONIC CHART ANALYSIS

Progressions can be explored in real depth by the use of progressed harmonics. To do this
you need to use the Daily Progressed Angles module (if you have it) from within
progression. Do this immediately before entering the harmonics routine. The progressed
harmonic chart can be interpreted as before. Remember that the Moon moves about 1
degree a month in HC1, 4 degrees a month in HC4 and so on.

HARMONIC CONTACTS

This enables you to see the harmonics that exist between all pairs of planets. If you
choose the output to the screen then the results are limited to what can be shown on one
screen.

The program requests a start and end harmonic number and the results will be displayed
using the same conventions described above in Harmonic Chart Analysis.

LISTS

Choose Screen or Printer, then enter the start and end harmonics and click on Go
(Display). The program will calculate the harmonic positions and either send them
directly to the printer, or display on screen in batches of 5. If more than 5 are displayed
on screen then click on Next to display the next batch.

HARMONIC TUTORIAL This is a separate program which, if you have it, will run
when the option is selected. See the separate Harmonics Tutorial booklet for more
information.

SYNASTRY

There are 5 options within the Synastry menu. These are:

Direct Chart Comparison Derived Composite

Midpoint Composite Relationship
Method of Juan Trigo

A minimum of 2 but up to 12 charts can be used in the Composite or Relationship

routines and any 2 charts must be used for Direct Chart Comparison and the Trigo
method. The charts used here are the ones present in the ‘Recently used Charts’ list and
you don’t need to pre-calculate any of these (as you needed before). However, if you
want to use progressed charts (Composite only) these need to first have been calculated.
The particular sub routine you selects in the menu will show in the top heading box.
However, once arrived at the Synastry form you can select any other other available
routines from the dropdown selector by clicking the down arrow. You select charts to be
used by cheking the boxes infront of each name, which then becomes highligthed as well.
You can also select the End Planet to use, were it apply. For Derived Composite you also
have access to the Atlas chosing a place were the relationship is deemed to have taklen
place. When done you click on Go (Display) to have the result on display, this can be a
wheel or other type of display.

DIRECT CHART COMPARISON

Select 2 of the names by clicking on the boxes so they are highlighted, or using the ALT
and a letter key. Now click on Go (Display). Aspects will be listed for natal to natal
comparison, natal to progressed, progressed to natal and progressed to progressed. The
orbs used will be as set up in the Aspects/Orbs screen. As with all aspect lists, the
strongest aspects are highlighted by showing the orbs in a different colour. A strong
aspect is defined as one within 1/6 of the maximum orb - i.e. an orb of 1 degree or less
where the maximum orb is 6 degrees would qualify.

To compare 2 charts visually use the biwheel option from the screen wheel. You can
simulate here all the listed comparisons (natal to natal, natal to progressed, progressed to
natal and progressed to progressed).

DERIVED COMPOSITE

This method is the one used by all previous versions of Astrocalc and is based on the
method originally recommended by Robert Hand. To work the program needs the latitude
of the place where the relationship is deemed to be taking place. This is obtained in the
same way as in the data entry screen - the longitude is not used though.

Clicking on Go (Display) brings up the Derived Composite Chart Wheel. This can be
used as a biwheel with the natal chart, etc., if so required, lists of aspects can be obtained,
etc.

If you have previously progressed the natal charts you can obtain the Progressed Derived
Composite Chart. Select it from the frame on screen. Adjust the latitude if required as
above and click on Go (Display) to show the chart.

MIDPOINT COMPOSITE

This is similar to the above but the Angles are not derived from any new latitude. Instead
the midpoints for all natal planets and points are calculated. Where only 2 charts are used
the midpoint is the 'nearest' midpoint. The procedure for progressions is as described in
the previous section (Derived composite).

RELATIONSHIP CHART

This is a chart calculated using the midpoints in time and space between the original natal
charts. The program takes the time, date, latitude and longitude and calculates the
respective midpoints. Thus the midpoint in space for 2 latitudes of 40 deg N and 50 deg
N would be 45 deg N, and so on.

A chart is displayed in the normal way, but this time, since it is a 'real' chart, you may
also obtain the declinations and latitudes if you so wish.

JUAN TRIGO METHOD

This is a test in 2 parts. The first is of a person’s facility for couple life. The second
evaluates how 2 people relate to each other.

Within each test the rules are applied and points added positive and negative. Brief
textual descriptions are then selected according to the various scores. The mathematics
are as follows:

Test 1 (Individual)

Rule 1. Points are assigned to each individual according to the following aspects.

ª ÐÒ « 5 ªÎ­3 ª ÎÐÒ ® 3 ª ÎÐÒ ¯ 2 «Î­2

« ÎÐÒ ¯ 2
« ÐÒ ² 1 ­ ÐÒ ® 3 ­ ÎÐÒ ¯ 2 ­ ÐÒ ° 1 ­ ÐÒ ± 1
­ ÎÐÒ ² 1
­ ÎÐÒ ³ 1 ª ÑÏ« 4 ª ÑÏ® 2 ª ÎÑÏ ° 2 ª ÑÏ ± 3
« ÑÏ ­ 2
« ÑÏ ® 2 « ÑÏ ° 2 « ÎÑÏ ± 3 « ÑÏ ² 1 ­ ÑÏ ® 2
­ ÎÑÏ ° 2
­ ÎÑÏ ± 3 ­ ÑÏ ² 1 ­ ÑÏ ³ 1

The orbs used are: Î 10 Ï 10 Ð8 Ñ6 Ò4

Rule 2. Males: Double the points of the Aspects to the «

Females: Double the points of the Aspects to the ª

Rule 3. Points are assigned to each individual according to the following aspects to the
Descendant.

