Quick Start Guide to Master Astrocalc Version 6.2
This document offers a fast track to get up and running with your new Astrocalc program. To be helpful for both new and older users (upgrading from previous versions) it covers important changes since several versions back and how they apply today. While this document tries to be brief and instructive, sometimes a deeper detour may take place as mastering a program like Astrocalc isn’t thought in just a few words and may demand some practice as well. For a fuller discussion on the very latest changes and improvements in the program, please read the What is new in Astrocalc 6.2? document.
Astrocalc comes in 6 editions to cover a variation of needs; Beginners, Basic, Synastry, Standard, Advanced and Professional, each with increasing functionality. These replace our old W range of programs and correspond approximately to the old W1, W2, W4, W8, W21 and W29. The Professional edition now also includes the Huber module, which can be purchased separately as an addition to any of the other editions. The same is true for the Ephemeris Generator module, but apart from that Astrocalc is only offered in the mentioned 6 preset configurations. The addition of individual routines creating a custom hybrid edition is a memory of the past. How this apply to an upgrade of a custom version, please visit support section at www.astrocalc.com for further details.
As users of older versions go through the program they will find that most Astrocalc features have been retained and often enhanced, e.g. Screen Transits now includes a paged overflow buffer, the Interpretation Text Files are named in a descriptive fashion and also used in the configuration together with a much improved editing facility, the Table of Houses and Ephemeris Screens have been updated for ease of selection and data entry, and so on.
Managing your charts
The way charts are handled has been much improved in the new version, from the procedure of entering a new chart to the way how they are stored, and in between how to search for and select saved ones, and ultimately how you use them in the program. Central to this procedure is the Chart Details frame where most of the input data goes and particularly important is the Name field. It provides a 3 in 1 functionality, as an edit and input field for the current as well as for new charts name, as a search field to lookup one or more charts in the database, and as a selectable list of chart from the currently active group or a result returned by a search . All this will be explained in detail below.
How to do a New Chart
With exception of a few situations where the program may offer you the option to start a new Chart, the standard way is now to explicitly click the 'New' button in the Chart Details frame. This will put the program in to a special New Chart edit mode and at the same time the button caption will change to ‘Save’. At the same time the Delete button’s caption will change to ‘Abort’ allowing to restore the previous chart, in case you change your mind. Now you can input your details, select group and when ready click the Save button. Your chart is now ready to be used, e.g. to display a Wheel by a click on the Go! button or to work with Progressions, Transits etc. available in the Routines menu.
The very first time you start the program as a new user and there are no saved charts, it will start in this mode - ready for you to enter the details of your first chart. Obviously there is no option to Abort in this case. Once you have saved a chart, every time you start the program the last chart used will be loaded automatically.
How to do load a Saved Chart
The Name field, where you enter a name for a new chart, has a multi-purpose function. Apart from behave like a ordinary input field after clicking any of the ‘Edit’ and ‘New’ buttons it’s also equipped with a dropdown list of charts to select from. When you pick a chart in this list it will be loaded into the Chart Details frame and is ready to use immediately. The content of this list may vary though and this will be explained further below.
Chart Groups and Storage of Charts
Charts are saved and can be organized in Groups and you can create as many as you like. In previous versions your chart data was saved in simple text files, one for each group, easy to manually edit and manipulate, yes, but also easily corrupted and not very practical for the program to act on. In the new version all chart data is saved in an indexed database, not editable by hand but very practical for the program to deal with. The binary format also gives an increased protection against file corruption.
The program comes with 2 groups pre-created, Clients which is empty and Famous which contains about 300 charts of more or less famously know persons or events. The very first time you start the program as a new user it deliberately starts in New Chart mode with the empty Clients group active as we like to encourage you to start creating your own charts right away.
Saved Charts are organized in Groups and you can create as many as you like. These groups together with all chart data are saved in an indexed database and the only way to edit the data is through the programs user interface.
Available groups are loaded in to a selectable list present in the Chart Control Panel and the last selected one always becomes the Active Group. When you select a group it loads all its charts in to memory and fills the Name list with chart names. The list can also be filled with the result from a search, which you will find detailed instructions about later in this document.
The program currently comes with 2 groups pre-created, Clients which is empty and Famous which contains about 300 charts of more or less famously know persons or events. The very first time you start the program as a new user it deliberately starts in New Chart mode with the empty Clients group active as we like to encourage you to start creating your own charts right away.
