Every term on the dial, defined with precision, across eleven traditions and the watchmaker's bench. Select Listen to hear an entry read aloud.
Career, reputation, public role and what you want to be known for.
Its topics include career and reputation. Planets here, and the planet ruling the sign on its cusp, show how these themes unfold.
Friends, networks, groups and your hopes for the future.
Its topics include friends and future plans. Planets here, and the planet ruling the sign on its cusp, show how these themes unfold.
Solitude, rest, the unconscious, spiritual life and quiet service.
Its topics include rest and inner life. Planets here, and the planet ruling the sign on its cusp, show how these themes unfold.
How you meet the world: body, temperament, first impressions and the way you begin things.
Its topics include self-image and direction. Planets here, and the planet ruling the sign on its cusp, show how these themes unfold.
What you own, earn and value, and the self-worth that supports it.
Its topics include money and self-worth. Planets here, and the planet ruling the sign on its cusp, show how these themes unfold.
Everyday thinking, conversation, siblings, neighbors, short trips and practical learning.
Its topics include communication and learning. Planets here, and the planet ruling the sign on its cusp, show how these themes unfold.
Home, family, ancestry and the private foundation you build your life on.
Its topics include home and family. Planets here, and the planet ruling the sign on its cusp, show how these themes unfold.
Creativity, romance, children, play and whatever makes your heart light up.
Its topics include creativity and romance. Planets here, and the planet ruling the sign on its cusp, show how these themes unfold.
Daily work, habits, health and the satisfaction of being useful.
Its topics include work routines and health. Planets here, and the planet ruling the sign on its cusp, show how these themes unfold.
Committed partnerships, contracts and the people you meet one-to-one, including open rivals.
Its topics include relationships. Planets here, and the planet ruling the sign on its cusp, show how these themes unfold.
Intimacy, shared money and obligations, psychological depth and transformation.
Its topics include intimacy and shared resources. Planets here, and the planet ruling the sign on its cusp, show how these themes unfold.
Beliefs, higher learning, long-distance travel, publishing and the search for meaning.
Its topics include beliefs, study and travel. Planets here, and the planet ruling the sign on its cusp, show how these themes unfold.
One of nine ways to meet an upcoming condition: finish, start, reflect, rest, connect, negotiate, plan, document, release.
Each is matched to the nature of the condition (a retrograde station suggests finishing and documenting; a Venus trine suggests connecting).
Zodial's word for a transit touching one of your natal points, joined with what that point means in your chart.
Each activation combines the aspect, your natal point's sign and house, the houses it rules, an intensity, and dates (exact, in orb).
The energy barrier a reaction must cross before it runs; a catalyst lowers it without changing the end state.
In the lens: the cost of starting. Preparation acts as the catalyst, which makes the first five minutes easier.
An extra (leap) Hindu lunar month, inserted when no solar ingress (sankranti) falls within a lunar month.
It happens about every 32.5 months and shares its name with the month that follows, for example Adhika Jyeshtha in 2026.
Gemini, Libra, Aquarius: ideas, communication, perspective.
Air connects people and concepts. A strong air emphasis brings curiosity and fairness; a light one may prefer feeling or doing over discussing.
The planet with the most essential dignity at a given degree.
The almuten figuris, or lord of the chart, adds up dignity points over several key points (Sun, Moon, Ascendant, Fortune, prenatal syzygy) to find an overall strongest planet.
Two ways of counting Hindu lunar months: amanta runs new moon to new moon, purnimanta full moon to full moon.
Most of South and West India use amanta; North India uses purnimanta. In the waning half they give the same days different month names. Zodial shows both.
The figure-eight traced by the Sun's noon position over a year.
Its height comes from the Sun's changing declination and its width from the equation of time. Zodial draws the true, tilted analemma with today's Sun on it.
On your dial · It is the Sun's true figure-eight, with your birthday marked on it.
The four key points where the horizon and meridian cross the zodiac: Ascendant, Descendant, Midheaven, IC.
They change by about 1° every four minutes, so they need an accurate birth time. Planets near them are considered prominent.
House types: angular (1, 4, 7, 10) are the most prominent, succedent (2, 5, 8, 11) build up, cadent (3, 6, 9, 12) adjust.
Traditional astrology reads planets in angular houses as more visible and active. Zodial's dominance score gives extra weight to planets near the angles.
A timing technique that moves the Ascendant forward one whole sign per year of life.
At age 0 the 1st house is activated, at 1 the 2nd, and so on, repeating every 12 years. The ruler of the activated sign becomes the Lord of the Year. Monthly profections subdivide the year.
On your dial · It tells you which planet is in charge of your year.
A sub-period inside a mahadasha.
Written as Moon/Mercury, for example: the Mercury chapter within the Moon season.
A Greek geared calculator (c. 2nd–1st century BCE) that modelled the Sun, Moon, planets and eclipse cycles.
Recovered from a shipwreck off Antikythera in 1901. Its front showed the zodiac and Egyptian calendar; its back carried the Metonic and Saros spirals. Zodial's Antikythera movement is a working reconstruction driven by modern ephemerides.
Devoted and friendly, you build bonds and flourish in difficult soil.
Nakshatra 17 of 27, spanning 3°20′ Scorpio to 16°40′ Scorpio sidereal. Lord: Saturn. Deity: Mitra. Symbol: lotus.
The point of the Moon's orbit farthest from Earth, about 404,000–406,700 km.
The Moon moves slowest near apogee. Black Moon Lilith marks the mean apogee direction.
An aspect that is getting closer to exact.
Traditional astrologers see applying aspects as building toward an event or peak; separating ones as integrating it. (Zodial doesn't use this for synastry, where neither chart moves.)
On your dial · It shows whether a theme is arriving or leaving.
Original and principled, it thinks in systems and communities. Keywords: independence, ideals, invention.
Aquarius is a fixed air sign, spanning 300°–330° of the zodiac. In the tropical zodiac the Sun passes through it each year; in the sidereal zodiac the boundaries sit about 24° later.
Intense and renewing, you clear the air like a storm and grow through emotional honesty.
Nakshatra 6 of 27, spanning 6°40′ Gemini to 20°00′ Gemini sidereal. Lord: Rahu. Deity: Rudra. Symbol: teardrop.
Bold and pioneering, it acts first and asks questions later. Keywords: initiative, courage, directness.
Aries is a cardinal fire sign, spanning 0°–30° of the zodiac. In the tropical zodiac the Sun passes through it each year; in the sidereal zodiac the boundaries sit about 24° later.
The zodiac degree rising on the eastern horizon at birth; the start of the 1st house.
It describes your approach, first impressions and the "front door" of the personality. Its ruler is the chart ruler. Needs an accurate birth time.
On your dial · It rotates your whole chart into place. Every house, and the angle at which each planet meets you, depends on it.
Perceptive and penetrating, you sense hidden currents and read people well.
Nakshatra 9 of 27, spanning 16°40′ Cancer to 0°00′ Leo sidereal. Lord: Mercury. Deity: Nagas. Symbol: coiled serpent.
Swift, fresh and healing; you like to begin quickly and bring help where it is needed.
Nakshatra 1 of 27, spanning 0°00′ Aries to 13°20′ Aries sidereal. Lord: Ketu. Deity: Ashvins (divine physicians). Symbol: horse's head.
A meaningful angle between two points in the chart, such as 90° or 120°.