ê ÐÒ ª 3 ê ÐÒ « 3 ê ÐÒ ¬ 1 ê ÐÒ ­ 3 ê ÐÒ ® 3
ê ÐÒ ¯ 2 ê ÐÒ ° 1 ê ÐÒ ± 1 ê ÐÒ ² 1 ê ÐÒ ³ 1

êѪ3 êÑ«3 êѬ1 êÑ­1 êÑ®2

êѯ1 êÑ°4 êѱ5 êѲ1 êѳ2

The orbs used are: Ð4 Ñ4 Ò3

Rule 4. The following points are given to planets in the 7th house, positive if they are
well-aspected (ÐÒ) or negative if poorly aspected (ÑÏ).

ª5 «5 ¬1 ­3 ®1 ¯2 °2 ±2 ²1 ³1

Rule 5. 3 points are assigned to the if the ruler of the Ascendant is in good or bad aspect
to the Ascendant.

The orbs used are: Ð8 Ñ8 Ò6

Rule 6. Planets in the quarters are given one point each, except for the s and m which
have 2 points, assuming that any planet at less than 5 degrees from one of the axis
belongs to the next quarter.

Test 2 (Couple Test)

Rule 1: Mutual Attraction. Points are assigned depending upon the following aspects
between planets in the 2 charts.
Planets Î Ð Ò
ª« 7 6 3
ª­ 7 6 3
«« 4 3 2
«­ 5 4 2
«® 3 2 1
­® 7 6 3

Result: up to 10 points: weak up to 20: normal more than 20: Extraordinary

The orbs used are: Î 10 Ð8 Ò6

Rule 2: Affinity. Points are assigned depending upon the following aspects between ª,
«, ´ and ê

Î 5 Ï 5 Ò3 Ð3

The orbs used are: Î 10 Ï8 Ð8 Ò6

Result: up to 10 points: weak up to 20: good more than 20: Extraordinary

Rule 3: Complementarity. Points are assigned according to whether the quadrants are
full or empty.
If a quarter is full then it is given 3 or more points a quadrant being full if it contains 3
planets, or ª and one planet or « and one planet. If it is empty then it is given 2 or less
points. If a quadrant is full but there is no overlap between the charts then + 2 point, If a
quadrant is empty then -1 point.

Quadrant overlapped Points

2 -1
3 -2
4 -2 when non commanding
-3 when commanding
1 -3 when non commanding
-6 when commanding

Result: 0-2 weak 3-5 good 6-7 Excellent 8 Perfect

Rule 4: Life Together. Points are assigned according to the following aspects.

ªÑª6 ªÑ®4 ªÑ°6 ªÑ´4 «Ñ«3 «Ñ´3 ­Ñ®2

®Ñ®2 ®Ñ´2 ® Ñ µ 2 ° ÎÑÏ´ 4 ± ÎÑÏ´ 4
± ÎÑϵ 4 ´Ñ´3

In addition the minor aspects ÕÖÔ are given half the values of the corresponding major
aspects

The orbs used are: Î 10 Ï8 Ð8 Ñ8 Ò4 Õ2 Ö2 Ô2

Result: 0 Extremely good. 1-5 Very good. 6-9 Good. 10-14 Troublesome. 15+ Very bad.

The methods are best understood by examining the displays, the individual test being
shown on the top half of the screen/printout and the couple test in the bottom half.

TRANSITS

The options shown are:

Daily Monthly Current Daily Search

DAILY TRANSITS

If you select this option the program will display the start and end planets, the end aspect,
today's date and 7 in the days field, which will be highlighted.

If this is what you want click on Go (Display). If you have the all transits option you will
then be given an option to select which chart the transits are to be made to: Natal,
Progressions, Harmonics, Synastry, Returns. If you haven't calculated anything other than
the natal chart then it is the only option available. Click on OK to continue. Next you are
then given options about the output. This will be to Screen, Black and white printer,
Colour printer and, if you have the All transits option, Disc as ASCII text file.

Output will be in the form of lists in columns. For example:

11, 10, 94 ²r 10 Ò ¶ 8 30

This shows that on the 11th October 1994, Neptune was retrograde and making an exact
sextile transit to the Moon's Mean North Node in the chart of that particular client.
Neptune was in the 10th house and the Node in the 8th house. The number 30 indicates
that the aspect would be within 1 degree of orb for approximately 30 days either side of
the given date. Only periods of more than 2 days are shown.

If you choose output to printer there will be a further option to print in single or multiple
columns.

If you have all transits and choose the disc option then output will be saved to a disc
ASCII file which will have the name TDDMM.ASC where DD and MM represent the
days and months you start from.

The format on the file, using the above example, will be:

11, 10, 94 NEr 10 SX NN 8 30

If the chosen period would result in more aspects than can be shown on screen, the
program will halt when the screen is full. Click on Next to display the rest. In general it is
better to choose a period which doesn't overflow and use the Next option to continue as it
is possible that some aspects may be missed when the overflow occurs. However, the
program generally does a good job here and are able to detect any overflow. The form
caption bar will then show (page 1 of 2) etc. When there are no overflow left, Next will
result in next period being calculated and displayed. It should be noted though that
overflow seldom happens with daily transits, unless the Moon is involved – which can do
a lot of aspects each day.

The Alltransits routine will also show Aspects to House cusps. This will appear, for
example, as:

11, 10, 94 ²r 4 Ò 2c

The c indicates which house cusp it is.

MONTHLY TRANSITS

This works in exactly the same way as Daily Transits, except that Moon Aspects are not
shown. With the Alltransits options you can choose timed transits where the time the
transit occurs will be given as well as the date. Note the slower the planet is moving, the
less precise will be the time of exactitude. Usually this type of aspect depends on another
transit to trigger it and the timing of this will depend upon the position and aspect of this
other planet.

CURRENT DAILY TRANSITS

This option is only available if you have the All Transits routine.

