ZET - Astrology Software - Horoscope Readings

Horoscope Readings

The "Texts" button of the Toolbar is used to obtain a comprehensive 'reading' - an astrological interpretation - of a chart displayed in the Chart tableau. (Selective interpretations of planets, houses, aspects, etc are available interactively by right-clicking an individual glyph and selecting Interpretion or Description from the popup menu, subject to the availability of texts).

On clicking the "Texts" button, the following window is displayed:

Available readings

Click OK button to create the reading for the horoscope. After a brief pause the interpretation is displayed in a window for you to read, and for ZET Pro and Geo versions save to a file, or print.

The structure and format of the interpretation depends on the type of reading and settings you have selected. For example, if you select "In house order" then the natal horoscope reading consists of 12 sections based on the astrological houses of the chart, that is, areas of life. By default, each section by house covers in detail the following chart features:

- Sabian symbol of the house cusp's Zodiac degree,
- House Cusp in a Zodiac Sign,
- Sun + Ascendant (for the 1st house),
- And for each planet in a house:

> - Sabian symbol of the planet's Zodiac degree,
> - Planet in House,
> - Planet in Sign,
> - Planet in House and Sign,
> - Aspects of the planet (with planets and house cusps),
> - Conjunctions of the planet with stars,

- Ruler of House in Houses.

Users can specify the texts used for horoscope readings - see Library of Interpretation Texts below. Readings can also be created by planet rather than by house.

Format options

On the Texts menu you can select the following formats and related options:

- Plain text - the reading is created in a new window as plain text, -OR-
- Web document - the reading is created as a Web page and displayed in your default Web browser, with the additional option to...
- Include citations - if selected, references to the textual sources used are included in the reading,
- Include chart / Aspects Diagram - as a graphic,
- In house order -OR-
- In planet order,
- Name of Interpretation File, - to enable this option open General Settings and check Save Interpretations in ZET's Reports folder flag. If disabled, then all interpretations saves in ZET's Wrk folder with "Interp" name.

For Plain text readings, after the window of text has appeared, right-clicking in the window invokes a popup menu. Selecting "Font" opens a Font dialog allowing you to set a font of choice for the text.

Almanac

On selecting this menu item, a submenu with the following options is displayed:

- Totems of Year, Month, Day - for interpretation texts of Avesta astrologies based on the Solar Avesta calendar. If this item is disabled, it means necessary texts are absent.
- Day of the Moon - for interpretations of the Day of the Moon, as described in the book by P.Globa, About What the Moon is Silent.
- Planetary hours - select to display in a new window a table of the current planetary (magic) hours. See also the description of the Log of Sun Rises and Sets.

The Library of Interpretation Texts

Selecting the "Library" menu option displays the Library of Interpretation Texts window:

Let's use the following terms:

- Interpretation - an automatically generated document containing an astrological description of a horoscope. At creation the required citations are extracted from books available in the Library.
- Theme - a particular area of the horoscope focussed on in interpretation. Themes include planets in signs of the Zodiac, planets in houses, aspects of planets, etc.
- Book - a text containing a detailed description of a theme, marked-up according to certain rules. For example, a book having the theme "Aspects of planets" consists of sections describing all the combinations of planets and aspects between them. There can be several books on one theme, e.g. texts by different authors.
- Bookshelf - a set of books intended for producing a "reading". A Bookshelf is the collection of books used for a given interpretation, selected from all the books in the library. Different bookshelves could be used for a general individual horoscope, the horoscope of the child, synastry, etc.
- Library - the entire collection of Books stored in the [ZET]\LANGUAGE\English\Txt folder.

The ZET library of Interpretation Texts is a system which allows you to:

- select between variants of interpretation texts of a given type, and simultaneously use several texts of one type (i.e. Theme),
- create different configurations of interpretation texts (i.e. Bookshelves),
- examine and edit library texts (i.e. Books),
- facilitate the control of correct sectoring and mark-up of texts,
- and more.

