"Solar Maps is the best all-around
mapping program I have used, especially for the beauty of the maps, the zoom and
move features to create maps, the fact that you can include Nodes, asteroids,
Chiron, and even geodetics!"
- Ariel Guttman, co-author with Jim
Lewis of The Astro* Carto*Graphy Book of Maps
"Solar Maps is the finest program on the market for locational astrology. It allows the astrologer to use the best of the known techniques plus its features also offer the ability to access new and highly practical information."
- Steve Cozzi, author of Planets in Locality
Screen shots and example reports are below. Pricing can be found at the end of the page.
Solar Maps v3 for Microsoft Windows combines simple yet elegant programming with cutting-edge astrological techniques. The result is the easiest and most useful astrological mapping program on the market. Find the best locales for work, love, or the perfect vacation and use the mundane features to know where significant events are likely to occur. View the interpretations on the screen or print out a relocation report. This software is ideal for your own personal use, for mundane work and for enhancing your client work.
Solar Maps v3 provides tools for astro-mapping, relocational astrology and local space astrology.
Creative programming gives Solar Maps ultra-clear graphic displays and easy Windows operation putting the fun and ease back into following yourself around the world. Everything is accessible through clear and simple Windows screens and menus. It also has context-sensitive online help and an illustrated, indexed manual of more than 170 pages.
The new Solar Maps v3 has improved mapping detail and includes the ACS Atlas complete with 250,000+ places around the world!
Other Features Include:
ASTRO-LINES: You can select any combination
of the following lines to be displayed on any map: planet on MC; planet on IC;
planet rising or on Asc; planet setting or on Dsc; paran lines for any one
planet in combination with all others; planet directions; local horizon; local
houses; ecliptic; zodiacal signs; total solar eclipse line; partial solar
eclipse lines.
Now in version 3 you can select aspect lines or midpoint
lines as well. All planet line types may also be used for any selected fixed
stars.
INTERPRETATIONS: These easy-to-read interpretations may be viewed as a report by clicking on a location! You click on the interpretations mouse mode button and then point to a symbol plotted over or around the map and click. Voila! An interpretations report appears. This includes an introduction to Astro-mapping with interpretations for the following: planet on MC/IC/Asc/Dsc; planets in paran; planet direction lines. You can also read individual interpretations by double clicking on a line of any data-listing report. All of the supplied text is editable with an included utility program. The text has been written by Esoteric Technologies Co-director and astrologer Stephanie Johnson and enhanced for Version 3.
MAPS: A selection of pre-defined standard maps is supplied. You can create and save as many new maps as you wish for any region of the world. You can select and adjust the required map region by zooming and panning. Map land and sea colors are fully customizable. You can select and adjust which city and country names are plotted on maps. Click and point to measure distances or angles on any map. You can view the world map in rectangular or Mercator view, or as a sphere. New and improved maps in version 3. You can now zoom in to much greater precision of coastlines and lakes PLUS an enhanced process of navigating maps—Zoom in and out with greater ease.
TRACKING: This new feature in version 3 allows you to study geographical hot spots with Solar Maps. The program comes with a database installed of Atlantic hurricanes from 1851 to 2002—and with the capability to download additional hurricanes from the UniSys web pages. This same system can be used for graphing the locations of earthquakes (or fault lines), volcanoes, or the tornadoes of a particular season.
You now have the ability to:
ECLIPSES: You can select any solar eclipse (partial or total) from 1951AD to 2200AD, and display its path across the earth on any map. Eclipse paths may be overlaid on top of astro-lines for any chart.
STARS: You can select up to 36 stars to be displayed along with, or instead of, planets. A supplied fixed star editor allows you to enter data for any celestial objects of your choice.
REPORTS: For any chart, the following data listings may be viewed: parans interspersed with city names for the current map region; parans interspersed with city names near the latitude of the chart location; cities conjunct or opposite planet lines for the current chart. A one to three-page formatted printable report of interpretive text may also be generated for the relocation of any chart to any location on earth. This includes the following sections: planets which are near angles; conjunction with planet direction lines; paran lines around the latitude of relocation.
ZODIAC TYPES: Celestial zodiac (for normal charts); geodetic zodiac (for mundane charts) with user-definable starting longitude.
HOUSE SYSTEMS: Campanus, Koch, Meridian, Morinus, Placidus, Porphyry, Regiomontanus, Topocentric.