Selection of parameters are as for other transits. However, this time the program
calculates the transits that are occurring in the sky for the given dates. No account is
taken of any client charts that you may have calculated. Effectively this gives you lists of
information of the kind that you can see graphically when using the NOW option.

Transits Dates - all routines except Search. The program uses the zone shown on the
data entry screen at the time of clicking on Go (Display) to calculate the transits.
Internally dates are calculated using GMT. The zone is then added or subtracted from the
calculated transit dates to get the 'true' date at the transit location. This means that, for
example, if you have a New Zealand birth where the zone is 12 hours, then 1/2 day will
be added to the calculated date to give the date when the transit occurs in New Zealand.
This may well mean that many daily transits appear to be 1 day further on than when
calculated for the UK. If you were born in New Zealand, or anywhere where the time
zone is significantly different from the place where you are currently located then, after
selecting the transits, alter the time zone to that appropriate to the place you are at.

SEARCH

Available with the All Transits module only. Choose a start date, any 2 of the major
planets except the Moon, select any aspect and alter the orb if required. The program will
search for the 'nearest' aspect to that date. Use the Fine Search to get a more exact date if
needed and Next to find the date of the Next aspect between the 2 planets. Bear in mind
the planetary periods which are approximately as follows:
Mercury 3 months, Venus 6 months, Mars 2 years, Jupiter 12 years, Saturn 29 years,
Uranus 84 years, Neptune 168 years, Pluto 248 years.
Obviously aspects other than conjunctions will occur more frequently. Thus oppositions
will occur roughly twice as often, trines 3 times as often, squares 4 times, sextiles 6 times
etc. However, because of retrograde motion a planets may make the same aspect 3 or
more times in quick succession.

Notes: the Sun can never make anything other than a conjunction or wide semi-sextile
with Mercury, and Venus is never more than about 48 degrees from the Sun. The widest
aspect between Mercury and Venus is a sextile - squares, trines and oppositions, etc., are
not possible.

If the program can't find an aspect within a prescribed number of calculations it will stop
and ask for a different start date. It that doesn't work then alter the orb.

TRANSITS FORECAST INTERPRETATION

Monthly Transits will now display a forecast for whatever period and planets previously
calculated. The information will be displayed on screen, or as a disc ASCII file, or saved
to the Clipboard, or printed out in the same way as the other interpretations.

As supplied there is no text with this routine, just the facility to enter it. Text can be
purchased separately - see catalogue or ask for details.

MIDPOINTS

Midpoints are calculated by adding together the longitudes of 2 planets or points and
dividing by 2 .

e.g.: ª at  20 degrees, « at Ä 20 degrees, the ª/« Midpoint is à 20 degrees.

É 20 degrees is also a possible midpoint, but the program always uses the nearest
midpoint - i.e. that represented by the shortest distance between the planets.

The available menu will show:

Solar Arc Transits to Midpoints

Aspects to Natal Chart Trees
Lists

Midpoint Orbs. These can be set in the Aspects/Orbs screen (from Data Entry under
Options). When in this screen click on 1 until you see Midpoints, then alter the orbs for
Solar Arc as required and save changes, then click on 2 to Aspects ot Natal Chart and
change, etc.

Midpoint Interpretations. These can be seen for Solar Arc, Transits to Midpoints and
the Natal Chart midpoints. The interpretations can be seen and altered from the
Interpretation text entry form.
 SOLAR ARC DIRECTIONS

Planetary positions are calculated for the date that you have input. Aspects are then
calculated to the natal planets and to the natal midpoints using the orbs set up and
midpoint dials set up in the Aspects/Orbs screen.

TRANSITS TO MIDPOINTS

This option allows you to calculate transits to midpoints for all the major planets for a
specified time of day. The birth time will be temporarily altered to reflect the current
time. This can be altered, as can the date (right hand side) and the transits will be
displayed. Orbs and dial are as set up in the Aspects/Orbs screen.

MIDPOINT ASPECTS NATAL CHART

This shows the aspects made by planets in the natal chart to midpoints in the natal chart.
Orbs and dial are as set up in the Aspects/Orbs screen.

MIDPOINT TREES

To use this part of the program first calculate a natal chart then go back to the data entry
screen. Click on Menu, then Midpoints, then Trees. (You can do Trees for routines other
than the Natal Chart).

After selecting screen or printer (only the Trees appear on screen), you will now be asked
a series of questions. The default values are shown in brackets immediately after the
question and you only need press ENTER or RETURN if these are the ones that you
want. These default values can be altered permanently via the Aspects/Orbs screen.

Using Midpoint Trees

by Mike Harding D. F. Astrol. S.

The theory of midpoints was developed during the First World War by the German
astrologer Alfred Witte. Unlike many other approaches towards new astrological ideas its
development grew out of direct observations made over a period of years. These
observations were painstakingly recorded by Witte and later on by his followers, who
included Reinhold Ebertin, and concentrated on examining specific planetary patterns in
the charts of events and nativities. While Witte went on to develop more complex
astrological ideas of planetary relationships, including the use of a number of
hypothesised bodies, Ebertin distilled the essence of his approach into one of the major
astrological works of this century - the Combination of Stellar Influences - and laid the
foundations of what is now called Cosmobiology.

Cosmobiology is concerned almost solely with the use of midpoints in astrological

analysis and its technique rests exclusively on the interpretation of a number of quite
simple planetary patterns. Cosmobiologists hold that the actual midpoint between any
two planets (the point half-way between them) is the focal point of their combined
energies. If a third planet should fall on that midpoint then it will act as a sort of catalyst
for these combined energies. Witte's original observations also indicated that a planet 45
degrees, 90 degrees, 135 degrees or 180 degrees away from that midpoint would also act
in the same manner and could be regarded equally as being 'on the midpoint' of the other
two planets. As the orbs used are very tight, 2 degrees for the Sun, Moon, Ascendant and
MC, and 1.5 degrees for the planets and node, only very precise planetary relationships
are considered.

