SoftStar Weblog
Note: You can get free astrology software, download free demo versions of professional programs, and read my published reviews and articles to learn more about computer programs for astrology at my web page: Ultimate Guide to Astrology Software.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Free GeoNames Atlas
Are you trying to find the coordinates for a particular section of or place in a large city, or of an obscure little town?
The free GeoNames atlas can be accessed online at:
http://www.geonames.org/
And has longitudes and latitudes for over 8 different million place names available instantly!
You can also download the entire database here, but you will need a text editor (like my favorite UltraEdit) that can handle very large files to view and search it.
[You can also download smaller text files containing sets of coordinates for cities of different size populations, etc.]
This is an amazing and continually updated resource. Great!
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
My November 2012 TMA SoftStar News Column
In this Mountain Astrologer column, I look at the features in the incredible Timaeus 8 Pro traditional astrology program, and warn against buying Windows RT devices for astrology.
You can read the column here, and see a list of all of the columns here.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
The Jagannatha Hora 7.64 Update
Jagannatha Hora, the preeminent free Jyotish program, has been updated again.
Its author is gradually adding more and more features, as well as working to improve its internal time-change atlas.
(However, I would still recommend verifying any time zones provided by the program with other resources -- professional astrology programs or online tools -- for accuracy.)
You can get the latest update here, and read an extensive list of its features here.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Huge meteor crashes into the Moon
I received an email with the title "Huge Rock Crashes Into Moon, Sparks Giant Explosion".
It turns out that a meteor's impact on the Moon was so intense that it was visible from Earth. You can read the article here, and watch the video here.
Friday, May 17, 2013
My Latest Tutorial Article: A Tale of Three Explosions
I am currently teaching a year-long intensive training course synthesizing Western Astrology, Vedic Astrology, and counseling techniques, and one of my students asked me to look at the Boston Marathon explosion.
I looked at three major events instead of just the one, and found discovered some amazing patterns. You can read the article here.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Sale on report programs for Solar Fire Gold
Both Astrolabe Reports and Solar Writer Reports are on sale now for a limited time.
Solar Writer reports can be run from within Solar Fire Gold, and Astrolabe reports can read your Solar Fire Gold files.
You can see my recommendations and both sales here.
Monday, April 29, 2013
The Comet ISON
According to the Hubble Telescope Website: "Comet ISON is potentially the "comet of the century" because around the time the comet makes its closest approach to the Sun, on November 28, it may briefly become brighter than the full Moon."
You can see images of the comet here, and stay tuned for more information about it.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Great At Every Price
My Article Comparing the Top Astrology Programs -- Revised!
People have mentioned that my Great At Every Price article, which compares all of the top Western astrology programs in depth, is priceless to them.
I realized recently that I should list the discount prices that I offer for each program, instead of list prices, in order to help readers make a more informed choice.
The new revised version of the article, with my discounted pricing, is here.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
My free astrology software demos page -- Updated
I have updated my free downloadable astrology software demos page, adding an updated link for the Janus astrology program.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Kaspersky Anti-Virus and False Positives
There are many fine anti-virus programs available (I use Bit-Defender AntiVirus myself), and one of the top ones is from a company called Kaspersky.
I was recently surprised to receive an email from a Russian reader who mentioned that two of the demo programs offered on my astrology software demo page had false positives when scanned by Kaspersky.
For those unfamiliar with the term, a "false positive" is when an antivirus program erroneously labels a program as infected with a virus.
False positives hurt the astrology software companies that make the products, because, as my reader said, "91% of those using Kaspersky decided not to download the demo".
I contacted Kaspersky twice now to report this bug. The first time I received no response, and the second time I received a form letter response but no follow up.
I did scan both of the files myself, using multiple anti-virus programs, as did their authors, and they are fine and clean of all malware.
Postscript: Tuesday, April 16, 2013 The two astrology software companies involved have also contacted Kaspersky, but never received any response.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Kepler Demos Back
For a quite some time, the video demos of Kepler on the Cosmic Patterns website were down.
Now they are back, and you can find them on my software demos page.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
The Top Six Astrology Programs
I often here from those visiting my website that it's hard to choose from the many wonderful astrology programs available which to get, so I created a new page to make it easier.
Here is my new article focusing on the bestselling and best designed astrology programs.
Friday, March 22, 2013
Important Win*Star Calculation Bug Fixed
I entered a chart last week into Win*Star 4 (version 4.0.3) and much to my surprise and chagrin, the program consistently miscalculated it. Even though the birth place was in California, and the correct time zone showed up in the Atlas window, when I clicked on the OK button to retrieve the coordinates and time zone, Win*Star changed the time zone to CST (Central Standard Time) and created the wrong chart.
[It is important to always inspect the results of any atlas lookup, to make sure the time zone retrieved by the software makes sense.]
I called Matrix and they had issued a new version of Win*Star Pro fixing this bug two weeks ago!
After downloading it, everything worked fine.
I strongly suggest that every owner of Win*Star 4 get this update immediately, and double-check the time zones for all of the charts that they've previously calculated with the program.
In the meantime, the earlier versions of Win*Star will calculate charts accurately if you leave the "Auto" option next to the atlas unchecked.
I wish that Matrix had notified me, and all Win*Star users, of this.
[By the way, I couldn't figure out how to edit the chart data to fix this error. It turns out that instead of having an Edit Data function in Win*Star, users have to cut and then paste the data to edit it.]
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Matrix Web Services and the new Blue*Star program
I reviewed the latest offerings from Matrix in The Mountain Astrologer, and here's my review.
You can see all of my online Mountain Astrologer SoftStar News columns here.
Friday, March 8, 2013
The Nodal Cycle of Incarnation and Return to Spirit
I just posted my latest tutorial article on my Learn Astrology Free website.
It's about the Moon's nodes from a very different point of view, and writing it "flowed like water". You can read it here.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
A time-lapse movie of a Solar Eclipse in Australia
Lately, I've been posting interesting images here. I hope you like them. I will be returning to posting articles and videos on astrology software soon, but have been wrestling with restoring my PC (it had crashed) and then all of my websites went down!
Here's an interesting movie showing time-lapse sequences of an eclipse in Australia last November. I hope you enjoy it.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
The Super-Moon and the Micro-Moon
The Moon varies a great deal in apparent size, due to its varying distance from the Earth.
This NASA photo of a Super-Moon and a Micro-Moon shows clearly exactly how different they are.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Lovely photos of the Sun
An amateur photographer with the same surname as me has taken some amazing photographs of the Sun from his backyard!
You can see all of these lovely images here.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Earth as Art
In 1960, the United States put its first Earth-observing environmental satellite into orbit around the planet. Over the decades, these satellites have provided invaluable information, and the vantage point of space has provided new perspectives on Earth. This book celebrates Earth’s aesthetic beauty in the patterns, shapes, colors, and textures of the land, oceans, ice, and atmosphere.
The book features 75 stunning images of Earth from the Terra, Landsat 5, Landsat 7, EO-1, and Aqua satellites. Sensors on these satellites can measure light outside of the visible range, so the images show more than what is visible to the naked eye. The images are intended for viewing enjoyment rather than scientific interpretation. The beauty of Earth is clear, and the artistry ranges from the surreal to the sublime.
Earth as art—enjoy the gallery.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Software Demos Updated
I have just updated my free software demos web page to include a link to the new set of tutorial videos on Sirius provided by Cosmic Patterns.
Remember, you can learn more about Sirius and get the best offer here.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Great at Every Price! Updated
My article comparing the top Western astrology programs, Great at Every Price!, has been updated again.
I added links to flesh out some of the features mentioned in the article, and updated its contents to reflect the latest versions of each program.
Here it is.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Why you need a backup computer and good recovery tools
I had an experience this week that I'd like to share, that might protect others from computer disasters.
I am very protective of my computer, and use many different kinds of programs and utilities to keep it running well:
PerfectDisk to keep my hard disk from becoming too fragmented.
Bitdefender Anti-Virus Plus, my new favorite anti-malware program, to keep viruses, worms, and spyware at bay.
Online Armor Free, an excellent firewall, to keep hackers out.
Macrium Reflect Free to back up my hard drives regularly.
and Hard Disk Sentinel to monitor the health of my hard drives.
Last week, Hard Disk Sentinel notified me that my hard drive was failing.
Hard drives can degrade over time and fail without warning, so having this software enabled me to know that I needed to perform an immediate backup to save my latest work, (I had backed up my hard drive two weeks ago).
My computer did crash, but fortunately, for when I'm traveling, I had already purchased an additional portable ultrabook and copied all of my important programs and chart files to it, so that I could update my website, run charts, etc. on it.
And that's what I'm doing today. While I wait for replacement parts for my desktop computer, I'm able to write to you and update this website on my backup PC.
I hope this inspires you to protect your valuable files and writings, too, and to back up your PC often, and perhaps purchase a back up computer.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
A Short, Lovely "Solar Ballet"
Sometimes, the Sun itself seems to dance. On just this past New Year's Eve, for example, NASA's Sun-orbiting Solar Dynamic Observatory spacecraft imaged an impressive prominence erupting from the Sun's surface. The dramatic explosion was captured in ultraviolet light in the above time lapse video covering four hours.
Of particular interest is the tangled magnetic field that directs a type of solar ballet for the hot plasma as it falls back to the Sun. The scale of the disintegrating prominence is huge -- the entire Earth would easily fit under the flowing curtain of hot gas.
A quiescent prominence typically lasts about a month, and may erupt in a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) expelling hot gas into the Solar System. The energy mechanism that creates a solar prominence is still a topic of research. As the Sun nears Solar Maximum this year, solar activity like eruptive prominences should be common.
Here is the ballet!
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Astrology in the Cloud: My Latest TMA Article
In my latest article for The Mountain Astrologer, I explore internet-based astrological tools. For those wanting to perform calculations on the go, using smart phones, tablets, and laptops, these online tools can be very valuable.
Here is the article. And here are the links to all of my published Mountain Astrologer articles.
Friday, December 28, 2012
Lovely Saturn at Night Photograph
The Astronomy Picture of the Day website recently released a stunning picture of Saturn at night at:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap121222.html
A lovely way to enter the new year!
Saturday, December 22, 2012
The Most Frequently Asked Question about Astrology Software
Of late, astrologers have started asking me very often about their software's compatibility with the new Windows 8 operating system.
Microsoft created Windows 8 in order to offer a common user-interface between their smartphone, surface tablet, and laptop and desktop computers. Unfortunately, because Windows 8 is touch-centric (you need a touch screen to use it optimally, i.e. the way it was designed to be used), most computer owners don't have PCs that will make using Windows 8 an enjoyable experience. If your PC is only a couple of years old, it will run Windows 8, but I don't recommend it.
And please beware of Windows RT devices, which won't run any of your Windows programs, only apps designed for RT.
If your astrology software is up to date, then it will most likely run under Windows 8. I am assured by their creators that Solar Fire Gold versions 7, 7.3, or 8, Kepler 7, Sirius, Janus 4.3, and Shri Jyoti Star 6 will all run under Windows 8.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Last Day of Three Holiday Software Sales
As those of you who have been visiting my website recently know, I have been given permission to offer really great discounts on astrology programs this season. You can learn about all of the programs on sale here.
Three of the best offers will stop today at 9 pm Pacific time:
20% off Solar Fire Gold
10% off Shri Jyoti Star
and Two-for-one Solar Writer report programs.
I have even dropped the price further for one of the above offers, only for today!
Feel free to take advantage of any of these sales today.
Note: Regulus Platinum and the Astrolabe Reports will remain on sale through December 31, 2012.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Special Holiday Software Sales!
This is the season to get great prices on astrology software!
This year, I am able to offer several great new discounts on many different programs.
You can see the current offerings here.
Please come back next week for another truly special offering!
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Two-for-One Solar Writer Sale
The Solar Writer report programs can operate as standalone report programs (i.e. without any other software) as well as can be run from within Solar Fire Gold.
Through December 16th, you can get two Solar Writer reports for the price of one, with my added discount too. Here you can find see what reports are available, and links to samples, and to the offer.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
The advantages and disadvantages of software
The astrology programs created by different companies vary, in part, because of the number of authors and how that affects the user-interface. I decided to write a short article on this topic which you can read here.
created by more than one person
By the way, Happy Thanksgiving!
I am thankful for so much in my life, including you, my readers, and those who support this website by purchasing their astrology software through me.
Friday, November 16,2012
A Stunning Photo of Saturn
Angling Saturn: The Cassini spacecraft took an angled view toward Saturn, showing the southern reaches of the planet with the rings on a dramatic diagonal on June 15, 2012.
North on Saturn is up and rotated 16 degrees to the left. This view looks toward the southern, unilluminated side of the rings from about 14 degrees below the ringplane. The rings cast wide shadows on the planet's southern hemisphere. The moon Enceladus (313 miles, or 504 kilometers across) appears as a small, bright speck in the lower left of the image.
Here is the image. You can download it at a variety of resolutions. (Note: the partial image shown on the web page is not the full image.)
Friday, November 9, 2012
My Latest TMA Softstar News
After my latest Mountain Astrologer SoftStar News column, on the newest information on astrology software, is released, I am allowed to publish an earlier one on this website.
Here is the link to all of my TMA SoftStar News articles, including the latest on Sirius 1.3, a great astrological font, protecting your Mac from malware, and more.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Why you can't run your astrology software on your smart phone or tablet
A couple of weeks ago (see below), I cautioned astrologers not to purchase tablets or computers running Windows RT, because they cannot run any of your current astrology programs.
The same is true about running the astrology programs that you own on an iPad, Kindle Fire, Android tablet, or any smart phone. None of these devices are true computer systems, and they can't run either Windows or the Mac Operating System, and therefore cannot run any programs that require either operating system. They do not have enough memory or the right computer processor to do so.
There are apps that will run on iPads, and other tablets and smart phones, but they are very basic programs, and usually have very limited capabilities (far less that practicing astrologers need).
The one app that you can run on any of these devices that has a wide range of capabilities is a cloud-based app (i.e. it resides on the internet, not on your device) called AstroApp.
You can explore AstroApp's features, and even get a discount on a subscription to it at:
http://www.astroap.com/
Monday, October 29, 2012
The transit: Uranus square Pluto
How will it affect me?
From 2012 through Spring of 2015, Uranus and Pluto will square each other in the sky. This is a major transit that impacts most of us, either directly or indirectly.
I have created a handy table and an article on this important event here.
May it serve you.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Why you can't run your astrology software on Windows 8 RT devices
Microsoft is just in the process of releasing a new operating system called Windows 8.Unfortunately, there is going to be a lot of confusion about it, because there are two distinctive versions of Windows 8 .
The first version to be released, called Windows 8 RT, will not run any Windows software! It is a stripped-down version of Windows designed to run on a variety of cheaper microprocessors more economically than a full version of Windows can.
So none of your Windows astrology software (or any other programs written for Windows XP or 7) will run on it.
(The same is true about your smart phone or iPad: they won't run any software except apps specifically designed for them.)
So please do not purchase a Windows 8 RT device (like a tablet) and expect to be able to run the astrology software you own.
If you really want to get the version of Windows 8 that will run your astrology software (and other windows programs), then wait until the true full Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro versions come out and make sure your new device has either of them installed on it.
If it says RT, don't get it!
P.s. You can learn more about the different Windows 8 versions here.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Great At Every Price, revised
I have just revised my detailed article Great At Every Price, which compares the features of the top Western astrology programs, and the unique abilities of each.You can view the latest version here.
Friday, October 12, 2012
Depicting The Sky: Charts, Graphics, Planetaria, & Animations
Would you like to see how charts differ East and West? Or the types of graphic ephemeride and planetaria in software?Or just view many stunningly amazing and beautiful planetary and Solar System animations from across the Web?
Explore my latest article: Depicting The Sky: Charts, Graphics, Planetaria, & Animations.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
More Redesigned Websites!