Aspects show how drives interact: blending, flowing, pushing or balancing. Each has an orb, a tolerance around the exact angle.
On your dial · Aspects show which parts of a chart are talking to each other.
Three or more planets locked together by aspects into a recognisable shape.
Patterns such as the grand trine, T-square or yod act like sub-systems of the chart and often describe major life themes.
An instrument that flattens the sky onto a disc, with an eccentric zodiac ring turning over a fixed horizon plate.
It uses stereographic projection, the same geometry as the Orloj's dial.
On your dial · It is the geometry of the Orloj calibre.
The planet with the highest degree in its sign, the "significator of the soul" in Jaimini astrology.
It is read as a core lesson or desire. If the Moon or Rahu competes for the top and the birth time is unknown, Zodial flags it as uncertain.
The offset in degrees between the tropical and sidereal zodiacs at a given date.
It grows by about 50 arcseconds a year due to precession. Different conventions place it differently; Zodial uses Lahiri (true, IAU 2006 precession), about 24.2° in 2026.
On your dial · Using the wrong one shifts every Vedic position and daśā date.
The oscillating wheel that keeps time in a mechanical watch, swinging back and forth at a steady rate.
Zodial's balance beats at a real 1 Hz rhythm even in time-lapse.
The balsamic phase, when the Moon is 315°–360° ahead of the Sun: completing and visioning.
One of the eight phases of the lunation cycle, used for the Moon now, the Moon at birth and the progressed lunation. As a birth phase: Born at the Balsamic phase, you carry a sense of completion and a quiet vision of what comes next.
Chinese "eight characters": four pillars (year, month, day, hour), each a heavenly stem plus an earthly branch.
The months follow the solar terms, not the lunar calendar, and the year begins at Li Chun (around 4 February). Practitioners read the balance of the five elements around the Day Master.
On your dial · An element-based system of timing, independent of the zodiac.
Traditional labels: Venus and Jupiter as "benefics", Mars and Saturn as "malefics".
In Zodial, Mars and Saturn describe effort, limits and endurance, the qualities behind the most durable results.
Capable of carrying a lot, you understand cycles of restraint, creation and release.
Nakshatra 2 of 27, spanning 13°20′ Aries to 26°40′ Aries sidereal. Lord: Venus. Deity: Yama. Symbol: yoni.
A slider comparing two possible birth times to show which chart features would change.
Useful for unknown or approximate birth times, and as a first step before formal rectification by a professional astrologer.
The mean lunar apogee, the point of the Moon's orbit farthest from Earth.
Not a physical body. It is read as raw, untamed instinct and what refuses to be domesticated. Zodial uses the mean apogee.
On your dial · An optional modern point, shown only when enabled.
Unequal slices of each sign, each ruled by one of the five classical planets.
Zodial uses the Egyptian bounds. Being in its own bounds gives a planet a small dignity (2 points in the almuten score).
The illuminated edge of the Moon, which always faces the Sun.
Its position angle, combined with the parallactic angle, sets how the crescent tilts in your sky.
Four Metonic cycles less one day: 76 years, 940 lunations.
Callippus refined Meton's cycle in 330 BCE. A small dial inside the Metonic spiral of the Antikythera mechanism counts it.
Sensitive and nurturing, it leads with feeling and loyalty. Keywords: care, memory, protection.
Cancer is a cardinal water sign, spanning 90°–120° of the zodiac. In the tropical zodiac the Sun passes through it each year; in the sidereal zodiac the boundaries sit about 24° later.
Strategic and responsible, it plays the long game. Keywords: ambition, discipline, structure.
Capricorn is a cardinal earth sign, spanning 270°–300° of the zodiac. In the tropical zodiac the Sun passes through it each year; in the sidereal zodiac the boundaries sit about 24° later.
The initiating modality: Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn.
Cardinal signs begin each season and like to start things. A cardinal emphasis suggests a self-starter.
A planet within about 17 arcminutes of the Sun, "in the heart of the Sun".
Unlike combustion, traditionally a moment of strength and clarity for that planet.
On your dial · It marks brief, unusually potent moments for that planet's themes.
Earth's equator projected onto the sky.
It is tilted about 23.4° to the ecliptic. The two circles cross at the equinox points. Right ascension and declination are measured from it.
Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon: the classical planets from slowest to fastest.
It produces the planetary hours and, through them, the order of the weekday names.
On your dial · It determines which planet rules the current hour.
Jaimini's "movable significators": planets ranked by their degree within a sign, highest first.
The highest is the atmakaraka, then amatyakaraka and so on. The 7-karaka scheme uses Sun–Saturn; the 8-karaka scheme adds Rahu, counted backwards.
A lunisolar calendar whose months start at new moons (China time) and are numbered by the solar terms they contain.
The month containing the winter solstice is the 11th. A month with no principal term is a leap month. Lunar New Year falls between 21 January and 20 February.
Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig: the twelve symbols of the earthly branches.
Your "animal" comes from the year branch, counted from Li Chun in BaZi (popular use often counts from Lunar New Year instead).
A small body orbiting between Saturn and Uranus, linked to wounding, healing and mentoring.
It was discovered in 1977. Astrologers read its placement as a sensitive spot that, once worked with, becomes a source of empathy and skill. Zodial computes it from NASA/JPL data.
On your dial · Its transits are read as moments of healing work.
A natural designer, you are drawn to beauty, form and brilliant craftsmanship.
Nakshatra 14 of 27, spanning 23°20′ Virgo to 6°40′ Libra sidereal. Lord: Mars. Deity: Tvashtar (divine craftsman). Symbol: bright jewel.
A planet within about 8.5° of the Sun, outshone by its glare.
Traditionally its voice is hidden or absorbed in the Sun's agenda. That can mean working behind the scenes.
On your dial · It explains why a planet may feel muted for a while.
Any watch function beyond hours, minutes and seconds, such as a moon phase, calendar or tourbillon.
Zodial treats each astrological layer as a complication you can switch on or off.
On your dial · Each complication is a module, fitted or removed independently.
A chart of the relationship itself, built from the midpoints of each pair of planets.
It isn't a real moment in the sky. Zodial guards against the classic "180° flip" for Mercury and Venus and flags pairs that sat nearly opposite, where the midpoint is ambiguous.
On your dial · It treats the bond as a third entity with its own character.
Two points at the same place in the zodiac (0°).
The two drives fuse and act together. What that feels like depends on the planets involved.
On your dial · The most intense contact: two energies act as one.
The crescent phase, when the Moon is 45°–90° ahead of the Sun: striving forward.
One of the eight phases of the lunation cycle, used for the Moon now, the Moon at birth and the progressed lunation. As a birth phase: Born at the Crescent, you push beyond old patterns and grow through determined effort.
The starting boundary of a house (or loosely, of a sign).
A planet near a cusp is often read as already carrying the next house's themes. "Born on the cusp" usually means born near a sign change.
Ten-year "luck pillars" that move forward or backward from the month pillar.
The classical rule takes the direction from the year stem's polarity and the person's sex. The starting age comes from the number of days to the nearest solar term (3 days = 1 year). Zodial shows both directions unless you choose a setting.
A relationship chart cast for the real moment and place halfway between two births.
Unlike the composite, it is an actual sky, so it has normal aspects, houses and transits. Ronald Davison introduced it.