In using midpoints we are focusing on the interplay of hard aspects - all are of course
multiples of 45 degrees - and we know from harmonics that this concentration on the idea
of the number 8 shows us the basic energy structure of an individual or an event. Thus
midpoints relate directly to action and events in life and their analysis can bring great
insight into a person's fundamental drives.

Traditionally, midpoints used to be calculated on what is known as a 90 degree dial; this

is a device which allows the astrologer to locate midpoint relationships in a visual rather
than mathematical manner. Once found, a list of all the midpoints contacted by each
planet was drawn up and then each pair placed in the sequence in which it naturally falls
in any 45 degree sequence along the circle of the Zodiac.

The complete list of a planet with its midpoints in this order is called a 'structure' or a
'tree' and when all the trees were laid out the interpretation could begin. This computer
program does away with all the time consuming work that goes into simply locating and
laying out midpoint structures by providing three separate pages of print-out. These give
all the basic information and allow the astrologer to begin interpretation immediately, but
for those new to the idea of midpoints the following notes should be studied.

Page One lists all the midpoint trees exactly as the cosmobiologist would lay them out.
All midpoints on any one tree aspect the central planet by a multiple of 45 degrees and
that focal planet will play a significant part in modulating each pair's energies. The most
important midpoint is that of the ª and «. An individual with a planet on the ª/«
midpoint will express that planet's energy very strongly in life even if no other
conventional aspect exists to connect it to either the ª or the «. Someone with ° on the
ª/« midpoint (which would be written as °=ª/«) will almost certainly manifest
very strong ° energies such as taking a serious and sober approach towards life no
matter how many other more exuberant aspects also occur in the chart. Just looking at the
ª/« midpoint alone can give very considerable extra information about the native. The
same can be said of a planet at the Ascendant/Midheaven midpoint, but as an exact time
of birth is required to be certain of this point care has to be taken in placing too much
reliance on such a configuration.

Each tree or structure is laid out to show the visual relationship between planets and their
midpoint aspects with the actual direct midpoint degree in Zodiac notation indicated on
the right. This can be very useful to note for Transits. Midpoint pairs which involve any
combination of the ª, «, Ascendant and MC can be some of the most important and the
program prints a double line for these to catch the eye. In some cases a midpoint structure
will contain an equals sign followed by a planet, such as =¯ or =². This means that the
midpoints also are to be found on the ¯ or ² tree and thus are tied into two focal
planets. This will happen when the two planets are themselves a multiple of 45 degrees
apart.

Obviously, this double combination can make these specific midpoints more important in
the chart. The other point to look for is the -*-. This indicates the actual position of the
focal planet in the sequence of midpoints it aspects. In other words, midpoints above the
-*- on a ª tree would be ahead of the ª in the 45 degree sequence, and thus transited by
hard aspects first while pairs below the -*- follow on from the ª and would be transited
after the ª.

These distinctions may not be so apparent until much more familiarity in the use of
midpoints has been achieved. However, research indicates that the sequence in which the
midpoints fall can often graphically describe the sequence of repetitive events in the life
of an individual and this approach to chart analysis can provide much valuable
information as to how clients 'expect' things to turn out etc. The midpoints on either side
of the -*- are closest in orb to the ª. A midpoint exactly on the Solar position would be
expected to operate very strongly, such as in the case of Freud's ª=¬/³. All midpoints
are seen as a form of triple conjunction where the central planet brings together and
focuses the energies of each pair it aspects. Thus in Freud's case we would have an image
of someone who would strive to centre themselves through the process of understanding
and communicating matters to do with the unconscious as well as a forceful and
communicative person who might seek to impose his views on others.

At the top of the page is a weighting system very close to that described by Robert Hand.
The ª, «, ¬, Ascendant and Midheaven score 3 points, ­ and ® 2 points and the rest
1 point each. Thus the main qualities and triplicities are clearly represented in such a way
that if a chart is high in Water and Fixed the native will probably have a Fixed/Water
approach towards life even if he is not a È. Interestingly, the lowest scoring pair can also
show up strongly and it has been suggested in the literature that this may to due to over-
compensation by the individual. In either event, the weighting can only be seen as a
general guide and is included for the user to accept or reject according to experience.

Page Two is more straight-forward. The first block of print-out calculates the direct
midpoint between each planetary pair and the second block shows its indirect equivalent.
This means that position 45 degrees away from the direct position, which again can be
important to note when working with transits. From these two sets of positions all 8
possible permutations can be seen at once. A midpoint at 10 of È will repeat at 10
degrees of all the fixed signs and its indirect equivalent at 25 É will repeat at 25 degrees
of all the mutable signs. All these positions should be noted for possible transits. Below
that is an ordinary aspectarian to note which other aspects also occur in the chart.
Page Three shows how all the midpoints fall in each of the Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable
signs. As all the Cardinal signs will contain the same midpoints in the same sequence, as
will all the Fixed and Mutable, we only need to examine one in detail to know what is
happening in the others.
This is a highly effective tool for studying Transits and Lunations at work as well as for
what can be termed 'micros astrology' -the very close examination of precisely-timed
events.

To use this Sort simply refer to the Ephemeris for the day in question. If ° is at 19 É 20
then it is aspecting 19 degrees and 20 minutes of all the Mutable signs by conjunction,
opposition or square. It is also making 45 and 135 degree aspects to 4 degrees and 20
minutes of all the Fixed signs. The Sort has been written so that should a midpoint fall at
4 degrees and 20 minutes of the Fixed signs it will also show up at 19 degrees and 20
minutes of the Cardinals. Thus just by seeing which midpoint would be hit by ° at 19
degrees and 20 minutes on the Cardinal sort will also tell us all the possible transits it can
make to all the midpoints by hard aspect - the only ones we are concerned with in
midpoint work.