You now also have the option to set and use a Default Group, so when “Use Default Group” is checked and you start a new chart the program will automatically switch to make it the Active Group.
How to Edit and Save a chart
After loading a saved chart it’s possible to edit all input parameters, except for the Chart Name, and you can use the changed chart in most routines and displaying a wheel based on the changed values. However, the changes are lost if you close the program or take some action that would reread the chart from the database, e.g. select it again from the Name field list. To explicit save changes to the chart you have to click the Edit (which will change into Save) and you can do this even after you have done changes to the field values. If not already done so, you can change date and time values or other values like Chart name, Calendar or Group (or create a new one), before you finally click the Save button. If you choose to Abort, the chart will be reread from database and restored to its original state.
A chart is always saved into the Active Group and if you want to move a chart from one group to another, just click Edit, change the Active Group and then click Save. It’s a good habit to organize your charts in to groups and you can create as many of them as you like, rename and delete as needed. However, you should be aware of that if you delete a group all the charts it contains are trashed as well.
While each chart has to be saved before it can be put to use, you may not like to keep all of them. This is partly the idea behind the Default Group. We suggest you use this group as a temporary storage space and you can even rename it to Temporary if you like. Let all new charts get saved in to this group to start with and when you are sure you want to keep one, just move it in to another group. As time goes by you may do housekeeping deleting individual charts, but if it piles up with irrelevant charts you can also purge the group of all charts in one go. You can do this from the “File” menu item “Chart Groups” where you find this and several other options for groups.
Recently used chart
As you load and work with charts the program keeps track of it and adds a marker to the list of “Recently used charts”. Currently this list has a limitation of 12 charts and when reached any new chart added will push out the oldest. This list is only kept in memory, until you close the program when it’s saved to disc, to be read in on next program start. From the Data Entry form this list is only available as a drop down Context Menu, which pops up when you click with the right mouse button on any free space inside the Chart Details frame. Needless to say maybe, but as this is documentation, if you click any item in the list it will be loaded into Chart Detail as the current chart.
The same list is also available on other forms like the wheel and presents the charts you have fast access to work with in various routines.
Searching for charts
As said earlier, the Name field possesses a multi-functional quality. When not in New Chart or Edit Chart Mode, it displays a name caption for the current chart and at the same time can you type into the field to execute a search by pressing the Enter key as a final action. This doesn’t change the name of the chart which immediately will be restored, but depending on what result the search yields additional things may happen.
If exactly one chart is found it will be loaded directly and becomes the current one. In this case the Name caption does change as we now have a new chart to work with.
If the search results in more than one chart found, all charts found will be read into a special search list that will drop down below the field. This list will be rich in detail so you without doubt can locate the chart(s) you where interested in. Selecting an item from the list will as usual load it to become the current chart.
If you now drop the list again manually by clicking the arrow to the right of the field you may expect it to show items from the Active Group, but not. All charts returned from the list stay there until you take one of several actions to clear the list, or individually delete one or more of the charts. To clear the list you have to take one of the following actions, click the New button, change Active Group (unless you have first clicked the Edit button), select a chart from “Recently used charts” context menu or explicitly click the “Reset Search” button that will have become visible beneath the Name field. As you reset the search all charts from the Active Group becomes available again.
Setting search criteria
There are two types of parameters you can set to limit the range of a search and that was also limit the amount of charts returned. This is all done in the Chart Control Panel at the centre of the form.
If “Search all groups” not are checked the search will be limited to the currently Active Group, otherwise the search will be done across all of them.
The other option concerns the object itself that is searched for and how what you type has to match with it. While “Match Exact” is more or less self explanatory it may be useful to know it’s not case sensitive. The program comes with “Match Start” as preselected and it means what you enter has to match with the beginning of the chart name. Finally “Match Any” allows you to enter a term that can match with any part of the chart name. For this last option the search term has to be at least 2 characters in length although you should be careful with using such short term as it may return an awful lot of charts – if you have many charts saved of course! It can be very useful though, even when only using 2 characters e.g searching for an odd or particular character combination like sz, so it would be silly not to allow this.
The Natal Chart and other charts/techniques based on it
After saving a Natal chart, there is no longer any need to calculate or display it in a wheel before it can be used in other routines like Progressions, Returns etc. although for Synastry, at least two Natal charts are needed and the same is true for charts to be used in Multi-wheels.
