First produced in 1992, Solar Fire has been expanding ever since to become the most popular astrological calculation package for professionals, amateurs and students alike. Earlier versions brought an unprecedented level of ease to casting and working with astrological charts. The current version adds many more calculations, extra convenience features, more interpretive text, and exciting new kinds of graphic displays. And, with the built-in ACS PC Atlas, you'll have access to the most up-to-date time zone, latitude and longitude information for over 252,000 places in the world!
 

 

What's New in Version 6?

• Solar Fire 6’s new Chart-File Search gives you a powerful and quick way to locate all charts in a given category. It can search through hundreds or even thousands of charts and pull out charts with virtually any kind or combination of astrological signatures. These range from a simple planet, asteroid, hypothetical body or house cusp in a given sign on up to any of 25 multi-planet aspect patterns (t-squares, grand trines, yods, heles, rosettas Thor’s Hammers, grand quintiles and more). You can search for two points in a given phase relationship, a point that is in aspect to any specified zodiacal position, or a point at, above or below a given longitude, latitude, right ascension, declination, azimuth, altitude or speed.
 

In addition, the Chart Search offers a rich selection of classical criteria -- 7 types of horary consideration; any point that has a given dignity, ruler or almuten; or the ruler, almuten, antiscion or contra-antiscion of a point being a specified planet or having a specified dignity.
 

You can also search for any word or character string in the chart comments, making it possible to see whether people who have similar life themes have similar charts. Or you can look for astro twins by searching for similar birth dates, times and Ascendants. Or search on “days to birthday” to find clients who are soon due for a solar return reading.
 

Besides searching for hundreds of single criteria, you can use “And/Or/Not” connectors to combine any number of criteria, and you can save these complex criteria files for future use. By enabling you to see how astrological principles actually work out in practice, Solar Fire 6’s new Chart Search is guaranteed to broaden and solidify your astrological knowledge.

 

• New Electional or Time Search lets you specify criteria similar to those in the Chart Search. Solar Fire 6 then lists all time periods when these criteria are in force. This helps you find the optimum time window for starting a project. It also makes it easy to find all periods in history that have a specific combination of astrological conditions.

 

• New aspect highlighting is an enormous help in making sense of the aspect lines in the center of the wheel. Earlier Solar Fire versions enabled you to color-code aspects. Now you can also specify increasingly wide lines as an aspect approaches exactness, and dotted lines when an aspect separates. In a natal chart, this makes the most important aspects really stand out. In the animated chart, it dramatizes each aspect’s build-up, perfection and separation as the planets move forward in time.

 

• New aspect filtering lets you temporarily cut out the kinds of aspects that you’re not looking for so that the patterns that you are looking for stand out clearly. You can filter out all aspects beyond a certain orb, all separating aspects, all soft aspects, all aspects that don’t involve a specified planet or harmonic, etc. -- even all aspects that aren’t part of any of the 21 specific aspect patterns that Solar Fire 6 can recognize. Whether you’re viewing a chart wheel, aspect grid or animated chart, it’s very easy to turn the filter window on and off and to switch to from one filter to another as the need arises.

 

• New life-event storage. Besides storing chart comments, you can now store unlimited life-event times, places and descriptions with any natal chart. Gives you a convenient place to store this info, and keeps it instantly ready for casting transiting, progressed and directed charts for life events without your ever having to re-enter the event data. Also, in the animated chart view, you can click on any event and jump right to its exact date and time.

 

• New Vedic options -- a new detailed nakshatra table, 8 more ayanamsas ( making a total of 15, plus user-defined) and now 20 types of Vedic divisional or harmonic charts (harmonics 1 through 12, plus selected harmonics up to 60 and Iyer and regular types of 11th harmonic chart). All this plus the existing dasa/bhukti tables, Vedic unidirectional and sign-to-sign aspects, North and South Indian square charts, and Hindu Bhava and Whole Signs (rasi) houses gives you all you need to do basic Vedic. (Plus, as an added convenience, you can now instantly toggle between the sidereal and tropical versions of a chart.)

 

• New precision to the second of arc for all standard chart points is an option in tables and ephemerides. This precision is realistic, given Solar Fire’s state-of-the art Swiss Ephemeris accuracy.

 

• New Chinese Charting. Detailed or short tables give the Chinese lunar mansion of each point in the chart. There’s also a Year Pillar table that is correctly calculated for each lunar-based Chinese year. This gives the birth year’s animal, Chinese element and yin/yang polarity.