In this way we can see at a glance which midpoints are being activated day by day and
which midpoints are being eclipsed during Lunations. The actual midpoint pair triggered
in this way very often indicates quite clearly the major event of the coming month. Using
the Cardinal/Fixed/Mutable sort while working with Transits allows for much greater
precision. Planets are no longer just 'in the sixth house' or whatever, but are also making
precise aspects to specific planetary energies which can be just as powerful in their
correlations as the major conventional aspects.

In 'micro astrology' we can take the precise degree of the MC and Ascendant for an event
and see what midpoints they trigger in the natal chart. These can give us clues as to the
way in which our own chart works and how we tend to experience different planetary
energies. Someone who experienced a pleasing event exactly as the MC was hitting a °
structure obviously relates to that planet in a way quite different from another whose
happiness correlates with a ¯ or ® contact. This again gives us much more personal
information as to the different layers of meaning within each planetary symbol and can
provide essential background material which can be drawn on to provide more accurate
predictions. The use of the transiting MC and Ascendant in this way can also be used to
rectify a chart with a very high degree of accuracy, although this can generally only be
done from observations made over a period of many months.

Using the Cardinal/Fixed/Mutable sort in relation to exactly-timed events will quickly

demonstrate the importance of midpoints; sudden news does arrive just as the MC transits
the radical ¬/±, separations do occur as the Ascendant reaches °/¶, as any astrologer
who has used this technique for only a short time will quickly demonstrate.

While the vast majority of work done with midpoints is in the 45 degree sort (the 8th
Harmonic which is the program default) a number of astrologers have used the 22.5
degree sort (16th Harmonic) and 11.25 degree sort (32nd Harmonic). The program allows
the option of any degree sort for further experimentation and the choice of any orb. It
would be recommended to tighten orbs in direct proportion to any decrease of scale or a
meaninglessly large amount of contacts will be generated.

Further Reading

While this is, of necessity, a very brief over-view of the technique of midpoints, more
information can be found in the following books by Reinhold Ebertin, published by the
A.F.A.:-

The Combination of Stellar Influences Applied Cosmobiology

The Contact Cosmogram The Annual Diagram.

A newer, more up-to-date book by Charles Harvey and Mike Harding has now been
published which deals extensively with midpoints using the methods described in this
manual and program. This is:-

Working with Astrology, published by Arcana Press

Horoscope Symbols, by Robert Hand (published by Para Research) also contains a

section on the use of midpoints as well as a comprehensive guide to interpreting two-
factor combinations.
MIDPOINT LISTS

After the Screen and Printer options you have 3 further options:

(P) Planetary order (Z) Zodiacal Order (D) 45 Dial

Selecting Planetary order gives you lists of the midpoints in the natal chart starting with
all ª midpoints, then all « midpoints, etc.

Selecting Zodiacal Order sorts the midpoints according to their position in the zodiac,
starting from 0 degrees Á.

Selecting D will sort the midpoints into lists according using the specified dial. The
'standard' dial is 45 and may be changed in the Aspects/Orbs Screen.

LUNAR PHASES

There are 3 options here, New/Full Moon and Quarters and Sun/Moon Angles. This
module will calculate the dates, times and longitudes of the New and Full Moons, and the
Quarter Phases and the times and dates when the Sun/Moon Angle is the same as the
natal one. This is done for a fixed period of 1 year (13 lunar months). For the Moons, the
aspects are also shown using the orbs as set up in the Aspects/Orbs screen. These orbs
are those shown in the first column (use percentage) and applying and separating ratio
and percentages and variations due to planet are not taken into account.

The positions are accurate to within a minute of longitude and ephemeris time. The Time
is shown as GMT for the period from 1700 to 2010 AD. Outside of this period the Time
shown will depend upon which option you have chosen for Delta T.

Eclipses are detected in most cases and indicated by an E. Where uncertainty exists a ?
appears next to the E. These eclipses are given in the same way as in a printed
ephemerides, that is assuming that the position of the observer is at the centre of the
earth.

Aspects to progressed planets (except the Moon) will be shown, if you have progressed
the chart. When progressing a chart with a view to Lunar Phases, take care to ensure that
the lunar dates and positions calculated actually correspond with each other. Thus, if you
have progressed a chart for which the planetary positions have been calculated for the
equivalent of 27,2,92, then calculate the lunar phases for 13 months starting from 1,1,93,
the aspects to the progressed charts may have an effective orb far different from that you
expect.

Where more aspects are calculated than can be displayed on the screen, the excess is
'lost'. When printing all aspects are printed. The Next option can be used to calculate the
next 13 months.
RETURNS

When you first select the Returns option an additional box will appear down the left hand
side. This will say either 'Without Precession' or 'With Precession'. This can be changed
by clicking on this box and saved permanently by clicking on File and Save Changes.

Solar Returns. Selecting the Solar Return option will cause the chart age to be
calculated based on the birth year and the computer clock. This should be altered as
required, also the place co-ordinates if you want to relocate the chart. After clicking on
Go (Display) the Solar Return Chart will be displayed. This can be converted to a
biwheel in the usual way, or you can display lists of aspects showing the Mutual Aspects
(aspects within the Return chart) and the Return to Natal Aspects.
To calculate the next return click on the Next option. Solar Returns are internally
calculated to the nearest second of longitude.

