Systems of astrology
Every major tradition, described on its own terms — what it claims, where it came from, where it is used, and what it cannot do. Indian astrology is covered in the most depth; the rest sit at overview level.
Start here
Introduction to Astrology
What astrology actually claims, where the different traditions diverge, and how to read the rest of this encyclopedia without being misled by it.
8 min read
History of Astrology
From Mesopotamian omen lists to the newspaper horoscope: four thousand years, three major transmissions, and one decisive split.
10 min read
Types of Astrology
Four different things get called "types of astrology", and confusing them is why people end up mixing incompatible systems. This page separates them.
9 min read
Indian systems
Indian (Vedic) Astrology
Jyotish — the sidereal system of classical India, with nakshatras, whole-sign houses and the dasha time-systems that no other tradition has. This site's main focus.
11 min read
Nadi Astrology
The palm-leaf tradition of Tamil Nadu, where a reading is claimed to be located rather than calculated. The most unusual claim in Indian astrology, and the hardest to check.
8 min read
KP Astrology
Krishnamurti Paddhati — a twentieth-century Indian system built on nakshatra sub-lords, Placidus houses and its own ayanamsha. The clearest case of a tradition being founded within living memory.
8 min read
Lal Kitab
A Punjabi tradition from a set of Urdu volumes published in the 1940s, distinctive for a fixed-house chart and remedies that cost almost nothing.
7 min read
Prashna Astrology
A chart cast for the moment a question is asked, not for a birth. The branch that exists because most people's birth times were never written down.
7 min read
Muhurta
Choosing an auspicious moment to begin something. The most widely used branch of Indian astrology in daily life, and the one with the clearest practical logic.
7 min read
Panchang
The Indian almanac and its five limbs. The most verifiable thing on this site — every element is an astronomical quantity you can compute and check.
8 min read
Other world traditions
Western Astrology
The tropical zodiac, aspects measured in degrees, and three planets nobody knew about until modern times. Shares a root with Jyotish and diverged on nearly every technical choice.
9 min read
Chinese Astrology
A sixty-year cycle of stems and branches, five elements, and four pillars of birth. Structurally unlike everything else on this site — it barely uses planetary positions at all.
8 min read
Egyptian Astrology
Egypt's real contribution to astrology is enormous — and almost none of it is what gets sold under the name today. This page separates the two.
8 min read
Tibetan Astrology
Two complete systems running side by side — one inherited from India, one from China — used together rather than reconciled. The clearest example of a tradition that never resolved its own contradiction.
7 min read
Adjacent practices
These travel with astrology but are not astrology — no sky, no chart. Covered because people ask about them.
Numerology
Meaning assigned to numbers from names and dates. Not astrology at all — there is no sky in it — and it carries one structural problem the other systems do not.
7 min read
Palmistry
Reading character and fortune from the hand. Also not astrology, though the two share a vocabulary — the mounts are named after planets.
7 min read
Face Reading
Reading character from facial features. This page is written differently from the others, because physiognomy's history is not merely one of inaccuracy — it was used to justify racism, and machine learning has revived the attempt.
8 min read
Vastu
The Indian science of building and orientation. Unusual on this site in that some of its prescriptions coincide with sound climate design — which is exactly what makes the rest harder to see clearly.
8 min read