As you probably know, I have created websites that each focus on one of the top astrology programs. I have just redesigned the menuing system for each, and I invite you to visit them:I hope that my redesigned menus make it easier for you to explore all of my websites.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Frequently Asked Questions about Astrology Software
Redesigned and Revised
I completely revamped my Frequently Asked Questions about Astrology Software web page, giving it a new menuing system and bringing it up to date. You can visit it here.Sunday, September 23, 2012
My redesign of Soulhealing.com
I have redesigned my home page of Soulhealing.com with a much better menu system, so that you can navigate the website more easily and effectively.I hope that it helps you find and utilize the features of my website more fully, as well as pleases your eye.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
My Learn Astrology Free website completely redesigned!
I just completely revamped my Learn Astrology Free website, with a new, much better organized -- and much prettier -- menu system.I also recently added search capabilities, so you can find any word or words on the site. And every other month I add a new tutorial to the website.
Enjoy!
Sunday, September 9, 2012
My Mountain Astrologer article:
Getting Help with your Astrology Software
I have just posted my article from The Mountain Astrologer on how to get help with your astrology programs, and where to find tutorials for the programs you use.You can read it, and all of my Mountain Astrologer articles here.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Morinus Primary Progression Software
Quite a while ago, I added the Morinus free Primary Progression Software to my listing of free astrology programs.I just clicked on the link to find it was no longer working. A Google search located the new link here.
I would like to ask your help, my visitors to this website, i.e. if you find a link that doesn't work, please let me know, so I can fix it. Thanks!
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Astrology Software in the Cloud
I have just created a new website focusing on the first full-fledged astrology program that resides "in the cloud", i.e. on remote servers instead of on your own computer.The potential is huge: you can access your charts anywhere, by smart phone, tablet, iPad, laptop, netbook, etc., and it won't matter if you have a PC or a Mac or a Linux machine.
Learn more about this revolution in astrology here.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
How to backup your chart files (and settings): Part Five
I'm returning to the astrology program Sirius, specifically how to back up your settings files in Sirius.Why would you want to backup your settings files? Because it takes a lot of time to customize the program, i.e. choose your preferred house system, default wheel style, aspect set, orbs, colors, etc.) and having a backup that you can restore (or re-use on your laptop) saves a lot of time.
Here are the steps to creating a backup of your settings files in Sirius:
0. Connect a large (32 gb or larger) flash drive or external hard drive to your PC.
1. Run Sirius, and open a chart.
2. On the main screen, select Birthfile, Backup Other Files (files except birthdata files):
3. On the new window that appears, entitled Backup Sirius Files, choose the Drive letter for the flash drive or external hard drive (on the top right of the screen), and then select a date around the time you first installed Sirius, to backup up all of the files you've customized.
4. Finally click on the Select All button at the bottom of the window, and click on the OK Backup Files button.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
How to backup your chart files (and settings): Part Four
Shri Jyoti Star is a superb Vedic astrology program used by most of the top Jyotishis. It too makes it easy to backup your chart files and settings to external storage (e.g. flash drives, etc.).The steps for backing up any specific chart file are:
0. Connect your flash drive or external hard drive to your PC.
1. Run Shri Jyoti Star, and then Open the database (chart file) that you want to back up.
2. From the Data Entry menu, click on File, than Chart Database (Backup/Restore/Transfer), and Backup to Media, and select where you want to back up the file to.
To backup your program options and layouts, follow these steps:
1. Open a chart to get to Shri Jyoti Star's Main Screen.
2. Click on File, Layout and Layout Examples (Advanced), and the on Save As (Layouts File) and choose your external storage device, or choose Email Current Layouts, to email them.
It is wonderful that so many programs make it easier to backup your important files and settings.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
How to backup your chart files (and settings): Part Three
Janus astrology software also provides simple and excellent tools for backing up your chart files and all of your settings and customizations.After running Janus, click on the Tools menu at the top of the screen:
And select Backup/Restore, which opens a new window:
And by clicking on the down triangle, you can select exactly which files to backup, from chart files, aspect files, settings, etc.
And on the right side of the window, you get to choose where to save the files to.
This is truly an excellent and easy-to-use backup utility.
Friday, August 3, 2012
A New Search Engine for my website
I was surprised to discover that the previous search engine I installed on my website had stopped working.In order to provide you, my website visitors, with the ability to find specific words or phrases on my website, I decided to purchase and install a new search engine.
It was surprisingly easy to implement, and it will automatically update itself weekly.
You can enter single words, like "Mercury", or multiple words, like "Solar Fire Page Designer".
To try it out, click here.
or click New! Search My Website on my home page:
I will be adding search engines to all of my websites, including my new Solar Fire website: solarfire.info
P.S. I just added Search to my Learn Astrology Free website, to help you find information within my 100+ free tutorials.
P.P.S. Now every website I've created has a search engine installed.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
How to backup your chart files (and settings): Part Two
Last week, I reiterated the importance of backing up your chart files and settings, and how to do so in Solar Fire Gold.Today I would like to elucidate how to backup your chart files in other programs.
Both Kepler and Sirius provide an easy way to backup your chart files to a flash drive (or floppy disk!).
Here are the steps::
Place a flash drive into your computer's USB port (and note the drive letter assigned to it)
Run Kepler or Sirius, and click on the Backup/Backup Data button:
In the window that appears, select Backup Birth Data:
When asked where to backup the data to, select the drive letter assigned to your flash drive.
Voilà, your data is backed up. (And please remember to do this regularly.)
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Please backup your chart files and settings
I want to offer a friendly reminder to everyone that it takes a huge amount of time to re-enter every single person's birth data into your astrology program all over again if your computer fails.I regularly get emails from astrologers who neglected to back up their data and have lost it all.
Given the many reasons why your computer can fail, including aging parts, viruses, electric surges, shocks, etc., it is inevitable that your hard drive will eventually lose all of its data.
That's why it is wise to have an external hard drive and use it to back up your entire system once a month (or more often), and keep the backup drive in a safe location.
But you should also back up your chart files (and astrology program's settings) more regularly. Among astrology programs, Solar Fire Gold provides the best and easiest backup method: run the program, click on Utilities, and then on Backup Chart Files, and Backup User Files (to back up all of your customized settings).
I suggest that you back up your chart files to a flash drive that you can store in a secure place.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Context is Everything: How Charts Really Work
As most of my website visitors know, I add a new astrology tutorial to my Learn Astrology Free website bimonthly.My latest article explores the importance of context, i.e. all of the factors that influence a planet or sign or house, in chart delineation.
It is packed with principles, insights and example charts. I hope you enjoy it.
You can read it by clicking here.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Learning Astrology Software: Never Forget to Right-Click
A customer recently wrote in saying that her software was inaccurate as it missed an aspect. After corresponding with her, I discovered that she didn't realize the wealth of features available in her program via the right-click menu.The right-click menu is a menu that appears when you use your right mouse button to click on the screen. It is usually context-sensitive, i.e. if you are viewing a chart wheel, it gives you choices about that wheel and the content thereof, while if you are looking at a table, it gives you a set of choices to alter the contents or layout of the table.
Most of the top programs offer a very rich set of options via their right-click menus, so "Never forget to Right Click".
Here are few examples:
Regulus Platinum has extensive sets of selections available for most of its screens via right-click. For its Fixed Star table, for example:
You can select from 9 groups of Fixed Stars (including your own customized one), Sort the listing by any of the columns (e.g. by Name, by Zodiacal Longitude or Latitude, by Sign, etc.). Or you can place any Fixed Star on the chart (complete with aspect lines drawn to it), display information about the Fixed Star, view its placement in its constellation, or print the table itself.
Kepler and Sirius have very deeply layered sub-menus accessible when right-clicking on several of their screens.
The above menu gives you access not only to many types of chart wheels and other layout features, but allows you to explore a set of Customize sub-menus, and also all of their specialized charts.
Solar Fire Gold offers very masterful right-click menus, especially when viewing any of their chart wheel screens:
You can choose what points are displayed, what extra points are shown (from a huge number of choices like midpoints, Fixed Stars, Arabic Parts, etc.), what aspect set to use, what points to draw aspect lines to, how aspect lines should appear (thicker with tighter orbs, dotted if separating, etc.), what style of wheel or dial to use (with previews of each), the color of each planet, sign, and aspect, and much more.
The power at your fingertips from right-click menus is truly awesome, so never forget to explore right-click menus.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Updates on my software-specific websites
My regular website visitors know that I frequently update my websites devoted to specific programs.For example, in the past month, I've added tutorials on "Finding the full chart of a person or event from a few planetary positions" and "Creating Example Charts" on my Shri Jyoti Star website,
and
Added new information on Sirius 1.3 on my Sirius website.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
The Optimal Use of Astrology Software -- Updated
My foremost article on astrology software: The Optimal Use of Astrology Software, which helps astrologers protect their computers, learn how to use astrology programs most effectively, test their software for accuracy, etc. has just been updated.You can read it here.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Astrological Techniques and Uncertain Birth Times -- Revised!
First published in the ISAR Journal, my article on the effect of incorrect birth times on different astrology techniques is an essential read for all astrologers. It took weeks to research and write, and explains which methods are most sensitive to birth time errors.I've just added an introductory summary that "cuts to the chase" by indicating what to do if a birth time is in question. You can read it here.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
About Sirius 1.3
Cosmic Patterns has released more information about the new Sirius 1.3.Click here to learn more about the new version and how to purchase (or upgrade to) it at a specially discounted price.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Solar Writer 2 for 1 Sale!
The Solar Writer astrology reports work both as standalone report programs and as add-ons to Solar Fire Gold.To take advantage of the special two reports for the price of one sale, which expires at the end of June 2012, and learn which reports I recommend most, click here.
Monday, June 4, 2012
New Sirius 1.3 Sale!
Cosmic Pattern's flagship program Sirius has both been upgraded to version 1.3 with almost a million locations in its time-change atlas, and it has been placed on sale for a limited time.To learn more about Sirius and get this great price, click here.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
TimePassages Advanced
TimePassages Advanced is a remarkably powerful and easy-to-use program for its price. It not only has all of the basic features many astrologers need, but also full natal, transit, and progressed interpretations built-in.My discounted price for TimePassages Advanced during the sale (only through June 2012) is almost 25% off of the list price, just $152.00.
To learn more about the program, and to get it at this special price, click here.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Sirius 1.3 is released!
Cosmic Patterns has just released version 1.3 of their flagship astrology program Sirius.More information on this update will be forthcoming, but the main enhancement of Sirius is the addition of hundreds of thousands of new places to its already superlative time-change atlas. Now astrologers will be able to look up almost a million places!
To learn more about Sirius, please visit my website devoted to it, here.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Why Solar Fire Gold is Great
I was lying in bed one night and got inspired to write an article on the outstanding features of Solar Fire. I recorded the article (while still lying in bed!) into my digital voice recorder, and began transcribing it in the morning.The article will be ongoing, and I'll be adding more sections to it frequently, so I invite you to visit it several times, by clicking here.
Monday, May 14, 2012
My article comparing the top astrology programs, revised!
Once again, I have updated my Great At Every Price article comparing the features of the top astrology programs.You can read the latest version here.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
How to exchange chart files between programs
Astrologers sometimes switch to different astrology programs or want to run several at once. It is highly inconvenient, to say the least, to have to enter each person's birth data all over again in each new program.Years ago, I contacted all of the major companies and asked them to add Quick*Chart file format importing and exporting to their software. Fortunately, most of the companies complied, and most astrology programs, specifically Solar Fire Gold, Janus, Regulus Platinum, Sirius, Win*Star, and ZET can both import Quick*Chart files from other programs and export Quick*Chart files to other software.
TimePassages can import whole Quick*Chart files, and also export to that format, but only one chart at a time.
Kepler, AstrolDeluxe, and Millenium can import Quick*Chart files, but lack any export feature.
It's nice to know that you can transfer your chart files between programs, and not have to enter charts all over again.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Astrology Programs for the iPad
I previously provided a link to my article on astrology apps for the iPad, but I'm reintroducing it to help those wanting to find solid astrology programs for the iPad to find it.Click here to learn about AstroGold and Astrolgo.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
My Mountain Astrologer review of Sirius 1.2
In the January issue of The Mountain Astrologer, I reviewed Sirius 1.2.You can read that review and all of my previous TMA SoftStar News columns here.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
More Solar Fire Gold Tutorials
As I receive questions from my website visitors about how to use specific features in Solar Fire Gold, I both respond to them and add new written tutorial sections, complete with screen images, to my http://www.solarfiregold.com website.To view all of my video and written tutorials on Solar Fire Gold, click here.
Friday, April 20, 2012
More than 685,000 Macs infected by iBotNet!
You might ask, "What does an infection of Mac computers have to do with astrology software? " The answer is that a growing number of astrologers have moved from PCs to Macs because they thought they would be much safer using a Mac.And for the time being, this is still true. But unfortunately, the "bad guys" who create malware now have toolkits that can create malware just as easily for the Mac as for the PC, and so the number of threats to the Mac platform of computers is on the rise.
Because Mac users have become complacent, and because the Apple Computer Company took 49 more days than Microsoft to protect users from this particular Java vulnerability, a huge number of Mac users (mainly in the U.S.) were infected.
The message is: no matter whether you use a PC or a Mac, you need to have a good anti-malware program running, never open email attachments from people you don't know or respond to emails asking for personal information, and be wary of suspicious websites.
The PC platform has the most powerful and widest selection of astrology software, and now safety is not a good reason to switch to a Mac.
P.s. a customer who recently switched to the Mac platform was dismayed that he'd have to enter all of his charts over again into his Mac astrology program. Before making the switch, please find out if your Mac software can import your PC astrology software's chart files.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
How to Make Sure Your PC Has the Right Time
Most astrologers probably don’t pay a lot of attention to the date/time entry in the notification area. The time is supposed to be synchronized over the Internet once a week to keep it accurate. However, the default time server time.windows.com doesn’t always work very well, and your time may not be as accurate as you think.To learn how to ensure your PC has the right time, click here.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Shri Jyoti Star on the Mac
Shri Jyoti Star is an incredible Vedic astrology program, and is used by many of the top Jyotishis, but until now, Mac owners could only run it if they installed Windows on their Macs.The author of Shri Jyoti Star, Andrew Foss, recently told me that it will now run on the Mac under Crossover XI Mac.
Crossover XI Mac is a Windows emulator that runs Windows programs on Mac computers.
I recommend installing Shri Jyoti Star on the Mac for those who are very facile with their computers, and don't mind working through issues in order to get it up and running. (Because I don't own a Mac myself, I have not gone through this process myself).
To learn more and order the version of Shri Jyoti Star that will run under Crossover on the Mac, click here.
Monday, April 2, 2012
The Houses Impacted by Saturn -- My latest tutorial article
In Vedic astrology, Saturn aspects four houses -- whether they are occupied by planets or not. The shared themes of the houses aspected by Saturn reveal deeper truths about a person's life, and about the structure of the chart itself.To read my latest tutorial article, click here.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Updated free astrology software demos page
I have updated my page of links to free demo and trial versions of the top astrology programs, including more links and updating old ones.It can be very valuable to play with a software demo before buying a program, to ascertain whether you like its design, features, etc.
To go to the software demos page, click here.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
A stunning new animation of the Solar System
How would you like to see an incredible animation of the Solar System, Sun through Neptune? Sunaeon is a lovely, true color depiction of the planets orbiting the Sun. To see it, click here.Click on Enter Portal, animate by clicking on the model of the Solar System link and then pressing the play or fast-forward button. Then watch incredibly realistic depictions of planets rotating on their axes and circling the Sun.
Note: to see different angles of view and more planets, click and hold the left mouse button and move it around the screen. You can also click on any planet to zoom in on it and watch it rotate on its axis. Enjoy!
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Astrology on the Go: Astrology Apps for Mobile Computing
I have been asked many questions about astrology programs (apps) for the iPhone, iPad, and the Android platform.In my November 2011 article from The Mountain Astrologer, I review several of the top apps for both platforms.
To read it, click here.