The Atlas and Time Zone Module
All Editions of Astrocalc comes with a vastly improved World Atlas and Time Zone module, covering more than 200 000 places worldwide.
The Atlas is editable so that you can add your own places with geographic coordinates, as well as adjust the values for originally included places too - if you find it necessary. Your custom places can also be assigned a time zone and just like the original ones use the time zone functionality automatically. Any change you do will be persistent and survive an update/upgrade of as well program as atlas.
You can optionally search for places across the whole world or limit it to individual countries. You search by typing a search term directly into the Place field and execute by pressing the Enter key. If your search results in more than one place found, all found places are loaded into a list that will drop beneath the Place field. The list will be rich in detail so you can easily locate the place you are after. You then select the place to load its data to be used in the current chart.
If a search returns only one place it’s loaded directly to be used by the current chart. If no Place is found the program will ask if you like to add one or make a new search.
If you don't finish by pressing Enter but move forward to next field by pressing Tab, an Arrow key or click with the mouse, it signals to the program you want to do a manual input of data and neither search is done nor is any calculation of zone time carried out.
There are 2 parameters you can set to influence how the search is done, which can be found in the Atlas Control Panel on Data Entry form.
The first, Exact Match, is rather self explanatory and requires that what you type has to be equal to the Place you are searching for, it’s not case sensitive though. If not checked it behave the same way as “Match Start” when searching for charts.
The second, Search World, if checked sets the range to cover the whole world, no matter what country currently is selected. Otherwise the range is limited to exactly the selected country. However, if the Country field happens to be blank it has the same effect as if the option was checked, even if not.
With this much improved search function you seldom want to click the [Atlas Manager] button when looking for a place, unless you are very unsure about the spelling (but you can now do other things there). Instead you are encouraged to learn how to effectively search by making use the parameters that can be set. A golden rule to follow is that the less you type the more will be returned. It’s pretty simple and strait forward.
Fast accessible places
You can now keep up to 10 places in memory to quickly load in to the chart details, either by selecting from a list with the mouse or by pressing a key combination on the keyboard. One of these places are defined as your 'Default Place', which the program may use automatically when needed, as when you make a Now chart or start a New one. This broadly equals to and replaces the ‘Current Location’ function available in older versions.
United Kingdom is not a country but a sovereign state
In the new Atlas data for all UK locations have been split up to sort under respective country rather than the sovereign state at whole. In the original atlas that was based on a batch of text files, the data had a flat structure with no ability to index the data or use it relationally in an effective way. While this format was limited in many ways it didn’t have a problem with associating a place with both the country and the UK sovereign state, but under the hood a place was linked not to one but to all the UK countries. This was normally not a problem as you had to select the country first before you could get to the place.
When we created the 1st version of the new atlas all data moved in to a database file allowing for indexing and relational linking of the data. The said change created however a problem with UK places as in the original atlas they were all kept in the same file, without a clear affiliation to their real country. While other countries had one label pointing to a unique identifier, UK had several, one for each country, all pointing to the same identifier. This problem no longer exists as the new atlas has evolved to its second version.
New Text Editor and Interpretation text structure
The text editor and the whole way interpretation text is used in the program have changed dramatically in the new version of Astrocalc. The editor in older versions was rather complicated, hence quite difficult to understand and use. This should no longer be the case. As a part of the editor redesign we also took a look at the logic behind usage and implementation of the text and found that simplicity also made it possible to remove some limitation and leave that open to the mindset of the text creator.
As a result, Interpretation text is no longer tied to a specific Routine or Routine's Subroutine as it was before, except for text to be used in some structurally specific routines like Transits, Midpoints and Synastry Direct Comparison. All other text sets are simply deemed as Wheel Text and can be used in any type of wheel, as from a technical point of view they are all the same. In other words, a chart wheel is always a chart wheel no matter if it contains a Natal Chart or a Lunar Return.
This probably upsets one or another Saturnian mind as it breaks with the tradition. The magic key to get it all sorted and organized though is called ‘Named Configurations’ and this name will show up in menus where you select the text to use for an interpretation. It means the borders are a bit more fluid and you can deliberately write text that apply to more than one type of wheel, or you can stick to your old regime and name files accordingly and stay prudent with selecting them only when proper or it makes sense to you.
OTHER CHANGES
Many other small changes have been done and the most important will be presented below.