 

• New Chart Preview makes it easier to find the chart that you’re looking for. When you click on a calculated chart or you select a chart in your files, Solar Fire 6 instantly displays the whole chart in a small but readable wheel design of your own choosing.

 

• New void-of-course Moon periods are now an option in Solar Fire’s powerful dynamic hitlists and Time Maps. It’s easy to print out a handy list for reference during the coming week, month or year. You can even mix Void periods in the same list with other considerations like retrograde periods, lunations, planetary ingresses and transiting aspects.

 

• New Age-Harmonic Charts are an innovative and potentially powerful technique to add to your forecasting repertory. Solar Fire 6 lets you instantly cast a harmonic chart based on a person’s exact age down to the day, hour and minute (or the age plus 1 year). You can then see transits to this chart in Solar Fire’s dynamic hitlists and graphs.

 

• New whole-day Planetary Hour tables show all changes of planetary hours on any given day. (And of course, they’re correctly calculated for the latitude and longitude of the locality.)

 

• New declination/latitude options include graphic declination and latitude strips in page designs; new Longitude Equivalent Declination charts (a Charles Jayne-inspired technique that converts the longitudes of every chart point to the longitude that the Sun would be in if it were at that declination); and (also as recommended by Charles Jayne) directions (as well as transits and progressions) in declination or latitude both in the dynamic hitlists and directed charts.

 

• New direction options. Besides offering solar arc and other directions not just in the usual longitude but also in declination or latitude, the dynamic hitlists now include Van Dam primary directions (in addition to the existing mundane primaries). Also, both the hitlists and the directed charts now include solar arc and other directions in whole, half, double or reverse arcs.

 

• Improved Animated Chart has a fully functioning dial pointer. Also, it now lets you view pop-up interpretations, export calculated charts, and jump instantly to the regular chart screen.

 

• Improved graphic ephemerides now have handy Forward and Back buttons that let you scroll through time as far as you wish without exiting from the graph screen. Also, you can now see a readout of the precise degree, date and time represented by the cursor’s position on the graph. And, just as you can do in the hitlists, you can now have graphic ephemerides showing half, double or reverse arc directions, and directed (as well as transiting and progressed) declinations. You can create graphic ephemerides in any modulus you wish, and if you want to insert the graph into a word processing or other document, you can right-click to send it to the clipboard or save it as a file.

 

• New progressed interpretations by Stephanie Johnson have been added to the existing natal, transiting and synastry interpretations. By clicking on an item on the screen, you can instantly see its meaning. You can also view and print interpretation reports for a whole hitlist or chart.

 

• 1,000 Extra Asteroids. In addition to the 7 asteroids routinely included in all Solar Fire options, Solar Fire 6 now offers calculations for 1,000 extra asteroids from 5401 BC to 5399AD. These are from the state-of-the art Swiss Ephemeris, and estimated accuracy is to a few minutes of arc in 3000 BC. Besides bodies in the asteroid belt, these extra points include a dozen Centaur-class asteroids and the newly discovered Sedna and Quaoar. You can select any of these bodies to appear in extra-points wheel rings and tables for any chart. You can also include them in dynamic hitlists, time maps, graphic ephemerides and table-style ephemerides.

 

• New chart-file format enables you to attach an unlimited list of life events to any natal chart. It’s possible to use older Solar Fire charts -- and now even Nova-style charts -- directly in Solar Fire 6 without having to convert or import these charts. However, if you do want to attach life events, it’s very easy to convert charts to Solar Fire 6 format. For extra safety, Solar Fire 6 automatically places a backup copy of your old charts in an OldCharts folder.

 

• New precessed and converse transit charts (as well as progressed and directed) can now not only be calculated, but also saved to your files.

 

• New user-defined point order enables Solar Fire to list chart points in whatever order you prefer. Now you can begin every point list on the screen and in printouts with either the Sun or the Moon (or the Ascendant or any other point you wish).

 

• New “More” and “Apply” buttons let you input data for as many natal or subsidiary charts as you wish without exiting from the calculation window. A great time and keystroke saver!

 

• Easier than Ever to Upgrade. Solar Fire 6 can bring over not just your charts, but also your customized settings, from your previous version of Solar Fire.
 

 

SOLAR FIRE version 6 contains something for everyone!

