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People often call up and ask, "Which ephemeris should
I get?" Here is our brief guide to the advantages of each of the ephemerides available.
(If you are still wondering how to make the most of your ephemeris, see the Info Special - IEPHX - for instructions about how to read an
ephemeris.) The American Ephemeris
for the 21st Century 2000-2050 has the advantage of having an entire 51 years in one
volume. Done for midnight or noon, they are relatively light weight and compact -
considering they are over 300 pages each! They are also the most cost effective as you get
a lower cost-per-year ratio than any other ephemeris.
If you erect charts "by hand," most people find the
math easier with the midnight volume (working from a 0-hour reference point). If you look up transits often in your ephemeris, some
Americans prefer the noon edition because they do not have to "change days" when
approximating planetary positions. (Positions in the ephemeris are given in terms of
Greenwich, England or Universal Time - the 0-hour time zone. Eastern time is 5 hours
earlier - if no daylight is involved. Pacific time is 8 hours earlier - or seven hours
earlier when daylight savings time is in effect. With a noon ephemeris, you know that the
planetary positions you see did take place earlier that same day in America. With a
midnight ephemeris, the planetary positions actually occurred the day before in America.) In either case, you must do a little math to get exact
figures. Thus, if the Moon makes its last aspect on March 26, 1998 - a conjunction to
Jupiter - at 11:02 Universal Time, it would be 6:02 am in New York and 3:02 am in Los
Angeles. Both 21st century ephemerides include daily positions
for the Sun, Moon, True Node, and planets plus planetary ingress (day and time), dates and
times for the last aspect of the Moon as well as its ingress into the next sign [the
difference between these two is the Moon's Void of Course period], Moon phases and
eclipses (by day, time, degree and minute in the zodiac), Chiron's position once a
month, the Mean Node of the Moon once a month, and dates and times for planets changing
direction (retrograde/direct) in longitude or moving from north or south declination to
the opposite. Major outer planet aspects are also listed when they form the exact aspect. People who wish to work with declinations (positions
north or south of the celestial equator) on a daily basis prefer the decade ephemeris. The decade volumes also include a
more extensive aspectarian.
Although most Western astrologers use the tropical
zodiac, Astro offers a sidereal ephemeris for those
dedicated to a sidereal zodiac. The positions are based on the Fagin-Firebrace
sidereal zodiac. Both sidereal ephemerides have extensive phenomena listings as well as
daily positions to save the hassle of having to calculate with a tropical ephemeris and
then make adjustments for the sidereal zodiac.
The heliocentric
ephemeris has proven exceedingly popular among financial astrologers. People working
with astrology and the Stock Market often use heliocentric as well as geocentric planetary
positions for their forecasts.
Some individuals appreciate the fine-tuning they can get
in their predictive efforts through working with the transiting midpoints as well as
transits from the planets. If you want to check out the positions of the transiting
midpoints without incredibly tedious calculations, just use Astro's American Midpoint Ephemeris.
Astro is well known for setting the standards of
accuracy in our field. Computer programmers check their astrological software against the
positions in our ephemerides because they know that Neil Michelsen valued pin-point
accuracy - and would fine-tune incredibly to get the best possible data. Rique Pottenger -
in true double-Virgo tradition - is carrying forward that dedication to utmost accuracy.
Whatever your ephemeris need is, Astro can provide it for you! |
