AstroApp Traditional Astrology Software

At Renaissance Astrology I am committed to practicing and teaching authentic traditional astrology, the astrology of Europe in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

One of the problems I've had for awhile is what chart drawing software to recommend for my students and other practitioners of traditional astrology. I have some fun, bonus software programs that I provide in my courses, but these just simplify some specialized functions like planetary hours or Mansions of the Moon. To be a real traditional astrologer you need full charts and some serious software to do it.

Personally I've been using Solar Fire. This is a Windows based program and doesn't run on native Mac OS. It's the older style where you buy the program, download it and it runs on your computer. I've designed several traditional pages for Solar Fire, so I automatically get on one page all the information I need. If you have Solar Fire you can order these Traditional Astrology Solar Fire pages from me but they don't work without Solar Fire. Solar Fire with my traditional pages certainly works very well, but the downside is that Solar Fire is expensive, about $350. This is more than cost of many of my courses and I just felt uncomfortable suggesting that students go out and spend all this money on it.

Now there is a very reasonably priced alternative, AstroApp traditional basic edition

AstroApp worked very closely with me to create this edition especially for traditional astrologers and in particular for my students. However, I don't have any financial interest in AstroApp and I'm not getting paid to promote it, except for getting my own access to the program. It is just $38.97 a year and is cloud based so it works on all platforms. It includes everything you need for traditional horary, natal and electional astrology charts, including essential dignities, separating and applying aspects, planetary hours, Mansions of the Moon, square traditional charts and more! It automatically does fixed star elections and has a great on screen feature where you can adjust the date and time to instantly look at many different electional charts. There's nothing on the market that is so reasonably priced and yet set up specifically for traditional astrology.

Of course it is not perfect, and you do need to work with it to get the settings right and figure out how to use it but the positives far outweigh the negatives. I'm really happy that I finally have a reasonably priced, yet fully operable traditional chart drawing software that I can highly recommend to all my students and to practitioners of traditional astrology. I've already started doing AstroApp traditional astrology instruction videos on Youtube AstroApp Sun on Ascendant
AstroApp Fixed Star Elections
and I thinking about doing AstroApp screen shots and examples in my courses as I do course upgrades.

Get AstroApp traditional basic edition!

Christopher Warnock
Renaissance Astrology
Courses
Readings
Talismans

Astrological Talisman Weather for December 11 & 12, 2017 & NEW! Mobile Responsive Talisman Pages

Astrological Talisman Weather for December 11 & 12, 2017

Note that this only looks at basic essential & accidental dignity! Other factors may come into play. Saturn dignified by face (marginal for talisman except face talisman) Jupiter dignified by term (ok for talisman) Mars in detriment dignified by term (avoid for talisman) Sun dignified by triplicity by day (good for talisman) Venus peregrine combust (avoid for talisman) Mercury in detriment retrograde (avoid for talisman) Moon dignified by face (avoid except for face & Mansion talisman)

Moon in the 1st Face of Libra, "The 1st face is of the Moon and is a face of justice, right and truth, of succoring the weak against the strong and the wicked and of the helping the poor and miserable." Definitely one of my favorite Mansions! I've spent a good deal of my life trying to speak up for those who can't speak for themselves. Dark and light eternally cycle, the powerful seem to be unstoppable and then boom! Then power reasserts itself.

Also wanted to mention that I am starting the process of converting key pages on my website to be mobile responsive. I've started with talisman pages, here are the first ones:
Great Wealth Talisman
Fountain of Wealth Talisman
16th Mansion Talisman
Algol Talisman
Regulus Talisman
Moon Crab Talisman
Moon Table Talisman

It's been very interesting learning Bootstrap and new coding skills, plus thinking in terms of mobile as well as desktop/laptop design! I think that the new pages do a nice job of maintaining some of the design elements while being mobile accessible. What was cool about this was earlier in the year I reached out through this Facebook page and my discussion group and got all sorts of assistance and suggestions. Thanks everyone! Hope you like the new pages!

Christopher Warnock
Renaissance Astrology
Courses
Readings
Talismans

Venus +5 and -5!

Very interesting placement of Venus in Scorpio currently. She is in detriment (-5), but is the day triplicity ruler of water signs (+3) and is dignified by term (+2).

This is an excellent example of why we don't want to fall into the trap of turning everything into a number and just adding and subtracting numbers. Venus' essential dignity score is 0 but her current state cannot simply be equated to being peregrine.