For Advanced Astrologers and Professionals: A complete array of high-precision astrological calculations and an exceptional degree of user-customization. It's so easy to adapt Solar Fire to your unique astrological style!

For Novices: Learn astrology with Solar Fire'sinnovative point-and-click chart interpretations. Solar Fire is easy to use and won't confuse you since its more advanced features are kept conveniently in the background. But, when you're ready, it's easy to explore new techniques. As you grow in your astrological knowledge, you'll have all the necessary tools at your fingertips!
 

SOLAR FIRE version 6 covers many schools, styles and areas of study!
 

Predictive astrologers will delight in Solar Fire's predictive features including a full range of progressed, directed and return charts and dynamic listings as well as a linear time map, graphic ephemeris and transit text reports. It's easy to make sense of mountains of timed hits, thanks to Solar Fire's great sorting capabilities. Besides sorting timed hits in the usual chronological order, you can sort with the slowest-moving transits first. Or group natal points to see how each is affected by transits during the period. Or put exact and leaving hits up front with the entering hit to see the whole course of each transit as it starts. Or sort transits, progressions, directions, ingresses, stations and eclipses into separate sections. Dynamic lists have the same advanced options (tertiaries, minors, quotidians, Bija correction, etc.) as individual charts, and there's a full selection of return charts, including precession-corrected and converse. And, you can even merge dynamic reports together, allowing you to see various types of progressions on a single report or even dynamic listings for two different individuals in one report!

Relationship counselors will be fascinated by what the multi-person composite charts and 4-chart dials reveal about groups. You also get synastry text reports (New in version 5), synastry aspect grids, positions from two charts sorted together in various types of lists, combined charts of two to 15 people, Davison relationship charts and coalescent charts.
 

Classical astrologers will enjoy working with Solar Fire's almutens, NEW term directions, NEW traditional square charts, NEW Arabic lunar mansions, NEW profections, planetary hour and day, NEW chart hylegs, Alcabitius Houses, planetary sect, firdaria and primary directions, user-editable Arabic parts, and the unique ability to score dignities and calculate single or compound almutens. The unique Arabic Parts Editor lets you add any A+B-C factors with accompanying keywords. Factors can be planets, house cusps, rulers, dispositors, other Parts, the prenatal lunation or any specified degree in the zodiac. Likewise, the Fixed Star Editor lets you add traditional star meanings to those already in the program.

Students of astronomical cycles will like the ingress, lunar-phase, rise/set, and return charts. Returns can be for any planet or asteroid, or to any specified point in the zodiac, and you can do a whole string of returns automatically from one input. You can also find ingresses and eclipses in the dynamic search option, and can create custom ephemeris pages for any period in history.

Esoteric astrologers can work with esoteric and hierarchical rulerships, ray interpretations, esoteric planets and points including Vulcan, 45 asteroids and access to potentially hundreds more. They can also work with18 kinds of prenatal charts, including Bailey- and Jayne-type charts for conception and quickening.

Vedic astrologers can choose from North Indian or South Indian square charts and work with dasas, bhuktis, nakshatras, 20 types of divisional or harmonic charts, Hindu Bhava Houses, Fagan Allen and Lahiri Zodiacs and 13 more ayanamsas. Plus, as an added convenience, you can instantly toggle between the sidereal and tropical versions of a chart.
 

Heliocentric, western sidereal, and draconic astrologers can use these options in virtually any chart, and can display charts in the different frameworks on the same multi-wheel.

Cosmobiologists and Uranians can do midpoint sorts, lists and trees in any modulus, and can include the Aries Point along with Uranian planets in their lists. They can also view midpoints on a movable dial, in the graphic ephemeris and on dynamic hit lists. Cosmobiologists will delight in the Ebertin-style medical degree interpretations. Uranians are able to adapt the Arabic Parts Editor to do Uranian A+B-C pictures.

Locational astrologers will delight in the world mapping features, relocated, Johndro and Geodetic charts, eclipse paths, and local space charts.

Writers and editors can easily send both graphics and text to word processing and DTP programs. Wheels and aspectarians come out beautifully sharp as Windows Metafiles, and keep their clarity at any size. Listings and interpretations come out as text, which you can edit and format just like any other text. Send some or all of the natal, transit or synastry interpretations to a word processor and create your own text database.

With SOLAR FIRE 6 you can create charts galore using state of the art planetary calculations!