The heavenly stem of the day pillar, which stands for the self in BaZi.
The rest of the chart is read in relation to it: what supports it, what it controls, what challenges it.
The planet ruling the weekday: Sun (Sunday), Moon (Monday), Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn.
Under the planetary-hour system the day starts at sunrise, so before dawn it is still the previous day.
Angle north or south of the celestial equator, the sky's latitude.
The Sun's declination swings ±23.4° through the year, which traces the vertical axis of the analemma.
One 360th of the zodiac circle; each sign spans 30 degrees.
Positions are written as degrees and minutes within a sign, for example 14°05′ Taurus. One degree has 60 arcminutes (′).
The reference star (juxing) that marks the start of each xiu.
Because the stars move with precession, the lodges keep slowly shifting relative to the zodiac.
A planet in the sign opposite its domicile, like Venus in Aries.
It has to work in an unfamiliar style. That often builds versatility; it doesn't make the planet "weak".
Rhythmic and generous, you bring prosperity, music and group spirit.
Nakshatra 23 of 27, spanning 23°20′ Capricorn to 6°40′ Aquarius sidereal. Lord: Mars. Deity: Vasus. Symbol: drum.
Normal forward motion through the zodiac.
After a retrograde, the planet "stations direct". For the lunar nodes the normal motion is backward, so a direct node is the unusual case.
The disseminating phase, when the Moon is 225°–270° ahead of the Sun: sharing what you know.
One of the eight phases of the lunation cycle, used for the Moon now, the Moon at birth and the progressed lunation. As a birth phase: Born at the Disseminating phase, you are moved to pass on what you have learned.
An ordered pattern far from equilibrium, like a convection cell or a flame, that persists only while energy flows through it (Prigogine).
In the lens: habits and routines last only with regular input. Stop the flow and the pattern fades.
A planet in a sign it rules, like Venus in Taurus or Libra.
It has full access to its own resources and acts in its own way.
A planet scored as especially influential in a chart.
Zodial counts angularity, dignity, rulership of the Ascendant or luminaries, and number of aspects. A dominant planet's style tends to colour the whole personality.
Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn: practicality, patience, material form.
Earth builds what lasts and trusts what it can touch. A strong earth emphasis brings reliability; a light one may find routines and budgets less natural.
The twelve branches Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai, linked to the twelve animals.
They form the bottom half of each pillar and also name the two-hour periods of the day.
When the Sun, Moon and Earth line up near the lunar nodes and one body darkens the other.
Eclipses come in seasons about every six months. In astrology they act as accelerated new or full moons, and eclipses on natal points mark reflection or turning points.
The Sun's apparent yearly path across the sky; zodiac degrees are measured along it.
From Earth, the Sun seems to circle the sky once a year against the stars. That circle is the ecliptic. The Moon and planets stay close to it, which is why the zodiac is a narrow band.
A 365-day year of twelve 30-day months plus five epagomenal days, with no leap day.
It drifts a quarter-day per year against the seasons, a full year every 1,460 years (the Sothic cycle). Ptolemy dated observations by it from the era of Nabonassar, 26 February 747 BCE.
Fire, earth, air or water: the four temperaments that group the signs.
Each element covers three signs. Fire is about drive and spirit, earth about practicality and form, air about ideas and connection, water about feeling and attunement. An element balance shows which modes come easily to you.
A measure of how many microscopic arrangements fit a system's state, often described as disorder or spread of energy.
In the lens: clutter accumulates by default and order costs work. A New Moon doesn't lower entropy; tidying is the work that buys order.
A table or algorithm giving the positions of celestial bodies over time.
Zodial computes positions in your browser using astronomy-engine, accurate to well under an arcminute, plus NASA/JPL data for Chiron.
The difference between sundial time and clock time, up to about +16 and −14 minutes over the year.
It comes from Earth's tilted axis and elliptical orbit, and it forms the sideways loops of the analemma.
On your dial · It explains why sunrise and sunset aren't symmetric around noon.
The two moments a year (around 20 March and 22 September) when the Sun crosses the celestial equator and day and night are about equal.
The March equinox defines 0° Aries in the tropical zodiac; the September one 0° Libra.
The epoch Ptolemy used for astronomical dates: noon, 26 February 747 BCE, day 1 of Thoth.
Counting in Egyptian years from this epoch makes intervals between observations simple day counts. The Antikythera movement sets its Egyptian ring by it.
The mechanism that releases a watch's gear train one tooth at a time, giving the tick.
It turns the stored energy of the mainspring into regular steps.
On your dial · It is the beat that divides mechanical time into equal parts.
How "at home" a planet is in its sign: domicile, exaltation, triplicity, bounds and face, or their opposites, detriment and fall.
Dignity describes how easily a planet expresses its nature there: resourceful or improvising, not good or bad. Zodial follows your traditional or modern rulership setting.
A sign where a planet is honoured and amplified, like the Sun in Aries or the Moon in Taurus.
It acts like a respected guest: confident, sometimes idealised.
Three Saros cycles (≈ 54 years 33 days): eclipses return to nearly the same longitude on Earth.
A single Saros ends a third of a day later, shifting the eclipse 120° west. The Exeligmos dial on the Antikythera mechanism adds 0, 8 or 16 hours to predicted eclipse times.
Each 10° third of a sign, ruled in Chaldean order starting with Mars at 0° Aries.
The smallest dignity (1 point). Decans also carry rich imagery in older talismanic and astrological texts.
A planet in the sign opposite its exaltation, like the Sun in Libra.
Its usual confidence is muted, so it may approach things more carefully or more collaboratively.
Aries, Leo, Sagittarius: enthusiasm, courage, inspiration.
Fire acts on vision and spirit. A strong fire emphasis brings warmth and initiative; a light one may need outside sparks to get going.
Energy is conserved: a system's internal energy changes only by heat added minus work done.
In the lens: time, attention and money are budgets. Redirect them on purpose rather than waiting for "new" energy.
The first quarter phase, when the Moon is 90°–135° ahead of the Sun: building through action.
One of the eight phases of the lunation cycle, used for the Moon now, the Moon at birth and the progressed lunation. As a birth phase: Born at the First Quarter, you thrive on challenge and learn by making decisions and building.
Wood, fire, earth, metal and water: five phases that nourish and restrain one another.
They differ from the Western four elements. BaZi readings weigh their balance and how each supports or controls the Day Master.
The sustaining modality: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius.
Fixed signs fall mid-season and hold steady. A fixed emphasis suggests persistence and loyalty, and sometimes stubbornness.
A star, "fixed" because it keeps its place relative to other stars, unlike the planets.
Astrologers note when a bright star sits in conjunction with a natal point or forms a paran. Zodial reads each star as colour and intensity added to the planet it touches.
In thermodynamics (Gibbs or Helmholtz), the part of a system's energy available to do useful work.
In the lens: your usable capacity today, as opposed to your total capacity. It is a textbook term only, never "free-energy devices".
The Sun–Moon opposition, when the Moon is fully lit: a peak or culmination.
In Vedic reckoning it is Purnima. Lunar eclipses can only happen at full moons.
Quick and sociable, it learns by asking and connecting. Keywords: curiosity, wit, versatility.
Gemini is a mutable air sign, spanning 60°–90° of the zodiac. In the tropical zodiac the Sun passes through it each year; in the sidereal zodiac the boundaries sit about 24° later.