The program executables as well as Setup packages are now signed with a digital certificate to ensure you that files haven’t been tampered with by any Dart Wader wannabe from the Evil Empire since they left our development computer. Furthermore, it makes later versions of Windows to run happier as well ;-)
The program now has support for Unicode and Windows Styles, it means you can basically use any language specific characters for input and they will store as well as display correctly. This is also to open the path of translation in other than Germanic languages. The Windows styles make the program adjust in colours and fit in with the desktop theme used on modern computers.
On most forms you can now show help by simply hovering with the mouse over an area or control, without the need to actually select it. This feature should be very useful to new users who quickly can get up to speed with what various things do, without initiate any real action. As time goes you may find it annoying that the help box is flickering as you move around the mouse, for that reason it can be switched On/Off from the Help menu. Due to the nature of this function you should keep in mind that if you move the mouse quickly over several objects it may temporary make the help windows show irrelevant information in between.
By popular request, the button to restore the natal charts from none natal subroutines have been reintroduced, it’s now labelled ‘Back to Natal’ and will show up to the left of the Delete button in Chart Details, when using some of the non-natal subroutines like Progressions etc.
What was previously called “East Point” has correctly been renamed to “Equatorial Ascendant” in version 6.2
Support for many more and bigger screen resolutions have been added, as well as improvements for the older ones.
A huge amount of internal changes to code have been done to improve stability and resource usage on later versions of Windows, together with many improvements to the Graphic User Interface (GUI) makes the program run not only with increased stability but also faster and is easier to use.
IMPROVEMENTS AND CHANGES PRIOR TO ASTROCALC VERSION 6.2
The following information is a brief overview of the programs most fundamental improvements and change of functionality that was introduced in the later version 5 releases and in many cases since then been improved further in the version 6 ranges. This information is extra useful to users who have stayed behind with the very popular Astrocalc 3.5 and now perhaps got themselves a new Windows 7 computer, where neither 3.5 nor any version prior to 6.2 will install and run. Old users of version 5.x may still find this to be a useful recap though. Fore totally new Astrocalc users this is a nice “step through” on how to use the program and should definitely see it as essential reading.
The following text on changes and functionalities is given in the order you are likely to encounter them and relate to the full Professional version, so some part may not be relevant to you in case you have a smaller edition. The features are presented here as they appear in the latest version which may differ from their original implementation.
ALL USERS new to this version should particularly take note of the HELP BOX displayed on most forms which updates its content as you move around the form. Likewise it may be a good idea to read the User Instructions Manual as even if Astrocalc is an easy program to use, it's also a quite big and complex program, full of features and it may take some time until you become familiar with it. However, you should be aware of that even if we try our best to keep the User Manual up to date, it may contain outdated information. In such case what's said in the program help should be given precedence.
After installation, you will find the Manual in the Windows START menu, under (All) Programs and then Astrocalc Software group. The document will by default opens in WordPad, unless you have another more advanced Word Processor to open standard documents by default (e.g. MS Word). A less elegantly formatted version of the Manual can also be accessed from the Help menu.
THE DATA ENTRY SCREEN
1) GROUPS. The structure of saved charts (previously known as client files) has been reorganized. Instead of being stored in text files as they were prior to Version 6, each chart is now stored in a database and belongs to a named group. In the Chart Control Panel you will find a label 'Active Group' with a dropdown list beneath. This gives you the option to select a group name e.g. CLIENT (the default group set up at delivery) and load into memory all charts filed in it. Any new chart you create will also be filed in the active group. In addition, the program also comes with another Group pre-created, called FAMOUS, containing data of about 300 famous people and events. Charts can only be saved in one group, but moved between groups.
2) CALCULATE CHART. The Natal Chart is now calculated automatically as you save it and you can immediately go directly to other Routines such as Progressions, Synastry, etc.
3) ASPECT CHOICE. The aspects selected for each type of chart are shown in a frame on the central part of the screen. All aspects can be switched on an off individually by clicking on the box to the left of the aspect symbol. Thus each different type of chart can have different aspect selections. Changes are saved automatically.
4) ATLAS & TIME ZONES. All Editions comes with the full Astrocalc Atlas and Time Zones. You can edit the geographical values for any place in the Atlas and add new places. However, while you can assign a time zone to newly added places, you cannot edit the actual Time Zones or change zone for places supplied with the atlas. You set a time zone for a new place by simply clicking on another one from the main list, so basically you only need to know a place nearby, not the actual time zone value as for the place.