CHART POINTS: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Moon's Nodes (mean or true), Chiron, Vesta, Pallas, Juno, Ceres, Hygeia, Astraea, Vulcan, Transpluto, Transneptunians, Black Moon Lilith (mean position). Charts may be calculated for any date from 4000BC to 9999AD. Planets are accurate to several seconds of arc in most cases. The accuracy of Pluto decreases significantly outside the years 1885-2099. Asteroids are accurate to about one minute of arc for 1800 to 2050. You may select any combination of the above points for display on maps or in chartwheels. You may customize the colors used for each chart point.
Solar Maps v3 makes it possible to use all of the following methods of geographical astrology, with a view to helping astrologers to explore the world of planetary energies as they relate to humans and events in different places in the world.
TIME ZONES & PLACES: Solar Maps v3 now comes with the full ACS Atlas with places and timezones from around the world.
CHARTS: New charts may be cast for dates ranging from 4000 BCE to 9999 CE, and overlaid on maps. Existing charts may be imported from Solar Fire, Nova, Blue*Star, Kepler 2.7 or QuickCharts files. More than 120 charts of famous people are supplied. Charts may be viewed as overlays on any map, in a normal chart wheel, or in a local horizon wheel. Charts may be progressed (by secondary or tertiary rates) or directed by solar arc and overlaid on natal chart angles. Transiting charts may be calculated and overlaid on natal chart angles. Charts may be relocated by selecting a city from the database, or just by pointing and clicking on the map. An AstroClock option allows the display of a chart which is automatically updated at regular intervals. A day/night shading option allows you to see the sun's shadow across the earth, either for any natal chart, or moving in real time with the AstroClock.
GEODETIC (MUNDANE) CHARTS: Several mundane astrologers of note, such as Sepharial and Johndro, have developed a different astro-locality mapping technique, which uses a symbolic projection of the zodiacal signs onto bands of longitude around the Earth. Typically the 0† Aries point is projected onto the Greenwich meridian (0° of longitude), and the sign divisions fall every 30† around the equator. This projection method is often used in the astrology of national and international politics and events, using charts of nations and cities and is available in Solar Maps v3.
TRANSITS, PROGRESSIONS & SOLAR ARC DIRECTIONS: In addition to viewing the planetary lines of a natal chart over a map, a technique that can be used is to view the planetary lines of progressions or transits or solar arc directions to that natal chart. As these charts vary with time (ie. they are dynamic), it is possible to use this technique as a predictive tool, by looking at how planetary lines change over a period of time. This fascinating technique is a feature of Solar Maps version 3.
LOCAL SPACE ASTROLOGY: Local Space Astrology uses a measurement system based on the local horizon and meridian, and was pioneered by Michael Erlewine. Whilst the positions of the planets, as measured in right ascension and declination, or celestial latitude and longitude, remain almost constant regardless of the observer's location, measurements of the planet's azimuth and altitude changes dramatically according to where on Earth they are observed from. The azimuths of the planets can be plotted, viewed and printed as a local horizon chart in Solar Maps v3. The same technique can also be used on maps of large areas.
ANIMATION: You can step or run a chart through time while your astro-mapping lines are displayed on any map of the world. You can animate any type of chart, either natal or subsidiary (transits to natal, secondary progressed, tertiary progressed and solar arc directed).
You can also use this animation feature:
"Solar Maps is the best all-round mapping program I have used, especially for the beauty of the maps, the zoom and move features to create maps, the fact that you have included Nodes, asteroids, Chiron and even geodetics!"
—Ariel Guttman, co-author of the Astro*Carto*Graphy Book of Maps.
"One of the best things for routine use is that the buttons for the plane, calipers, zoom, etc. are now sticky. They hang out until changed. Depending on which button you select (and the interpretations report is now one of them), you only have to click and there is your relocation report, or chart relocation, or zoomed map. You don't even have to draw out the zoom feature!"
—US Astrologer Lee Lehman.
The Authors:
Graham Dawson, holds a BSc in Physics and Meteorology and a PhD in Coastal Oceanography. He has been employed as a technical software consultant to companies in the UK and Australia. He has a strong interest in Ageless Wisdom teachings, including esoteric psychology and astrology. Graham is the designer and developer of Solar Fire and Solar Spark and co-author of JigSaw.
Stephanie Johnson holds a BA in Journalism and has been a freelance journalist reporting on women’s issues, the environment, politics and the arts, in Australia, USA and UK. She is also a consulting astrologer. Stephanie wrote the natal interpretations which are included in Solar Fire and Solar Maps.
System Requirements: Windows 95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP or higher, Pentium 100 MHz or higher IBM-compatible computer, 32Mb RAM or more, 70 Mb disk space for full installation. CDrom drive, graphics adaptor and monitor supporting SVGA (800x600) or higher resolution modes and displaying 256 or more colors (Hi-color recommended).
Upgrade for $75. Purchase new for $195.