To read my previous TMA Columns, click here.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Part Two of my Solar Fire Gold Page Designer video tutorial
I added a second part to my YouTube tutorial on Solar Fire Gold's Page Designer.You can watch it by clicking here.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
My video tutorial of Solar Fire Gold's Page Designer
The Page Designer in Solar Fire Gold is remarkable. Amazingly easy-to-use and incredibly powerful, I decided that it deserved to be the subject of my next video tutorial.To watch the tutorial, click here.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Updates to my Sirius and Janus websites
As many of you know, I have additional websites devoted to each of the top astrology programs. I have recently added new entries into my Unique Features of Sirius column on my Sirius astrology software website, and another tutorial on my Janus website.Wednesday, February 15, 2012
My new Introduction to Solar Fire Gold Video Tutorial
I've been very busy creating new video tutorials for Solar Fire Gold. My first new tutorial is an Introduction to Solar Fire Gold and will be very useful for those just starting out with the program.You can see all of my video and written tutorials by clicking here.
Friday, February 10, 2012
My latest Mountain Astrologer column
All of my Mountain Astrologer columns are posted on this website after the release of the next Mountain Astrologer magazine (after the issue they were published in).Here's the latest one. Enjoy!
To read my previous TMA Columns, click here.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Halloran's AstrolDeluxe version 8.0 review
I added a short review of John Halloran's new update (version 8) of his AstrolDeluxe program to the existing reviews of the program. You can read it by clicking here.Monday, January 30, 2012
A lovely space photo of the Earth
Would you like to see (and download) a wonderful "blue marble" image of Earth?Here's the latest NASA photo of the Earth in all of it's glory.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Update Your Atlas!
Most of the top astrology programs need to be updated if you want to create accurate charts. That's because the previous owner of the ACS atlas (prior to its transfer to Astrolabe) introduced serious errors into the database. Additionally, new and more accurate time zone and time change information has been incorporated into the atlas.Cosmic Patterns is offering free atlas updates to owners of Kepler 7 and Sirius, Astrolabe is offering a free atlas update to owners of Solar Fire Gold 7 and 7.3, Andrew Foss has released a free atlas update to owners of Shri Jyoti Star version 6, and most of the other companies (e.g. Astrograph, Halloran Software) have new versions that include the updated atlas.
You can order many updates through me, or by contacting the manufacturer directly.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
The Problems with Passion -- My latest tutorial article
I wrote this article on how to ascertain astrological configurations for sexual passion months ago, and it has finally been published on the Saptarishis website.Click here to read my latest tutorial.
For my other 100+ free tutorials in Western and Vedic astrology, click here.
Friday, January 20, 2012
My review of Sirius 1.2
I have been exploring the new Sirius 1.2 update for a few weeks, and have just written a new review of it.To read it, click here.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Great at every price (comparing the top programs) -- updated
If you haven't read my "Great at Every Price" article, which compares the features of the top Western astrology programs, there's no better time than now.I just updated it to include the new Sirius 1.2 features.
To read it, click here.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Moving from a PC to a Mac: Basic Tips
While the vast majority of astrology programs are written for the PC, and so astrologers using Windows PCs have the widest range of astrological capabilities by far, some astrologers choose to use Macs.If you are making the transition from a PC to a Mac, this article may help you make it easier.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
The new Asteroid Report in Sirius 1.2
The new Sirius update has a lot of more technical advances, but one addition that will appeal more generally to astrologers is the new Asteroid Report.I've examined the report generated by Sirius 1.2 in comparison with other asteroid reports, and you can see a sample of it, and a brief overview of the Sirius 1.2 update, by clicking here.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
The Value of the User Interface in Astrology Software -- Updated!
I have added a new section to my article on the importance of the user interface in astrology programs. Most people don't realize that because astrology programs are so graphical, they can benefit greatly from a well-designed user interface, not only for ease-of-use, but for utilizing the graphic capabilities of a program. E.g. if you have a page designer -- where you arrange charts and tables on a page just the way you want them to be -- being able to resize charts just by grabbing their edges, and being able to easily move them around, are important capabilities.To read the latest version of the article, click here.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
The new Sirius 1.2 Update
Cosmic Patterns has just released the new update to Sirius.To learn about the new update, and take advantage of the special upgrade pricing, click here.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Shri Jyoti Star sale extended
The sale on Shri Jyoti Star has been extended until Christmas.The program hasn't been offered at this price for many years, but Andrew (the program's author) has permitted me to provide this holiday discounted price for a limited time.
To learn more about this phenomenal Vedic astrology program, click here.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
TimePassages Holiday Sale
Until December 25th, both TimePassages Standard and Advanced Editions are on sale.TimePassages is an amazing program at a very low price. It has excellent accuracy, built-in natal, transit, and progressed interpretations, chart and biwheel animation, and much more. It is available in both PC and Mac versions.
To learn more about TimePassages, and to purchase either version of the program, with free U.S. shipping too, click here.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Regulus Platinum Sale extended
The Holiday sale pricing of the phenomenally powerful Regulus Platinum has been extended through December 20th. Regulus Platinum is one of the most powerful astrology programs in existence. It has great Asteroid, Fixed Star, Vedic, Huber, Medieval, Hellenistic, Astromapping, Arabic Part, Eclipse, Rectification, and Modern Western astrological modules, plus research features, wheel and page designers, top-notch predictive graphs, fine astrological calendars, artistic chart wheels, and more.To learn more about this amazing program, download a free 10 day trial, and to order it at the special Holiday sale price, click here.
Friday, December 2, 2011
My Mountain Astrologer Review of Solar Fire Gold 8
I've just posted my review of Solar Fire Gold version 8 from the July 2011 issue of The Mountain Astrologer.You can read it, or any of my other posted Mountain Astrologer columns, by clicking here.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Frequently Asked Questions -- Updated
Many of you haven't looked at my Frequently Asked Questions column recently, but it has answers to many questions that visitors to my website have asked about astrology software.Feel free to read it by clicking here.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Shri Jyoti Star is a truly great Vedic program. It is preferred by all of the top Jyotishis, and through December 15th it is on sale for a special price. Click here to learn more about it and to order it.
If you would like to purchase any of the Astrolabe Report Writers through me, they are 30% off with free U.S. shipping too through January 3, 2012! Click here to learn about the Astrolabe Report Writers and to order them.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
A Great Holiday Sale of Regulus Platinum
Regulus Platinum is one of the foremost astrology programs, with a huge set of features for all of the major schools of astrology including Modern, Hellenistic, Medieval, Horary, Vedic, Huber, and Cosmobiology, as well as excellent asteroid, eclipse, astromapping, Fixed Star, degree symbol, and rectification modules.For a limited time only -- from November 20th to December 20th -- Regulus Platinum is on sale for $25% off.
To learn more about Regulus Platinum and to purchase it at the sale price, click here.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
New Holiday Astrology Software Sale: Solar Writer Reports
This winter I will be introducing some sales on astrology software. The first one is a two-for-one sale on the Solar Writer report programs through December 20th, 2011. I am offering my website visitors an additional 10% off and free shipping by ordering through me.To learn more about the Solar Writer reports, click here.
To purchase two Solar Writer reports for shipping to a U.S. address for the discounted price of $240, click here.
Monday, November 14, 2011
The great free Canopus program
Back in September of 2001, I first discovered the free program Canopus and wrote:I am impressed. I just downloaded and tested the completely free program Canopus from the Clairvision School. Canopus is a very powerful and free program. It has a built-in atlas (with accurate time changes for Australia, New Zealand, and several U.S. states), calculations for birth charts, composites, returns, several types of progressed charts, harmonic charts, progressed and transiting hit lists, bi-wheels, and synastry grids and tables for interaspects and midpoints.
The software includes dozens of well-designed and unique chart wheels, even ones that show Nakshatra ranges, solilunar sectors, the (concentric orbits) Solar System, the seven spheres, heliocentric, and planetary decanates. It gives you the ability to create your own custom charts. You can print out charts in several sizes, from tiny to a giant six page poster! You can animate both single wheels and biwheels, e.g. viewing transit and progressed charts around a natal chart and shifting the date forward or backwards by increments of a minute, hour, day, or month, watching the planets alter their positions before your eyes.
It offers many tables of data including a comparison of Tropical and Sidereal positions, a comparison of house cusps by ten house systems, fixed stars conjunct planets, essential and accidental dignities, mutual receptions, Arabic Parts and their aspects to natal points, midpoints, harmonics, major and minor aspects, and more.
Perhaps the most awesome feature of Canopus is its excellent natal interpretation report, which includes extensive delineations of natal aspects that are phenomenal in their scope and include aspects by the Black Moon, plus interpretations of planets in houses. You can also view onscreen interpretations of any planet in any sign (but this is not part of the compiled report).
The program even comes with a database of famous charts, which you can search for those with planets in a specific sign, house, aspect, and much more.
Canopus is a major astrological program that has just become free! It is definitely worth downloading, even if you already own other professional programs.
But unfortunately, Canopus became unavailable and I removed mention of it from my website.
This week, one of my website readers found a website that still offers a download link to Canopus. To get the program, click here.
[Note: I did have some problems with the accuracy of the program's birth chart calculations, so please confirm the accuracy of the planet and Ascendant positions in the chart drawing before proceeding to its other modules. Fortunately, you can use the >>> keys on the chart view screen to adjust the birth time, so that you can continue to use the program.]
Saturday, November 12, 2011
ACS Atlas Update for Solar Fire Gold 7
I was recently asked by a customer if there were any updates to Solar Fire Gold version 7. Indeed, there was a major update that the program itself did not reveal when the customer checked for updates, because the update was for the ACS Atlas, and not Solar Fire Gold itself.This is a major atlas update. When the ACS company folded, the atlas was sold to a group that unintentionally added errors to the atlas. A couple of year ago, it changed hands again, ending up with Astrolabe, the makers of Solar Fire Gold.
The staff at Astrolabe took their stewardship of the ACS atlas very seriously, and spent two years fixing the errors and updating all of the time change information. They very generously are providing this ACS atlas update for free to all owners of Solar Fire Gold versions 7.0 and 7.3. (Owners of Solar Fire Gold version 8 already have the new atlas built-in.)
To download the free atlas update, click here.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Using Solar Fire Gold on a netbook
Because Solar Fire Gold offers very clear charts with large glyphs, it is an ideal program to use on a netbook. In order to do so, you will need a netbook with at least a 10" screen and a resolution of 800x600 (or preferably better).Astrolabe has thoughtfully provided a tutorial on installing Solar Fire Gold on a netbook which you can read by clicking here.
However, since Solar Fire Gold is now available via download, you can also download Solar Fire Gold to a netbook, making installation even easier.
Monday, October 31, 2011
The Unique and Great Features of Solar Fire Gold
My series of articles focusing on the unique features of the top astrology programs continues with the incredibly remarkable program Solar Fire Gold.To read my first entry on Solar Fire Gold, click here.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
The Unique Features of Astrology Programs: Janus
I am continuing my series of articles focusing on the unique features of the top astrology programs with a focus on the excellent inexpensive program Janus.To read the first entry on Janus, click here.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
The Art of Chart Synthesis
I have written another tutorial article, with both Western and Vedic astrological approaches, called The Art of Chart Synthesis.You can read it by clicking here.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Updated Software Demos Page
In order to help you, my website readers, to be able to explore astrology programs before purchasing them, I created a web page that gives you links for downloading free demo or trial versions of most of the top astrology programs.I just updated it to include a link to the new Regulus Platinum version 6.
To visit my software demo page, click here.
[the link for Regulus Platinum was not working, so I fixed it and now it works]
Friday, October 7, 2011
The Unique Features of Astrology Programs
I just started a new set of articles on all of my websites devoted to specific programs. The new articles will focus on the unique features of each major astrology program.The first entry looks at the Fixed Star Report built in to Sirius and includes a sample full report. You can read it by clicking here.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
My May 2011 Mountain Astrologer SoftStar News Column
My Mountain Astrologer May 2011 column was packed with a variety of great items including a stunning photo of the Moon, free Vedic software, a very useful eclipse map, and much more.You can read all of my Mountain Astrologer news columns including this one by clicking here.
Enjoy!
Saturday, September 24, 2011
An Important ACS Atlas update for AstrolDeluxe versions 7 & 8
The corrections and new entries into the ACS Atlas made by Astrolabe during the past two years have now arrived as a free update to AstrolDeluxe versions 7 & 8.Click here to download the file (you must own AstrolDeluxe versions 7 or 8), and then run it by clicking on the file.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Updated "How to get free demos of most astrology programs"
When you are trying to decide upon which astrology program to buy, it can be invaluable to try them out before you purchase one.That's why I created my web page with links to all of the available free demo and trial versions of all of the major astrology programs.
I just added a link for a trial version of Regulus Platinum. You can run it for 10 days (or 10 times, whichever is lower). You can visit this page by clicking here.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
A Stunning Photo of Saturn
A friend of mine gave me the link to a truly stunning photograph of Saturn that I want to share with you:Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Swiss Army Knife software or a dedicated program?
In the recent years, many of the top astrology programs have started to provide astrological tools for many different functions. Already every major program -- in addition to all of the standard Western astrological features -- has astro-mapping, Cosmobiology dials, and some Fixed Star and Arabic Part functions.But many are now offering additional features for different approaches and schools of astrology. For example:
Janus has highly-prized dedicated modules for Horary, Electional, and Traditional Chart work.
Solar Fire Gold offers powerful chart file and time searches, as well as some Hellenistic, Vedic, and Medieval capabilities.
Sirius has Huber, Hellenistic, Vedic, and Medieval modules, natal and predictive modeling features, and more.
Regulus Platinum has extensive Huber and Vedic functions, as well as very powerful Fixed Star, Asteroid, Arabic Part, Medieval, and Hellenistic features.
That's why I'm calling these programs, "Swiss Army Knife" software, i.e. because they perform so many different functions.
And the list of features built-in to each of these programs keeps growing (read my frequently updated "Great at Every Price" article for more information on how they compare with each other).
But what about specialized software? If you really want to get deeply involved in research, or astro-mapping, or Vedic astrology, etc., should you look instead for a program designed specifically to perform these functions?
The answer can be "yes" or "no", depending upon how deeply you want to go into a new astrological area. For basic Vedic work, for example, Regulus or Kepler/Sirius (or even Solar Fire) will do. But if you want to study Jyotish in greater depth, then you will need a dedicated program like the great Vedic software Shri Jyoti Star.
Similarly, if you want to search chart files (or time) for more factors than are available in most programs, even beyond the capabilities of Solar Fire Gold, then a dedicated program like SuperSearch may fit the bill.
In general, the best "Swiss Army Knife" astrology programs (like those listed above) will indeed provide enough astrological tools for many astrologers to explore the many different schools and topics of astrology to their hearts content. But if you need to go further afield, or have access to more functionality, specialized programs can prove very valuable.
Friday, September 2, 2011
A great sale on Super Report Bundles
Many of the best interpretive reports are add-ons to Kepler & Sirius, and the company that sells them, Cosmic Patterns, has just started a two month sale on them, and I am passing along these savings to my website visitors.I have created "super-bundles" of what I consider to be great sets of reports plus Kepler. (You can also get these bundled with Sirius, if you'd like). Take a look at them at the new sale pricing at:
Note: this sale is over on October 31st. You can also purchase any individual reports or sets of your own design through me, too.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
An Astrological Look at Gloria Steinem
After watching the excellent HBO documentary special on Gloria Steinem, I decided to write this Vedic astrology article: An Astrological Look at Gloria Steinem.You can read it by clicking here
Friday, August 19, 2011
ACS Atlas Issues
Recently, an astrologer reported to me that he and several other astrologers had discovered errors in their software's built-in ACS Atlas, and was very concerned that the quality of the atlas data was compromised.Then another astrologer wrote in about a disparity between the time zone shown by the ACS Atlas vs. the website timeanddate.com for a specific city and birth date.
