Astrofire Computer Program

The programs ASTRO and ASTROFIRE written by Peter Treadgold are research programs to help astronomers, astrologers, and those who are working on the basis of research indications for a new star wisdom (astrosophy).  These programs were conceived of in the 1970s to help the work of Willi Sucher(1902-1985)[1].  In the 1930s Willi Sucher was encouraged and supported to do astrosophical research by Elisabeth Vreede(1879-1943) [2], who had been appointed in 1923 by Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925)[3] to lead the Mathematical-Astronomical Section of the School of Spiritual Science established in Switzerland in 1924.

ASTRO and ASTROFIRE represent a labor of love leading to the fulfillment of a long-awaited idea:  to make accessible to everyone the basic research tools of astrosophy.  ASTRO and ASTROFIRE’s main innovation in relation to other astrological programs is the inclusion of the astrological biography, which in turn depends upon the calculation of the horoscope of conception, computed retrogressively from the birth horoscope by applying the ancient Egyptian hermetic rule[4].  In addition to the possibility of computing a person’s horoscope of conception (epoch chart) and astrological biography, ASTRO and ASTROFIRE allow the computation not only of the usual geocentric horoscope but also the heliocentric and hermetic horoscopes[5].  The discovery of two astrological “laws” of incarnation[6] confirms Willi Sucher’s finding that the heliocentric planetary positions at the moment of a person’s birth and conception are just as significant as the geocentric planetary positions.  ASTRO and ASTROFIRE thus fulfill a major role as research tools by making the findings of Willi Sucher and others working in the field of developing a new star wisdom readily accessible and easy to apply.

ASTRO and ASTROFIRE include an ephemeris program which computes the planetary positions geocentrically and heliocentrically on a daily basis, [7] and also allow the user to specify the zodiac of his or her choice:  the astronomical zodiac with unequal-length constellations, the tropical zodiac of present-day western astrology, or the original zodiac of twelve equal-length constellations/signs, known as the sidereal zodiac, [8] that originated with the Babylonians and was used also by the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, and which is still used to the present day in Indian (Hindu) astrology.  Other zodiac specifications are also included.  Through the inclusion of the possibility of making all computations in the framework of the sidereal zodiac or the astronomical zodiac (or any zodiac of one’s choice), ASTRO and ASTROFIRE are “astronomer friendly” programs for use by astronomers and astrologers alike, enabling planetary positions against the background of the stars to be computed with a high degree of accuracy over a period of several thousand years.

Decans and Nakshatras (Lunar Mansions):  Following Alexander the Great’s conquest of Babylon in 331 B.C., the way was paved for the transmission of Babylonian science to Hellenistic Egypt.  With the transmission to Egypt of the sidereal zodiac, originally defined by the Babylonians as twelve 30° signs specified by the location of the star Aldebaran (the “Bull’s eye”) at the center (15°) of the sign of Taurus, the Egyptian decans became assimilated to the Babylonian sidereal zodiac in such a way that three decans became related to each zodiacal sign, with each decan occupying 10° or one-third of a zodiacal sign.

By the Hellenistic period the twelve zodiacal signs had become a well-defined coordinate system in Babylonian mathematical astronomy, on which the computations of Hellenistic astrology were based.  One may conjecture that, when these doctrines reached Egypt, the native priests claimed to have had from time immemorial the equivalent of the zodiacal belt in the form of the belt of decans...Thus the decans, in their last, Hellenistic phase, became simply 10° sections of the zodiacal signs. [9]

The assimilation of the decans to the signs of the zodiac is represented on the circular zodiac of Dendera, from the Temple of Hathor (circa 30 B.C.), now in the Louvre Museum, which portrays the thirty-six decans in relation to the twelve zodiacal signs, where the decans are arranged circularly around the outside of the twelve zodiacal figures.

Those users of ASTRO and ASTROFIRE who wish to work with the Egyptian decans can easily do so by using the sidereal zodiac and simply dividing the signs into 10° sections to obtain the 36 decans.  [10]

Practically all fundamental concepts and methods of ancient astronomy, for the better or the worse, can be traced back either to Babylonian or to Greek astronomy.  In other words, none of the other civilizations of antiquity, which have otherwise contributed so much to the material and artistic culture of the world, have ever reached an independent level of scientific thought.  Only into astrology were incorporated two remnants of pre-scientific astronomical lore from other than Mesopotamian or Greek background:  the thirty-six Egyptian “decans” and the twenty-eight Indian “lunar mansions” (nakshatras). [11]

The Egyptian decans are of considerable antiquity.  Similarly, the Indian lunar mansions have a history possibly dating back to around the beginning of the last millennium of the pre-Christian era.  The twenty-eight lunar mansions or nakshatras are alluded to in the Vedas.  “Seeking favour of the twenty-eight-fold wondrous ones, shining in the sky together, ever-moving, hasting in the creation, I worship with songs the days, the firmament.” [12]