A placement shared by everyone born within a few years, like Pluto in Scorpio.
Zodial tags these so a reading doesn't present them as unique traits. Generational contacts between two charts (both people have Neptune in the same sign, for example) are filtered or labelled in synastry.
Measured from the centre of the Earth: the sky as we see it.
Charts, transits and the zodiac positions in Zodial are geocentric. The Orrery shows both views at once.
The gibbous phase, when the Moon is 135°–180° ahead of the Sun: refining.
One of the eight phases of the lunation cycle, used for the Moon now, the Moon at birth and the progressed lunation. As a birth phase: Born at the Gibbous phase, you seek improvement and meaning, polishing what you create.
A difference (in temperature, pressure or concentration) across space; flows run down gradients and can be harnessed to do work.
In the lens: tension such as a square can do useful work if you aim it at one thing; without aim it becomes friction and waste heat.
Three planets each about 120° apart, usually in one element.
A closed circuit of ease and talent. It grows when you use it deliberately rather than resting on it.
A daytime eighth-part window associated with Gulika (Saturn's son).
Traditionally anything started then tends to repeat, so it is favoured for some things and avoided for others.
Skillful and resourceful, you shape outcomes with your hands and quick wit.
Nakshatra 13 of 27, spanning 10°00′ Virgo to 23°20′ Virgo sidereal. Lord: Moon. Deity: Savitar. Symbol: open hand.
A device that turns heat flow between a hot and a cold reservoir into work; its efficiency is always below the Carnot limit.
In the lens: polarity as power (an opposition, the Full Moon), work–rest cycles, and the fact that no plan is lossless.
The ten stems Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, Gui: the five elements, each in yang and yin.
They form the top half of each pillar.
On your dial · The counting system behind every BaZi pillar.
A lunisolar calendar with months tied to the mean lunar conjunction (molad) and seven leap months every 19 years.
Days begin at sunset. The year 5787 began in September 2026. Zodial uses the browser's built-in Hebrew calendar.
The first morning a star or planet becomes visible just before sunrise after being hidden by the Sun.
Ancient calendars used it, for example the heliacal rising of Sirius in Egypt. It depends on latitude, brightness and atmosphere.
Measured from the centre of the Sun.
Heliocentric longitudes show where a planet is on its orbit. Astrology reads geocentric longitudes instead; the difference produces retrograde motion.
Whether planets cluster above or below the horizon, or on the eastern or western side of the chart.
Above suggests public or outward focus, below private or inward. East suggests self-directed, west relationship-directed. These are broad tendencies only.
The Islamic lunar calendar of 12 months (about 354 days), with no leap months.
Months begin with the new crescent; practice differs between sighting and calculation. Zodial shows the Umm al-Qura tabulation used in Saudi Arabia, which local calendars may differ from by a day.
The Vedic planetary hour: equal 60-minute hours from sunrise, in Chaldean order.
In Zodial, choose "Vedic equal" to use it instead of Western unequal hours.
One of twelve sectors of the chart, each tied to an area of life.
Houses come from the rotation of the sky relative to the birthplace, so they need an accurate birth time. Planets in a house bring their themes to that life area.
On your dial · Houses tell you where in life a planet's activity shows up.
The method used to divide the sky into the twelve houses.
Systems agree on the general idea but draw the boundaries differently, especially far from the equator. Zodial offers Placidus, Whole Sign and Porphyry.
A 0–1 score of how strongly a transit is likely to register.
It grows with exactness, the slowness of the transiting planet, stations, and how central the natal point is. Use it for ranking, not as a measure of good or bad.
A school of Jyotish attributed to the sage Jaimini, with sign-based aspects, chara karakas and its own dashas.
Zodial uses its karakas.
The nakshatra of the natal Moon: the birth star.
It anchors the Vimshottari dasha and the tarabala count. The Lunar Mansion movement outlines it on the nakshatra ring.
Protective and capable, you take responsibility and rise to seniority.
Nakshatra 18 of 27, spanning 16°40′ Scorpio to 0°00′ Sagittarius sidereal. Lord: Mercury. Deity: Indra. Symbol: circular amulet.
Vedic or Indian astrology, "the science of light".
It uses the sidereal zodiac, nakshatras, dashas, divisional charts and the panchanga calendar. Zodial covers lagna, nakshatras, Vimshottari dasha, karakas and panchanga.
The Moon's south node in Jyotish, a shadow planet of detachment, insight and letting go.
It always sits opposite Rahu.
A grand trine plus a fourth planet opposite one corner and sextile the other two.
The opposition gives the easy trine a direction and a purpose.
Sharp and purifying, you cut through confusion and protect what you care for.
Nakshatra 3 of 27, spanning 26°40′ Aries to 10°00′ Taurus sidereal. Lord: Sun. Deity: Agni. Symbol: razor or flame.
The ayanamsa adopted officially in India, which puts the star Spica near 0° Libra sidereal.
It is the most widely used Jyotish convention and Zodial's default.
The last quarter phase, when the Moon is 270°–315° ahead of the Sun: reorienting.
One of the eight phases of the lunation cycle, used for the Moon now, the Moon at birth and the progressed lunation. As a birth phase: Born at the Last Quarter, you question old forms and reorient toward what matters most.
The hour from 23:00 to midnight, which many BaZi schools count as the start of the next day.
This changes the day pillar for late-evening births, so Zodial makes the day boundary a setting.
Heat absorbed or released during a phase change while the temperature stays constant.
In the lens: long plateaus (slow Saturn or Pluto contacts) where effort goes into restructuring and doesn't yet show.
Generous and expressive, it wants to create and be seen. Keywords: warmth, pride, creativity.
Leo is a fixed fire sign, spanning 120°–150° of the zodiac. In the tropical zodiac the Sun passes through it each year; in the sidereal zodiac the boundaries sit about 24° later.
"Start of Spring": the solar term at 315° solar longitude, around 4 February, which begins the BaZi year.
People born in January or early February belong to the previous BaZi year.
Gracious and fair-minded, it seeks harmony through relationship. Keywords: balance, diplomacy, beauty.
Libra is a cardinal air sign, spanning 180°–210° of the zodiac. In the tropical zodiac the Sun passes through it each year; in the sidereal zodiac the boundaries sit about 24° later.
The slow rocking of the Moon's face as seen from Earth, which lets us see 59% of its surface over time.
It comes from the Moon's elliptical, tilted orbit. The Lunar Mansion movement places the maria with the current libration.
The ruler of the sign activated by the annual profection.
Transits to and by this planet are given extra weight for that year; Zodial tags them "year lord".
Calculated points from three chart factors, such as the Lot (Part) of Fortune.
Hellenistic astrology used dozens of them. Zodial currently uses Fortune.
The Moon's varying speed along its elliptical orbit: fastest at perigee, slowest at apogee.
The anomalistic month is 27.55 days. The Antikythera mechanism reproduced it with a pin-and-slot pair of gears; Zodial's reconstruction drives that pair at the Moon's mean anomaly.
One of about 27–28 divisions of the sky marking the Moon's daily progress.
Found in India (nakshatras), the Arab world (manazil) and China (xiu). Each tradition divides and names them in its own way; Zodial shows all three for the current Moon.
The two points where the Moon's orbit crosses the ecliptic: North Node and South Node.