Lunar Returns. Selecting the Lunar Return option the computer will display today's
date. This should be altered as required, then click on Go (Display) to calculate and
display the Lunar Return chart. All options are as with the Solar Return. Lunar Returns
are internally calculated to an accuracy of within a few seconds of longitude.
Other Planet Returns. These can be calculated in a similar way to Lunar Returns.
However, apart from the Sun and Moon, all planets exhibit retrograde motion. There may
therefore be several returns close in time - close with the outer planets means over several
months. Also note that the slower the planet the less accurate is the return in terms of the
exact time (and therefore angles). They are mainly of interest in respect of the aspects
formed in the chart and to the natal chart.

EPHEMERIS GENERATOR

This routine, where you have it, will allow you to display, on screen or printer, an
ephemeris showing the longitudes of the planets for any month from 2500 BC to 2500
AD. The parameters used are those specified in zodiac, calendar, etc. Declination,
Latitudes and Distance Value ephemerides can also be generated.

This will open a separate for, initiately creating an ephemeris based on the Data Entry
chart details values. You can adjust the required Start and End dates and recalculate from
the form. The program will automatically insert the last day of the current month for a
suggested end day. With February in a leap year this will be shown as 28, not 29, so alter
if necessary (this does not affect any calculations and if you start from 1/1/1996 and end
with 31/3/1996 it will correctly show the Ephemeris for 29 days of February).

If you specify printer and ask for more than 1 month, the program will continue until it
has finished. If you specify screen and more than 1 month, then the program will stop
after displaying 1 month. Click on Next or Previous to get the next or previous month as
required.

FIXED STARS

This option will calculate and display the positions of 73 Fixed Stars for the chart
concerned. In version 6.0 for operational reasons only the Natal positions are shown, but
in any case with progressions you would, for most stars, have to progress a chart by many
hundreds of years to alter the positions by even 1 minute of longitude. Aspects between
these Stars and the chart can be displayed by clicking on Aspects.

The orbs used are as specified in the Aspects/Orbs screen under Fixed Stars and Planet by
Aspect. Thus all fixed stars in aspect to the Sun use the orbs shown against the Sun for
the various aspects for all charts.

RESEARCH FILES

The research file facilities provided in this program are based on the standards
established by the ISDF committee. This was essentially intended for data interchange
between computers, with particular reference to data transmission over telephone line,
etc. Whilst following these guide lines we have been more concerned with producing
files for use by programs and spreadsheets. We have therefore created facilities which
allow the user to produce a wide variety of differing formats but whilst still broadly
following the above-mentioned guide lines and standards.

The initial blank Research files must first be created using the Research Setup screen
(under Options from main data entry screen). Any number of formats and files may be
created. These will always be named RESnn where nn is any number that you specify.

The Windows Research files facilities are almost the same as in version 7 except that we
have added just one field (Name) to the basic setup and you cannot specify further fields.
We intend to extend the research side to allow a lot more information to be stored and for
charts other than natal ones.

The basic format of the files consists of 4 header records, plus chart data. The latter
information can be in various formats depending upon what you have specified in the
header records. All items and options can be seen on the Research File Setup screen and
altered accordingly.

The first item in the header record determines how the file is held.

Files can be stored either with each field as a continuous string or as separated strings.
Thus if, for instance, the only data fields stored were the date and time, and assuming that
you didn't want to split either field into their component parts, these could be held as a
single field YYYYMMDDHHMM or 2 fields (YYYMMDD and HHMM).

The advantages of the first format are that it is most suitable for spreadsheets and saves
disc space. The disadvantage is that time is lost in manipulating data in any programs
written to use it.

The most compact storage method with minimum chart data (i.e. no house cusps,
declinations, etc.,) will allow about 2500 records on a 360K disc. whereas the most
profligate with declinations, etc., would only allow about 300 records. If in doubt take the
options as indicated.

The rest of the header record together with the values which may be stored in the data
records are:

Date: +/-YYYYMMDD or +/-YYY with MM and DD as separate fields.

Time: (24hr GMT) HHMM or HHMMSS or separate fields or a no. from 0-24
Latitude :(South -) +/-DDMM or +/-DDMMSS
Longitude: (East -) +/-DDMM or +/-DDMMSS
(both the above can also be as separate fields or nos 0-90/180).
Zodiac: 0 - 3 (Tropical, Sidereal, Draconic Mean, Draconic True)
House System: (0-8, None, Equal, Placidus, Koch, Topocentric, Regiomontanus,
Porphry, Campanus, Alcabitus)
True/Apparent positions: 0=True or 1=Apparent
Delta T: 0 or 1 (not calculated/calculated - before 1700/after 2000)
Planet data: +/-SSDDMMSSHH or as separate fields or as numbers.
Heliocentric positions: Y or N.
House Cusps (2,3,11,12): Y or N
Sex: Y or N.
Profession: Y or N.
Information Source: Y or N
Time Zone: Y or N.
East Point: Y or N:
Vertex: Y or N.
Declinations: Y or N.
Latitudes: Y or N.
True Node: Y or N.
Part of Fortune: Y or N.
Name: Y or N.
Notes regarding above:-

1) The reason for holding the date in year, month, day order is that this makes data
selection much easier. Whichever option is chosen will be stored in the header record -
i.e. the 2nd digit of the header record will be 1 or 2. Similarly with choices for other
fields.
2) For compatibility with our American cousins we are storing terrestrial longitude with
negative values for East. Those who wish to use this longitude for calculations should
therefore remember to reverse the sign.

3) As an example, if you chose the indicated options in all the choices and use the Equal
House system, the header records would look like this:

111101001NNYYYYNNNNNNNY
Surname (18 chars)
Forename (12 chars)
zzz

If the name field is not used then only the very first header record will be present.

To use the files that you have created you should go Back to the data entry screen,
calculate a chart then choose File, Save and Research. You will then be prompted to enter
the Research file number you have just created. The program will then check the header
details to see that these correspond with the data just calculated - if the header record says
you want to use Placidus Houses and you have just calculated Equal you will get an error
message and you won't be able to save information to that particular RES file.

