Method
How Stellium calculates.
Behind every sentence in the Codex stands a calculated number. Here you can see, system by system, where it comes from, how it arises and where it is only approximated. If you want to check the numbers, start here.
The thirteen systems
01Western astrology
Swiss Ephemeris. Tropical zodiac, Placidus houses, aspects with orbs, lunar nodes. Plus dignities, aspect patterns, fixed stars, lunar phase and the Sabian images of all planets.
Exact
02Vedic astrology
Swiss Ephemeris. Sidereal with the Lahiri ayanamsa. Lagna, lunar mansion (nakshatra, pada), navamsa (D9), yogas and the Vimshottari dasha for the reference date.
Exact
03Hellenistic astrology
Swiss Ephemeris. Sect from the Sun above or below the horizon, Lot of Fortune and Lot of Spirit, annual profection with lord of the year for the reference date. Without a birth time the lots are left out, and the report says so.
Exact
04Asteroids and Chiron
Swiss Ephemeris, asteroid files. Chiron, Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Vesta and the mean Lilith, each with its house.
Exact
05Human Design
Swiss Ephemeris, Rave Mandala. Planetary positions at birth and at the moment the Sun stood 88 degrees earlier. Gates and lines from the longitudes, profile from the lines of the two Suns. From these come type, strategy, authority, defined centers, channels, incarnation cross and variable, with a bodygraph.
06Gene Keys
Same gate assignment as Human Design. The four prime gifts from the gates of Sun and Earth, in Personality and Design, plus the three sequences Activation, Venus and Pearl. At a gate boundary the same uncertainty applies as in Human Design.
Exact
07Numerology
Pythagorean assignment, no ephemeris. Life path as the digit sum of the birth date, the master numbers 11, 22 and 33 are kept. Expression, soul and personality from the name (A to I equal 1 to 9), pinnacles and challenges, personal year for the reference date.
Exact
08BaZi, four pillars
Calendar calculation, solar terms from the Sun's longitude. Year from Lichun, month by the twelve solar terms, day as a count from a Jia-Zi day, hour in double hours. The solar terms are calculated exactly from the Sun's longitude and checked against the Hong Kong Observatory. Plus ten gods, strength and the ten-year luck pillars.
Exact
09Chinese zodiac
Calendar calculation. Animal, element and polarity. The year begins at Lichun, around 4 February, as in BaZi, not at the lunar new year.
Exact
10The 28 Xiu
Swiss Ephemeris, determinative stars. Lunar mansion from the sidereal lunar longitude, set against the determinative stars of the 28 mansions. The traditional mansions differ in length, and that is exactly how they are calculated.
Exact
11Maya, Dreamspell and Cholq'ij
Count with GMT correlation 584283. Dreamspell (kin, tone, seal) is a 1980s construction, not a Maya tradition. The Cholq'ij, the living count, gives number and nawal, plus the whole oracle with its five roles.
Exact
12Runes
Half months of the Elder Futhark. Birth rune from a calendar of 24 runes starting on 23 December. This is a modern reconstruction, there is no historical source for runes by birth date.
Exact
13Tarot
Method of Angeles Arrien. Birth card and personality card from the digit sum of day, month and year, reduced to 22.
Exact
Accuracy, plainly
One system we still carry with a caveat, and we say so. Two systems that used to be approximated are now calculated exactly.
Human Design: type, strategy, authority, defined centers, channels, incarnation cross and variable are fully calculated, with a bodygraph. Approximation, until checked by a Human Design professional: the founders' software uses constants for the Rave Mandala that are not public, and Stellium calculates with the publicly known values. At a gate boundary a gate or a line can differ.
BaZi: the solar terms, that is the change of month, are calculated exactly from the Sun's longitude and were checked against the Hong Kong Observatory. The four pillars include the hour pillar, the ten gods, the strength and the ten-year luck pillars.
The 28 Xiu: the lunar mansions are calculated exactly by their determinative stars. The traditional mansions differ in length, and that is how they are shown.
The reference date
Some things in the report depend on a day, not only on your birth: the profection and the lord of the year, the Vimshottari dasha, the personal year. For these Stellium sets a reference date, the purchase date, and stores it with the order.
The same data with the same reference date therefore gives the same report. A report ordered a year later can name a different lord of the year than one from today, and that is intended. The reference date is stated in the header of the chapters that need it.
Ephemeris and time zones
Swiss Ephemeris
All planetary positions come from the Swiss Ephemeris, the same source professional software uses. It calculates to the arc second. Houses, aspects and lunar nodes are derived from it.
Historical time zones
The birth time is calculated with the time zone rule that applied at the birth place on that day, including daylight saving. Before you pay, the intake shows how the time zone was resolved, and you can check it.
Places
Places are searched through Photon, a service by Komoot based on OpenStreetMap. If several places share a name, you choose.
When the birth time is missing
Without a time Stellium calculates with 12:00. Ascendant and houses are then unreliable. The report marks every passage that depends on them and leaves out the lots instead of guessing them.
How the texts are made
The prose is written from the calculated values. It has to name every theme and every convergence found, and an automatic check rejects texts that do not. The values remain the foundation, the text is one reading.
The Sabian symbols
The Sabian symbols are part of the Codex: 360 images, one for each degree of the zodiac. You get the image for every planet, and with a known birth time for the ascendant and midheaven too. Any started degree counts towards the next whole degree. The image texts are our own paraphrases of the 1925 tradition, not its original wording.