Interpretation texts are stored on disk in the folder [ZET]\LANGUAGE\English\Txt. This folder is automatically scanned by ZET at start-up, and files are analysed to determine how they should be entered in the Library catalog. This makes it essential that interpretation text files are marked-up according to specific rules (detailed below) if they are to be recognized and handled correctly.

All files must commence with two required header lines. Below, for example, is the start of the file Engl. Planet_Aspects.txt:

    // AP Planet Aspects
    // Aspects of Natal Planets

    [02.000.03]
    You always can say just what you mean. Almost always right-on when it
    comes to questions of feelings, you take an active interest in psychology,
    different cultures, and history. You can find support from all sides when
    it comes to any sort of mental activity -- writing, speaking, and all
    forms of communication.

    [02.180.03]
    It may be hard to find support for your ideas, and arguments may arise
    with those who oppose or challenge your way of thinking. You could find
    yourself thinking and presenting ideas that are out of place or don't go
    along with the current mood. Since you don't always pay attention to your
    own moods and feelings, some of your ideas may not even feel right to you.
    You could say things that upset or challenge those around you. You may be
    great at argument.

    ...

    [02.120.10]
    You have natural psychological ability, in particular when working with
    the public. You can handle emotional and personal issues (vulnerable areas)
    where angels fear to tread. People sense this about you and trust you with
    sensitive matters, inner worries, and questions of personal identity.
    You have a real mission and a sense of purpose.

In the header the first two lines are obligatory. Notice that these lines begin with the two characters //. A code in the first line defines the type of text. The second line specified the citation. Other lines beginning with // are considered as textual annotations (comments).

The text category codes, their names, and their related sectoring codes are as follows (from the file [ZET]\LANGUAGE\English\LibrType.txt):

    PS Planet in Sign [P.S]
    PH Planet in House [P.H]
    PHS Planet in House and Sign [P.H.S]
    AP Aspects of Planet [P.A.P]
    SA Sun + Ascendant [S.S]
    SD Sun in Decades [S.D]
    HS House in Sign [C.S]
    RHH Rules of House in House [uHH.hHH]
    ST Fixed Stars [Star]
    DG Sabian Symbols
    TR Transit - Aspects to Natal Planet [P.A.P]
    TRH Transit via Natal House [P.H]
    SHH Solar House in Radix House [C.H]
    SPP Aspects of Solar Planet [P.A.P]
    SPH Planet in Solar House [P.H]
    LHH Lunar House in Radix House [C.H]
    LPPL Aspects of Lunar Planet [P.A.P]
    LPPR Aspects "Planet of Lunar - Planet of Radix" [P.A.P]
    LPH Lunar Planet in Lunar House [P.H]
    SNPH Synastry: Planet in House [P.H]
    SNPP Synstry: Aspects of Planet [P.A.P]
    MS Moon in Zodiak Sign [S]
    MD Days of Moon [DD]
    TY Totem of Year [YY]
    TM Totem of Month [MM]
    TD Totem of Day [DD]
    P Planet - overview [P]
    S Sign - overview [S]
    H House - overview [H]
    ALAN Planet as Anareta and Alcocoden
    MID Planet in Midpoint [P.P.P]
    DIR Equatorial Direction, Aspects of Planet [P.A.P]
    PRO Progression, Aspects of Planet [P.A.P]

ZET automatically maintains a catalog of the available interpretation texts. This catalog is written to the file LibrContent.txt in the ZET installation folder. The contents of the catalog file will normally vary for individual users, depending on what files are available in addition to those supplied with ZET.

Bookshelves

There are two Bookshelves of special significance: the current Bookshelf, which is selected for creating the comprehensive interpretation document, and the Operational bookshelf, which is used for producing the selective interpretation of individual objects in the chart (planets, aspects, etc.)

The Operational Bookshelf has the fixed name "Operational", and usually contains a much greater set of books than the current Bookshelf.

