Astrology Links & Tools
About astrology: Nobody talks about "believing in the weatherman," but you often hear, "I believe/don't believe in astrology." Some call it superstition, others call it a symbolic language. You decide.
"Sun sign" astrology: Even if you don't know your birthtime, these describe general conditions for everyone born under your sign. This is what Joyce Jillson's and most other newspaper horoscopes cover. Most of the planetary positions will be accurate, and the angles the planets make to each other, except for the moon, which could be in two different signs in one day. But you won't know exactly what part of your chart -- which "house," as the twelve divisions of the chart are called -- the planets are in.
Many people who become interested in astrology do so after a reading surprises them with its accuracy, and they wonder, "How did you do that?"
How sun-sign astrologers do it by Eric Francis at StarIQ
Other daily sun-sign astrologers we like:
Jonathan Cainer: England's best-known newspaper astrologer (his columns appear in the Daily Express) is smart, funny and downright encouraging every day. Free daily, weekly and 2003 forecasts. Because he's five time zones away, you can usually read tomorrow's horoscope after 7 p.m. EST. An interview with Cainer.
Rick Levine's Planet Pulse at StarIQ
Personalized horoscopes: If you're interested in exploring further, you'll want to calculate your own chart. You'll need three pieces of information.
Your birth date: Most of us know when we were born. At European sites, such as Catherine Tennant's Interactive Stars, you may be asked to enter the date as day/month/year. October 31, 2003 would be written 31/10/2003.
Your birthtime: This is tougher. Your mother may not remember, or may confuse your birth with that of your siblings. It should be noted on your actual long-form birth certificate, but probably won't be on the wallet-size copy used for identification purposes. If you're ordering a birth certificate, be sure to specify that you want a version that contains your birth time.
If you can't find out the time, you can use a noon birthtime, which will mean that even the moon is no more than 6 degrees wrong. But you won't know what your rising sign is, or what "houses" the planets are in. But it's better than nothing.
A good astrologer can "rectify" a chart -- guess the birth time after finding the dates of major events in your life, such as weddings, fame and failures. But nothing beats an accurate birth certificate.
Your birthplace, expressed in latitude and longitude. You may look up the coordinates of your birthplace in an online atlas such as the interactive international one at Astrodienst. Here's a simple page with links by state.
If you were born in Providence, use
Latitude: 41 N 49
Longitude: 71 W 24The N and W values here represent coordinates of 41 degrees plus 49 minutes north of the equator and 71 degrees, 24 minutes west of Greenwich, England. Since there are 60 minutes in a degree, this is not a decimal.
The decimal equivalent is rarely used, but in that notation, north and east are sometimes expressed as +, south and west as "-". If you need it, here it is:
Latitude: 41.8
Longitude: -71.4Free charts: Some sites even offer free daily readings based on your chart. For instance:
Astrodienst is a huge site run by prominent astrologers. You may enter your own information and that of your family and friends, compare the charts, see what angles the upcoming movements of stars and planets will make to their positions at the time of your birth. Your chart will remain in the database, so you may return at any time and choose other options as you learn more.
The Free Horoscope Choices offer a personalized daily forecast for today and tomorrow, and the forecast link will look several months ahead.
These are all free, although you may also order computerized readings and the opportunity to get forecasts for any day in future for a fee.
My colleague Anna Maria Angelosanto recommends Astro Center.
Today's astrological weather report for everybody:
Cosmic Path - Lists the phase of the moon today, what sign it's in, and a paragraph about the general flavor of the day.
kristo's Daily Horoscope: A Jungian look at the Zeitgeist: "kristo" is Curtis Christopher Cates, M.D. is an obstetrician-turned-psychotherapist whose daily "weather report" springs straight from Carl Jung, . An interview with Cates.
Astroclock shows you the chart of right now, updated every 60 seconds.
Political / celebrity astrology:
Lois Rodden's AstroDatabank: Rodden has specialized in gathering accurate birthtimes for public figures, both celebrities and political leaders. She analyzes the charts of people currently in the news and invites other astrologers to participate. Great resource for studying the relation of charts to events in public lives.
WeatherSage is Rhode Islander Carolyn Egan's long-term weather forecasting site. Egan goes deeply into this, and analyzes Rhode Island politicians' charts as well. Providence Mayor David Cicilline is here, and former mayor Buddy Cianci, as well as a chart for the City of Providence itself. Others, including former speaker of the Rhode Island house John Harwood, George W. Bush and Yasser Arafat, are linked here.
NewsScope by Michael WolfStar O'Reilly at StarIQ.
Astroworld, where astrologers post essays on timely topics, has a nice collection of political astrology links to the right.
Dead astrologers: Adze Mixxe died July 2, 1997 and Sydney Omarr on January 2, 2003, but their forecasts continue, thanks to assistants.
Links For Astrology Forecasts: A simple page of text links (Daily Forecasts, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly, Other) maintained by Anoop Ghanwani at Duke University. Quality sites.
Useful resources: A Glossary of Astrological Terms
Zodiacal Zephyr offers a moon calendar for 2003, charts containing positions of the planets for each day in any given year (called an ephemeris; the plural is ephemerides) and much more. Put your cursor over the tiny links at the top of the main page -- Resources, Toolbox, Databases, History, Basics, Misc; the dropdown menus give a sense of the wealth of data at this site.
A note about computer-generated reports: Many sites offer these, at varying prices. While they can be useful and interesting, they're also likely to be contradictory -- i.e. maybe Venus and Jupiter relate in a way that makes you a happy person, but Saturn and Venus relate in a way that suggests loneliness. How they blend, what comes to the fore when, which is a more powerful influence, and whether you're likely to rise to the occasion or be bent by adversity just isn't in these printouts.
Compiled by Sheila Lennon, features & interactive producer of projo.com