A very useful new feature in the Atlas is that if you aren't sure of the Country or State you can now search all countries - simply check the option “Search World” or leave the Country field blank.
5) IMPORT OF FILE FORMATS. Under menu File and Import you will now find several options to import different chart file formats. Apart from importing older Astrocalc files these also allow you to import charts saved by Solar Fire (version 3, 4 and 5), Janus, Electric Ephemeris, older Matrix Blue Start and any programs which save files in the German AAF format. Follow the instructions as given in the help box.
6) REORGANIZED MENUS (For old users). Please note that the menu structure has been adjusted. The top-level menu called Menu has been renamed to Routines and some of its items moved to the Tools menu. Options now contains just the additional screens where you set Aspects and Orbs, Planet Selections, Interpretation Text Entry, etc., and Settings contain those options which determine settings specific to the program, such as order of Date Entry, use of True or Apparent Positions, etc.
The new Tools menu is where you will find the Table of Houses, Ephemeris Generator and the Utilities options. The Huber option is now an easy selectable checkbox on the main Data Entry form so that you can easily switch back and forth from the Huber mode.
THE CHART WHEEL
1) ADJUSTING THE ASPECT CIRCLE. The default display will show the planets with degrees and minutes for single charts, and degrees only for bi and tri-wheels. However, in addition to the usual facility to alter to degrees only, or none at all, you can enlarge or reduce the size of the inner aspect circle by clicking on Wheel Options, then Aspects, then Aspect Circle Size. The first 3 options here determine the approximate 'stacking depth' of planets in conjunction, where Large allows for a smaller "stack" but larger circle. These are "fixed" sizes, but you can also extend or reduce this further by selecting the 4th option, Variably Adjust Size, which makes an control visible with Up and Down arrows letting you do a custom resize. Note that changes done on the Wheel form are of temporary nature, if you want to set and save any settings to a permanent value you need to do so in the Chart Design form, now also available from the Options menu when the wheel displays.
2) MULTI-WHEELS. In new version all charts in the Recently used Chart list are immediately available for selection irrespective of whether they have been previously calculated or displayed in the current session. However, you should notice that the Bi-Wheel and Tri-Wheel menu options will be disabled in case there are less than 2 or 3 charts in the Resent list.
In addition, the method of selection of both Bi-wheels and Tri-wheels is different from previous versions. Click on Multi-Wheels and then either Bi or Tri-wheels and you get a grid on screen showing the charts available to select. You select by clicking the charts you require. The inner aspect circle can be adjusted as above and is the same for both bi and tri-wheels.
3) FLAT CHARTS. There is now the option to show charts with all houses 'fixed' at 30 degrees, so called flat or American style wheels. This can be selected from the Chart Design form. This is most suitable if you have a colour printer as, in order to attain higher than normal readability for this method, we don't show the sign of the planet in the wheel. With colour this is obvious since the planet takes on the colour of the sign. With this method you cannot obtain true bi or tri-wheels since only one set of house cusps can be shown.
** You can specify if the cusps are shown as degrees and minutes or degrees only.
TEXT INTERPRETATION
In the current version of Astrocalc all sets of interpretation text is tied by configuration to a descriptive name, which now shows up as a selectable item in the menus. The text editor has also been reworked so it's now much easier to understand and use.
The way you access text files delivered with the program has changed. They are now available to the program as Templates, to use as a basis when you create a new set of interpretation text. So you basically make a copy of the delivered text, create a new configuration for it where you give it a name and when you edit it the original stays intact and can be reused. This concern all text included in all editions of Astrocalc, so there are no longer any options like 'Restore original' as the originals are never touched only copied.
1) MIDPOINTS TEXT will now work with the Solar Arc Directions, Transits to Midpoints and Midpoints Aspects in the Natal Chart. From the Text Interpretation screen you can view general notes on Midpoints, general interpretations for the actual midpoints and the text for all the midpoints aspects. These are all fully editable.
2) LINK PHRASE SIGNIFICATORS. These are now optionally shown when selecting this method on the Interpretation Text Entry form. If you do elect to show them then make sure that the first letter of each line of text in the planet file is changed so that it is a capital letter.
3) NEW CONFIGURATION. All text configurations are now stored in a database file, while the actual text still remains on a text file but in a new format (this may change in future versions). You can now create different sets of text for each type and each set is linked to a 'Named Configurations', which simply is the name you give it to show up in menus - previously only one set of text were available for each routine, e.g. for Natal interpretation. So you can now have differently named sets in English, Spanish, German, etc. And you can call up any of these from within any English, German or Spanish or Dutch installation of the program, etc.