I decided to research both issues and found the following information:
1. One of the previous stewards of the ACS Atlas inadvertently introduced errors into the atlas. But in the past couple of years, the stewardship of the atlas was transferred to the staff at Astrolabe, who have devoted a huge amount of time and effort fixing these errors and others. The new improved ACS Atlas is part of Solar Fire Gold version 8, and anyone using previous versions of Solar Fire should definitely upgrade to version 8.
(You can update Solar Fire by clicking here.)
Good News! If you own Solar Fire Gold version 7, you can download a free atlas update by clicking here. Just run it and your atlas will be updated.
2. Apparently, the time zone data at timeanddate.com for years prior to 1970 comes from an old ACS Atlas book, and is outdated and unreliable information. So it is much better to rely on the current ACS Atlas in Solar Fire Gold 8 instead.
If you encounter atlas errors in the future, please report them to astrolabe@alabe.com so that they can address them.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Astrological Techniques and Uncertain Birth Times, revised
I just revised my very important article: Astrological Techniques and Uncertain Birth Times.Every astrologer should read this article, which shows which astrological techniques are most influenced by birth time errors, how to give readings to those with uncertain birth times, and more. You can read it by clicking here.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
My Latest TMA SoftStar News Column
My latest Mountain Astrologer column focuses on the amazingly versatile Regulus Platinum Professional program.You can read about it by clicking here.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Free Nimitta Choodamani software
Would you like a free Vedic oracle program? Nimitta Choodamani is a free program, courtesy of the Saptarishi astrology website. Upon running the program, you (reverently) ask a yes-or-no question and then click on Ganesha's feet to receive the answer.To download the program, click here.
Friday, July 22, 2011
A new manual for Shri Jyoti Star
Shri Jyoti Star is the foremost Vedic astrology program, used by Hart deFouw, Sanjay Rath, Komilla Sutton, Dr.David Frawley, myself, and many other top Vedic astrologers.It has so many features that, as I've mentioned before, I created a website devoted to it:
Here you can see all of my reviews, a slide show of features, video and written tutorials, and get a free demo version and the best pricing.
Recently, I decided to write my own program manual for it, to help astrologers know about and use some of its great features. This manual is available to all those who have already purchased the program through me, and everyone who purchases it through me from now on. I will be updating it regularly. To see a screen shot of its current table of contents, click here.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Great at Every Price, revised
I decided to polish my "Great at Every Price" article, comparing the top programs, a bit more.You can read the latest version by clicking here.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
How to get Windows Programs to run on your Mac
I don't usually update my column this frequently, but this vital piece of information is just in.Thanks to Madalyn Hillis at Astrolabe, I now know the central issue in getting Windows programs to run on Macs (using Windows and Parallels).
Click here, to see the solution.
Sunday, July 3, 2011 and Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Client scheduling tools in astrology programs
Three astrology programs: Nova Chartwheels, Sirius, and Solar Fire Gold version 8 have modules designed to help you keep track of your astrological clients, appointment times, etc.Nova Chartwheels has the Astro Planner, Sirius the KWS Business Manager, and Solar Fire Gold version 8 an Appointments Manager.
I woke up today wondering how easy easy each program made it to copy a backup of the created schedule to a flash drive, CD, or other external source. As most people realize, but so few actually act on, creating backups of your chart files, etc. is vital because PCs can crash, or get viruses, or suffer other breakdowns, losing all of your data.
And if you are going to place your entire schedule on your computer using one of these programs, then regular backups are extremely important and necessary.
Unfortunately, only one of these programs makes it very easy to backup the schedule file to an external source. Nova Chartwheels is the best: you can export the file in VCalendar format to an external drive, and re-import it later if a problem arises.
Sirius' Kepler Workshop allows you to create a backup, but only to a specific hard-wired folder called c:\Sirius11\dat\dbf\bak\ and so you would have to find, and then manually copy, the file from that folder to an external device.
Solar Fire Gold version 8 doesn't tell you where it saves the file to, nor allows you to specify where to save it to. I just found out the location of the files: C:\Users\useraccount \Documents\Solar Fire User Files\Databases You can go to this folder to manually backup your files.
Therefore, please think carefully before committing yourself to using a software scheduler for all of your appointment scheduling. They have some very useful features, but unless you are going to backup the schedule file regularly, you might not want to use one of these tools.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
More on Solar Fire Gold version 8
I've been testing Solar Fire Gold version 8 for a while now, and have added a few notes and important suggestion to my introduction to it.To read it, click here
Monday, June 20, 2011
My new tutorial: The Process of Qualifying Yogas
I wrote an article for the British Vedic astrology association's BAVA Journal called Qualifying Yogas.I was just looking it over and realized that it would be rough reading for novices or even some intermediate astrologers who didn't understand the terminology I was using in it.
I decided to add a beginning section giving definitions of all of the Vedic terms, and then also added a final section with a very useful summary/checklist to help readers apply these principles easily.
You can read it by clicking here.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
My first look at Solar Fire Gold version 8
I've just started testing and exploring the new Solar Fire Gold version 8, so click here for my initial impressions.I will be updating this section many times in the near future.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Two new astrology programs for the iPhone and iPad
I have been asked a few times to research the astrology programs available for the iPhone and iPad and found two that are quite powerful and valuable tools for astrologers.To learn about them, click here.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Configuration Hunter: Free astrological tools
I just stumbled upon this very useful website that allows you to search the past and future (from 558 AD to 2091 AD) for astrological configurations.You can search for planets at specific positions, which can be valuable in retrieving a birth date from a few planet positions, and find when specific aspects occurred between planets.
In addition to the Sun through Pluto, you can include the North Node, Lilith, Chiron, and the four major asteroids in searches.
You can also see a list of all of the major aspects occurring at any specific date and time, or between two charts .
To explore any of these astrological tools, click here.
Years ago, I mentioned the free downloadable program from the same source: Configuration Hunter, which has been updated, and now can search for aspect patterns like Grand Trines, Kites, T-Squares, etc. for the Sun , Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Chiron, Juno, Pholus, Pallas , Ceres, Vesta , Lilith (mean apoge) , North Node (mean Node), Ascendant, Nadir, Descendant , Midheaven,Cupido , Hades, Zeus, Kronos, Appolon, Admetos , Vulcanus and Poseidon.
To learn more about this free program, click here.
Monday, May 30, 2011
2011: The Great Year of Astrology Software
With the release of Regulus Platinum this month, The Great Year of Astrology Software has begun. Regulus Platinum offers astrological techniques from all major schools of astrology, and has raised the bar on what features are available in a relatively inexpensive astrology program. You can get it by clicking here.)By the end of June, Solar Fire Gold 8 will be released internationally (as I mentioned below), too. Version 8 finally has complete astro-mapping, including aspect and midpoint lines, excellent interpretations of local space lines, parans, and rising and culminating planet lines, and much more.
By the end of 2011, I expect to see the release of major updates to several other astrology programs. Stay tuned for the latest news on astrology software.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Solar Fire Gold version 8
According to the Esoteric website, Solar Fire Gold 8 is now shipping to Australian residents. To read about some of the new features in version 8, as per their website, click here.Update: If you purchase Solar Fire Gold 7.3 now through my website, you will receive version 8 for free (via download) when it is released on June 22nd, which is a great savings.
Monday, May 16, 2011
How to get help with your astrology software problems
I decided to create a web page that lists all of the ways to get customer support (e.g. web links, telephone numbers and email addresses) for specific astrology programs.You can go to this new page by clicking here. May it help you get the support that you need.
Monday, May 9, 2011
An astrology software review website that is full of errors
I happened to be exploring the web for new astrology software to review, and stumbled upon a website called TopTenReviews, and their astrology software review section.I was very curious to see just how well they performed their analysis, and how they rated the programs that they reviewed.
Not only were their ratings completely unreliable, but their tables of program features were riddled with errors.
In dozens of cases, they indicated that programs had calculation features and reports that they actually did not have! In addition, they listed Windows-only programs as running on the Mac, and made many other factual errors. It's a shame when such shoddy work is done, that misleads people into buying astrology programs only to find crucial features missing that they were told were there.
I did send the company an email, but so far have not received any response.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
The phenomenal right-click options in Regulus Platinum
Many programs allow you to explore additional options and screens by clicking the right button on the mouse on the screen you are viewing, but the just released Regulus Platinum offers more choices than any other program. In fact, an entire very lengthy Regulus Platinum review could be based upon its myriad of right-click menus.I've just added to my ongoing Regulus Platinum review, which you can read by clicking here, focusing on two of its amazing right-click menus.
Through the end of May, Regulus Platinum Professional is available at a very reduced price, and the program will be a great asset to many astrologers.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011 and Wednesday, April 27, 2011
What Challenging and Supportive Aspects Really Mean
I have just posted my latest tutorial article, "What Challenging and Supportive Aspects Really Mean" on my new free astrology software tutorials website.To read it, or any of my other 100+ free Western and Vedic astrology tutorials, click here.
P.S. I spent a bit of time on Wednesday improving the article, so you might look it over again.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Great at Every Price -- Major Update
Have you ever wanted to compare the features of the top Western astrology programs? Or see what unique features they each have?I've just written a major update to my article comparing the top astrology programs, which you can read by clicking here.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Eclipse Mapping in Astrology Software: Updated
I just updated my article comparing the Eclipse mapping (and eclipse finding) features of astrology programs to include the new program Regulus Platinum. It turned out to be one of the two best programs for eclipse mapping!To read the updated version, click here.
I hope you enjoy it.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
The Value of the User Interface in Astrology Software
In this article, I examine and compare the quality of the user interfaces of the top astrology programs. I also explain what a user interface is, and how the better user interfaces empower astrologers.To read the article, click here.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Regulus Platinum: A new powerhouse professional astrology program
The creator of the Huber-oriented astrology program Regulus decided to create a Swiss-army-knife, i.e. incredibly versatile, new version with Hellenistic, Vedic, Medieval, Modern Western, Huber, Horary, Fixed Star, and Arabic Part modules of amazing depth.I decided to build a website devoted to the program, with screenshots, reviews, faqs, and more. You can learn more about this amazing program by clicking here to visit the new website.
Monday, March 21, 2011
My September 2010 TMA SoftStar News
I am adding my September TMA SoftStar News to my website. It includes information on the great free Vedic program Jaganattha Hora, how to get the latest time zone information, and free astrological fonts.You can read it by clicking here.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Planetary Aspects and Transits
and my November 2010 TMA SoftStar News
I just realized that two of my previous Mountain Astrologer SoftStar News columns have not been posted on this website.Click here to read the November 2010 column, with a focus on the new Planetary Aspects and Transits program, which implements the ideas from Rick Tarnas' landmark book "Cosmos and Psyche".
Friday, March 11, 2011
My January 2011 Mountain Astrologer SoftStar News column
Every other month, I write a software news column for The Mountain Astrologer magazine.Click here to read my January 2011 column featuring many free astrology and astronomy programs.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Where to get the birth time for clients
In my ongoing search for online tools for astrologers, I came across a website that offers an extensive set of tools for searching for birth certificates and birth records.To visit this website, click here and then under By Type of Record, select Birth Records. I hope that this resource proves valuable to you.
Friday, February 25, 2011
My new free astrology tutorials website
In order to reach more people, I have transferred all of my free Western & Vedic astrology tutorials to a new website: http://www.learnastrologyfree.com.I will be adding new tutorial at least bimonthly, so please feel free to visit my new website often. You can go there by clicking on the above link or by clicking here.
May it serve you well.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
My new Janus astrology software website
I have done a huge amount of work on my websites since the trouble with Google last week. It reminds me to ask you, all of my website visitors, to please tell your friends and colleagues about my website, so that it can continue to thrive.I built a website devoted to the professional-level astrology program Janus last week too. Janus is the "Best Buy" of top-notch astrology programs, with an incredible number of capabilities at an amazingly low price.
You can learn about its many unique features, see screenshots, and more, and visit the new website by clicking here.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
New astrology software websites and links
Last week, for a couple of days, Google completely dropped my Ultimate Guide to Astrology Software from its searches for some unknown reason.This motivated me to clean up my web pages: removing dead links, making sure the HTML code was correct, etc.
This means, however, that if you explore some of my very old SoftStar News columns, some of the references will have been removed because the websites that they pointed to are no longer in existence.
In the process, I also built a few new websites, which I will be mentioning in this column.
Each of the websites has all of the reviews, tutorials, and extra features for one top astrology program, plus additional information that is not available on this website.
For example, if you are interested in the Sirius astrology program, go to my new Sirius website by clicking here. You will be able to find all of my published reviews and tutorials and added screen shots and more.
Friday, February 11, 2011
An amazing free Linux astrology program
Linux is a computer operating system used by many individuals and companies instead of Windows or the Mac OS. For many years, astrologers have contacted me looking for an astrology program that runs under Linus, and I hadn't found any. This week, I stumbled upon a new Linux astrology program that has an amazing number of features.It is available in 18 languages, and can calculate natal, composite, transit, return, and progressed charts. You can add asteroids, the comet Chiron, and the nodes and part of fortune, and import chart files from ZET and Astrolog. It also offers a monthly timeline, traditional and European chart forms, and an ephemeris range from 1800 AD to 2400 AD.
You can download it by clicking here.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Why Mom Fell: A Tutorial on Primary Significators
I've just written my latest astrology tutorial. It's about how certain planets can become the primary significators of a person or life theme.You can read it by clicking here.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
My New YouTube Introduction to Astrology Software video
I decided to create a video introducing both astrologers and students of astrology (and novices) to the world of astrology software.I created a slide show and then narrated it, and I posted it on YouTube last night.
You can see it (best viewed at 720p high definition in full screen mode) by clicking here.
Hope you like it. :-)
Friday, January 21, 2011
How to install Solar Fire Gold on a Mac
After continuing to polish my article last week on What you can't do astrologically on a Mac, I decided to post a PDF provided by Astrolabe on how to install the most Mac-like Windows astrology program -- Solar Fire Gold -- on a Mac.[Mac owners have often looked at Solar Fire Gold at conferences and been surprised that it wasn't a Mac-native program because it is uses the graphic user interface so well.]
You can read the PDF by clicking here.
Monday, January 10, 2011
New images of Time Maps and Descriptions
As part of my ongoing article on Time Maps, I have begun to add images of each of the programs' actual Time Maps and preparatory screens, with descriptions and details.View the lastest version of the Time Maps article by clicking here.
Sunday, January 02, 2011
Two additional types of transit graphs
I've added color to the Time Maps comparison table, to make it more readable, and have introduced two additional types of transit graphs with images.View the lastest version of the Time Maps article by clicking here.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Win*Star 4.0 Pro added to the Features Comparison Table
My work on the Time Maps article continues. I added Win*Star 4.0 Pro to the table.You can see how far I've gotten on the article, and view the new table by clicking here.
Monday, December 20, 2010
The Features Comparison Table for the Time Maps article
After many hours of work and contact with each of the software companies, I've completed my The Features Comparison Table for the Time Maps article. It categorizes the types of transit graph features and if they are present, and how functional they are in each company's time map.You can see how far I've gotten on the article, and view the new table by clicking here.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
More evaluation criteria for Time Maps article
I am hard at work on the Time Maps comparison article, corresponding with companies, adding new criteria, working on the comparison table.You can see my latest progress by clicking here.
Thursday, December 09, 2010
Transit graphs and Time Maps from different programs: Updated
I just added a set of criterial for evaluating the transit graphs/Time Maps from various programs.Click here to read Part One.
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Six reasons why it is better to get a Windows PC for astrology than a Mac
As many of you know, I have a Frequently Asked Questions (about astrology software) page on this website, which you can peruse by clicking here.I've just added a new section to it, explaining why Windows PCs are so much better than Macs for astrology. You can read it by clicking here.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Transit graphs and Time Maps from different programs: Part One
If you go to my new features page, you can read the beginning of my new article comparing the various depictions of transit graphs from various programs.Click here to read Part One.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Comparing Specific Features in Astrology Software
I have decided to explore specific astrological features and their implementation in different astrology programs.This will enable you, my readers, to make informed choices in selecting the astrology program(s) that can do just what you want.