Chart types:

• Natal
• Progressed: by secondary, tertiary, true tertiary, minor or user rate; MC progressed by solar arc in longitude or right ascension, Naibod arc in longitude or right ascension, or Q2 ("daily houses") rate; progressed day type may be standard or Bija.
• Directed: by solar, Ascendant, Vertex or user-defined arc.
• Return: solar, lunar, planet and asteroid returns (full, demi, etc.), progressed solar return, Wynn-Key return.
• Relationship: composite (of up to 15 charts, with midpoint or Ascendant-derived houses); Davison relationship charts (time/space midpoint); coalescent charts. Prenatal: 18 types, including conception and quickening.
• Harmonic: Antiscion and contra-antiscion. Harmonic charts now use equal house system. Arc Transform.
• Rising and setting: using visual or true altitude.
• Lunar phase: transiting, progressed and lunar phase return.
• Locality: Relocated, Johndro in R.A. or longitude, geodetic in R.A. or longitude, user-defined locality charts in R.A. or longitude. Astro-clock. Local space charts. Precession-corrected and converse options.

Wheels and aspectarians:

• Wheels: single, dual, bi-, tri- and quadri- wheels and dials with movable pointer. Proportional or equal-sized houses; aspect lines optional. Extra ring point wheel allows you to add any micture of midpoints, stars, asteroids, hypothetical planets, Arabic parts, user-defined degrees, prenatal lunar phases and prenatal eclipses to a chart wheel. European-style bi-wheel showing the house cusps of each chart for comparison purposes. Wheel designer allows you to change colors and style of wheel to suit your taste!
• Aspectarians: natal and synastry aspect grids with orb and whether applying or separating; natal grid has parallels and contraparallels.

User-Editable Page Layouts: In addition to designing the chart wheels, users can design whole page layouts, dragging and resizing wheels and all sorts of tables on the same page. A single page design can be adapted specially to fit on the screen, on various paper sizes and orientations (tall or wide), and can be exported as graphic images or emailed. To make selecting from all the vast page possibilities easier, there's a user-adjustable directory tree and a way to preview pages as you select them. Page Designer objects include the following:

• Captions: Chart details (plain, boxed, brief), chart title, chart name, chart placement, chart comments, compliments, user-caption line, page description, page file name, program, version, date/time stamp, copyright.
• Chart Wheels: Uni-, bi-, tri-, quadri- or multi-wheels. Any supplied or user-designed wheel style can be incorporated onto a page.
• Grids: Full, synastry, half.
• Flexible Points Lists (can contain any or all of the following in any order): Glyph, abbreviation, full name, longitude, latitude, right ascension, declination, azimuth, altitude, travel, sign, house, house rulership, dispositor, dispositor's house, any modulus of longitude, N. Node, S. Node, N. Node, travel, S. Node travel, antiscia, contra-antiscia, Gauquelin sector (36) Gauquelin Plus Zone, aspect orb ratio, rise, set, culminate and anticulminate times.
• Signs and Houses: Sign names, house cusps, house almutens.
• Aspects: nearest, nearest synastry, flexible, flexible synastry, moon aspects, fixed star aspects, asteroid aspects, arabic parts aspects, nearest lunar phases.
• Dignities & Ancient: Planetary sects, essential dignities, dignity/almuten scores, planetary hour/day, mutual receptions, horary considerations, 2 types of firdars, chart points in Arabic lunar mansions, hyleg, detailed Arabic parts, Directions (Egyptian terms), planetary hours with 36-year cycles, and detailed fixed stars with longitude, latitude, right ascension, declination, azimuth, altitude, and rise, set, culminate and anticulminate times.
• Balances: Quadrants, elements, modes, rays.
• Graphical: User-supplied graphic (WMF or BMP), elements graph, modes graph, rays graph, modulus sort strip, midpoint trees.