4) STRUCTURE. A method used in France for assessing the strength of your chart with brief textual descriptions. There are 2 kind of structures, the GENERAL structure which represents the individual's potential and the INDIVIDUAL structure, which symbolises what life brought to the person, his achievements or defeats, etc.
5) SYNASTRY. From Spain we have a method devised by Juan Trigo and described in his book (only in Spanish so far). Discover your strengths and weaknesses in relationships and your ideal partner.
TRANSITS
You are no longer limited by the screen size restricting how much of the calculated result that can be shown. Any overflow will go in to a page buffer you can traverse back and forth, which will be indicated at the top of the screen by, for example, "Page 1 (of 2)" - click on Next to get page 2.
1) TIMED TRANSITS. If you have the All Transits option, you can now get timed lists of transits (monthly only excluding Moon). Please note that these timings can only be approximate with the slower moving planets, or where a planet is making a station and that planets like Neptune and Pluto can be virtually stationary compared to each other for days at a time.
2) SELECTABLE ASPECTS. These can be selected from the data entry screen.
SYNASTRY
1) LISTS OF PLANETS IN HOUSES. By popular request we have now reinstated the option which gives a list of planets in the other person's houses.
2) DRACONIC Composite and Relationship charts are now possible.
3) COMPATIBILITY ASSESSMENT. From Spain we have a new option which assesses a person's suitability for relationships and the compatibility of people in a relationship.
4) COMPOSITE/RELATIONSHIP BI-WHEELS. These are now allowed.
5) FIND YOUR IDEAL PARTNER. Using a method much used in Spain, a new routine which assesses the way you interact with others and the analyses your relationship with any chosen partner.
LUNAR PHASES
1) SUN/MOON ANGLES. A new option which gives you lists of dates when the Sun/Moon angle is the same as in the natal chart.
EPHEMERIS GENERATOR
(Previously called Ephemeris Print)
As well as the ability to generate Ephemerides showing the longitudes you now have
1) DECLINATION & LATITUDE GENERATOR
2) DISTANCE VALUE GENERATOR
In addition the printout has been altered so that 2 months of longitudes can be printed per page.
Note that the Ephemeris option has been relocated to the new Tools menu in the menu bar and opens a second form where you enter dates and select whether either Midnight or Noon Ephemeris to be used.
HUBER MODULE
This has been extensively updated so that the Signs are now inward looking, there is a bigger aspect wheel and the Invert Point is now renamed as Balance Point.
Please use the Chart Design form if you want to make the Planet and Sign symbols as large as possible.
1) INWARD POINTING SIGNS. These are now shown in all the charts.
2) AGE POINT circle with years now shown around wheels.
3) ASPECT GRID Option. You can now show an aspect grid on the printed chart wheel instead of the planetary positions and house cusps, balance/low point and dynamic .
4) SUMMARY PAGE. This is a printer only option which shows the Planet and House chart positions, Dynamic calculations, Age Point, Natal and House Aspects.
5) ONE-WAY ASPECT LINES are now shown in the chart wheels. In the aspect grid these are indicated by a - sign.
6) HOUSE CHART SIGNS. These are now shown in their correct sizes and positions.
7) Instead of a menu option there is now a check box on the Data Entry form for easy and convenient switch between Huber Mode or ordinary charts.
PROGRESSIONS/DIRECTIONS
You will find new options for Radix/Naibod and the Next/Previous option in Tertiaries I now gives you access to the next/previous months information, instead of the next/previous year.
UTILITIES
From the Data Entry Screen you have access to 13 utilities, of which 5 and 6 are of particular interest to students. These are now available from the new Tools menu.
1) FIND ASCENDANT. Input a number from 0 to 360 and the program will find the approximate time for that Ascendant using the current chart details (date, lat and long).
2) SUNRISE/SUNSET. This will be found for the current chart (click on Next for next day)
3) MOONRISE/MOONSET - as for 2
4) DAY OF THE WEEK. Select this option to find the day of the week for the current chart.