You can go to my new features comparison page by clicking here.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
My July 2010 TMA SoftStar News
In the latest published issue of my Mountain Astrologer column, I explore using the wonderful astronomy program Stellarium within Solar Fire Gold, the lovely Desktop Earth program, and more.You can read it by clicking here.
Friday, November 05, 2010
Qualifying Yogas -- Discovering the most potent yogas in a chart
I have launched a new website: http://www.learnastrologyfree.com/ devoted to helping astrologers learn both Western and Vedic astrology.All of my older and new free tutorials will be published on that website.
I've just added a comprehensive article on how to determine which yogas will really manifest in a person's life. To read it, click here.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
The Life Path report, an updated review
The Life Path report, which is an amazingly well-written and inexpensive natal report for the Pegasus/Kepler/Sirius programs, is a realy gem. I've updated my review with more information, a sample report, and ordering information. You can read it by clicking here.Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Loveties: A new compatibility report
Many, many years ago, I stumbled upon a DOS compatibilty program called Loveties, written by Sheryl Canter. Even though its delineations were quite short, I was taken by their accuracy and depth.Recently, Ms. Canter decided to make her report an add-on to Pegasus, Kepler, and Sirius, and so now it is available more generally and merited reviewing.
To read my review and see a sample report, click here.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Indra -- The most comprehensive natal report program
Bob Mulligan has written an incredibly detailed natal report that is both of top quality and amazingly comprehensive.It runs under Pegasus, Kepler, and Sirius (you must own one of these to run it), and produces a 35 page natal report.
To read about it and see a sample, click here.
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
How to get AstroDatabank to run on a Windows Vista PC
Please read last week's post first.Since the sequence of routines shown in the link below for Windows Vista is very complicated, I decided to share with you an older article from the AstroDatabank staff about installing AstroDatabank under Vista. (This only works with the 32 bit version of Vista.)
The article can be read by clicking here.
I hope it's helpful.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
How to get AstroDatabank to run on a Windows 7 PC
While AstroDatabank is no longer available for purchase, there are many astrologers who have come to cherish it.In addition, the database does keep getting updated, so that those who run AstroDatabank on their PCs can enjoy viewing new charts (and corrections too) by running the program's WebUpdate feature.
There is even an active group of AstroDatabank users called ADBUsers@yahoogroups.com.
However, one issue has stymied many astrologers who love the program: what happens after they upgrade to Windows Vista or Windows 7? Is there any way that they can install the program under these OSes?
Here are the steps to install AstroDatabank under Windows 7 (or Vista):
1. Install XP Mode. If you have purchased Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate Editions, you can download and install Microsoft's XP Mode by clicking here, and selecting which version of Windows you are running, and then following the instructions carefully.
[Important Note: If you own Windows Vista or Windows 7 Home Premium Edition, and you own a legitimate copy of Windows XP, and are skilled with computers, you can use another method of creating an "XP mode" on your PC by following the instructions at this link. Note: I have not tested this option to see if it will allow the installation of AstroDatabank, but it's worth a shot if running AstroDatabank is important to you. ]
2. Install your core astrology program within XP Mode. AstroDatabank doesn't display charts, and therefore needs to link to an external astrology program. In order for it to do so, you need to install one of the following astrology programs before you install AstroDatabank.
[Note: even if you already installed your core astrology program on your Windows 7 computer, you still have to install a copy in the XP Mode.]
3. Install AstroDatabank. Place the AstroDatabank CD in your CD drive, and install it from within the XP Mode. Make sure that you run WebUpdate to download the latest charts and biographies and corrections. (You can run WebUpdate once by going to Tools, WebUpdate, but to get AstroDatabank to run WebUpdate every time it starts, go to Tools, User Preferences, and check the box: Automatically run WebUpdate each time I start AstroDatabank -- see image below with red arrow pointing to the box to be checked):
I hope that these instructions are clear enough and help you to enjoy AstroDatabank for many years ahead.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
The StarLight Solutions Forecast Report
I have long been a great admirer of the astrological reports written by Gina Ronco for Cosmic Patterns. Her reports run under Pegasus, Kepler, and Sirius, and are truly exceptional.My first review of her reports is an examination of her StarLight Solutions Forecast Report. You can read about it by clicking here.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Jagannatha Hora 7.4
P.V.R. Narasimha Rao, the author of Jagannatha Hora is a Jyotishi who had three gurus, his father Sri P.V.S. Chalapathi Rao, the acclaimed author Dr B.V. Raman, and the well-known Pt. Sanjay Rath. His dedication towards Vedic astrology inspired him to create Jagannatha Hora, which was originally sold for many years as a professional Vedic astrology program.A few years ago, he decided to offer it for free, and yet still keeps issuing updates and enhancements regularly. In the past two years alone, he has released four significant updates.
The latest version continues to improve the time zone and time change data, which has been the most serious deficiency of the program. (However, even with this latest version, I suggest double-checking the time zone and daylight time supplied by the program for each chart, with other software or online.)
Jagannatha Hora is truly a professional-level Vedic astrology program. It offers all of the basic calculations, such as rasi, varga, shad bala, vimshopak, panchang, avasthas, and annual charts, plus brief delineations of the Parashari and Jaimini yogas in the chart, , Kp features, Argala marked on charts (for beginners), and much, much more.
Jagannatha Hora is a valuable asset to any student or practitioner of Jyotish.
Click here to download the full version.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
My first Mountain Astrologer Software News Column
I will be posting all of my Mountain Astrologer Software News columns in this blog.To read the first one, click here.
Enjoy!
Sunday, September 05, 2010
My Astrology Software Center page on Facebook
I have been asked to create a page on Facebook about astrology software, and so I did, calling it the Astrology Software Center, and I will be updating it regularly. At present, it has a section devoted to my most important articles and astrology software links, and a bit of current information.You can go to it by clicking here.
I hope it serves you.
p.s. for those who don't know it yet, I am in the process of creating web pages for several top astrology programs. So far I've created:
http://solarfiregold.com/ -- The Complete Guide to Solar Fire Gold.
http://www.shrijyotistar.net/ -- Everything you wanted to know about Shri Jyoti Star: the foremost Vedic astrology program
http://www.keplerastrology.net/ -- The Ultimate Guide to Kepler 7.0
with several more to come.
Monday, August 30, 2010
The Problems with Astrology Programs from India
Having recently received and tested two astrology programs from India, and having looked at many others before this, I decided to write an article on "The Problems with Astrology Programs from India", which you can read by clicking here.Saturday, August 21, 2010
Paramount Considerations in Chart Interpretation
I just wrote a new article called Paramount Considerations in Chart Interpretation which illustrates how to find the most important and dominant factors in a chart.There are plenty of examples, using both Western and Vedic astrological approaches. You can read it by clicking here.
I hope it serves you.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Major astrology software updates coming!
Between now and the first half of 2011, at least six top astrology programs will have major updates.A couple are due to be released in the very near future, while others won't show up until the end of the year or early next year.
Stay tuned to this column to keep apprised of some very exciting advances in astrology software.
One upgrade in particular, which should be released within a couple of months, is a truly giant release.
Monday, August 09, 2010
The Kid Zone Combo Natal Report
I have rarely encountered delineations in birth chart reports that "open my eyes" and elicit great respect for the author of the delineations.The Kid Zone Combo Natal Report is an exception. It is the most comprehensive and most insightful natal report I've yet encountered.
You can read my review at this link.
Sunday, August 01, 2010
My Full Mountain Astrologer review of Sirius 1.1
I have just added to my website my full review from The Mountain Astrologer, with images, of Sirius 1.1You can read it by clicking here.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
How do configurations in the current sky affect me?
Given the major configurations occuring this year in the sky, I decided to write an article on how to ascertain whether or not they would affect each person's chart.You can read the article by clicking here.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Super Astrology Report Bundles
For years, astrologers and students of astrology have asked me, via email and telephone, which interpretive reports are the best. Since I represent all of the major (and many minor) astrology software companies, and have carefully evaluated all of their products, I know which reports (and other programs) are good and which are not.I've decided to create my own Super Astrology Report bundles, containing sets of excellent reports (including a transit report that I wrote myself, which has gotten high praise and is not available anywhere else). You can see a sample of any of the reports by clicking on its name.
To go to the new page, click here.
Monday, July 12, 2010
The new version of Electronic Astrologer Future
I recently discovered that both the Electronic Astrologer Natal and the Electronic Astrologer Future now have the full ACS U.S. and World atlases built in. This is a great boon to those using these fine programs. Both are incredibly inexpensive and top-notch report programs.To read my (updated) review of Electronic Astrologer Future, click here.
Sunday, July 04, 2010
How to get a free yearly calendar of astrological events
Matrix Software is known to have the best marketing methods for selling their products of any astrology software company. Their latest method is to create a website that provides a free yearly calendar of astrological events as well as additional reports.You can get your free yearly calendar of events (mundane events, not related to a specific birth chart) by clicking here and going to the bottom section of the screen.
Just remember that if you actually want to purchase any Matrix Software, you should do so through me, as I can guide you towards the programs that are worthwhile. and give you the best pricing.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Adding current planetary positions and more to your website
I just discovered that astro.com has code that you can add to your website to display a table of the current planetary positions and another table showing those born on the current month and day.Go to the following link to get the codes:
Astrodienst Webmaster Tools
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
My Sirius 1.1. Review in The Mountain Astrologer
I encourage you to pick up the latest issue of The Mountain Astrologer to read my review of Cosmic Pattern's flagship program Sirius 1.1It will be my last full review in TMA for the time being, as I shift gears to writing shorter astrology software news columns for them.
I hope it proves valuable to you.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Why buy Astrology Software through me
Because I am frequently asked about my role in the development of astrology software, and what I offer, I decided to write this short article.You can read it by clicking here.
I hope it serves you.
Wednesday, June 02, 2010 and Thursday, June 10, 2010
The New Electronic Astrologer Natal Report
Astrocom has revised their Electronic Astrologer Natal Report, which previously wouldn't work with Vista or Windows 7.You can read about the new version of the program by clicking here.
p.s. I just added a link to a sample report and a chart wheel page.
Friday, May 28, 2010
My new TMA SoftStar News column
As many of you know, I have been writing astrology software reviews for The Mountain Astrologer for many years.Since the foremost professional astrology programs have gotten very mature (i.e. with hundreds of features, solid accuracy, and fine graphics), the folks at The Mountain Astrologer suggested that there isn't as much need for full software reviews for the time being, and I came up with the idea that I could write a shorter column for each issue about the latest news in astrology software.
My proposal was accepted, and I just submitted my first column.
I invite you to read my upcoming columns in The Mountain Astrologer, the foremost astrology magazine.
Friday, May 21, 2010
The Astrology of Relating
Since an understanding of astrology is essential in efffectively using any astrology software, I have decided to start including my latest tutorials in astrology in this blog.You can see all of my tools for learning astrology by clicking here, or just read my latest essay, The Astrology of Relating, by clicking here.
Hope these are of value to you.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
The Solar Fire 7.3 update
The Solar Fire 7.3 update has a number of enhancements valuable to Solar Fire users. "Under the hood", i.e. a bit less visible, are its enhanced compatibility with Windows 7 and its more effective importing of settings from previous versions of Solar Fire.More obvious additions are its Sabian Symbol report, improved interpretations for natal placements and transit and progressed events, and sign and house delineations for Sedna, Eris, Selena and the Black Moon Lilith.
Finally, the update adds traditional hot/cold/wet/dry tallies for temperament (sanguine, choleric, melancholic or phlegmatic) according to William Lilly, see the image below:
While the update is not earth-shaking, it is worthwhile, especially to new buyers of Solar Fire, and for owners of version 7.1, who can download the update for free.
Another change Astrolabe, and I, are offering is the ability to purchase Solar Fire and download it instead of getting it shipped to you. This is much faster, and bypasses international duties and extra shipping costs.
Sunday, May 02, 2010
The Strengths and Weaknesses of Interpretive Software
One of the primary reasons why I encourage astrologers to contact me before purchasing astrology programs is that the quality of interpretive programs varies widely, and many are filled with alarming or inaccurate delineations.I just revised my article exploring in depth the pitfalls and problems with some interpretive software, which you can read by clicking here.
I hope it is of value to you.
Thursday , April 22, 2010
A Restaurant Metaphor on Astrology Software Companies
Six years ago, I wrote this little article, and I just stumbled across it again and decided to polish it and post it again for those who missed it the first time:Just like there are 5 star restaurants, there are 5 star astrology software companies that "do everything right".
But like most human endeavors, most restaurants and astrology software companies have their failings as well as their successes.
Some restaurants rush in the preparation of their food, and it comes to the table undercooked or unevenly cooked. (Software released before enough polishing and bug-fixing.)
Others think that as long as the food (software) is good enough, it doesn't matter what service they offer. They don't address problems that arise, may ignore customer suggestions and requests, and some even take offence if feedback is offered.
Still others completely ignore presentation, and offer tasty food (functional software) in a jarring arrangement (poor user interface).
Pricing can also be an issue, with some places offering bargains, and others meals (programs) that are clearly overpriced.
Then there are the supersizers, the places that think that more is better, and deliver very mediocre offerings in huge amounts. (E.g. programs that have lengthy reports of little quality.)
Finally, some restaurants offer menus that stay the same forever, while others keep creating new dishes. (Software companies that don't change their programs vs. others that keep innovating.)
The value of the food at a restaurant, or of an astrology program, depends upon much more than just one of its qualities.
[In reviewing and expanding upon this essay, I came again to realized how well the parallels work. In the 32 years that I've worked with astrology software, I've seen both great strides in qualilty and also all of the above issues.]
p.s. I was tempted to mention the names of companies or products that fall into each of the above categories, but realized that it wouldn't be fair, because each software creator has their own strengths and does the best job they can.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
My new Kepler Astrology Software website
I have created a new website devoted to the astrology program Kepler, with a new write-up exploring even more of its features, plus all of my reviews, tutorials, etc. from this website, in a completely organized format.To learn about Kepler and visit the new site, click here.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Free Vedic Charts Online
While there are many websites, even this one, where you can get a free Western astrology chart online, it isn't as easy to get a free Vedic chart.If you're away from your computer and want to see a Vedic chart, dasa listing, and/or table of planets by sign and nakshatra, you can do so for free by clicking here.
Note: please notice that on the right side of the screen that appears is an atlas link (and after you click on it, another link to find out whether Daylight Savings Time was in effect). Be sure to use these links if you don't know the coordinates or time zone needed.
Friday, March 26, 2010 and Thursday, April 1, 2010
Five Six reasons you really should update your astrology software
I was asked today by a customer to remind my website readers why it is so important to upgrade your astrology software regularly.Here are
[Note: in my eagerness to respond to my customer's request, I left out the most important reason to upgrade regularly, which is now #6 below]
1. Support the company. Companies rely on update orders, not just sales, to keep on going. If you want your software to continue to be developed and supported, help the companies survive by purchasing updates.
2. Get updates to essential features. If you have an old version of most programs, chances are high that the internal time-change atlas has out-of-date information, meaning that some of the charts you calculate will be miscalculated. Companies often update their atlas when they update their software, and this is an essential component to have as current as possible.
There are also astrologers who want to use the new bodies discovered by astronomers in their charts. Only by updating can these planets and other bodies be calculated.
3. Receive enhanced versions of the features that you love. Each program has features that are really valuable to their owners. With new versions, these features are often enhanced, often in ways that are priceless to astrologers. For example, new versions of some programs can depict applying aspect lines as solid, and separating aspect lines as dotted. This differentiation may be neat for birth chart work, but is essential for chart animation, i.e. where being able to see which transits are applying is crucial to choosing the best times for classes, weddings, etc.
4. Be dazzled by incredible new features. Recently, many programs added powerful primary direction calculations, astrological monthly calendars, and enhanced astro-mapping to their functions. Most companies include many great new capabilities in each new upgrade.