Tables and lists:

• Chart analysis: longitudes, latitudes, declinations, right ascensions, daily travel, lunar angle and phase, and an element/mode tally that you can change.
• Rulerships: ruler, detriment, exaltation and fall; mutual receptions, accidental dignities, final dispositor; chart points in signs and houses, with house ruled, the dispositor, and dispositor's house.
• Aspect list: lists aspects and orbs used, then gives complete aspectarian in list form in planetary order; gives synastry aspects when two charts are selected.
• Sorted aspects: lists aspects in order of increasing orb and shows whether applying or separating.
• Aspect analysis: aspect patterns (stelliums, unaspected planets, t-squares, yods, etc.), aspect distribution grid, aspect frequency analysis.
• Chart point sort: in any modulus.
• Midpoint listing: in planetary order, and then in any modulus.
• Midpoint trees: shows each point in chart, with midpoints in aspect to that point arranged as a tree diagram with a notation of the orb and whether the midpoint is direct or indirect.
• Midpoint axes: information same as for midpoint trees, but written out.
• Munkasey Midpoint Weighing Analysis
• Horary: planetary day and hour, almutens of houses, table of complete dignities with point count per planet.
• Sensitive points: lists all zodiacal positions that make aspects to points in a chart.
• Midpoint modal sort: planets and midpoints sorted into cardinal, fixed and mutable modes; includes direct and indirect positions.
• Arabic parts: lists zodiacal positions and aspects to points in a chart. You can add or redefine Arabic parts.
• Star aspects: fixed-star longitudes, aspects to natal points, and keywords.
• Star parans: fixed stars that transit the horizon or meridian at same time as natal points, with keywords for stars.
• Planetary nodes: longitudes of planetary nodes, with aspects to chart points.
• Asteroids: (includes aspects to chart points, long., travel, latitude, R.A., declination): Aesculapia, Amor, Apollo, Arachne, Astraea, Atlantis, Bacchus, Ceres, Chiron, Circe, Cupido, Demeter, Diana, Eros, Eurydike, Hebe, Hera, Hidalgo, Hopi, Hygeia, Icarus, Isis, Juno, Kassandra, Lilith, Minerva, Nemesis, Niobe, Orpheus, Pallas, Panacea, Pandora, Persephone, Phaethon, Proserpina, Psyche, Sappho, Sisyphus, Siva, Siwa, Terpsichore, Tisiphone, Toro, Urania, Vesta.
• Other bodies (includes aspects to chart points, long., travel, latitude, R.A., declination): Dark Moon (Waltemath), Sigma, Pan, Isis, Morya, Hermes, Osiris, Midas, Lion, Ceres (JPL Elms), Pallas (JPL Elms), user-defined bodies.
• Difference Listing: the arc opening between any two planets or points in planetary order, and sorted by angle in any modulus.
• Extra Ring Points: includes aspects to chart points, long., travle, latitude, R.A., declination.

Dynamic forecast lists:
You can mix:

• Transits: to natal, transiting, progressed and directed positions; windows give transit interpretation and recent instances of same aspect. Also available are transits to user-defined extra point sets which can include midpoints, fixed stars and arabic parts as well as transits and progressions from midpoints.
• Progressions: secondary, tertiary, true tertiary, minor or user-defined, to natal and progressed positions, with MC advanced by several methods.
• Arc directions: solar, ascendant, vertical, user-defined, primary, to natal.
• Ingresses: house and sign.
• Parallels: of declination or latitude.
• Stations and Eclipses
• Entering and leaving orb hits. You can choose period covered, points and aspects included, orbs, natal vs. relocated, precessed and converse options, and exact times as well as dates of events. You can view the lists in graphic form as Time Maps, and can also see a complete chart for any event time on the list. Lists can be sorted by date of each event, by date of entering orb, in planetary order by static or moving point, by the speed of the moving point (so the slow movers come first), by the type of event (all transits together, all progressions together, etc.), or by the type of aspect (all conjunctions together, all trines together, etc.). You can also create a graphic ephemeris of transits, progressions or directions with user-defined points, timespan and modulus.

Other Dynamic Features:

• Chart Animation: Step your charts through time with ease. Fix your base chart, select your surrounding charts and away you go. You can select natal, transit, progressed, solar arc, directed and annual profection charts. You can even step through a page of your topic! Watch the aspects, dignities, stars, arabic, parts, rays, transits, progressions, directions, modulus and more change before your eyes. All at a click of a button.
   
• Graphic ephemeris: Elegant, visual time graphs making the most of the Windows environment. At a click of a button your transits and progressions appear as a graphic time map. Both you and your clients will love the colourful simplicity.
• Eclipse Search: Search for lunar and solar eclipses from 2000BC to 3000AD Match them to your natal chart. Search for Saros series. This unique tool gives you the flexibility to explore the wonderful world of eclipses.

Zodiacs: Tropical, any sidereal, precession-corrected, draconic.

