Configurations in Enigma

Most astrology programs provide you with the possibility to configure the application to your liking. You can define values for orbs, select your favorite house system etc. You automatically apply such a configuration in your calculations and interpretations.
That is fine if you want to stick to the approach you are used to. If you are primarily doing consulting this probably is a good way to organize your work.
But this approach can become cumbersome if you want to do research and want to compare different techniques. Suppose you want to compare a variant of classical astrology with a variant that incorporates all newly found planets and also adds some asteroids. Both approaches are used often so such a comparison does make sense.
However, this requires you to redefine several different settings. These might be in the configuration or elsewhere in the program, but you do need to adjust them.
In the example above this could be the house system, e.g. Placidus for the modern variant and Whole Sign houses for the classical variant. The number of planets you want to take into account is very different. The orbs of the aspects will be different, in the classic version this might be whole sign orbs and in the modern version a pretty small orb because there are so many possibilities to form an aspect.
To facilitate comparisons, Enigma will support multiple configurations. You can define a configuration, give it a name, and save it. If you want a variant on an existing configuration, you can copy the existing one, change it, and save it under a different name.
It will always be possible to switch between configurations, even with an already calculated chart. So if you want to compare two techniques, you select one configuration and then another.
You can make as many configurations as you like but for simple changes, you are not forced to do so. Several items can be changed separately from the configuration, e.g. house system, ayanamsha, position (geocentric, topocentric, heliocentric).
The number of configurable items will grow during the development of Enigma. If a new release is installed that changes the possibilities of the configuration, all existing configurations will be updated automatically.

Enigma: Software for astrological research

I started a new software project for astrological research. The package I will develop is called Enigma as I believe a big part of astrology is still covered in veils. I will describe some of the intended functionality in this blog and I will discuss functional issues on a Facebook group. For now just this short announcement. If you subscribe to the Facebook group you will receive messages if new information is published.

Project Houses

Did you know at least 70 house systems do exist? Some of them are well known but most of these systems are hardly ever mentioned. I would consider it a serious loss for astrology if knowledge about these systems would disappear. They are part of our astrological heritage and therefore deserve it to be remembered.

I will make an attempt. Starting today you will find at RadixPro an overview of house systems. I was able to locate 70 of them but that number will probably rise. I made a description – including formula’s and a calculation example – for five systems in the Project Houses. I will also describe the remaining systems. That will be on a regular base but it will take several years before I finish the description of all 70 systems. Apart from the description of the systems you will also find an annotated reference and an overview of the systems. In the future I will also add general articles on houses.

Calculate your own sidereal time

Calculating sidereal time used to be an important part of calculating a chart. Without sidereal time  there were no houses, no MC, no ascendant. For the calculation of sidereal time you will find the formulas at RadixPro. The formulas are simple and do not use any goniometry, so nothing stands in the way to give it a try with your own chart. Sidereal time

Formulas for declinations

In astrology we use declinations since the very start of horoscopy. Not just for parallel aspects but also for more sophisticated systems like the one defined by Kt Boehrer. Even in archaeo-astronomy you will need declinations to define the position of a planet at the horizon. At RadixPro you will now find formulas to calculate the declinations yourself: Declinations

Formula for the oblique angle of the ecliptic

For almost all calculations you need to know the value of the angle between equator and ecliptic. That angle is relatively constant but over longer periods of time the value does change. You can handle these changes now: at RadixPro you will find formulas for the calculation of Epsilon as this angle is called by astronomers.