If the header information is satisfactory the program will calculate an Accuracy code
based on the input time and will give you the option of accepting it or not. If the time is
given as 0 mins (i.e. on the hour), the program assumes an accuracy code of I (i.e. within
30 mins). Anything else will be allocated a value of G.

The Accuracy code is as follows:

E +/- 5 mins G +/- 15 mins I +/- 30 mins

K +/- 1 hour M +/- 2 hours O +/- 4 hours
Q +/- 12 hours S +/- 24 hours U +/- 48 hours

W rectified Y accuracy not known Z Time not known

If you have requested Sex, Profession, Information Source or Time Zone, the program
will ask for these details. Use M=Male, N=Neutral, E=Event, F=Female., etc., and
C=Certificate, W=Word of Mouth, D=Document and a 4 digit coding system for the
profession. This should be of the form nn.n where the first 2 digits indicate the main
grouping and the last digit a sub-grouping within it. e.g. if sportsmen were 10, then
Footballers might be 5, so the code would be 10.5

When data entry is complete the information is displayed for you to save and print as
required.
The order of the stored data (where present) in each record will be:

date, time, latitude, longitude, Accuracy code, sex, profession, information source, time
zone, planet data, heliocentric positions, house cusps (2,3,11,12), East Point, Vertex, True
Node, Part of Fortune, declinations, latitudes, Surname, Forename. Latitudes and
Declinations are always stored with 8 characters preceded by a plus or minus sign.

Please note that when we write +/- we mean plus or minus, not plus slash minus. Also,
except when writing the records as a single string, or when writing the planetary
information, leading + signs (as in date, latitude and longitude) are omitted.

Planet data will be in the order:-

Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Mean North
Node, Ascendant and Mid-heaven.

The format of the planet data as +/- SSDDMMSSHH is:

SS=sign number (1-12), DD=degrees (0-29), MM=minutes (0-59), SS=seconds (0-59),
HH=house position (1-12).

Negative values indicate a planet is retrograde and a leading space indicates that the
planet is stationary or moving very slowly (less than 1/35 of its mean apparent motion).
Heliocentric and house cusp data will be in a similar format without the preceding +/- (or
house nos with house cusps). Except for the fixed length continuous string format, each
complete record will be separated by *** denoting end of record.

IMPORTANT: Whilst Astrocalc endeavour to create the facilities for research to the
best of our ability, we cannot accept any responsibility for any loss of information or
data as a result of using our programs. If you are going to do research then take care
to back up any research files that you create after each session. Documentation is also
very important and the information on file should be consistent. Take extra care with
items such as the information source and Accuracy code where you should err on the
side of caution and assume the worst possible. Every effort has been made to eliminate
errors, but if you introduce new codes, or change codes or definitions in mid-
experiment, then you cannot expect your results to be meaningful.

HUBER MODULE

This module is only available in the Professional Edition OR if you have purchsed it
separately.

Access to this part of the program is via the data entry screen. You activate/deactivate the
Huber Mode by checking/unchecking the Huber Mode option above the Name field in
Chart Details frame. When activated, all charts calculated from now on will be done in
the Huber style until you uncheck the option. Whilst in this mode only natal charts can be
calculated. Selection of the Huber option also selects the Koch house system to be used,
no matter which system the chart is saved with, and ensures that no degrees or degrees
and minutes are printed within chart wheels.

Huber Options. Before calculating any Huber style charts it may be as well to alter other
options such as symbols and colours. These can be done by selecting Options and
Alternate Symbols and Alternate Colours. It is not necessary to alter the selected Planets
or the Orbs although you may choose to decide how the aspect lines are shown (in the
Chart Design form).

The program as supplied to you will probably be set up to use the 'normal' Astrocalc
colours. These will not differ from the Huber ones except perhaps for the symbol for
Pluto, the colours used for the Quincunx and in the use of a dark blue for the Air signs
when printing rather than a yellow.

Colours. In order to maintain some degree of flexibility in use, and to cater for
individual tastes, we have maintained our palette options within the Huber module. This
means that you can operate either in black and white (if you don't have a colour monitor -
and for saving screens), or with a black background or a white background. The black
background has the big advantage of allowing yellow to be clearly seen. However, this is
clearly impractical for printing since a black background would use enormous amounts of
ink or toner. So all printing is assumed to operate on a white background and the palette
that is used for printing can also be used on screen.

If you choose the black background then we have also maintained the normal Astrocalc
convention of the planets taking on the colours of the signs within which they occur. If
you use the white background, or when printing, the Sun, Moon and Saturn are red and
the rest are black. Colours are also used for Age Point and Age Progression screens in
order to improve readability. Producing a decent yellow on screen or printer can be
difficult. There are basically 2 colours in the normal 16 colour palette which can be used
for yellow. These are 14 and 6. 14 is the bright yellow which looks very good on a black
background but is often too faint to see on a white background. 6 can be a rather murky
brownish yellow on some screens - it will depend on your monitor - and may be
translated to the 14 colour on some very old colour printers. The clarity of the 14 yellow
on printout can be improved by altering the colour intensity option within the Windows
Printer setup - move the cursor to make it darker.

Entering data. All facilities are available in the normal way. The Now and Clock options
can currently not be used with charts calculated according to the Huber style.

Calculating the Chart. Click on Go (Display) in the normal manner. The chart wheel
will be displayed. The Chart wheel will be displayed in the Huber style with the
following exception that although Ac is used for the Ascendant in the wheel, As is used
in all lists of planets both on screen and printer.

There is an option, set from the Chart Design form, where you can decide whether you
want an aspect grid printed at the bottom of the chart wheel, or the additional information
such as Dynamic Calculations, etc., as with previous Windows versions.

