Knowledge base
Explanations from astrology through numerology and psychology to scientific critique.
✦Guides
How to Read a Birth Chart, Step by Step
A practical guide: how to move from the overview through the Big Three and the houses to the aspects without drowning in detail.
4 min read →
How Astro Atlas Calculates: Ephemeris, Accuracy, the True Equinox
An honest technical account: what we calculate, what we checked it against, how accurate it is, and what affects the result most: the computation or the birth time.
6 min read →
☉Western astrology
What Is Astrology, and How Is a Birth Chart Built?
Astrology is a traditional symbolic system based on the positions of celestial bodies. Here is what a birth chart consists of, and what science says about it.
4 min read →
The Big Three: Sun, Moon and Rising Sign
What the three best-known points of a chart mean in tradition, how they are calculated, and what you can and cannot do with them.
4 min read →
The 12 Houses and House Systems: Placidus, Koch, Whole Sign
What the houses mean in tradition, and how the best-known house systems differ. Why two programs can place the same planet in different houses.
5 min read →
Aspects and Orbs: The Angles Between Planets
What an aspect is, how it is calculated, how large the orb is, and why almost every chart contains plenty of aspects.
5 min read →
The Planets as Archetypes: Ten Symbolic Roles
What the Sun, Moon and the other planets symbolise in astrological tradition, and what the word "archetype" means after Jung.
5 min read →
The 12 Zodiac Signs: Elements and Modalities
The twelve signs are arranged into the elements fire, earth, air and water, and the modalities cardinal, fixed and mutable. A short traditional introduction with a scientific note.
5 min read →
Retrograde Motion: Astronomy and Symbolism
Why does a planet seem to move backwards? The astronomical explanation, the traditional meaning, and what research says about "Mercury retrograde".
5 min read →
Lunar Nodes, Chiron and Lilith: The "Special Points"
Three frequently mentioned but often misunderstood points in a chart: their astronomical reality and what they symbolise in tradition.
5 min read →
Transits, Progressions and Returns
How astrologers compare the birth chart with the current sky. The three main timing methods, the Saturn return, and what you can do with them without making predictions.
5 min read →
Relationship Charts: Synastry and Composite
How astrologers compare two people's charts, what the composite means, and what research says about "star sign compatibility".
5 min read →
Tropical or Sidereal Zodiac? Precession and Ayanamsa
Why your Sun sign differs between Western and Indian astrology. An even-handed account of precession, ayanamsa and the choice between the two zodiacs.
5 min read →
ॐVedic astrology
An Introduction to Vedic Astrology (Jyotish): Rashi, Nakshatras, Dashas
Jyotish is the Indian astrological tradition: a sidereal zodiac, a Moon-centred outlook, 27 nakshatras and the dasha system. How it is built and how it differs from the Western system.
5 min read →
The Vimshottari Dasha System: The 120-Year Planetary Cycle
How life is divided into planetary periods in Vedic astrology: the Moon's nakshatra, the 120-year cycle, mahadasha and antardasha step by step.
5 min read →
☯Chinese Four Pillars
The Chinese Four Pillars (BaZi): Eight Characters for a Life Chart
BaZi arranges the year, month, day and hour of birth into four pillars. How it is built, what the Day Master is, and why the solar-term "start of the year" matters.
5 min read →
The 12 Animals of the Chinese Zodiac: Cycles, Legends, Customs
How to work out your Chinese zodiac animal, why Lunar New Year matters, and what a Fire Horse year means. Tradition, customs and a scientific view.
5 min read →
The Five Elements (Wuxing): Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water
Wuxing is not "elements" but the interplay of five phases of change. The generating and controlling cycles, traditional correspondences and a note from a scientific viewpoint.
5 min read →
∞Numerology
Pythagorean Numerology: Life Path, Expression and Soul Urge Numbers
How numerology's core numbers are calculated from your date and name, what they mean in tradition, and why they deserve cautious handling.
5 min read →
Name Analysis: Pythagorean, Chaldean and Kabbalistic Methods
Why the same name yields different numbers under different methods. A comparison of three traditions with a worked example, and what it teaches about numerology's reliability.
5 min read →
❂Mayan calendar
◈Personality & psychology
The Big Five: Why It Is the Best-Researched Personality Model
The background, strengths and limits of the five-factor model (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism). What it is good for, and what it is not.
5 min read →
Type Models: Strengths and Limits of the 16 Types, Enneagram and DISC
The MBTI-style 16 types, the Enneagram and DISC are popular, but how reliable are they? What a type language is good for, and what it should not be used for.
5 min read →