Of course this raises the issue of what peregrine means. There is certainly significant support in traditional sources for saying that peregrine is as bad an affliction as being in detriment. Lilly gives peregrine -5 just like being in detriment. Christian Astrology, page 115. I don't follow this based on logic and experience. First being in detriment or fall are when planets are in signs opposite to the sign they rule or are exalted in, these are signs that are quite contrary to them. I don't see why the Sun in Taurus, for example, should be considered to be so terribly afflicted. The other problem is that traditional astrology attempts to accurately map reality. We have a very nice graduation of essential dignities from +1 (face) all the way to +5 (sign), but only -4 (fall) and -5(detriment) Having peregrine at 0, which makes sense because the planet has no dignity or debility, fulfills a very important role, the very frequent situation of having no strength, but not being afflicted either. Finally my experience in judging over 4,000 horaries for clients is treating peregrine = 0 gives accurate results. YMMD!

So back to Venus +5 and -5 simultaneously. I'd say moderns are very statistically oriented, except that Lilly was too, look at Christian Astrology, page 115 already referred to where he lists + or - for every accidental and essential dignity. So you can say Jupiter is +12 instead of dignified by face, rising, direct and swift. So much nuance is lost with this approach and we get a false sense of precision.

I find Venus in Scorpio endlessly fascinating in terms of providing very detailed information about the person or thing signified. At the degrees she is now, this shows someone with very strong positives and yet equally strong and countervailing negatives, or someone very torn between two alternatives. We can almost see this in Scorpio, obsessively turning over the options, unable to tear oneself away from intense desire and overwhelming abhorrence.

This sort of nuance is what is so useful and so fascinating about traditional astrology!

Christopher Warnock
Renaissance Astrology
Courses
Readings
Talismans

Modern Mage Interview

Check out the latest interview of me at Modern Mage Interview This is a really long interview, I think the transcript was over 30 pages and it gave me a chance to go into a lot of depth on many issues. In particular to discuss more fully the issue of worldview and the difference between the modern atheistic/materialist/nihilist worldview and the traditional worldview, which integrates the material and the spiritual, plus Fate and Free Will, modern and traditional astrology, Picatrix and astrological magic and more! Check it out!

Christopher Warnock Renaissance Astrology

Dream Talisman Results

On February 28, 2017 we had a mass talisman ritual where people all over the world made their own Dream talismans. I was very pleased by having so many people respond to my offer on my Facebook and Spiritus Mundi discussion group.

The dream talismans came from Cornelius Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy,

"And let there be made an image of dreams, which being put under the head of him that sleeps, makes him dream true dreams concerning any thing that he hath formerly deliberated of; and let the figure of that be the figure of a man sleeping in the bosome of an Angel, which thou shall make...in Libra ascending, Venus being received from Mercury in Gemini in the ninth house, by writting upon it the Angel of Venus."

Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Bk II, ch. 50.

While Agrippa talks about prophetic dreams, these talismans have also been used for lucid dreaming, that is dreams where you know you are dreaming. I think that lucid dreaming is a very useful spiritual practice and I discuss it further in my Hermetic Dreaming page.

In particular I wanted to share two great responses I got back from people that made the Dream talisman. First, "I recently made the dream talisman that you recommended and have had great success with it for Lucid Dreaming which I have been trying to do for over a year." NH, Australia. Very cool!

The next response was also quite incredible, "Hi! The dream talisman was AWESOME. Sunday night I dreamt that I was a woman in a white dress with hawk on my left arm...just walking, feeding the bird (I'm usually afraid of birds so that is interesting). Yesterday I walked out of my office to leave and look what was on my CAR!!!! I've NEVER had a hawk on my car before. SO CRAZYYYY!!!!!" JH Florida. You can see the picture of the hawk on the car above to left.

I'm definitely going to do more mass talisman making in future! Watch out for the free offers on my Facebook and Spiritus Mundi discussion group.

Can You Use the Talisman of a Planet Afflicted in your Natal Chart?

I had a series of very interesting e-mails with a client of Renaissance Astrology talismans who is a serious esoteric student. I was particularly interested in their experiences with a talisman of a planet afflicted in their natal chart, but all of their talisman reports were fascinating:

"I guess Mercury is so weak (hence malefic) on my natal chart that a positive charged talisman helps to remedy this. I have never been a fan of anything governed by Mercury, so you can imagine how, at first, this talismans energy agitated me during the day and kept me up some nights as it stirred change within. I even took if off a few times but decided to tarry because the changes I needed most in life were ruled by Mercury. I got used to the energy after a few days and didn't experience any adverse or negative effects. Looking back, I couldn't be happier with the advancements."

