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do look good, and they are accompanied by lists of planetary placements, aspects, and chart patterns. (See Chapter 14 for more on that subject.) They are not, however, accompanied by interpretation. For that, you have to pay. One other caveat: this website requires a birth time. There is neither an “unknown” option nor a sunrise option. If you don’t know the time of your birth, I recommend that you create a noon chart by entering 12:00 p.m. as your time.

       Café Astrology (https://cafeastrology.com): “Where do I begin?” asks the home page. A line or two below you will see the words “How to obtain my natal chart.” Click on that, follow the instructions, and you will obtain an analysis of your chart. The chart itself does not appear until the end of the report. Keep scrolling past the multi-colored introductory tables, past the interpretative paragraphs, almost to the end. It’s a pretty chart, but you’ll have to look carefully for the house cusps, which are indicated with Roman numerals and delicate dashes. Cafe Astrology also offers dozens of articles, daily horoscopes, yearly overviews, all kinds of forecasts you can purchase, and a free yearly horoscope based on the day of your birth. Look for “If Today Is Your Birthday,” even if today is not your birthday. A few extra clicks will bring you where you want to go.

       Astrodienst (www.astro.com): And so we arrive at the oldest, most respected, and most professional astrological website. At Astrodienst, a Swiss site founded in 1980, you can do more than entertain yourself; you can educate yourself. But navigating this site can be a challenge. Here’s how to get your free natal chart:Go to “Free Horoscopes,” visible at the top of the home page on the left. Let the cursor hover over “Free Horoscopes.” A menu will appear. One of the items (on the right-hand side, as of this writing) is “Natal Chart/Ascendant.” Click on that.Now you’re on a page welcoming guest users and registered users. For the moment, count yourself a guest. Click on the words “click here to go to the data entry page.”On the data entry page, tick the box accepting their privacy policy. Then fill in your birth data and click “continue.” Your chart will magically appear. To print it out on a page of its own, sans ads, click on the small circle in the middle.

      Now you can go to town. You might browse through the section called “Free Horoscopes.” Want a report on Love, Flirtation, and Sex, as reflected in your chart? A Psychological Portrait? A Yearly Horoscope Analysis? A Color Oracle? (Fun, though what this has to do with astrology, I do not know.) For a full report, you’ll have to pay. Fortunately, the folks at Astrodienst are giving away free samples, and although those samples are abridged, they are perceptive and interesting. Also available are astrology lessons, a huge library of articles from multiple sources, daily and weekly forecasts, and an Astro-Databank of 56,611 public figures (and counting). The more you bop around this site, the more you’ll discover.

      

These are only a few of the websites that offer free natal charts. To assess some of the others, just Google “free birth chart” or “free natal chart” and shop around.

Investing in Software

      Nothing in the astrological world is more fun that being able to cast charts for anyone at a moment’s notice. Astrological software is endlessly diverting, but it isn’t cheap. If you decide it’s worth the investment, here are a few recommendations.

      Maximizing the Mac

To this day, despite the genius of the late Steve Jobs and the unstoppable expansion of Apple products into every coffee shop on the planet, Macintosh users — and we are legion — have remarkably limited choices for astrological software. Supposedly, by the time this book is published, that will have changed. May it be so. Meanwhile, I recommend these programs:

       TimePassages: Henry Seltzer, the founder of Astrograph Software, designed this software as a universal tool, usable with both Mac and Windows. In addition to calculating birth charts, transits, comparison charts, and more, it offers one irresistible feature, especially for novices. After you generate a chart, you can click on anything within it — a planet, a house cusp, an aspect line running between two planets, or a symbol on the aspect grid — and an interpretation will pop up. Not sure what it means to have Moon in the tenth house,? Or a Grand Trine, which he is also fortunate enough to have? One click generates a paragraph of explanation. For a free demo, go to https://www.astrograph.com.

       Io Programs: Time Cycles Research Programs offers this software for the professional, but you don’t need to be professional to use it. Io Edition, their core program, calculates charts; Io Interpreter provides analysis; Io Forecast, Io Solar Return, and Io Lunar Return peer into the future; Io Body and Soul offers a holistic astrological approach to health and wellness. And there are additional options. You can reach Time Cycles by e-mail at [email protected], or on the Web at www.timecycles.com.

       Solar Fire. This ambitious, top-of-the-line program has long been available for Windows only. By the time this book is published, I’m told, it will also be available for Macintosh computers. To find out what Solar Fire can do (short answer: it can do almost everything), read on.

      

If you decide to invest in astrological software but feel the need for counsel from a recognized expert, there’s only one way to go: Contact astrologer Hank Friedman, longtime software reviewer for Mountain Astrologer and other periodicals. The consultation is free, and he sells all the software at a discount. You can e-mail him at [email protected] or visit his website at https://www.soulhealing.com. There you will find information about software, links to free software demos, more than a hundred fifty free tutorials on western and Vedic astrology, and an impressive array of recipes involving chocolate.

      Playing with the PC

The software options for PC are too numerous to do justice to here. I asked Hank Friedman to make a few suggestions. His recommendations include the following:

       Solar Fire Gold. A huge range of capabilities makes Solar Fire the most popular program for professional astrologers. It supports virtually any kind of calculation imaginable, and its graphic design features are spectacular. You can customize everything. In addition to natal charts, transits, an astrological encyclopedia, and all the usual features, you can work with eclipse cycles, hypothetical planets (yes), geocentric or heliocentric charts, relocation charts, Vedic astrology, Medieval astrology, mundane astrology, financial astrology, esoteric astrology, midpoints, over a thousand asteroids and minor planets, and eighteen(!) varieties of prenatal chart.Using Solar Fire, you can cast a horoscope for anyone born from 5401 BCE to 5399 CE. That’s a lot of years and a lot of information. If you suspect that this is more than you could possibly want or digest — and, trust me, I’m only showing you a partial catalog — you could decide to consider Solar Fire aspirational and pass on it, at least for now. On the other hand, if that list, truncated though it is, excites your curiosity, go to Hank’s website at www.soulhealing.com asap, and read all about it.

       Janus 5. This versatile software is not as powerful as Solar Fire, but it costs less and still has more capability than most people will ever need. In addition to traditional natal astrology, transits, and so on, it offers Vedic astrology, electional astrology, horary astrology, relocation charts, and much, much more. Hank Friedman calls Janus 5 “a Swiss army knife of a program.” You can’t get more useful than that. For more information,

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