Astrology Software

Without a doubt, computers have been the greatest boon to the practice of astrology in the past 2,000 years. Much as we'd like to focus on the art of interpreting astrological charts, before computers, astrology involved some serious math. Thanks to computers, we can calculate hundreds of intricate, detailed, and above all accurate natal charts, progressed charts, return charts, transit lists and more in the time it would take us to calculate the Ascendant of a chart by hand.

Today, the only astrologers that calculate charts by hand are doing so in order to pass a certification exam. (If you'd like to know how to do the math on your own, or if you're worried about passing the math portion of your exams, check out my math book, Astrology Math Made Easy in the BOOKS section!)

When it comes to astrology software, you have a wide range of choices. There are literally hundreds of astrology programs that calculate charts, and hundreds that will even provide cookbook interpretation reports, too.

This page is by no means an exhaustive, or even a comprehensive listing. I'll make some recommendations based on my own personal preferences, and provide some links and descriptions for you to check out other products.

I am a die-hard Macintosh user. The only time this has ever created a challenge for me is when it comes to astrology software, because quite frankly, there aren't any professional level astrology programs written for the Macintosh operating system. My personal solution was to buy a copy of Parallel's Desktop for Mac and run Solar Fire. It does everything I need it to do and more, and I really don't like spending more time in Windows than I have to, so I haven't tried any of the demos for the Windows products.

I used to be a proponent of Time Cycles Research products for the Macintosh, but I can no longer recommend their company to anyone in good conscience. Ever since moving to OSX more than four years ago, they have been unable to keep ahead of the curve. If you want report writers, you can find them on Windows, bundled with programs that have infinitely more features.

Free Astrology Software

Astrolog, by Walter Pullen [Chart Calculation Software]

Astrolog 5.x is a freeware astrology program with UNIX, Windows, DOS and Macintosh versions. The Macintosh version, unfortunately, has a DOS interface, and requires you to learn and understand a very large number of "switches" in order to enter in the chart information. Any little error in the switches can result in rather significant calculation errors in the charts (you may, for example, inadvertently switch from Tropical to Sidereal). If you don't want to spend the money on one of the professional programs, and if you've got the time to learn how to work with Astrolog, it is an exceptionally powerful program with arguably more features than any other astrology program available for the Macintosh. Windows version lets you take full advantage of the exceptional capabilities of this software, without having to learn how to program in order to get results. You can work with all of the main planets, Chiron, the Trans-Neptunian Planets, the four major asteroids, the Black Moon Lilith, as well as a large number of Arabic Parts and Fixed Stars. The latest version of Astrolog is available for download, and best of all, it's Freeware.

Astroscan Alternative Astrology Software

Astroscan is a freeware astrology program for Windows. It offers a full range of features, and appears to be quite powerful. You can read about it and download a copy of it at http://www.astro-cal.com/download.htm.

Professional Astrology Software

Time Cycles Research: IO Edition, IO Horoscope, IO Forecast, IO Relationship, IO Detective, IO Body and Soul, Star*Sprite, Others

Time Cycles Research offers the only professional astrology programs designed for the Macintosh. I've been a customer of Time Cycles Reasearch since 1993, and I still use their programs for my computer reports, particularly for my monthly forecast reports. As far as the report writer aspects go, these products are excellent. You can use the pre-written reports, or create your own, custom reports.

TSR has been non-responsive to my requests for restoring key features that they removed with the OSX updates, and seem incapable of either keeping ahead of apple's 18-month OS upgrade or of simply following best programming practices and not tying into features that will "break" with the next system update. Additionally, their programs lack the professional level features that I personally need when I'm doing research or preparing for a consultation. There are absolutely no classical astrology features, and a limited set of points that can actually be included in a chart (the most troublesome omission as far as I'm concerned is that you can't print the Vertex in a chart—you can only see its position in a report page format).

It's a shame that this company has fallen so far behind both in technology and in customer service. After over 14 years of recommending them, I am sorry to say that I cannot recommend TSR or their products to anyone. No matter what your needs, you will be better served by running Windows in either Boot Camp or with an emulator, and investing in Solar Fire (my personal recommendation) or Win*Star.

Astrolabe: Solar Fire

Solar Fire, by Astrolabe, was named Best Astrological Program of 1995 by American Astrology's software critic, and given exceptionally high marks by The Mountain Astrologer as well. Astrolabe also has an extensive selection of astrology software for Windows, including Solar Spark, Solar Maps and JigSaw. You can visit Astolabe's web page for more information, call them for a catalog at 1-800-843-6682, or e-mail Astrolabe for more information. Solar Fire is the program to use if you are at all interested in Tradtional or Classical astrology. Solar Fire 5, available now, has extensive (and customizable) support for Essential Dignities, Arabic Parts (Greek Lots), Horary strictures, Fixed Stars, and more. This is the program that I use myself; it saves me literally hours in preparation for each client because I'm able to select and customize reports that contain exactly the information that I'm looking for. Many other programs have added classical astrology features; however, I always defer to J. Lee Lehman on matters classical, and she has personally requested, tested, customized and blessed the classical features in Solar Fire. Quite frankly, that's all I need to know.

Matrix Software: Win*Star

For many years, the two professional astrology programs available were Solar Fire and Win*Star. Both are packed with more features and options than any one astrologer would ever need. Personally, I think Win*Star has better graphics than Solar Fire, but it was the feature difference that mattered to me, and when I made my choice several years ago, Solar Fire had classical astrology features, and Win*Star did not. The latest version of Win*Star has some classical features (although from what I can see from the examples on their web site, they're not nearly as useful or as powerful as Solar Fire's). You can download a demo of Win*Star from Matrix's web site, and judge for yourself.

Cosmic Patterns: Kepler

Kepler software is the most recent addition to the mix. Kepler seems to have classical astrology features, although I couldn't find specific evidence of thigns as simple as essential dignity tables listed anywhere. Kepler does, however, have the best graphics of any astrology program I've ever seen. Their Art Wheels are simply stunning. One feature unique to Kepler is the ability to run a chart that includes nothing but Arabic Parts (Greek Lots) and displays them in a chart wheel.