Eclipses happen near them. In Western astrology they often describe a growth direction (North) and a familiar comfort zone (South). In Vedic astrology they are Rahu and Ketu.
On your dial · Node contacts are often read as fated or directional.
The Moon's return to its natal degree, about every 27.3 days.
A monthly emotional reset point. Its timing is uncertain by about ±12 hours if the birth time is unknown.
A calendar whose months follow the Moon but which adds leap months to keep in step with the solar year.
Hindu, Chinese and Hebrew calendars are lunisolar; the Islamic calendar is purely lunar.
Dignified and rooted, you honor lineage and carry a natural sense of authority.
Nakshatra 10 of 27, spanning 0°00′ Leo to 13°20′ Leo sidereal. Lord: Ketu. Deity: Pitris (ancestors). Symbol: throne.
Star brightness on a reverse scale: lower is brighter (Sirius −1.5, Polaris 2.0).
Zodial lists the brightest stars by default (magnitude 2.6 or less) because tradition gives them the most weight.
A major dasha period ruled by one planet.
Read as the background "season" of those years, coloured by that planet's condition in your chart.
The Ptolemaic aspects: conjunction, sextile, square, trine, opposition.
These are the classic five. Zodial's "all" setting adds the quincunx and semisextile.
One of the 28 Arabic lunar mansions, each 12°51′26″ wide starting at 0° Aries.
Medieval Arabic and Latin texts (such as the Picatrix) used them for timing and talismanic work. Zodial counts them in the tropical zodiac by default, with a sidereal option.
An averaged node position that moves smoothly backward.
Many Vedic astrologers use it for Rahu and Ketu, so Zodial uses it for Vedic by default. The true node can be up to about 1.5° away.
Clock time based on an averaged Sun moving at an even pace.
Before time zones, towns kept local mean time (LMT) for their own longitude. Zodial uses historical time-zone rules for old birth dates.
The north–south line through the zenith; bodies culminate when they cross it.
Where it cuts the ecliptic gives the MC and IC.
19 solar years ≈ 235 lunations: after it, the Moon's phases return to the same calendar dates.
Named for Meton of Athens (432 BCE). The Antikythera mechanism shows it as a five-turn spiral of 235 cells; Greek and Hebrew calendars use it to place leap months.
The degree at the top of the chart where the ecliptic crosses the meridian; usually the start of the 10th house.
Linked to vocation, reputation and public direction. Also written MC, from Latin medium coeli.
On your dial · It shows what is most visible about you right now, and transits to it often coincide with public or career moments.
The halfway point between two zodiac positions, along the shorter arc.
Midpoints are the building blocks of composite charts. When two points are nearly opposite, the "shorter arc" can be ambiguous.
Cardinal, fixed or mutable: how a sign handles change.
Cardinal signs start things, fixed signs sustain them, and mutable signs adapt them. Each modality contains one sign of each element. Some books call this the "quadruplicity".
The shape of the lit Moon, which follows the Sun–Moon angle through the 29.5-day cycle.
Astrology divides the cycle into phases (new, crescent, first quarter, gibbous, full, disseminating, last quarter, balsamic) that describe stages from seeding to release.
Curious and searching, you follow the trail of what fascinates you.
Nakshatra 5 of 27, spanning 23°20′ Taurus to 6°40′ Gemini sidereal. Lord: Mars. Deity: Soma. Symbol: deer's head.
Truth-seeking, you dig to the root of things and can rebuild from the ground up.
Nakshatra 19 of 27, spanning 0°00′ Sagittarius to 13°20′ Sagittarius sidereal. Lord: Ketu. Deity: Nirriti. Symbol: tied roots.
The adapting modality: Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces.
Mutable signs end each season and prepare the next. A mutable emphasis suggests versatility and learning.
One of 27 lunar mansions of 13°20′ in the sidereal zodiac, each with a deity, a symbol and a planetary lord.
The Moon's nakshatra at birth is a central part of identity in Jyotish and sets the starting point of the Vimshottari dasha. Each nakshatra has four padas.
On your dial · It gives the Moon a far finer texture than its sign alone.
A structured summary of your chart's lasting tendencies: chart ruler, balances, dominant planets, dignities, patterns.
It gives context to transits. When something is activated, the baseline tells you what that part of you is about.
A map of the sky for the exact moment and place of birth.
Also called a birth chart. It records where each planet stood in the zodiac and, if the birth time is known, how the sky was oriented to the horizon (the houses and angles).
On your dial · The reference against which every transit, return and progression is measured.
The Sun–Moon conjunction, when the Moon is dark: a time for beginnings.
In Vedic reckoning it is Amavasya. Solar eclipses can only happen at new moons.
The Moon's ascending node, where it crosses the ecliptic heading north.
Often read as a direction of growth that feels unfamiliar but rewarding. The nodes normally move backward through the zodiac.
Hours counted from sunset (1 to 24), also called Italian hours.
The outer ring of the Prague Orloj shows them, so the ring shifts through the year with the time of sunset.
The four-year cycle of the Panhellenic games, counted on a dial of the Antikythera mechanism.
The dial names the games held each year (Olympia, Nemea, Isthmia, Pythia and others), so the mechanism doubled as a festival calendar.
A 180° aspect: two sides that need balancing.
Oppositions often show up through other people and relationships, as a seesaw that asks for integration rather than choosing a side.
On your dial · It highlights a polarity that wants integration rather than a winner.
How far from exact an aspect can be and still count.
A square that is 1° from exact is stronger than one at 6°. Zodial uses tighter orbs for transits than for natal aspects; you can adjust transit sensitivity.
On your dial · It tells you how strongly, and how soon, a contact is in effect.
The Prague astronomical clock (1410), one of the oldest working astronomical clocks.
Its astrolabe dial shows the Sun and Moon in the zodiac, the horizon, Babylonian and Old-Czech hours, and a calendar plate below. Zodial's Orloj dial is a functional homage.
On your dial · It is the reference for Calibre Z-02.
A mechanical model of the solar system, the planets turning around the Sun at their relative rates.
Named after the Earl of Orrery, for whom one was built in 1713. Zodial's Orrery sets every arm at the planet's true heliocentric longitude and rings it with the geocentric transit track.
Uranus, Neptune and Pluto: slow movers whose sign placements are shared by a whole generation.
By sign they describe generational themes. By house and by aspects to personal planets they become personal. Their transits last months to years.
A quarter of a nakshatra (3°20′).
Padas refine nakshatra meanings and link to the navamsha (9th-harmonic) chart.
On your dial · It sharpens a nakshatra reading to a specific quarter.
One of the two halves of the lunar month: Shukla (waxing, bright) or Krishna (waning, dark).
Each paksha has 15 tithis.
The Hindu almanac's "five limbs" of the day: vara, tithi, nakshatra, yoga, karana.
Used for choosing auspicious times (muhurta). Zodial also shows the daily Rahu Kalam, Yamaganda and Gulika windows.
On your dial · The traditional test of a day's quality.
The angle between the direction to the celestial pole and the direction to the zenith at an object in the sky.
It turns the Moon's face as it crosses the sky. With it, the Lunar Mansion movement draws the bright limb as you see it from your location.
Two bodies on angles at the same moment (rising, setting, culminating or anti-culminating) at a given latitude.
Bernadette Brady popularised parans for star work. They depend on the birth date and latitude, not on ecliptic longitude, so stars far from the zodiac can still be linked.