5. Have compatibility with the latest version of Windows or OS X. It is unlikely that an old version of most programs will install on the latest operating systems, so if you buy a new computer, you're going to have to upgrade anyway. So why not enjoy the latest features of programs before you're forced to update?
6. Get longstanding bugs and design flaws fixed. For many years, most ancient charts created by Win*Star Plus were miscalculated, due to an atlas look-up error. While it took the company years to fix the bug, later releases were fixed and those who updated could calculate ancient charts accurately.
Similarly, before Solar Fire Gold, versions of Solar Fire (and some other programs, too) had a serious design flaw that resulted in some transits and progressions being omitted from hit lists and Time Maps, which was mentioned in my Optimal Use of Astrology Software -- specifically the first topic in this section called Missed Events. In Solar Fire Gold, this problem finally got resolved.
And until a fix that is being implemented this year, progressions were imprecisely calculated in Kepler and Sirius.
Therefore it is vital to upgrade your programs in order to have major software issues fixed.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Great at Every Price -- Revised
My table and article comparing the features of the top Western astrology programs has just been revised.And I will be continuing to revise it as new programs, and new features, become relevant to include.
To read the latest revision, click here.
Friday, March 12, 2010
My new web page with links to free demos of most of the top astrology programs
I decided to create a web page that will allow you to directly download free demos of most of the top astrology programs.You can go to the page by clicking here.
It is always a good idea to road test demos of programs to see if you like their design, ease of use, and functions.
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Coordinates for small Cities and Towns
One of my readers pointed out the following website as a source of longitudes and latitudes for small cities and towns throughout the World.If you use this coordinate data in your astrology program, remember to manually enter the correct time zone information (which you can get from your software's atlas, i.e. by entering the name of a nearby larger city.)
Click here to go to the website. Use the Search field to enter the place name, and then click on the place to pop up its coordinates.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Janus 4.3 The creators of Janus continue to improve their program and offer free updates (e.g. to 4.0 or later owners).
Click here to go to my page about Janus, including new information about the 4.3 update.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
The purpose of websites devoted to specific astrology programs
Those of you who have kept up with this weblog know that I have already contructed two websites devoted to specific astrological programs, and will be adding more.The current two are solarfiregold.com and shrijyotistar.net.
The purpose of devoting a website to a specific program is simple: scattered across many pages of my soulhealing.com website is information on each of the major programs. I decided that it would help you if all of the information on a specific program -- all of the reviews, tutorials, videos, etc. -- where collected in one place and easily accessible. That's why I've started creating program-specific websites.
I also have a request of you, my loyal readers. Lately, my website has fallen lower on Google when searching for astrology software, and it would really help me if you would add to your own websites a link to http://www.soulhealing.com/astrosof.htm (where all of my astrology software information resides) and perhaps also to http://www.soulhealing.com. If you can do so, I'd really appreciate it.
May my website continue to serve you.
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
My new website devoted to Shri Jyoti Star
Once again, I've created a website that has all of my reviews, tutorials, video tutorials, etc. about one of the foremost programs all in one place.This time, it's the great Vedic astrology program Shri Jyoti Star. You can visit the website by clicking here.
Monday, February 01, 2010
My new Solar Fire Gold website
I've decided to create websites devoted to specific astrology programs, so that you can go to one place to find all of the information about it.My dedicated website about Solar Fire Gold has all of my written and video tutorials, my reviews of all versions of Solar Fire, special offers, and more.
Click here to go to it.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Astrology Software Demos
I just created a new web page with links to demo versions of most of the major astrology programs.Click here to go to that page. Exploring demos can give you an idea about how programs work and whether they have the features and user-friendliness you want.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
My full Mountain Astrologer review of ZET Geo 8
I spent a great deal of time learning to use and discovering the features of ZET Geo 8 before writing my review of this powerful program for The Mountain Astrologer.You can read my review, complete with images and links, by clicking here.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
StarLove Freeware
I just received a new cute free astrology compatibility program called StarLove, which you can download by clicking here.To use it, you enter two people's birth data --you do need to know their birth place's time zone/changes and the longitude -- but there is a World map included that you can use to get an approximate longitude.
The StarLove then shows you a set of graphs and a compatibility rating based upon aspects between the charts (note: it doesn't use aspects to the Ascendant).
While StarLove is quite basic, it is still interesting to explore. Here's a sample graph:
Hope you enjoy it.
Friday, January 01, 2010 and Sunday, January 03, 2010
Important New Atlas Test: Charts miscalculated for Venezuela
There have been major time zone changes in specific countries outside of the U.S. For example, Venezuela has changed the time zone used countrywide. (Thanks to David Cochrane for this alert.)Unfortunately, the ACS atlas has not been updated to reflect this change, and so programs that rely on it -- such as Solar Fire, TimePassages, Shri Jyoti Star -- will create incorrect charts for Venezuela for newborns until this issue has been addressed. Even versions of Kepler or Sirius that have not been recently updated will have this problem.
So for recent births outside of the U.S., I recommend using this link to www.timeanddate.com to verify that the time zone you are using is correct OR use the latest version of Sirius 1.1.
To test whether your program can calculate time zones correctly:
You can use 12 noon (i.e. 12:00 pm) for these charts:
January 1, 2008 in Caracas, Venezuela: 4 hr 30 min west time zone, no DST -- the Ascendant is 13 degrees 19 minutes Aries
October 1, 1951 in Lahore, Pakistan 4 hr 30 min east, no DST -- the Ascendant is 0 degrees 31 minutes Capricorn
October 1, 1954 in Lahore, Pakistan 5 hr east, no DST -- the Ascendant is 23 degrees 58 minutes Sagittarius
March 16, 2008, Buenos Aires, Argentina 3 hr west, no dst -- the Ascendant is 28 degrees 51 minutes Taurus (some programs give 53 minutes)
October 19, 2008, Buenos Aires, Argentina 3 hr west, yes DST (2 hours before GMT) -- the Ascendant is 15 degrees 19 minutes Capricorn
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
New Time Zone Changes
In corresponding with David Cochrane (the author of Sirius and Kepler programs), he pointed out that:"On the subject of accuracy we got some new data on observance of DST in Europe and Asia in past decades and we are making more corrections. There are thousands of corrections we have made in Central and South America as well as thousands of updates over the past 20 years with changes in the laws for observing DST, and we are getting an increasing number of people reporting incorrect charts with other programs.
For example, about a month ago a lady told me that a client in Buenos Aires was upset to find out that the chart she had done for her 8 year old son has the wrong rising sign because the famous astrologer who did the chart does not use Kepler or Sirius. The free online chart service -- [author's note: see the link in the next paragraph] -- has the accurate DST tables so people can verify the chart there without having to buy our software. [For the USA, the old ACS Atlas is pretty good; we haven't had many corrections in the USA.]"
Most of the top programs do have updated atlases, but if you are doing a chart for birth place not in the USA and want to confirm the correct chart is being cast, you can use the free link David has provided by clicking here to calculate a chart using the latest time zone information.
You can also confirm the accuracy of your astrology software's atlas by performing the atlas accuracy test included in my article, "The Optimal Use of Astrology Software" which every astrologer using astrology software should read, in any case, by clicking here.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Chart Animation in Solar Fire Gold
To view my latest tutorial of the chart animation features in Solar Fire, and all of my previous Solar Fire Gold tutorials, Click here.Monday, December 07, 2009
Video Tutorial: Solar Fire Gold's Extra Points Chart Wheels
I recorded and uploaded a new astrology software tutorial on Solar Fire Gold's Extra Points Chart Wheels.This great feature allows you to add any of a huge set of extra points to your charts. Click here to see the tutorial.
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
The Conclusion to my Sirius 1.1 Review
I've finished my review of Sirius 1.1, the powerful new update to Sirius.You can find it after parts one and two of the review, by clicking here.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
More Tutorials for Solar Fire Gold
Stephanie Johnson wrote a tutorial on the powerful switches in Solar Fire Gold between Sidereal/Tropical, etc., which I just added to my tutorial page on Solar Fire Gold.You can read all of my Solar Fire Gold tutorials by clicking here.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Part Two of Sirius 1.1 Review
Here's my second installment of the Sirius 1.1 update review.Read Part Two of my new review by clicking here. You'll find it placed after Part One.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Part One of Sirius 1.1 Review
Sirius 1.1 is a major update to the already incredible Sirius program.Read Part One of my new review by clicking here.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Update of my Frequently Asked Questions about Astrology Software
I reorganized and added to my FAQ page, giving answers to questions that concern those who wish to purchase and use astrology software.You can see the updated page by clicking here.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
My fourth video tutorial focuses on many features in the great Vedic program Shri Jyoti Star.
Monday, October 19, 2009
This is my third video tutorial, about the great Transit/Progressed/Directed Graph in StarTrax Millennium that shows the cumulative effects of all of the events over time.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Many of my readers have found it hard to locate some of the reports in Kepler and Sirius, so I created this tutorial:
Monday, October 05, 2009
The Best Features in Astrology Software: Time Maps in Solar Fire
This is the first installment in a new series of video tutorials by me about the most powerful and useful features in astrology programs.After many hours of investigating how to record and present video software tutorials to you, my readers, I finally learned that I could record them effectively using Snagit, and present them for viewing by uploading them to youtube.
Click on the following link to learn about Solar Fire's Time Map feature. It has been present in Solar Fire since version 3, and remains the most useful depiction of predictive events I've ever seen.
By the way, I also created a Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials web page for Solar Fire Gold, where I share many valuable insights about getting the most out of Solar Fire Gold. You can view it by clicking here.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Great at Every Price: Professional Astrology Software: Revised
I revised my article comparing the features and strengths of the top Western astrology programs this week.You can read the new revision by clicking here.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Issues with Calculating Progessions
My recent software testing has led me to add even more material to my ground-breaking article, The Optimal Use of Astrology Software.I've added another section on Issues with calculating Progressions to the addendum exploring the effects of location and time zone, programs with imprecise calculations, and the Parallax Moon.
To read it, click here.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
A.I.R. Software's SuperSearch Program
I spent several hours this week exploring A.I.R. Software's SuperSearch 3.0 program.I was very impressed by the range of search capabilities the program has. You can read my review by clicking here.
Monday, August 17, 2009
The Optimal Use of Astrology Software - Major revision
Because of questions posed to me in emails from astrologers, several new themes to discuss are now included in this very important article.The new version has a large addendum exploring issues around Composite charts, astromaps, precise planetary ingresses, and much more.
To read it, click here.
Sunday, August 02, 2009
The Influence of Eclipses
In completing the blog from last week, I look at which programs allow me to search for clients and friends most affected by an eclipse.To read about this, click here.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Eclipse Maps and the Influence of Eclipses
After the major eclipse this week, I tested astrology programs to see how well they portrayed this major event and how well they helped me discover who would be most affected by the eclipse .Much to my surprise, most gave disappointing results.
To read about my findings, click here.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Great at Every Price: Professional Astrology Software
I spent the last few weeks writing this article about professional Western astrology software at each price point.It is amazing how powerful all of these programs are. Definitely worth reading.
Click here to read Great at Every Price: Professional Astrology Software worth having.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
The Most Important Significators of Life Themes and their use in chart delineation and astrology software
I just wrote this essay, showing what are the most important astrological factors for understanding any life theme, and the implications of this for astrology software.You can read the article by clicking here.
Saturday, July 04, 2009
KP Muhuart -- Free Krishnamurthi Paddhati Software
Krishnamurthi Paddhati is a very sophisticated predictive methodology used by practitioners of the KP approach. This new software, KP Muhuart, has many, many features including a KP analysis screen with a Lagna table and sub-level analysis and a detailed Results page showing North Indian charts, an analysis of each house, and of dasas to four levels. KP afficianadoes can view all of the author's offerings and download the software by clicking here.Monday, June 29, 2009
Morinus Primary Directions Freeware
In my quest to find my readers the best free astrology programs, I discovered Morinus, a program dedicated to the calculation of Primary Directions. Morinus comes in versions for Windows, the Mac OS, and Linux and is packed with features and options including Swiss Ephemeris accuracy, 12 house systems, planetary hours, midpoints, chart wheels, Secondary Progressions, and a set of capabilities specifically for the calculation of Primary Directions including Placidian, Regiomontanian, and Campanian options, a speculum, parallels, Secondary Motion of the Moon, Primary Keys, and much more. You can learn more about Morinus and download it by clicking here.Monday, June 22, 2009
The Optimal Use of Astrology Software -- newly revised
One of the most important articles that I've ever written on astrology software is called "The Optimal Use of Astrology Software". Over the years, I have revised it, and have just completed my latest revision.Anyone using astrology software should read it, as it reviews the best ways to get the most out of your software, how to protect yourself and your data, how to test the accuracy of your software, what calculations you can't trust, what techniques are most afffected by inaccuracies in birth times, how to update your software, and much more.
You can read my latest revision of the article by clicking here.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Find the positions of Minor Point and Bodies, Occultations, etc.
I stumbled across a website that offers a "super-chart" of major planets, named Centaurs and TNOs, 50 asteroids, Uranian points, Galactic Center and Great Attractor for a given date and time. It also can create an aspect table showing one degree aspects between all points, can generate ephemeris pages, and list Solar and Lunar Eclipses and Planetary Occultations.Click here to go to the website, and click here to see a sample "super-chart".
Saturday, June 06, 2009
Updated Day Watch Sidebar: Other programs offering Astrological Calendars
Since I published my Day Watch review in The Mountain Astrologer, two more programs have added astrological calendars to their feature set.You can read about astrology programs besides Day Watch that have astrology calendars and see images of each program's calendar by clicking here.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
The Day Watch Astrological Calendar
The finest astrological calendar software available today is a program called Day Watch from Matrix Software.You can read my published (in The Mountain Astrologer) review by clicking here.
Monday, May 25, 2009
My review of Intrepid 2.0 published in The Mountain Astrologer
I just added to my website my published review of Intrepid 2.0.You can read about this very unique program by clicking here.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
My review of Janus 4.1 published in The Mountain Astrologer
I just placed my published review of Janus 4.1 on my website. Janus 4.1 is currently available at an incredibly low price (a fraction of the price of comparable programs) and its unique features are very valuable.You can read my new review by clicking here.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Astrology Software for Linux
In searching the internet for the latest information on astrology software, I came across the following link about developments and enhancements of Walter D. Pullen's Astrolog program for Linux.I have often been asked about whether there were any good programs for Linux, so to learn more about Astrolog for Linux, click here.
Monday, May 04, 2009
The Basic Ephemeris 1.0
I have just written a mini-review of The Basic Ephemeris 1.0, an inexpensive new astrology program.
You can read about it by clicking here.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Which is the best astrology program?
Astrology software has blossomed incredibly in ways that I could never have conceived of when I got my first "microcomputer" back in 1978.Early on, I gave awards for "best astrology program of the year", but stopped because some companies were deleting the "of the year" part and using my endorsements in their advertisements.
The truth is very simple, which is the best astrology program depends upon the features each astrologer needs most.
Nevertheless, here are some examples of the "best of breed":
Solar Fire Gold has the best transit graph and best chart and page animation features. Shri Jyoti Star deserves an honorable mention for its excellent chart and page animation capablilities, too.
Pegasus, Kepler, and Sirius have the best selection of top notch add-on interpretive reports.
SuperSearch, Shri Jyoti Star, and Solar Fire Gold have the best search-for-factors in both natal charts and in the past and future.
Sirius offers the largest number of astrological tools for different schools of astrology (e.g. modern Western, Hellenistic, Vedic, Huber, etc.)
DayWatch has the best astrological calendar, with honorable mention to Solar Fire Gold's fine astrological calendar.
Janus has the most extensive set of astromapping lines and interpretations.
Millennium offers the best modeling tools for predictive graphs, e.g. future times when finances, love, career will have peaks and valleys, with honorable mention to both Kepler and Sirius for their well-done natal, predictive, and synastric modeling tools.
JigSaw and Sirius have the best rectification tools (i.e. where you enter many significant life events and the program gives you the most likely birth times).