THE HUBER CHART WHEEL MENU BAR

File. The 2 options here are the same as described previously in the main section.

Chart Options. The 2 options here are similarly described previously in the main
section.

Calculations. This allows you to select those calculations specific to the Huber method
and relating to the Chart Wheel just displayed.

Aspects gives you an aspect grid. The + sign indicates an applying aspect.
Orbs are only shown on the printed output, not on screen.

Age Point. This gives you a screen showing the Dynamic Calculations and the Age Point
for 72 years. When printing only the Age Point details are shown. The Dynamic
calculations are always shown on the printed chart wheel.

Age Progressions. This gives the display of the Age Progressions.

Other Charts. This shows the 4 types of charts specific to the Huber method.

Print. There is also now the option of printing a summary page showing the planetary
positions, Age Point, natal and house aspects.

Back, Next and Chart List are as described previously in the main section.

If you have any problems, difficulties or comments please let us know. Note that there
will be differences in some of the calculations from those performed manually or via
other computer systems. This will be most noticeable with the so-called True Node where
there are many possible variations in the way it is calculated.

ERRORS

All computer programs of a reasonable size have errors in them, the computer chip inside
your computer has errors, as does the Windows system. So does the Astrocalc program.
And then there are all the problems associated with the different parts of the computer
trying to speak to each other, and these will differ depending upon the different makes of
Windows PC compatibles. One Windows PC compatible is NOT EXACTLY like
another, though the functionality should be the same. Indeed, it is sometimes a wonder
that programs generally work as well as they do!

We are constantly updating the program to improve it and correct any errors that are
uncovered. Astrocalc version 6.0 is a mature product and we believe that any remaining
errors are of a minor nature not affecting the main functionality of the program. If you do
find a repeatable error which is attributable to Astrocalc and not covered in this manual,
then please make a note of all the details and let us know. We can then correct it in future
versions and advise you as to possible ways of overcoming it. We are also interested in
any significant differences in the Atlas co-ordinates, or wrong time zones.

Please send all queries with full details to support@astrocalc.com

or fax the details to +420 -567 321 222

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

In creating Windows version of our software our principal concern was to retain all the
functionality of our DOS programs and provide a Windows base from which to develop
further. Version 2 did this by developing the flexibility that the new Windows
environment offers. Version 3 started the long and slow process of producing user-
defined interpretations, Version 3.5 continued with the introduction of the Forecasting
and Synastry options, whilst Version 5.6 introduced Midpoints text and many other
additions. The first version of Astrocalc was first released in July 1982 and there have
been many versions since then. However, with the exception of the Windows version,
much of the coding has remained the same. Version 6.0 represents the culmination of
several years of rewriting and updating the main program that is can take advantage of
the many new features that Windows offers. In this version the most significant changes
are “under the hood” to ensure that your program runs well on any Windows PC from
Windows 98 and later, and to make later updates as smooth as possible. It also introduce
a new range of available editions.

Astrocalc now comes in only 6 editions; Beginners, Basic, Synastry, Standard, Advanced
and Professional, each with increasing functionality. These replace our old W range of
programs and correspond approximately to W1, W2, W4, W8,W21 and W29.

The Professional edition includes all the Text files and is the equivalent of the old W30
program, but without the AstroGeography program, which is now dealt with separately.
Instead the Huber program now is added to Professional.

RUBBISH IN - RUBBISH OUT

Finally, our usual warning about data entry The immediate nature of this Windows type
of data entry makes the program very easy to use. But this has its own dangers in that you
can very easily calculate the wrong chart. You may forget to alter the time, date or
latitude when altering a chart (which is why we zeroise fields for charts not found). You
may click on the wrong zodiac or for the wrong calendar and not notice it even with the
information staring you in the face. We have tried to make this kind of error less likely by
providing warning notices, but these can be turned off and there are even people who
never actually read the message in front of them anyway.

The point is do take extra care in checking the information you have entered before
calculating it. Don't waste hours interpreting the wrong chart for the sake of a few
seconds.

Notice: We believe this manual to be a fair description of the program. However, we

are continually improving the program and manual. Consequently there may be times
when the two are out of step. If you find any such errors, please let us know.

ASTROCALC
International
established 1982
www.astrocalc.com
Masarykovo Nam. 40
58601 Jihlava
Czech Republic

When writing for details to us or anyone else mentioned on this page,

please enclose a stamped addressed envelope.

Book Shops
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Covent Garden London
London N1 1DN
WC2H 9PA tel: 0207 607 4133
tel: 0207 813 3051

The Mayo School Book Service The Unicorn Centre

Alvana Gardens 55 Singlewell Road
Tregavethan Gravesend
Truro, Cornwall Kent
TR4 9EN DA11 7PU
tel: 01872 560048 tel: 01474 537060

UK Astrology Schools

The Mayo School of Astrology The Faculty of Astrological Studies

Alvana Gardens BM 7470
Tregavethan London
Truro, Cornwall WC1N 3XX
TR4 9EN tel:- 070 00790 143
tel:- 01872 560048

The English Huber School of Astrological Counselling

PO Box 118, Knutsford, Cheshire WA16 8TG tel: 01565 651131

British Astrological Association

To join the Astrological Asssociation please write to:-

The Secretary, BM Box 3955, London WC1N 3XX tel:- 0207 700 0639

The Association of Professional Astrologers

This is an organisation formed by and for professional astrologers in an attempt to address the issues of
astrology as a profession. It holds meetings, workshops and publishes a newsletter covering all aspects of
serious astrology from the philosophical to the practical. It is the only Astrological organisation able to
offer professional insurance for it’s members.

Membership of the A.P.A. is not automatic. For details plus a copy of the Constitution, please see our web
site for details including an up-to-date list of consultants.

www.professionalastrologers.org