A calculated point: Ascendant + Moon − Sun (reversed for night charts).
The Hellenistic "Lot of Fortune" relates to the body, circumstances and wellbeing in a broad sense. It needs an accurate birth time, so Zodial omits it when the time is unknown.
On your dial · A sensitive point; transits to it are read for circumstance and fortune.
A planet with no essential dignity at all in its position.
Traditionally it is "wandering" and works through whatever it connects with, so its aspects and house matter more.
The point of the Moon's orbit closest to Earth, about 356,000–370,000 km.
A full Moon near perigee looks up to 14% larger than one near apogee. The Lunar Mansion movement gauges the Moon's distance between the two.
Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars: the fast movers that describe everyday personality.
These planets change sign within days or weeks, so their placements vary a lot from person to person.
A transition such as melting or boiling, where heat goes in (latent heat) without the temperature rising, and the structure reorganises.
In the lens: turning points such as stations, eclipses and Uranus contacts, and plateaus that are still progress. Near a transition, small changes can tip the state.
A planet's first or last visibility as it moves away from, or toward, the Sun's glare.
Hellenistic astrologers saw it as a planet "announcing" itself. Zodial approximates it with 15° crossings, which is less precise than true heliacal visibility.
One stem–branch pair in a BaZi chart: the year, month, day or hour pillar.
Each pillar is one of the 60 combinations of the sexagenary cycle, for example 丙午 (Bing Wu).
Two gears on slightly offset axes, coupled by a pin in a slot, so one turns at a varying rate.
It is the Antikythera mechanism's model of the lunar anomaly, a mechanical version of Hipparchus's epicycle.
Compassionate and intuitive, it dissolves boundaries. Keywords: empathy, imagination, flow.
Pisces is a mutable water sign, spanning 330°–360° of the zodiac. In the tropical zodiac the Sun passes through it each year; in the sidereal zodiac the boundaries sit about 24° later.
A time-based house system, the most common in modern Western astrology.
It divides the time each degree takes to travel from horizon to meridian into thirds. Near the polar circles it can fail; Zodial then falls back to Porphyry and says so.
On your dial · Its unequal houses follow the real shape of your sky, which is why some houses on your dial look wider than others.
In astrology, any moving body in the chart: Sun, Moon, Mercury to Pluto, and sometimes points like the nodes.
Astrology keeps the ancient sense of "wanderer", so the Sun and Moon count as planets. Each planet stands for a core need or drive; sign and house show its style and where it plays out.
Each hour of day and night is ruled by a planet in Chaldean order, starting at sunrise with the ruler of the weekday.
Western tradition uses unequal hours (daylight split into 12 and night into 12, so hours stretch and shrink with the seasons). Vedic hora uses equal 60-minute hours. Both are a way of choosing timing by quality.
On your dial · It matches an action to the planet that governs it, hour by hour.
A house system that divides each quadrant between the angles into three equal parts.
It is simple and works at all latitudes, so it is a common fallback when Placidus fails.
The slow wobble of Earth's axis, which shifts the equinox points against the stars by about 1° every 72 years.
This is why the tropical and sidereal zodiacs have drifted about 24° apart, and why star positions change slowly.
The stretch of time before an upcoming condition when preparing for it makes sense.
Zodial pairs each upcoming event (a station, an exact transit, an eclipse, a void-of-course Moon) with a suggested action category and a prep window, then looks inside that window for supportive conditions you can use.
The roughly 30-year cycle of the progressed Moon around the progressed Sun.
Its phases (new, first quarter, full…) are used as chapter markers for long life cycles. Dane Rudhyar popularised this approach.
A star's own slow drift across the sky, usually under an arcsecond a year.
Zodial applies it with precession so star positions stay accurate across centuries.
A label on every Zodial result saying which tradition, zodiac, ayanamsa, node and rule produced it.
It lets you, or the Hermes guide, cite exactly how a statement was made, and compare traditions honestly.
Resilient and generous, you return to center and help others begin again.
Nakshatra 7 of 27, spanning 20°00′ Gemini to 3°20′ Cancer sidereal. Lord: Jupiter. Deity: Aditi. Symbol: bow and quiver.
Invigorating and persuasive, you inspire others and refresh stale situations.
Nakshatra 20 of 27, spanning 13°20′ Sagittarius to 26°40′ Sagittarius sidereal. Lord: Venus. Deity: Apas (the waters). Symbol: winnowing fan.
Fervent and idealistic, you carry intensity in service of a larger vision.
Nakshatra 25 of 27, spanning 20°00′ Aquarius to 3°20′ Pisces sidereal. Lord: Jupiter. Deity: Aja Ekapada. Symbol: front of a funeral cot. a cot or bed, a traditional image of transition and rest
Warm and pleasure-loving, you value rest, romance and creative enjoyment.
Nakshatra 11 of 27, spanning 13°20′ Leo to 26°40′ Leo sidereal. Lord: Venus. Deity: Bhaga. Symbol: front legs of a bed.
Nourishing and steady, you support growth through care and wise structure.
Nakshatra 8 of 27, spanning 3°20′ Cancer to 16°40′ Cancer sidereal. Lord: Saturn. Deity: Brihaspati. Symbol: cow's udder.
The Moon's north node in Jyotish, a shadow planet of desire, ambition and the unfamiliar.
It takes part in dashas and karakas. Zodial uses the mean node for Rahu by default.
A roughly 90-minute daytime window each day, traditionally avoided for new beginnings.
The daylight is split into eight parts and the weekday picks which one. Yamaganda and Gulika Kalam are similar windows.
On your dial · The standard daily caution window in Vedic timing.
Right ascension of the Midheaven: local sidereal time expressed in degrees.
House systems and parans are calculated from it; 1° of RAMC passes in about 4 minutes.
A sidereal zodiac sign in Jyotish.
The rashi chart is the main birth chart. Your Moon's rashi (the Moon sign) is central in Vedic practice.
A planet that seems to move backward through the zodiac for a while, as seen from Earth.
This is an optical effect of Earth overtaking a planet, or being overtaken by it. Astrologically it marks a season of review: revisiting, redoing and refining that planet's topics.
On your dial · It flags matters likely to need a second look.
When a transiting planet comes back to its own natal position.
Each return starts a new cycle of that planet: lunar returns monthly, solar yearly, Jupiter about every 12 years, Saturn about every 29.5 years.
Gentle and guiding, you protect travellers and help things reach completion.
Nakshatra 27 of 27, spanning 16°40′ Pisces to 30°00′ Pisces sidereal. Lord: Mercury. Deity: Pushan. Symbol: fish.
Position along the celestial equator, the sky's version of longitude, measured in hours or degrees from the March equinox.
Chinese xiu, sidereal time and parans all work in right ascension.
Creative and fertile, you are drawn to beauty, growth and things that flourish.
Nakshatra 4 of 27, spanning 10°00′ Taurus to 23°20′ Taurus sidereal. Lord: Moon. Deity: Prajapati (Brahma). Symbol: ox cart.
The planet "at home" in a sign, which then acts as that sign's manager wherever it sits.
Through rulership, houses connect: the ruler of your 10th house sitting in the 7th links career with partnership. Traditional rulership uses the seven visible planets; modern rulership gives Aquarius, Pisces and Scorpio to Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
Optimistic and restless, it chases horizons and big ideas. Keywords: meaning, adventure, candor.