AstroDatabank has the best and most accurately timed collection of charts, including searchable biographies, categorization, and powerful modeling tools.
Shri Jyoti Star, Solar Fire Gold, and Sirius have the best screen and page design tools.
The Vedic Bookshelf has the most extensive selection of searchable texts.
Win*Star Plus has the best Ephemeris page module around.
Nova Chartwheels is the most powerful software for Cosmobiology that I have seen.
Regulus and Sirius have the most extensive capabilities for Huber astrology.
I could go on and on with this list, adding dozens of additional categories and many more notable astrology programs.
It is very important to note, however, that virtually every astrology program has unique features. When I wrote my review of astromapping programs, for example, I was struck by the powerful and unique astromapping abilities in most of the programs.
Suffice it to say that astrologers are incredibly blessed by the abundance of excellent astrology program.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Sources for Time Zone and Daylight Saving Time Data
Brian Conrad, the creator of Vedic software for the pocket pc and for Windows (available at Jyotishtools.com), was kind enough to point me to this website, which will help programmers add time change data to their programs.You can visit the page by clicking here.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Frequently Asked Questions about Sirius
I just wrote a Frequently Asked Questions about Sirius article because many people were asking me questions about Sirius.You can read it by clicking here.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
"AstroDatabank is Free?"
While I was visiting another website, I noticed that its author was proclaiming that AstroDatabank is now free.Since I am a very strong champion of the AstroDatabank program, I inspected the issue further and found out that the AstroDatabank program is not what she was talking about but instead the new website.
If you go to this link, you will find the entire AstroDatabank database available for perusal. For the time being, the only search you can conduct on the data is a search by name.
This is of value because you can read short biographies, see their charts (although the format is a bit hard to read), and see which categories a person falls into.
However, those who own the actual AstroDatabank software are much better off, because they can both use the powerful search features built-in to AstroDatabank and also export the data to their other astrology programs to do additional searches.
I am very thankful to Alois Treindl for purchasing AstroDatabank and making this data accessible to all people. What a great contribution to astrology!
P.S. Very important note for AstroDatabank owners: as you know, when you run AstroDatabank, it automatically downloads from the Internet the latest additions to the databank. Right now, the data that is being added to the website is also being made available via the software's update feature, so run AstroDatabank at least once a month to be sure to get the latest updates.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Issues with Jagannatha Hora
An astrologer contacted me, wanting to purchase a new Vedic program, because his free Jagannatha Hora was miscalculating charts, specifically around dates like 1840 AD.I downloaded the latest version, 7.32, which you can do by clicking here, and tested it.
As I suspected, the astrologer had depended upon Jagannatha Hora to use the correct date, but the program was not programmed to switch automatically to LMT when appropriate, and so the charts were coming out wrong.
Jagannatha Hora does provide a "Use LMT" checkbox, but leaves it up to users to determine when to check the box.
A few days later, an astrologer asked me to calculate a series of charts for her using Jagannatha Hora. When I entered the data for her birth chart, and used the internal atlas to find the city's coordinates and time zone, Jagannatha Hora failed a second time.
This failure was more significant, because the program did not correct for Daylight Savings Time when it should have.
Jagannatha Hora is an excellent program in many ways. It has a very wide range of Vedic calculations, it is free, and it continues to be enhanced.
But astrologers cannot count on it to calculate charts correctly for ancient dates or when Daylight Savings Time is in effect, but need to check (in other software or in printed time zone tables) whether LMT or DST was operating, and then manually make the changes in the data entry screen in order to get accurate charts.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Switching to the Mac for Astrology
I just wrote an article on "Switching to the Mac for Astrology" with tips on how to make this not-so-easy transition easier.You can read it by clicking here.
Note: I updated the article a little bit on Monday, March 23, 2009.
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Why Astrology can never be systematic Part Two: Astrology Software Limitations
I just wrote a second section to the article mentioned below, focusing specifically on the issues that arise concerning astrology software delineations. You can read it by clicking here.Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Why Astrology can never be systematic
I just wrote a short essay entitled, "Why Astrology can never be systematic".You can read it by clicking here.
Hope you find it of value.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
An Astrological House Formulary: how each system works and how to calculate cusps
As I mentioned in my Learning Astrology section of this website, you can both read online and download and save to your computer many excellent astrology books for free, just by logging on the Scribd.com and registering.In searching for what astrology books were available, I discovered "An Astrological House Formulary: how each system works and how to calculate cusps" by Michael P. Munkasey.
This book can be an excellent reference for programmers who create astrology software as well as those just wanting to learn more about house systems.
You can read it (or save it to your computer) by clicking here.
(As I mentioned, if you are not registered on Sribd.com, you will have to register first. But it's free and easy to do.)
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Software Tips & Tricks: Research Graphs in Shri Jyoti Star
I am always amazed when I discover, or am shown, a completely new feature in an astrology program I've used for years.This week, I was talking to Andrew Foss, the author of Shri Jyoti Star -- a great Vedic astrology program that you can read more about by clicking here -- and was asking him to add a feature I have long wanted to see in the program. He surprised me by saying, "That feature has been there since version 3."
Now, to my credit, I am familiar with almost all of the features of this vast and incredibly powerful program, but the one we talked about had eluded my notice.
I wanted to be able to see graphs of the distribution of planets by sign, nakshatra, etc. for a group of charts.
For example, let's say that I have collected the charts of all of the astronauts and want to see how many have planets in Shatabishak vs other Nakshatras.
I can use Shri Jyoti Star to copy charts to a group (the program provides two subgroups for use in this way, labeled A & B).
The procedure is to highlight each person's name in database list of the program's Data Entry screen and then press the F11 key -- or click on the menu item Tags, Apply B tag -- and the person is now part of the B group.
Next, I open the B group list (by clicking on the white space to the right of the word Lists and select the B group) and open one of the charts shown.
I then Page Down to an empty screen, click on it, click on the Graphs tab, and at the bottom right under the word Research click on the white space to select the B group.
I can next select whatever chart point I want (Ascendant through Saturn) and click on one of the buttons below it to choose which factor -- signs, navamshas, nakshatras, Sun signs -- I want a graph of.
Voila! The program provides a beautiful colored and labeled graph that is easy to read!
It is my understanding that this feature will be enhanced in the next version with more choices, e.g. lord of the lagna by house, making this tool even more useful.
Another surprise and new discovery was that in a recent update to Solar Fire Gold was added the ability to toggle between Heliocentric and Geocentric coordinates simply by pressing Control-K (i.e. holding down the Ctrl key and pressing the "K" key).
This feature works on the Main Screen to instantly toggle back and forth between both, much like the program can do between Tropical and Sidereal Zodiacs and between True and Mean Nodes.
Well done!
Saturday, February 07, 2009
How you place yourself in jeopardy if you download illegal copies of astrology programs.
Because I want to keep up with the latest information about computer security (both for myself and for my readers), I subscribe to the excellent Windows Secrets newsletter at windowssecrets.com.In a recent issue, Ian "Gizmo" Richards, a true expert in computer security, mentioned that a top security firm found that two thirds of all computer infections came from downloading software from the internet onto your computer.
He also states:
"Pirated software is particularly dangerous, because such programs are used widely and are often crawling with viruses.
In fact, when I'm looking for a new set of malware for my security tests, I go straight to pirated-software sites and cracked-software sources on BitTorrent.
The last time I did this, 39 of the 61 illegal programs I downloaded from BitTorrent were infected."
So please both protect yourself and support astrology software companies by purchasing astrology software instead of trying to get it illegally.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Update Your Solar Fire Gold!
As owners of Solar Fire have known for many years, the authors of Solar Fire release more updates between major versions than any other company. These updates -- which are free -- are also issued more frequently, and include both program fixes and significant program enhancements.So every owner of Solar Fire Gold should be sure and look for updates once a month or so.
Note: to see what version of Solar Fire Gold you are presently running, just look at the top left of the screen and it will show you the title: Solar Fire Gold and a version number (e.g. Solar Fire Gold v7.0.9 -- the latest version).
Here's how to get the latest update:
1. Run Solar Fire Gold.
2. Click on the Help menu at the top right of the screen.
3. Click on "Check for Updates on the Web" and if there is a new update, download and install it.
The latest version of Solar Fire Gold has updated the atlas files for the new time zone changes in Australia, Argentina and Sri Lanka, and offers many fixes and improvements including the ability to view multiple "cloned" real time charts, i.e. astro-clocks that show the planets as they are at present (which change as time moves forward) for as many different locations as you want.
Previous free updates were also very significant, e.g. the addition of cloned charts described in my September 19th, 2008 weblog, which you can go to by clicking here.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Sale pricing of Janus 4.1 extended indefinitely
Janus 4.1 is a full-fledged professional astrology program with great accuracy, a very wide range of features, and fine ease-of-use.The price of Janus was significantly lowered for the winter 2008 holiday season, and its creators have decided to extend the sale indefinitely.
My prices are even lower, and make the software a truly phenomenal bargain.
You can read my published reviews of Janus and purchase it by clicking here.
Monday, January 19, 2009
My Full Mountain Astrologer Review of Solar Fire Gold
Here's the full texts and graphics of my Mountain Astrologer review of Solar Fire Gold. To read it, click here.(Unfortunately, The Mountain Astrologer staff couldn't include both of my graphics in their published version of my review, but the review on this website is complete.)
I hope you enjoy it.
Friday, January 09, 2009
The Art of Reviewing Astrology Software - Part Four: My Hands-on Evaluation of Astrology Programs
At this point, I install the program I am about to evaluate and test it for bugs. Usually, the installation is easy, and I begin exploring the features of the program far and wide.I explore every single feature of the program, and make sure that any features mentioned in the documentation or advertising exist, and that all functions are easy to find, and that they function correctly.
Invariably, I find program bugs (I seem to have a real knack of finding bugs) and discover program design flaws and report both immediately to the company. I'm happy to say that most companies are quite responsive and quickly fix the bugs and often implement the improvements that I suggest.
Since ease-of-use is a vital feature of every program, I specifically help companies to make their program capabilities both easy to locate, and their use and labeling understandable.
Once in a while, I have even helped software creators to completely overhaul their software to make it really usable and worthwhile.
(Note: I never charge companies for any of my assistance.}
Occasionally, I receive a program that is simple too buggy and cannot be fixed.
For example, I was sent the program VegaSviri, which had a number of innovative features including group analysis functions. At first glance, it seemed to function well. But after running for a while, the program consistently lost track of the natal planetary positions, and started generating inaccurate results.
I was promised by the company that this bug would be fixed, so I kept exploring the program and completed the review, it's release depending upon the bug fix.
After receiving promise after promise from them, they never fixed the bug, I finally realized that the program was fatally flawed, and scrapped the review.
(What the company didn't tell me -- I found out later through another astrologer -- was that the original programmer -- the only person who could fix the bug -- had "jumped ship" and started working for another company.)
After the review process is complete, I send a copy of the review to its creator for feedback, so that any oversights or errors can be corrected before I send it to my publisher.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
The Art of Reviewing Astrology Software - Part Three: Additional Issues in Reviewing Astrology Programs
As an astrology software reviewer, there are many additional pitfalls that I encounter even before I start reviewing programs.1. Dongles. Some programs, especially from countries in Asia, require the use of a dongle in order to run. A dongle is a hardware plug that usually has to be connected between the computer and the printer, and contains a code that allows a program to operate.
Unfortunately, this approach is very problematic, because the dongle can interfere with the normal operations of one's computer. As a result, I no longer review programs that require a dongle.
2. Macintosh software. There is very little software for astrology that runs only on a Macintosh, and so I never had the need to purchase a Mac computer. When I have needed to evaluate a Mac astrology program, I go to a friend's house to install, run, and test it. Because this takes much more time and effort, I have chosen not to evaluate the few little shareware programs available for the Mac.
Additionally, unbeknownst to most Mac users, Apple changes the operating system (OS) frequently, and often astrology programs that would run under the previous OS will no longer run. That makes a reviewer's job much harder, because software has to be tested on the latest Mac, without assurance that it will run on older Macs. (This problem does not exist in Windows. I'm still running programs written 20 years ago on my Windows PC.)
3. Vista. It is a shame that Microsoft created an operating system called Vista that causes so many hassles for astrologers and other computer users. Astrology programs were simple to install on all of the previous versions of Windows since Windows 95, but Microsoft -- in an attempt to make Vista more secure -- made installations under Vista much more difficult in many cases and impossible with older software.
To their credit, most astrology software companies have "worked out the bugs" of installing programs under Vista already, but if you have an old program (e.g. the Electronic Astrologer series) you will not be able to install it at all until a fix is issued.
Because of all of the problems inherent in running programs under Vista, I have not installed Vista on my PC and recommend people get PCs running Windows XP for as long as possible.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Millennium 7.0
Millennium from AIR software is an "unsung hero" among astrology programs. Its authors have eschewed the beaten path, i.e. instead of creating a professional astrology program filled with standard features, they've invented new and unique tools for exploring prediction and natal work. For example, Alphee Lavoie pioneered the "Time Tunnel", an incredibly powerful graphical ephemeris in circular form, and developed powerful sets of modeling tools for both natal and predictive work.Version 7's new tabbed interface makes it easier to navigate the various core techniques and functions available by neatly grouping them in four separate categories: data, table, timing, and more.
You can also now easily save any screen as a BMP, JPEG, or GIF image file, print it, or copy it to the clipboard (and specify the picture size).
The historical statistical analysis module, you choose a beginning and ending date and a sample size (i.e. how many days to include) and what points to use and what aspect orb and harmonic to use, and whether to use Geocentric or Heliocentric coordinates, and the program calculates the frequency of each of the aspects, e.g. what percent of trines vs. sextiles vs. squares and also for each specific planetary pair and each aspect, what percent of days the aspect occurred, e.g. 15.25% conjunctions between the Sun and Mercury, and also gives the total number of days where each aspect occurs.
The Aspects Strengths feature finds three planet aspect patterns for a user-specified interval (from one month to 100 years) and starting date. It shows the date and time when each pattern occurs, and the orb for each of the three aspects comprising the pattern. You can specify which points to use, what the aspect orb is, the precision (to the nearest minute or second of clock time). You can also immediately see the chart for any of the patterns (and quickly move through the entire set of events) and make any chart into a natal or transiting chart.
The new Eclipse module has many valuable features. After calculating a set of events, it shows the degree of and type of eclipse, and where on the World map the eclipse is visible. You can specify a starting year and number of eclipses, copy any event to a transit chart, and specify the minimum coverage.This module is pioneering in two major ways: First, it fulfills a wish I have had for a long time, it can calculate, list and display on the map Lunar Eclipses, which no other astrology program before this has done. Secondly, it can also calculate, list and display on the map Lunar occultations of planets and other points, i.e. when the body of the Moon will actually cover another body.
Alphee's Path to God examines all of the aspects in each of the first eight harmonics and shows which harmonic has the greatest number of aspects.
Version 7 also is enhanced in subtler ways. For example, one can now see a graph (in the Astronomy Technique module) of the distance of Chiron from the Sun for a user-specified time range. (Since Chiron's orbit is so elliptical, this may be very relevant in its interpretation.)
Perhaps the best addition to Millennium 7.0 is its incredibly comprehensive set of tutorial videos. Virtually every feature of the program has a video describing how to use it. It is now easy to understand and learn to use all of the great predictive tools in the program. Bravo!
Click here to purchase Millennium 7.0 for over 20% off.
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Holiday Pricing on Janus 4.1
Until the end of January 2009, you can purchase Janus 4.1 through me for a Holiday price of only $135. This is an outstandingly great offer. You will receive an unlock code via email to use with the trial version that you download from their website.To read about Janus 4.1 and to take advantage of this great offer, click here.
(If you prefer to purchase the program on CD, I can also provide a special discount on that format.)
2008 - The Year of the Great Shakeup in Astrology Software
At the beginning of this year, I never expected so many changes in the astrology software business.Source Interlink/Alliance Entertainment sold Matrix Software back to its founder, Michael Erlewine, because the company was not profitable for about a year. The staff at Matrix got downsized, but the company is experiencing a new birth.