Coordinates: Geo and heliocentric. Helio charts can appear next to geo charts in bi- or double wheels, synastry grids, and dual-chart listings. Declinations and latitudes appear in basic chart details listing and can be included in dynamic listings; declination aspects appear in aspect grid.

House systems: Placidus, Koch, Campanus, Meridian, Morinus, Porphyry, Regiomontanus, Topocentric, Whole Signs, Hindu Bhava, Alcabitius, and equal from any point including 0° Aries, 0° of Sun sign, Part of Fortune, equal with Ascendant in center of 1 and equal with MC on the 10th. Houses can be calculated for geographic or geocentric latitude.

Points included: Sun through Pluto; Moon (regular or parallax); mean or true lunar North and South Nodes; Chiron, Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Vesta, Hygeia and Astraea; Vulcan (by D. Baker or L.H. Weston calculations); Black Moon Lilith (mean position); 8 "Uranian" planets; Asc, MC, East Point, Vertex, Part of Fortune.

Extra Ring Points included: points, midpoints, fixed positions, fixed stars, arabic parts, asteroids, extra bodies, prior lunar phase, prior eclipses, planetary nodes.

Calculation span: Asteroids AD 1800-2050; other points unlimited.

Aspects: Includes 26 aspect types, each with its own glyph. User-defined aspects with user selected characters as the glyph. For each, you can select a color, line-style, the applying and separating orb, moieties, unidirectional orbs, orbs by planet ratios (to apply different orbs for each planet and aspect combination), aspects by sign, and 3-D aspects (previously applied as a general option across all aspect sets. You can have different orbs for the luminaries vs. other points, and different orbs for natal, transiting and progressed use. You can include points in the chart without including aspects to them. All reports now show whether aspects in declinations (as well as longitude) are applying or separating.

Desktop publishing: You can export wheel and page designs to the clipboard as bitmaps or Windows Metafiles, or to a file as Windows Metafiles. You can also export lists as Windows Metafiles; in DTP and word-processing programs you can edit these as text. Natal and transit interpretations can also be exported as ASCII text, which you can edit and print in a word processor.

Chart Import/Export: Imports charts from JigSaw, Blue*Star, QuickCharts, Kepler and any program that can output *.NOV chart files, including Nova, Chartwheels and CCRS Horoscope Program. Exports charts to any program that can read *.NOV files.

Other Conveniences:

• Astro-Mapping: View planet lines on astro-maps, eclipse paths and local space charts.
• Interpretations: Interpretations for natal, transits and synastry. Easy interpretation editing with no need to use compiler.
• Astrological Clock: Watch the planets move in real-time. Window-sizable for easy access while working in other programs.
• Chart Files: Multi-criteria chart search. Printable chart comments. Printable listings of charts in file.
• Calculation Enhancements: Batch calculations of subsidiary charts that allow multiple selections. Enhanced rectify assist.
• Task Automation: Record frequently-used tasks and play them back on other charts.

New in SF5:
 

• 32-bit programming means SF takes full advantage of the advanced features of Win95 and up, including faster operation and long file names.
   
• New Internet support. Automatically download the latest updates of Solar Fire 5 from the Web! Send chart-wheel, page and other graphic images by email as JPG attachments, or automatically send any quantity of of birth data, chart positions, as text. No other astrological program makes it so easy.
• New state-of-the-art accuracy. Planet positions are derived from the Jet Propulsion Lab equations and agree closely with best astronomical sources over more than 10,000 years.
   
• Newly Powerful Ephemeris Generator: With Solar Fire 4 you could create customized ephemeris pages for regular and Uranian planets, plus Vulcan, Chiron, Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Vesta, Hygeia, Astraea and the Mean or True Node. Solar Fire 5 is even more powerful. With it, you can also do custom ephemerides for the Ascendant, MC, East Point, Part of Fortune (great for gambling), fixed stars, extra asteroids (45 are supplied with the program, and you can plug in any others from the Pottenger or Swiss asteroid programs), and other extra points such as the Jayne hypothetical planets. Get longitudes, latitudes, right ascension, declination, daily motion, day of week, sidereal time. Use tropical or sidereal zodiacs, geo or helio coordinates, for any timespan and interval. The tables can be precise to either the minute or second of arc, and expressed in either decimal degrees or degree-minute-second format. Besides printing out customized ephemeris pages, you can dump the decimal-degrees ephemerides to an ASCII file for use in spreadsheets and word-processing documents.
   