Sagittarius is a mutable fire sign, spanning 240°–270° of the zodiac. In the tropical zodiac the Sun passes through it each year; in the sidereal zodiac the boundaries sit about 24° later.
The Sun entering a new sidereal sign.
Makar Sankranti (the Sun into sidereal Capricorn, mid-January) is the best known. Sankrantis decide Hindu month names and leap months.
An eclipse cycle of about 18 years 11 days; eclipses one Saros apart are near-repeats and form a numbered series.
Each series runs for over a thousand years. Some astrologers compare eclipses of the same series across a life.
Private and powerful, it looks for what lies beneath. Keywords: depth, intensity, loyalty.
Scorpio is a fixed water sign, spanning 210°–240° of the zodiac. In the tropical zodiac the Sun passes through it each year; in the sidereal zodiac the boundaries sit about 24° later.
In an isolated system entropy doesn't decrease; heat flows from hot to cold, and real processes are irreversible.
In the lens: a gradient can do work if you couple to it. Left alone, things drift toward clutter, and some steps only run one way. Most lens cards use this law (gradients, activation energy, heat engines, phase changes).
A timing method where each day after birth stands for one year of life.
The progressed Moon moves about 1° a month, which makes it a slow inner clock. Progressed Sun changes of sign happen about every 30 years.
On your dial · It shows slow, inner development rather than outer events.
Whether a chart is a day chart (Sun above the horizon) or a night chart (Sun below).
Traditional astrology treats day and night charts differently. Some planets do better in one or the other, and sect decides triplicity rulers and the Part of Fortune formula. It needs a birth time.
On your dial · It changes which planets help and which challenge in your chart.
A 30° aspect between neighbouring signs: a subtle, low-key link.
A minor aspect read with a tight orb. It can show gradual, step-by-step development.
An aspect that has passed exact and is widening.
Its themes are usually read as already in play and being absorbed.
The 60 combinations of 10 stems and 12 branches, used for counting years, months, days and hours.
It starts with Jia Zi (甲子). The day count has run continuously for over 2,500 years; 1 October 1949, for example, was a Jia Zi day.
The stretch of zodiac a retrograde planet covers three times: before (pre-shadow), during, and after (post-shadow) the retrograde.
The pre-shadow starts when the planet first reaches the degree where it will later turn direct. The post-shadow ends when it gets back to where it turned retrograde. It frames the "before, during, after" of a review cycle.
Independent and healing, you are drawn to mysteries, science and remedies.
Nakshatra 24 of 27, spanning 6°40′ Aquarius to 20°00′ Aquarius sidereal. Lord: Rahu. Deity: Varuna. Symbol: empty circle.
A gifted listener and learner, you connect people through understanding.
Nakshatra 22 of 27, spanning 10°00′ Capricorn to 23°20′ Capricorn sidereal. Lord: Moon. Deity: Vishnu. Symbol: ear.
One rotation of Earth relative to the stars: 23 h 56 min 4 s.
Zodial's tourbillon cage in "sidereal" mode turns once per sidereal day.
Time measured by the stars rather than the Sun: local sidereal time is the right ascension crossing your meridian.
A sidereal day is about 23 h 56 min, so star time gains about 4 minutes a day on clock time. It fixes the Ascendant and MC at any moment.
On your dial · It drives the live Ascendant and Midheaven.
A zodiac anchored to the fixed stars rather than the seasons.
Vedic astrology (Jyotish) uses it. Today it sits about 24° behind the tropical zodiac. The exact offset, the ayanamsa, depends on the convention; Zodial uses Lahiri.
One of the twelve 30° sections of the zodiac, each with its own style or flavour.
A sign describes how a planet tends to express itself. Each sign combines an element (fire, earth, air, water) and a modality (cardinal, fixed, mutable), and has a ruling planet.
Jupiter and Saturn, which link the individual to society.
They take about 12 and 29 years to circle the zodiac. They describe growth, opportunity, structure and responsibility.
Noon to noon by the Sun, 24 hours on average.
It is longer than the sidereal day because Earth also moves along its orbit each day.
The Moon passes in front of the Sun at a new moon: total, annular, partial or hybrid.
Annular means the Moon is too far away to cover the Sun completely, leaving a ring. Astrologically, solar eclipses are read as strong beginnings.
A chart cast for the exact moment the Sun comes back to its birth position each year.
Used as a theme map for the year ahead, from birthday to birthday. Some cast it for the birthplace, others for where you are; Zodial lets you choose.
On your dial · It sets the tone for each birthday-to-birthday year.
The 24 points of the solar year, every 15° of the Sun's path; the 12 "jie" among them start the BaZi months.
They are astronomical (the Sun's true position), not lunar. The other 12, the zhongqi, decide month numbering and leap months in the Chinese lunar calendar.
The longest and shortest days (around 21 June and 21 December), when the Sun reaches its farthest north or south.
They mark 0° Cancer and 0° Capricorn in the tropical zodiac. The winter solstice anchors the Chinese calendar's 11th month.
The Moon's descending node, opposite the North Node.
Often read as inherited strengths and habits, easy to fall back on. Use them as a foundation rather than a hiding place.
A 90° aspect: friction that pushes for action.
Squares link signs of the same modality but clashing elements. They are uncomfortable but productive, a main engine of growth and achievement.
On your dial · It points to a challenge to work with rather than avoid.
The point where a planet appears to stand still before turning retrograde or direct.
Planets are slow and concentrated near their stations, so transits that happen around a station last longer and are given extra weight in Zodial ("station" tag).
On your dial · It marks the most potent days of a retrograde cycle.
Three or more planets clustered in one sign or house.
It concentrates energy in one area. Zodial only counts a cluster if it holds at least two personal planets; clusters of outer planets alone are generational.
A way of mapping a sphere onto a plane that keeps circles as circles.
It is why the horizon, tropics and zodiac all appear as circles on an astrolabe.
On your dial · It explains the Orloj's distinctive off-centre rings.
A moment inside a prep window whose conditions suit the suggested action: a matching planetary hour, Moon phase, or a harmonious transit in orb.
For example, a Mercury hour for documenting, a waxing Moon for starting, or Jupiter trine your Sun for asking. Windows to avoid (void-of-course Moon, Rahu Kalam) are listed separately. These are traditional timing preferences.
Independent and adaptable, you bend without breaking and need room to move.
Nakshatra 15 of 27, spanning 6°40′ Libra to 20°00′ Libra sidereal. Lord: Rahu. Deity: Vayu. Symbol: young shoot in the wind.
Comparing two people's charts: aspects between their planets and where each falls in the other's houses.
Zodial's layered synastry adds each person's house and rulership context and the house overlays. It describes dynamics to talk about, not a verdict on compatibility.
On your dial · It describes the relationship itself, not two individuals side by side.
Two planets in opposition, both square a third (the apex).
A dynamic, driven pattern. The apex planet is where the pressure finds an outlet and where effort pays off.
Patient and sensual, it builds slowly and values what is real. Keywords: steadiness, comfort, perseverance.
Taurus is a fixed earth sign, spanning 30°–60° of the zodiac. In the tropical zodiac the Sun passes through it each year; in the sidereal zodiac the boundaries sit about 24° later.
The line between day and night on the Moon.
It sweeps across the face over a lunation; craters near it cast long shadows.