Astrocom.com aka Astrocomputing Services aka ACS went bankrupt and was sold to Maria Kay Simms (who had been affiliated with ACS for years). She is presently reviving ACS, and work is being done to get the Electronic Astrologer series of programs compatible with Windows Vista. She has turned over the administration of the ACS electronic atlas to Astrolabe, where it will continue to flourish.
Astrology Software Shop also went belly up, and Astrodienst recently acquired Lois Rodden's Astrodatabank with all rights, and is committed to make all celebrity data available to the public in wiki format.
And several companies -- based upon a June 2007 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court throwing out a 94 year old law allowing distributors to discount the products they sold -- decided to restrict or eliminate the discounting of astrology software by their distributors.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
The Clairvision Virtual Astrologer
http://astrology.clairvision.org/astro/switchboardThis superb free online "software" will calculate birth charts and save them to your computer, customizing the chart wheel, aspect orbs, house system, color scheme, language, zodiac, ayanamsha, the inclusion of extra points, etc.
It also allows you to view, save, and print out extensive interpretive natal reports that include which planets are prominent, aspect counts, aspect patterns, and exceptionally detailed interpretations and archetypes for planets in signs, planets in houses, and planets in aspect to each other.
What a truly wonderful resource that every astrologer should explore!
The website also has a large selection of free astrology and astrological astronomy lessons too.
You can visit the Clairvision Virtual Astrologer by clicking here.
Monday, November 17, 2008
The Art of Reviewing Astrology Software - Part Two: Learning Astrology
As I mentioned last week, I'm writing about just how involved reviewing astrology software is.In 1997, I was asked by The Mountain Astrologer founder and publisher Tem Tarriktar to write a review on all of the major Vedic astrology programs.
In order to do justice to the evaluation of each program, I had to really "get up to speed" in my understanding of Vedic Astrology. Fortunately for me and my readers, the authors of the programs helped me a lot, e.g. to understand some of the more farflung Vedic terminology and methodology.
Similarly, when I was called upon to evaluate the program Regulus, I found myself reading several books on the Huber approach, and in examining Medieval and Classical (Greek) techniques in astrological programs, what I learned from attending the first Project Hindsight conference (and reading the translated manuscripts they published) really came into play.
In other words, depending upon the software, I often have to significantly expand my knowledge of different schools of astrology before I review a program.
This was brought home to me recently when I reviewed the software Intrepid. It's based upon a completely different approach to astrology invented by its author. I had to open my mind to an approach that ran counter to much of my astrological understanding, and embrace it, so that the review could be sound.
I really enjoy the challenge that reviewing astrological software brings to me. It keeps me growing as an astrologer and reminds me just how diverse our great field of study is.
I will be studying Tibetan Astrology next, in order to review the latest Tibetan astrology software.
Monday, November 10, 2008
The Art of Reviewing Astrology Software - Part One: Unacceptable Software
I recently reviewed several programs (for articles to be published in The Mountain Astrologer), and plan to write a few weekly columns on the sequence of steps I take to obtain and review astrology programs.In the process, I realized that most people have no idea just how involved the process is, and how many challenges crop up.
Even before I get a program in-house, I make certain determinations:
Is the program worth reviewing?
Over the years, I've encountered many programs that have one major failing that disqualifies them from the review process:
They add nothing new to the field of astrology software (and are often also overpriced).
I can also assess, from program literature, images and examples posted on websites or sent to me, whether the program is accurate. (I recalculate the charts for the examples that I've received.)
It is surprising how many programs are inaccurate even in their very basic calculations. I've noticed this most often in under-$100 software and in software from India.
Usually the inaccuracies stem both from imprecise planetary calculations and from poorly constructed time-change atlases (which insert incorrect time zones into the calculations).
Finally, since I need quite a bit of time to evaluate programs, I require full versions and not just printouts or demos or trial software. Some companies won't supply full versions.
Unexpectedly, a few companies now expect reviewers to pay for the software!
This is completely counterproductive behavior on their part, because it means that their products won't be reviewed, and therefore won't get the exposure they might deserve.
There are many really fine astrology programs available to astrologers today. And I rejoice at being able to bring them to your attention.
Monday, November 03, 2008
After preparing my in-depth review of Intrepid 2.0 for the forthcoming February/March 2009 issue of The Mountain Astrologer, I decided to write up a shorter review of the program for this website.
You can read about Intrepid 2.0 by clicking here.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
This is the third review from my Aug/Sept 2008 Mercury Direct section of The Mountain Astrologer article.
I reviewed the latest version of Win*Star Express (version 3.0) and you can read the review by clicking here.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
As I mentioned in the last blog, in the Aug/Sept 2008 Mercury Direct section of The Mountain Astrologer, I reviewed three new updates to Western astrology programs priced at under $200. The article was called "Little Giants".
Today I added to my website the AstrolDeluxe 7.0 review from this article.
You can read it by clicking here.
Monday, October 13, 2008
In the Aug/Sept 2008 Mercury Direct section of The Mountain Astrologer, I reviewed three new updates to Western astrology programs priced at under $200. The article was called "Little Giants".
I just added to my website the TimePassages Advanced version 5.0 review from this article.
You can read it by clicking here.
Sunday, October 05, 2008
As I mentioned below in the Friday, September 19, 2008 weblog, most astrology programs do not take full advantage of the Windows Graphical User Interface (GUI).
Unlike software on the Macintosh computers, which conform very closely to the Mac interface, the PC software as been like the Wild West, i.e. everyone doing their own thing.
While this has resulted in an incredibly wide diversity of styles of user interface, the lack of consistency and lack of adherence to the Windows conventions has made PC programs harder to learn to use and harder to use.
I have often thought of writing an article on the creative ways that various programs take advantage of the Windows GUI, but for the time being, I will focus on specific features. The feature I mentioned in the 9/19/08 blog below was the ability to open several different astrological windows and resize and arrange them on your screen for optimal functioning.
Janus 4.1 may not yet have a setting to keep specific windows "on top" (i.e. covering --in front of -- background windows), but it does open each module's screen in a separate window, and allow you to position and resize them, and it does remember these settings for future sessions, all of which enables astrologers to creatively arrange screens very effectively.
You can place charts, astromaps, timelines, graphic ephemeride, etc. whereever you want on the screen.
Click here to see an example of a screen that can be created.
Again, I encourage astrologers to purchase a 24" monitor, which will give you the "screen real estate" to be able to use this feature effectively.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
The price of Janus 4.1 has just been reduced by 20%. The price dropped from $249 to $199.
My new discounted price is now $179, and you can read about Janus 4.1 and also purchase it by clicking here.
I am presently working on my Mountain Astrologer review of Janus 4.1 and am very impressed by its astromapping module and the enhancements to many of its capabilities, some of which are not available in any other astrology program.
Janus 4.1 is both a very worthy addition to anyone's astrology software collection, and a very capable program in itself.
Friday, September 19, 2008
As many of you know, Solar Fire offers the full features of the Windows Graphical User Interface more than most other astrology programs. You can open many different windows at once (e.g. astromap, chart page, transit list, graphic ephemeris, reports, data screens, etc.) and resize each window, and position them onscreen exactly where you want. You can also design screens just the way you want, for different purposes. And Solar Fire Gold remembers where you positioned each window and what size you made them so it's easy to use them the same way each time you run Solar Fire.
To see an example of this, click here. A new tab will open showing a page I designed for doing predictive work. It has a natal chart with chart data on the left, Solar Fire's superb Time Map transit graph on the upper right, and a graphic ephemeris page for the year on the lower right.
Now Neville Lang (the chief programmer of Solar Fire) has added Clone Charts. Clone charts add the ability to place on your computer screen as many additional charts (of any size) wherever you want onscreen. I decided to create two additional examples of screens you can use for your own work.
The first screen, which you can see by clicking here, is for Astromapping work. To explore the effect of moving to a new place for a client, you can place six different relocated charts onscreen as well as an Astro*Carto*Graphy map. Neat!
The second screen, which you can see by clicking here, is for Compatibility analysis. You can place two people's birth charts, and a Composite and Davidson chart, and a page showing an interaspect table, biwheel with both charts, two 30 degree dials, etc. In other words, everything you need for assessing how two people mesh can be placed on one screen.
(Side note: with the price of computer monitors dropping sharply, I highly recommend you purchase a 24" computer monitor. It will allow you to place more charts, graphs, and tables onscreen at the same time, and boost your productivity and capabilities.]
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Ernst Wilhelm has just released the newest upgrade to his Käla software, 2008.
To read about the enhancements and new features, click here.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
The End of an Era in Astrology Software.
As I have mentioned many times, the astrology software business is a very difficult one. The amount of work employed in developing each program is huge, the competition is stiff, there are relatively few sales compared with mainstream computer programs, and rampant software piracy impoverishes all of the companies. [Anyone who uses a program that they haven't purchased is robbing companies already struggling with their small market.]
As a result, the company responsible for providing accurate time-change atlases for most of the major programs, Astro Computing Services (ACS), went bankrupt recently. How astrology software creators will update their time-zone information from now on remains to be seen. This is a huge loss for all astrologers.
Additionally, another major program of priceless worth to astrologers is soon to be taken off the market because the company is going bankrupt.
I am very sorry to see these losses occur, and can only hope that more will not follow.
It highlights how absolutely vital it is for astrologers to support the companies that work so hard and diligently to provide them with the excellent tools they create.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
The latest free update to Solar Fire Gold now offers "clone charts".
When looking at a Time Map, Astro*Carto*Graphy map, bi-wheel, aspect grid, or graphic ephemeris screen, it would be very useful to be able to view one or more birth charts (or event charts) onscreen at the same time.
The latest update to Solar Fire Gold, version 7.07, does exactly that. It's new "clone chart" feature works by clicking on the name of a calculated chart to select it, and then pressing Cntl-O (holding down the Control key and pressing the letter O key) OR right-clicking on the name and selecting Clone.
What this does is to place a copy of the person's chartwheel onscreen.
You can resize the cloned chart to any size you want, and move it around (i.e. reposition it anywhere on the screen).
You can open as many cloned charts as you want (imagine, for example, having all of your family members charts displayed.)
You can also click on each cloned chart's Keep on Top checkbox to have the chart always visible onscreen.
You can also select which chart wheel form is used when displaying cloned charts, by going to Solar Fire Gold's main screen, and right-clicking on the Current Chart Preview and clicking on the bottom option Preview Wheel Style, and then selecting the wheel style you want.
This is an excellent new feature of Solar Fire Gold and worth getting, by downloading the free update.
You can download the free update by clicking here.
P.s. if you are reading this on August 20th, 2008, I would suggest that you wait a couple of days before downloading the update. That's because the update also includes several new beautiful Chart Art pages that I created and donated to the company, but they forgot to include the graphics files, so the pages don't work correctly. This will be fixed shortly. Then look for my new designs, including Single Wheel with Art [art_suninblue.pag] and Single Wheel with Art [art_fullmoonday.pag]. I'm proud of how lovely they came out!
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Brian Conrad, the creator of the excellent Jyotish Tools for the Pocket PC, for the Palm OS, and for Windows, has just released a free Vedic chart calculation program that runs on Macs, PCs, and even Linux. (There is even a version for Pocket Pcs running Windows Mobile Classic and Pocket PC 2002-2003)
The program, called Quick Jyotish, can be downloaded to your computer by clicking here.
The author says, "Only the Lahiri ayanamsha is used. Charts are saved in Quick Chart format, which may be imported into Jyotish Tools for Windows and the Pocket PC. The planetary engine is based on VSOP 87 and is highly accurate between 1600-2300 AD." Since most Western and Vedic desktop programs can import charts created in the QuickCharts format, any chart calculated in Quick Jyotish can be easily transferred to other programs.
The program does not appear to have a built-in atlas, as so it will primarily be useful for a quick Prasna chart. Novices might have a little trouble getting it set up to run (at least under Windows) but it will be a useful tool for generating a chart very quickly.
Monday, August 04, 2008
What is a firewall and why do you need one?
I am allowing myself, in this column, to address a wider breadth of computing issues and not just astrology software. That's because astrologers in general are not techies, and you may benefit by reading about issues beyond astrology software.
I am very well-versed in computer hardware and computer software (on the PC side, not the Mac side). In fact, I have built my own computers, and keep close track of the latest advances in both hardware and software.
A firewall is a program that protects your computer from being "hacked" which means invaded from the outside by hackers.
A good firewall will also protect you from programs that try to send confidential information from your computer to others (via the internet). However, one also needs a strong anti-spyware program for this purpose (I recommend Spyware Doctor most highly as an anti-spyware program).
I've tested and used several firewalls, and presently my favorite is the free edition of Online Armor. It provides excellent protection and can be downloaded by clicking here.
Please note that if you are a novice, you should have someone more familiar with computers help you install this software. The process is to uninstall your present firewall, quickly install Online Armor, and when windows pop up for you to approve of the programs you use regularly, give Online Armor your approval.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
I have emphasized in the past that astrologers using astrology software need to back up their data regularly. After all, you don't want to lose all of the charts you've entered into your software.
Since we live in a "wild west" era of spyware, viruses, trojans, and hackers, it is also very valuable to have a complete copy of your hard drive (also called a clone). I back up my hard drive twice a month, and own two backup hard drives for this purpose.
If you own a Seagate hard drive, you can get an excellent free backup program (normally costing $50) by clicking here.
Otherwise, I highly recommend getting the commercial version of the software, called Acronis True Image Home, which you can learn about and order by clicking here.
In addition, you will need an external hard drive of the right size (i.e. so it can fit all of your data on it.). There are now excellent portable external hard drives available that plug in to your USB port. A good example is the Western Digital Passport line of external hard drives.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Today, I am launching my ongoing weblog (aka blog) about the latest advances and insights about astrology software. The Weblog format will enable me to add information more frequently, as changes occur. May this weblog serve you.
#1: Under $200 programs.
My article on Little Giants: Astrology software under $200 just came out in The Mountain Astrologer. I hope that you enjoy it.
I discovered, in writing the article, that programs priced at less than $200 often lack crucial basic features that most astrologers want to have in their software.
For example, one of the programs could not draw a chart wheel with aspect lines while showing the degree and minute positions of the planets in the chart wheel! More than one program in the under $200 price range lacked the ability to create predictive hit lists showing the entering dates, exact dates, and leaving dates of transit- and progressed-to-natal aspects. To put it simply, while the less expensive programs often have many features, and will meet the needs of amateur and beginning astrologers, most programs will not the needs of the professional astrologer.
There really are two tiers of astrology software. Most of the programs that cost less than $200 offer a small fraction of the astrological features available in the programs in the $300 price range. That's because the competition between companies producing software at the $300 price range is truly fierce, and as a result, the number of features in the higher-priced programs is truly astronomical! (Joke intended).
One of the reasons why I offer free guidance to those who are planning to purchase astrology software is because it is hard to assess which program is right just by reading companies' information from their websites (see the next article below).
Nevertheless, for those on a limited budget or just starting out, the less expensive programs provide excellent tools for beginning on one's astrological journey.
#2: My Software is the Best!
Astrologers who take it upon themselves to become the creators of astrology software have a truly thankless task.
That's because creating astrology software is a huge effort, plus the market is so small, many astrologers pirate software instead of buying it, customer support places great demands upon their time, pricing has to be kept low because many astrologers don't make a living at astrology, the market is very competitive, and people always want more features to be added to the programs.
So it's no wonder that astrology software creators want to be praised for their work, and sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that "their software is the best" without actually investigating the other programs that are available. I have run into this attitude more times than I can count. So be careful about taking a company's claims at face value without exploring the field yourself.
I have worked with most astrology programs more extensively than the majority of astrologers, and am always amazed at how diverse the range of features are. But I also realize that how easy it is to use a feature is often more important than anything else. If a program has a great feature that is too laborious to use, no one will use it. The best programs, then, will combine a wide range of capabilities with a design that makes them easy to use.
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