How it works
Calculated first, then explained
Every reading starts with arithmetic, not intuition. Here's exactly what we calculate, the choices we make, and where AI comes in.
1. Your chart, from real astronomy
Your birth date, time and place go through the same kind of planetary model observatories use (the open-source astronomy-engine library, accurate to well under an arcminute). We find where the Sun, Moon and planets were, as seen from Earth, at the exact minute you were born, and the point of the zodiac rising in the east: your FootnoteRising signThe sign coming up over the eastern horizon when you were born. It shapes first impressions.Read more →.
Places come from GeoNames, so we know each town's exact latitude, longitude and time zone, including historical clock changes.
2. The choices we make
Astrologers disagree on details. We pick the clearest, most traditional option and tell you which:
- Zodiac
- The tropical FootnoteZodiacThe band of sky the Sun, Moon and planets travel through, divided into twelve 30° signs.Read more →, tied to the seasons, as Western astrology uses. Vedic readings use the sidereal zodiac with the Lahiri ayanamsa.
- Houses
- FootnoteWhole-sign housesThe oldest way of dividing the chart: each house is exactly one sign, starting from your rising sign.Read more →, the oldest system: one sign, one house. It works at every latitude and is easy to read.
- Lunar node
- The mean FootnoteNorth NodeNot a planet but a point in the Moon's orbit. It points to the growth that feels unfamiliar but right.Read more →.
- Aspects
- The five major FootnoteAspectA meaningful angle between two planets. It tells you whether those two parts of you cooperate or clash.Read more →, with these FootnoteOrbHow close to exact an aspect is. The tighter the orb, the stronger it feels.Read more → in a birth chart:
Daily readings use much tighter orbs, so they only mention what's active today.Aspect Angle Orb Aspect · 0°Conjunctionallowed orb ±8°Two planets side by side (0°). Their energies blend and amplify each other.Read more → 0° ±8° Aspect · 60°Sextileallowed orb ±6°Two planets 60° apart. A friendly opening — easy, if you take it.Read more → 60° ±6° Aspect · 90°Squareallowed orb ±7°Two planets 90° apart. Friction that pushes you to act.Read more → 90° ±7° Aspect · 120°Trineallowed orb ±8°Two planets 120° apart. Natural flow and talent — so easy you may not notice it.Read more → 120° ±8° Aspect · 180°Oppositionallowed orb ±8°Two planets 180° apart, facing each other. A balancing act between two needs.Read more → 180° ±8°
3. Then a writer
The calculated positions, and nothing invented, go to Anthropic's Claude with careful instructions: explain in plain English, start with the takeaway, stay warm and specific, and never pretend to predict the future. Longer reports use Claude Sonnet; short daily readings use Claude Haiku.
That's why every reading shows its working: the transits, degrees and aspects it was written from. You can always check what's underneath.
4. The sky, as it is
Sky Now draws the real stars (from the d3-celestial catalogue) above your rough location, and turns at the true rate of the sky. Horozy itself switches between Day and Night at your local sunrise and sunset, and warms a little as the Moon fills.
What astrology is, honestly
Astrology is a centuries-old language for reflecting on your life, not a science, and readings aren't predictions. We take the astronomy seriously so the reflection rests on something real. Use it the way you'd use a good almanac: for perspective, timing and a nudge to think.