5 ) PRINTED BLANK FORMS for THE FACULTY OF ASTROLOGICAL STUDIES
This enables you to print out the following forms:
1) FormA. 2) FormB 3) Birth Chart No. 1 4) Chart No.3
6) PRINTED BLANK FORMS for THE MAYO SCHOOL OF ASTROLOGY
This enables you to print out the following forms:
1) FormA 2) FormB 3) Ecliptic Chart 4) Houses Chart 5) No.3 Progressions
With both 5) and 6) some amendments/improvements have been made to the forms to reflect the ability of modern printers.
7) BLANK CHART FORMS. There is an option to print out blank charts in Flat chart/Equal House format.
8) ZODIAC CALENDAR. A major new routine which enables you to produce yearly Zodiacal calendars in printable form which shows the dates and times of the Sun Ingresses, all Lunar phases with dates, times and positions and planetary information regarding changes in direction (Mercury to Pluto), etc. You can currently do this in English, Spanish, Dutch, German, French, Italian, Norwegian and Swedish.
9) LUNAR CALENDAR. This enables you to print off the times and dates of all Lunar Ingresses (when the Moon enters a new sign), for any Month or Year.
10) SUN/MOON INGRESSES. This is a screen which calculates the Sun Ingresses time & dates for 4 Equinoxes and 12 Signs and the Moon ingresses for any month. Click on an Ingress to open a New Chart on the Date Entry form and transfer the data in to the fields in Chart Details.
11) SYMBOLS LISTS. This gives a screen which details all the symbols used by the program. This can be printed out and given to students.
12) RULERSHIPS/EXALTATIONS, etc. This is a Screen which lists Rulerships, Exaltations, etc. - essentially for beginners.
13) ARABIC PARTS. This is a screen which lists the Arabic Parts and gives you the opportunity to create your own (for use by the program).
INDIAN/HINDU ASTROLOGY
Under Routines from the Data Entry Screen you will see Indian Astrology, which gives you Access to an introduction to Hindu Astrology and a Hindu program (called Lookup) which gives you brief interpretations of your Hindu chart.
CHINESE ASTROLOGY
This gives you a brief introduction to many elements of popular Chinese Astrology, plus information on the 'serious' side.
HORARY ASTROLOGY
This Option allows you to calculate, for the current chart:
1) PLANETARY HOURS
2) VOID OF COURSE MOONS (in 2 different ways)
3) ANTISCIONS/CONTRAANTISCIONS.
There is also a brief introduction to Horary astrology.
MINOR PLANETS/HYPOTHETICALS
1) BLACK MOON/LILITH. You can now show Black Moon at the same time as Lilith.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
There are many amendments and improvements, such as larger screen wheels, more room for viewing the text editing, etc. Some of the others are listed below.
1) The Regiomontanus House system is included in all Editions as standard (this will be of particular interest for the Horary people).
2) The program shows Applying aspects for As, Mc, Pf, Tn, EA, CD, Vx, Mn
3) You can choose to have the Option for Day or Night Part of Fortune or just the Day Part of Fortune.
4) True node now shown as retrograde, stationary or direct.
5) You can, if you wish, have Reversed Houses (going anti-clockwise) as per the Babylonians.
6) Resetting values/selections. This option is available from various forms and allows you to reset the values or selections to the default ones as supplied with the program.
7) You can determine the rounding of planet degrees, minutes and seconds - either up or down - within the chart wheel. Thus where you have a value of 29 deg 32 mins, it can either be shown as 29 deg or 30 deg.
8) NOW and CLOCK charts are kept separate in a special slot and retained until the next one is done. Thus you don't have to recalculate these charts if you bring in a new chart.
9) In Midpoints you can now list all planets/points (excluding the Transneptunians).
AND FINALLY
If we waited until we had programmed all the requests that we have a new version of the program would never ever be released. Consequently there is always a list of outstanding items waiting to be done. A couple of these have been mentioned above, but if you have any particular technique or method that you think would be of interest to our users then please let us know. Our web site is at www.astrocalc.com and you can contact us there for support and queries at support@astrocalc.com
And last but not the least, for the really old ones, this is as good as any place to mention that Colin Miles has now retire and handed over Astrocalc to Joakim Schramm, who is the engineer behind the version 6 range of Astrocalc programs. However, the legacy of Colin's work during more than 20 years with Astrocalc still serve as a solid base in several parts of the program and although much has and will be rewritten, the importance of his work, for Astrocalc and the Astrological community as a whole, will always remain and serve as an inspiration for future development. He also sends his greeting and would like to say how much he has appreciated your support over the years.
Joakim Schramm,
Astrocalc Software