Zodial's optional daily card that reads the day's strongest sky condition through one law of thermodynamics.
Built on the Hermetic principle "as above, so below". The physics supplies an exact vocabulary for effort, timing and rest: what can do work, what is conserved, what leaks as heat, and where extra force stops paying.
Entropy approaches a minimum as temperature approaches absolute zero, and absolute zero can't be reached in a finite number of steps.
In the lens: perfect calm or perfect polish is a limit, not a target. It covers diminishing returns, and rest as a quiet state rather than a goal to optimise.
Running the clock faster than real time, for example one day in 20 seconds.
Everything on the dial stays astronomically correct at any speed; the balance wheel keeps a true 1 Hz beat.
A lunar day: each 12° the Moon gains on the Sun, 30 per lunar month.
Tithis drive Hindu festival dates. They don't match calendar days, so a tithi can start any time of day. The tithi at local sunrise names the day.
On your dial · A core element of the Vedic calendar and of electional timing.
A watch mechanism that puts the balance and escapement in a rotating cage, averaging out the effect of gravity.
Abraham-Louis Breguet patented it in 1801. On Zodial's tourbillon dial the cage can turn once per sidereal day, so it doubles as a star-time hand.
On your dial · On your dial it is a working sky hand.
A planet's current position in the sky, read against your natal chart.
When a transiting planet aspects a natal point, that part of your chart is "activated". Transits describe conditions and timing.
On your dial · Transits are the main way astrologers time when natal themes are activated.
A 120° aspect: natural flow and ease.
Trines join signs of the same element. Talents come easily, so they can be taken for granted unless used on purpose.
On your dial · It marks support you can lean on, if you remember to use it.
A dignity shared by the planets that govern an element, with one ruler by day and another by night.
Zodial uses the Dorothean scheme: a day ruler, a night ruler and a participating ruler for each element. Which one leads depends on sect.
A zodiac that starts at the March equinox, so the signs stay in step with the seasons.
Western astrology mostly uses it. 0° Aries is wherever the Sun sits at the northern spring equinox. Because Earth's axis slowly wobbles, this point drifts against the stars by about 1° every 72 years.
The node's actual position, which wobbles back and forth over the months.
More precise but jittery: it can briefly move direct. Zodial uses the true node for Western charts by default (a setting) and filters the wobble out of house ingresses.
Time measured by the Sun's actual position: noon is when the Sun crosses your meridian.
It differs from clock time by your longitude offset within the time zone plus the equation of time, up to about ±16 minutes. Some BaZi practitioners use it for the hour pillar.
The official calculated Hijri calendar of Saudi Arabia.
Month starts are set by an astronomical rule rather than by local crescent sighting.
Hours that divide daylight into 12 and night into 12, so they are longer in summer days and shorter in winter.
They were the everyday hours of antiquity and medieval Europe. The Prague Orloj shows them as curved lines on its dial.
On your dial · They keep time the way people did before equal clock hours.
When the birth time isn't known, Zodial computes a noon chart and turns off everything that depends on the clock.
Houses, angles, the Part of Fortune, dasha and the hour pillar are omitted. The Moon is given as a range (it moves about 12–15° a day). The birth-time explorer shows what would change across the day.
Coordinated Universal Time, the world reference clock.
Zodial converts every birth time to UTC using historical time-zone rules before computing the chart.
Principled and enduring, you work toward victories that last.
Nakshatra 21 of 27, spanning 26°40′ Sagittarius to 10°00′ Capricorn sidereal. Lord: Sun. Deity: Vishvedevas. Symbol: elephant's tusk.
Deep and stable, you hold wisdom calmly and support others through change.
Nakshatra 26 of 27, spanning 3°20′ Pisces to 16°40′ Pisces sidereal. Lord: Saturn. Deity: Ahir Budhnya. Symbol: back of a funeral cot. a cot or bed, a traditional image of transition and rest
Reliable and generous, you keep agreements and build lasting alliances.
Nakshatra 12 of 27, spanning 26°40′ Leo to 10°00′ Virgo sidereal. Lord: Sun. Deity: Aryaman. Symbol: back legs of a bed.
A 120-year cycle of planetary periods starting from the lord of your birth nakshatra.
Mahadashas last from 6 (Sun) to 20 (Venus) years and are divided into antardashas. Their dates depend on the exact Moon degree, so they need a birth time. Year length is a setting.
On your dial · The principal long-range clock of Jyotish: it names the planet whose period you are in.
Discerning and helpful, it improves whatever it touches. Keywords: skill, analysis, service.
Virgo is a mutable earth sign, spanning 150°–180° of the zodiac. In the tropical zodiac the Sun passes through it each year; in the sidereal zodiac the boundaries sit about 24° later.
Goal-directed and determined, you pursue aims with focused persistence.
Nakshatra 16 of 27, spanning 20°00′ Libra to 3°20′ Scorpio sidereal. Lord: Jupiter. Deity: Indra and Agni. Symbol: triumphal arch.
The stretch after the Moon makes its last major aspect in a sign and before it enters the next sign.
Traditionally seen as a time when new starts tend to drift, which makes it good for rest, routine and reflection. Rules vary (modern vs classical planets); Zodial lets you choose.
On your dial · A classical timing filter: suited to rest and review, unsuited to launches.
Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces: feeling, intuition, attachment.
Water reads atmospheres and bonds deeply. A strong water emphasis brings empathy; a light one may process emotions more through thought or action.
Waxing: the lit part of the Moon grows (new to full). Waning: it shrinks (full to new).
Waxing is often linked with building, waning with refining and releasing.
The oldest house system: the rising sign is the whole 1st house, the next sign the 2nd, and so on.
Each house is exactly one sign. Hellenistic and many Vedic astrologers use it, and it is needed for profections.
On your dial · It gives clean, sign-based houses that hold up even when your birth time is only approximate.
Chinese astronomy's 28 unequal sky sectors along the equator, each starting at a determinative star.
Their widths vary from almost 0° to over 30° because they are measured in right ascension from real stars. Jiao, starting at Spica, comes first.
On your dial · The East Asian reading of the Moon's daily station.
A daytime eighth-part window associated with Yama, avoided for auspicious starts.
Computed like Rahu Kalam with its own weekday sequence.
Complementary polarities: yang is active and expanding, yin receptive and consolidating.
Each stem and branch is yang or yin. In BaZi, the year stem's polarity sets the direction of the luck pillars.
Two planets in sextile, both quincunx a third, forming a narrow triangle.
Also called the finger of God. Zodial reads it as a specialised focus that needs ongoing adjustment and matures with time.
One of 27 divisions of the combined Sun + Moon sidereal longitude, each 13°20′.
Not the physical practice. It is a quality of the day in the almanac, and some yogas are considered unfavourable for starting things.
If two systems are each in equilibrium with a third, they are in equilibrium with each other, which is what makes a thermometer meaningful.
In the lens: set a shared baseline or yardstick before comparing, judging or negotiating. Related ideas are coupling (contact), decoupling (no contact, e.g. a void-of-course Moon) and the thermostat (a setpoint).
The band of sky the Sun, Moon and planets travel through, divided into twelve 30° signs.
Astrologers measure planetary positions along this belt. Where the twelve signs start depends on the zodiac in use: tropical (tied to the seasons) or sidereal (tied to the stars).
ZODIAL.ai