• Fabulous new eclipse options. In-depth study of eclipses has never been easier! With Solar Fire 5's one-of-a-kind 5,000-Year Eclipse Database you can search for solar and lunar eclipses for any date range between 2000 BC and AD 3000. Search by eclipse type, Saros number, degree, or aspect to a chart--and just double-click to calculate the chart of any eclipse in the list. Now you can study eclipse cycles in depth, and can instantly see how any eclipse affects any chart! Plus, chart pages can now include tables of prenatal or postnatal eclipses and lunar phases. You can also generate a series of charts for the lunar-phase families.
   
• Free astro mapping: Built into Solar Fire 5 are instant astrolocality and local space maps for any chart you select. Plus eclipse-path maps for mundane work!
   
• Time-saving Task Automation. Record a whole sequence of operations for one chart then replay them for other charts from then on! You can now reduce some really complex operations to a couple of clicks. Use this feature to progress composite charts, display a triwheel with different sets of planets in each wheel (for example, all natal, transiting outers, and progressed inners), merge dynamic hitlists and do just about anything else that your ingenuity suggests!
   
• Animated charts! Not just a handy updating chart wheel for the present moment! You can also run any chart wheel forward or back in time, as fast or as slow as you want. You can even run a quadriwheel, and watch transits, progressions and solar arc directions update around a natal chart!
   
• New synastry interpretations. Now there are built-in synastry interpretations, as well as natal and transiting interps. Pop up individual interps instantly on the screen--or view and print the whole report in your word processor. It's easy to change or add to individual reports and also rewrite the text database itself, selecting many different kinds of chart tallies and factors to write about. Solar Fire's on-screen point-and-click interpretations are useful memory-joggers and are an easy and enjoyable way to learn basic astrology. While not suitable for batch processing and commercial applications, Solar Fire's printed reports of up to 25 pages are great for personal use and for for giving to clients to promote your services or to serve as a reminder of your consultation.
   
• Full ASCII Data Export. Now you can export birth data, or positions of planets, house cusps, midpoints, stars, asteroids, Arabic parts, ephemeris positions, etc. to word-processing files, spreadsheets and other astrology programs. You can include longitude, latitude, right ascension, declination, azimuth, altitude, travel, retrogrades, etc. for any chart or group of charts, and can export all this to the clipboard or a file.
   
• Store your chart files anywhere. On any drive, in any folder—even share your chart files on a network!
   
• The fullest support for asteroids anywhere. Besides the Big Four and Chiron, besides the included 40-odd extra asteroids--you can now plug in any number of additional asteroids from both the Pottenger Asteroid Ephemeris and the Swiss Asteroid Ephemeris. Not only do you get these extra asteroid positions, aspects, etc. in table form, you can now add them to the chart wheels along with other extra points! And put them in dynamic hitlists and both graphic and conventional ephemerides.
   
• New wheel possibilities. Now you can add any mixture of midpoints, stars, asteroids, hypothetical planets, Arabic parts, user-defined degrees, prenatal lunar phases and prenatal eclipses to a chart wheel. Pick your own symbols and abbreviations for these points, and on the same page add tables showing the meaning of the symbols, aspects that these points make, etc. You can also put two sets of house cusps around a single chart for comparison purposes, or show each chart in a biwheel with its own house cusps, European-style. Or put a tropical and a sidereal zodiac ring around the same chart. A new Chart Superimposition feature lets you line up the same point in two charts and even recalculate the zodiac of one of the charts so that the two points have the same zodiacal position.
   
• More tables and other objects to add to your pages. New page objects include chart comments, chart points in Arabic lunar mansions, nearest lunar phases, nearest eclipses, hyleg, detailed Arabic parts, Directions (Egyptian terms), planetary hours with 36-year cycles, and detailed fixed stars with longitude, latitude, right ascension, declination, azimuth, altitude, and rise, set, culminate and anticulminate times. To make selecting from all the vast page possibilities easier, there's now a user-adjustable directory tree and a way to preview pages as you select them.
   
• Improved subsidiary charts. Do the same types of subsidiary charts—progressed, return, harmonic, etc.--for a whole group of natal charts at once. And you can now save subsidiary charts for future reference.
   