The Current Bookshelf can be selected from any of those available. By default it is the predefined Bookshelf named "Main". The Current Bookshelf becomes active on closing the Library window - its name is displayed in the "Library" item of the Texts menu.

A Bookshelf only includes those books which have been selected and which are displayed in black in the general list of books; names of omitted books are displayed in gray.

To include a book in a Bookshelf (or exclude it) double-click with the mouse on the name of a book, or use the "Book Title" menu option from the popup menu to toggle the selection.

Marking-up the Interpretation Text

If you are a professional astrologer, you can modify the texts to create your own interpretations, create different variants of the texts, and choose which to use for a particular computer-generated reading.

A text consists of a heading (see above), and a set of clauses which are automatically parsed by ZET in performing the interpretation, and selected for inclusion according to certain conditions.

Each clause consists of a sub-heading code, which embodies sectoring information distinguishable by ZET, and is followed directly by the text of the clause.

Consider the example shown above.

Here the code of the main heading AP signifies the text category 'Aspects of planets'. The required sectoring format for its text clauses is given as [P.A.P], where P is a planet code, and A is an aspect code or a numeric circle divisor (in degrees).

P

The code for a planet can be a numeric descriptor or a 2-letter identifier:

       1 SU Sun
       2 MO Moon
       3 ME Mercury
       4 VE Venus
       5 MA Mars
       6 JP Jupiter
       7 SA Saturn
       8 UR Uranus
       9 NE Neptune
      10 PL Pluto
      11 KN North Node
      12 SN South Node
      13 LI Black Moon (Lilith)
         CU Cupido
         HA Hades
         ZE Zeus
         KR Kronos
         AP Apollon
         AD Admetos
         VU Volcanus
         PO Poseidon
         AS Ascendant (in some texts are same as planets)
         MC Midhaven

The code for Parses can be a 3-letter identifier:

         FOR Pars Fortuna
         KRE Cross of Destiny
         ... Other codes of Parses

To use for interpretation a Pars should have assigned code, see Arabic Parts chapter.

The code for virtual planets (except Uranian, see above) can be a 3-letter identifier. How to assign this code, see Virtual Planets chapter.

The code for an asteroid can be an asteroids number followed by 'A' letter, e.g. 'A1' - Ceres, 'A2060' - Chiron. Also Chiron may coded with 'CHI' code.

A

Aspects are encoded either as a numeric descriptor, or a 3-letter identifier, or a number signifying the aspect's angular separation. If the latter option is used, the number must be composed of three digits - i.e. integer degrees. For example, an angular aspect of 22.5 degrees should be entered as 023, and an aspect of 11.25 degrees as 011. The following are the currently recognized descriptors, identifiers, and aspect angles:

       1 CNJ Conjunction      0
       2 SSX Semisextil      30
       3     Semiquintil     36
       4     Nonagon         40
       5 SSQ Semisquare      45
       6 SXT Sextil          60
       7     Quintil         72
       8 SQR Square          90
       9     Sesquiquintil  108
      10 TRI Trine          120
      11 SQQ Sesquiquadrate 135
      12     Biquintil      144
      13     Quincunx       150
      14 OPP Opposition     180
         P   Parallel
         P^  Contraparallel

S

Signs of the zodiac are encoded as a numeric descriptor, or 2-letter identifier, as follows:

       1 AR Aries
       2 TA Taurus
       3 GE Gemini
       4 CA Cancer
       5 LE Leo
       6 VI Virgo
       7 LI Libra
       8 SC Scorpio
       9 SA Sagittarius
      10 CP Capricorn
      11 AQ Aquarios
      12 PI Pisces

H

House numbers are referred to by their usual (arabic) number designators (1... 12).

C

House cusps are encoded by taking the standard house numbers and adding 100 to the values (i.e. yielding 101, 102... 112).

Stars, etc

To use stars in interpretation texts, the number of the star in ZET's Star Catalog should be included in the sectoring data. Codes beginning with M are treated as referring to a galaxy or nebula in ZET's catalog of Nebulae,Galaxies.