"Authentic planetary talismans, when worn, can tune one’s thoughts and character to the nature of the planets. I now know why Mercury is depicted as a young man with winged feet – because his energy does not let me sit down and relax until all the day’s little tasks are complete. As I mentioned, I had to make lifestyle changes (quit smoking and lose weight) to keep up. And, if I fell out of sync with the talismans energy, it would aggravate me a little. Like those barking collars dogs wear that zap when they bark – it works kind of the same way for me. No one ever said wearing a talisman was meant to feel good. It’s the results that matter. Like the saying “no pain, no gain.”

"I have also had some terrific results with Jupiter talismans. I recall when I ordered a +8 Jupiter Lion-head talisman from you, I knew it was going to arrive in the mail soon because there was a huge storm building over [my city]. Sure enough, the talisman arrived a few hours after the storm had dissipated. But I find the Jupiter talisman works differently to, say, the Mercury talisman. Whereas the Mercury talisman effects change from within (my mind and character), the Jupiter talisman tends to attract clients and affluent people to me (and with them, opportunities). Maybe different for others, but this is my own experience with the Jupiter talisman."

"Your experience with Mars energy sounds similar to mine with Mercury, but its hard to say. I think each subject needs to experiment for him or herself and note the changes. I haven't dealt with Mars for some time as I find its energy unpredictable and taxing on my emotions - makes me moody and aggressive. The last time I did an invocation using a Solomon Mars Pentacle, the strangest thing happened. While saying the incantation aloud, a puff of sulphuric-like smoke came out of my lungs and mouth lightly filling the room. I had to stop for a minute and walk through the house thinking one of the appliances had caught fire in another room. Didn't use incense that day, so couldn't have been this either. Nope, the sulphuric smoke definitely emerged from within my lungs. How? No idea. That’s some real Harry Potter stuff. Just glad I wasn’t the next case of spontaneous human combustion. That drew the line for me and I haven't dealt with Mars since."

Wow! Fascinating! Renaissance Astrology talisman are available only through the Renaissance Astrology Inner Circle

Talisman of Dreams

This talisman comes from Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Bk II chapter 50. I've edited it to fit the election,

And let there be made an image of dreams, which being put under the head of him that sleeps, makes him dream true dreams concerning any thing that he hath formerly deliberated of; and let the figure of that be the figure of a man sleeping in the bosome of an Angel…thou shalt writ upon the breast of the man the name of the effect desired, and in the hand of the Angel the name of the intelligence of [Venus, Hagiel]…Let also the same be made in Libra ascending, Venus being received from Mercury in Gemini in the ninth house, by writing upon it the Angel of Venus.

Now this is a bit confusing as to whether Mercury should be in the 9th or Venus in the 9th. If we look at the other elections, however, listed, we note that the Ascendant ruler is always in the 9th. Plus when I checked the Latin critical edition of Agrippa, the Latin was very clear that for this election it is Venus in the 9th.

This is basically a house based talisman with the ruler of the 1st, the user's significator, in the 9th of dreams. Agrippa's source is unknown to me or the editor of the critical edition. It is included in a large chapter that has elections from Thabit Ibn Qurra's De Imaginibus but Thabit doesn't have these dream talismans.

Dreams, of course, were considered to be very significant in the Renaissance, heir as it was to the wisdom of the ancient Greeks, Romans and other traditional societies. Macrobius in his Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis("Commentary on the Dream of Scipio") Macrobius agrees with moderns that some dreams are internally caused and can reflect anxieties or experiences. But Macrobius like most other ancient authorities also sees dreams as enigmatic or mysterious and potentially prophetic or oracular.

As noted this talisman is traditionally used to produce prophetic dreams, but it also could potentially be used to assist with lucid dreams, dreams in which you are aware you are dreaming. I have a whole page on my website for Hermetic Dreaming that discusses lucid dreaming in a Hermetic context. This page goes into a lot of detail on dreams, visions, lucid dreams and Agrippa's house based dream talismans.

A poster on Spiritus Mundi, my discussion group pointed out an upcoming dream election. 11am local time, for Friday July 28, 2017 works for most everyone from Tokyo west, including most of the US, Australia use 10 am local time.