• Pick your favorite Pluto, Uranus and Capricorn glyphs. There are now three easily selectable Pluto glyphs, and two glyphs each for Uranus and Capricorn.
   
• Instantly relocate the chart wheel. Not only can you rectify the time of a chart, you can now watch how the houses change as you change the longitude and latitude. All this is in addition to the various locality options in the regular menus and the Maps feature.
   
• Better Hitlists. Include hits from midpoints, transiting angles (Asc, MC, East Point, Vertex), lunar nodes, regular and extra asteroids, stars, and hypothetical planets (Uranian, Jayne, Vulcan, Transpluto, and more)! Include hits to all of the above, plus house cusps, Arabic parts, and any fixed points you specify. Besides the usual kinds of progressions and directions (several varieties of secondary, tertiary, minor, solar and other arc, and primary) Solar Fire 5 has annual profections, a simple but effective medieval technique that advances all planets by one sign per year.
   
• More Traditional Western options. Solar Fire 4 made great strides into traditional horary and other early techniques, with dignity tables defined by a powerful dignity/almuten editor which you could adjust for all sorts of variations, tables of planetary hours, almutens and hylegs, mutual receptions, planetary sect, firdaria (Schoener and nodal variation types), horary considerations, lunar and fixed-star aspects, and Arabic Parts defined by a powerful Arabic Parts editor that allowed you to create Parts from planets, house cusps, and even other Parts. It also featured primary directions (Ptolemy degree-for-a-year, Naibod, and natal solar rates), the day/night Part of Fortune, and moiety-style and sign-to-sign aspect options.
  Solar Fire 5 adds two types of early Western square chart forms, a new table of planetary positions in the Arabic lunar mansions, planetary hour tables with added 36-year and 1-year planetary cycles, and almuten calculations that can take minimum honors into account. There are also now three methods of hyleg calculations: Ptolemy's, Omar's and Bonatti's. For traditional forecasting, in addition to firdaria there is a table of directions by term, and the progressed chart, animated chart and dynamic hitlist sections now include annual profections.
   
• More Cosmobiology and Uranian. Solar Fire 4 had midpoint axes, sorts and trees, and dials with any choice of points and a moving pointer that shows aspects and midpoint trees as you turn it. To this, Solar Fire 5 adds Munkasey Midpoint Weighting Analysis, and a very useful Difference Listing that sorts the arcs between each point in the chart in ascending order. This is an elegant and simple way to discern all the four-point planetary pictures in the chart. Plus, dynamic hitlists and both graphic and conventional ephemerides can now include aspects or positions of the moving midpoints.
   
• More Vedic. Solar Fire 4 had the leading Vedic zodiacs, appropriate house systems like Hindu Bhava, and Vedic-style unidirectional and sign-to-sign aspects. Solar Fire 5 adds dasa/bhukti tables and square chart forms in both North and South Indian styles. Perfect to start you out in Vedic astrology without having to buy an additional Vedic program.
   
• More everything. Open Nova-style chart files as well as earlier versions of Solar Fire chart files without having to convert the charts. Save progressed, return, combined, harmonic and other subsidiary charts. Enter comments and client notes in the original data input window as well as the chart file window, and print them out if you like on the chart wheel pages. Old Style/New Style dates; 2-digit year entry for any timespan you specify. Rodden source ratings for birth data. New tables of rising, setting, culmination and anticulmination times for any body (including fixed stars) enable you to study parans and know when during any 24-hour period that body will be angular. The perfect complement to astrolocality maps and Kinetic Mundascope graphs, these tables give you the exact times of day when a planet will be angular at any given locality. Planetary distance values in tables. Charts for Lunar Phase Families as in Dietrech Pessin's book Lunar Shadows. Huber-style chart forms, and much,much more.
   
• Solar Fire Leads in: Design-it-yourself wheels and pages, unlimited Asteroid selection, fixed stars, traditional, horary, esoteric and prenatal astrology. Plus, no other astrological calculation program gives you so much control over wheel and page design, types of aspects, dignities, Arabic parts, fixed stars and other extra points.

 

System Requirements: IBM-compatible PC with a Pentium or higher processor or Mac running Virtual PC; 64Mbytes of RAM; CD-ROM drive, SVGA 800x600 or higher resolution modes with High Color; hard disk drive with at least 75Mb of free disk space; Windows 98, NT4, 2000 or XP. Solar Fire 4 is recommended for those who cannot meet these hardware requirements.