Astrologic Reading Tool

What is ART?

ART as a concept began very, very long ago. Recently I felt inspired to code a nice radix, which resulted in the contemporary ART you are looking at right now.

The keywords were generated with ChatGPT and have not been curated much. With my limited knowledge of astrology I got the impression, that GPT got it probably right.

ART is powered by Swiss Ephemeris.

Further Reading

If you believe in astrology, read: Barnum Effect, Lunar Effect, Magical Thinking.

If you are a sceptic, read: Eight Lectures on Yoga by Aleister Crowley.

Glossary

How Astrology Works

Horoscopy is rather complicated and there's also a variety of opinions, how charts are read. I won't be able to provide detailed instructions, but there's plenty of web pages covering the topic; The article Principles of Astrology looks nice.

I vaguely remember some of the basics:

• Planets stand for certain aspects of the psyche
• Houses represent areas of life
• Planets in a House indicate, where that aspect will manifest itself primarily
• Signs give specific characteristics to Planets and Houses
• Aspects tell us, how the Planets relate to each other.

Some aspects like Oppositions and Squares indicate tension points, things the soul intended to learn in this incarnation, whereas Trines and Sextiles show, which tools the soul brought along.

Astronomical Terms

Ecliptic

Average plane of Earth's orbit; The circle around the sky drawn by the sun in one year.

Zodiac Signs

Constellations in the sky close to the ecliptic.

Great circle

A circle on a sphere, with its center coinciding with the center of the sphere. In our context, either the equator or a meridian.

Equator

Great circle around the Earth, that's equidistant to the poles

Meridian

A great circle perpedicular to the equator, intersecting the poles.

Celestial Equator

Earth's equator projected onto the sky; Corresponding to Earth's axial tilt, the equator intersects the ecliptic at an angle of about 23.5°

Longitude

Coordinate on a sphere. East or west of the Prime Meridian for positions on the earth, or 0° to 360° in ecliptic coordinates.

Latitude

Coordinate on Earth, north or south of the equator. The north/south position of planets is usually ignored in horoscopes.

Ascendant and Descendant

The ascendant is the sign rising at the eastern, the descendant the sign setting at the western horizon. Location and time of day are required to calculate these.

Imum Coeli and Medium Coeli

Intersection points of the meridian and the ecliptic. The MC is also called Midheaven. Location and time of day are required to calculate these.

Lunar Nodes

Intersection points between the Moon's orbit and the ecliptic

Signs

♈︎

Aries

♉︎

Taurus

♊︎

Gemini

♋︎

Cancer

♌︎

Leo

♍︎

Virgo

♎︎

Libra

♏︎

Scorpio

♐︎

Sagittarius

♑︎

Capricorn

♒︎

Aquarius

♓︎

Pisces

Planets

Ancient astrologers knew about seven Classical Planets. The term planet probably comes from the Greek word planḗtai, meaning wanderers, things that move across the sky (compared to the fixed stars). In astrology, the Sun and the Moon are also considered planets.

☉

Sun

☽

Moon

☿

Mercury

♀

Venus

♂

Mars

♃

Jupiter

♄

Saturn

♅, ⛢

Uranus

♆

Neptune

⯓, ♇

Pluto

⚷

Chiron

⯛

Pholus

⚳

Ceres

⚴

Pallas

⚵

Juno

⚶

Vesta

Lunar Nodes

☊

Ascending Node (Caput Draconis)

☋

Descending Node (Cauda Draconis)

⚸

Mean Apogee
(Lilith)

Aspects

Aspects are angles between the planets, as seen from Earth.

Houses

The houses are divisions of the ecliptic plane depending on time and place of the horoscope in question.

There is a variety of ways, how houses can be calculated. Placidus or Koch are popular house systems.

Commonly, houses one through six are below the horizon and houses seven through twelve are above the horizon.

Ascendant and Descendant

The signs that are rising/setting at the horizon. Ofen used to define the cusps of House 1 and House 7.

Imum Coeli and Medium Coeli

Intersection between Ecliptic and Meridian. The MC is also known as Mid Heaven.