Customizing your chart

Customizing your chart

Beyond picking a school, you can override individual knobs from your chosen school's defaults. This page explains each one — what it changes, who tends to prefer which value, and when leaving the default is best.

Settings live in Profile → Astrology school → Expert settings.

Chart geometry

These knobs affect the positions and bodies that appear in the chart itself. Changes here are reflected immediately the next time a chart is generated.

House system

Determines how the zodiacal wheel is divided into 12 life areas. Placidus is the modern Western standard — a time-based system that works well for most latitudes. Whole sign assigns each sign as one complete house, starting from the rising sign; it's the default for both Vedic Classical and Hellenistic Classical. Koch and Porphyry are less common alternatives used by some traditional Western practitioners. If you were born above 60° latitude, whole-sign often produces more accurate results than Placidus.

Zodiac system

Tropical anchors the zodiac to the seasons — 0° Aries is always the vernal equinox. Sidereal anchors the zodiac to the fixed stars, and currently sits about 24° behind the tropical positions. Modern Western and Hellenistic schools use tropical; Vedic Classical uses sidereal. Switching zodiac systems will shift all your planet positions, often by one sign. Neither is inherently more accurate — they measure different reference frames.

Lunar node calculation

True Node uses the Moon's instantaneous orbital geometry and wobbles slightly day to day. Mean Node smooths out those wobbles with a long-term average. Most Western schools default to True Node; Vedic Classical uses Mean Node (which in Vedic corresponds to Rahu/Ketu). The difference between them is usually under 1.5°, enough to affect house cusps in some systems but rarely the sign placement.

Lilith (Black Moon) calculation

Mean Apogee is the smoothed mathematical point — the most common choice in modern Western practice. True Apogee is the instantaneous value, which oscillates more. Neither has a strong traditional basis; Lilith is a 20th-century addition. If you use Lilith at all, Mean Apogee is the conventional choice.

Ayanamsa (sidereal offset)

Only relevant if you've switched the zodiac system to sidereal. The ayanamsa is the correction that converts tropical positions to sidereal positions. Lahiri is the modern Indian government standard and the default for Vedic Classical. Krishnamurti is used in KP astrology. Fagan-Bradley is the standard for Western sidereal astrology. If you're using sidereal for Vedic work, Lahiri is almost certainly the right choice.

Include asteroids

None keeps the chart to the 10 classical bodies. Four majors adds Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta — the largest asteroids, popular in modern psychological astrology. Extended adds additional minor bodies. The more bodies you include, the harder it becomes to find aspects that aren't active at any given moment, which can dilute the signal.

Hellenistic lots

Lots (also called Arabic Parts) are calculated points combining three positions. Fortune only adds the Lot of Fortune — the most common single lot. Fortune and Spirit adds the Lot of Spirit, which pairs with Fortune for timing and motivation analysis. Extended adds additional lots (Necessity, Courage, Eros). Lots are most meaningful within a Hellenistic framework; in Modern Western practice they're often left off.

Show the Vertex

The Vertex is a mathematically derived sensitive point associated with fated encounters. On shows it on the chart — the default for Modern Western. Off removes it entirely, which is the default for the Hellenistic and Vedic schools, since it's a 20th-century addition with no traditional basis in those systems.

Interpretation

These knobs affect how the engine weights and describes what it finds in the chart, without changing what positions are calculated.

Count lunar nodes in element distribution

When on, the North Node contributes to element and modality tallies. Modern Western practice typically includes it; classical schools omit nodes from element counts because they're shadow points rather than planetary bodies. Toggle this off if you use a Vedic or Hellenistic school.

Quality of Saturn/Pluto conjunctions

Neutral treats Saturn/Pluto conjunctions as structurally heavy but not inherently destructive — the Modern Western psychological reading. Challenging frames them as a difficult configuration requiring conscious navigation — closer to a classical malefic reading. Harmonious is rarely chosen but available for experimental frameworks.

Synastry

These knobs affect compatibility charts and relationship analysis.

Synastry orb scaling

A multiplier applied to all orbs in synastry aspect detection. The default of 1.0 uses the base orbs. Values above 1.0 tighten aspect detection (fewer aspects qualify); values below 1.0 loosen it (more aspects qualify). If your compatibility charts feel cluttered with aspects, try 1.2 or 1.3.

Synastry score centre

The midpoint of the compatibility score normalisation curve. The default of 40 is conservative — scores above 50 represent meaningfully stronger-than-average compatibility. Raising this value compresses scores toward the middle; lowering it spreads them wider. Leave this at the default unless you have a specific reason to recalibrate.

Composite chart method

Midpoint constructs the composite chart by taking the midpoint of each pair of natal positions — the most common modern method. Davison calculates a theoretical chart for the midpoint in both time and space between two birth data, producing an astronomical chart that can be transited. Midpoint composites are more widely used; Davison charts are preferred by practitioners who want to track live transits to the relationship chart.

Transits and events

These knobs affect how transit windows, eclipse sensitivity, and the void-of-course Moon are detected and reported.

Transit orb multiplier

Scales the orbs used when identifying which natal points a transiting planet is contacting. The default of 0.5 uses tight orbs — only close contacts register. Increase this if you want broader windows; decrease it for stricter detection. Very tight transits (0.2–0.3) work well for daily precision; wider settings (0.8–1.0) give a longer heads-up window.

Eclipse aspects to natal points

Determines which aspect types the eclipse analysis checks against your natal chart. Conjunction and opposition only is the classical approach — eclipses primarily activate points they land directly on or oppose. Add squares extends this to include 90° contacts. All major aspects also adds trines and sextiles. The classical setting produces fewer but higher-signal hits; all-majors produces more hits with lower individual signal.

Void-of-Course Moon orb policy

The Moon is void-of-course after it makes its last major aspect in a sign and before it enters the next sign. Modern 6°/4° uses a 6° applying orb and 4° separating orb — the most common contemporary setting. Strict Hellenistic requires near-exact aspects with essentially no orb — voids are much rarer and shorter by this definition. Wider 8°/6° extends the window for those who find the modern setting too brief.