As in the Egyptian decan lists, the earliest lists of nakshatras associate each lunar mansion with a presiding deity, e.g. the deity of Krittika, the first nakshatra in the Vedic lists, is Agni. [13]  The Pleiades in the constellation of Taurus (marking the neck of the Bull) are the stellar determinants of Krittika.[14]  (Originally the Egyptian decans were not rigorously defined but were only loosely associated with certain stars or groupings of stars, and likewise the nakshatras originally were only loosely identified with specific stars or stellar configurations).  Just as the contribution of the Egyptian priests to star lore was the 36 decans (“solar mansions”) following the passage of the Sun in relation to the heliacal rising of certain stars, beginning with Sirius, through 10-day periods during the course of the year, so the contribution of the Vedic priests was originally a list of twenty-eight nakshatras (“lunar mansions”) as a descriptive device for following the passage of the Moon through the stars during the course of a sidereal month which lasts 27⅓ days, signifying that the Moon spends approximately one day in each nakshatra.

Thus, India, Egypt and Mesopotamia each contributed sidereal divisions that later became incorporated as standard elements into astrology.  From Egypt and India came the thirty-six decans and the twenty-eight lunar mansions, respectively.  The lunar mansions (nakshatras) and the decans, however, both became assimilated into the sidereal division which originated with the Babylonians: the zodiac, with twelve 30° signs.  The relationship of the 28 nakshatras to the sidereal zodiac is included in ASTROFIRE, which thus allows the user to gain an overview of the 28 nakshatras (lunar mansions) used by the Vedic priests.[15]

The inclusion of the 28 nakshatras is a new feature of ASTROFIRE.  In other respects, too, the new program ASTROFIRE represents a significant extension of ASTRO.

There are several new features in ASTROFIRE, the two most significant being:

1. the inclusion of a star catalog; and
2. the inclusion of a database of birth and death data of historical personalities.

ASTROFIRE’S STAR CATALOG includes over 3000 stars – primarily those that are visible to the naked eye.  The significance of the fixed stars in astronomy and astrology has long been known.  Recent research indicates that knowledge of the fixed stars is important to the understanding of any horoscope.  For example, in the horoscope of Rudolf Steiner (born on February 25, 1861) there is a striking conjunction of the planets Mars and Pluto in sidereal Aries.  Their positions in the sidereal zodiac are: Mars 12°48’ Aries and Pluto 14°57’ Aries.  From the Astrofire star catalog it is apparent that the main star in Aries, Hamal (Alpha [α] Arietis), is located in the sidereal zodiac at 12°55’ Aries about 10° above the ecliptic (latitude 9N58) – further, that Hamal is a 2nd magnitude star (m=2.1) of the spectral type K (orange “Arcturian”) and luminosity class III (normal giant), that it is 66 light years away and has an absolute magnitude M=0.5 and luminosity L=56, signifying that its intrinsic brightness is 56 times that of our Sun.   All this information is given for each star in Astrofire’s star catalog.

From Richard Hinckley Allen’s book Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning Hamal has various titles such as the “Proclaimer of the Dawn” or the “Messenger of Light” and was associated with Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom born from the head of her father Zeus. [16] In short, Hamal is a star that exerts an extraordinary influence upon the human thinking capacity, and it is precisely the conjunction of Mars and Pluto with Hamal (in the case of Mars the conjunction is exact to within 0°07’) in Rudolf Steiner’s horoscope that is a primary indicator of his remarkable philosophical gifts.   (Also significant in this respect is that in his horoscope Jupiter, the planet most associated with profound thinking activity, is located at the midheaven)[17].  By enabling comparisons of planetary positions with fixed star locations, ASTROFIRE opens a new and exciting chapter in astronomical/astrological/astrosophical research.   ASTROFIRE permits such comparisons not only in individual horoscopes (as in the example of Rudolf Steiner) but also in whole groups of horoscopes belonging to ASTROFIRE’s database or which may be input (or also imported) into the ASTROFIRE database.   For example, those who have the Astrodatabank (ADB) can import from the ADB according to category (or even the entire ADB can be imported) into ASTROFIRE.  This leads to the second major innovation of ASTROFIRE – the database (see below) .
Here follows a summary of the features of ASTROFIRE’s star catalog.

Star identification:  Each star is identified either by its Greek letter designation (from Bayer’s Uranometria, 1603) or by its Flamsteed number (from Flamsteed’s Historia Coelestis Britannica, 1725), with the exception of the mega stars (see below concerning these stars).

Star name:  If the star has a name, it is indicated alongside the star identification – for example, alongside Alpha (α) Aries is given the name “Hamal”.

Star position in longitude and latitude:  The next two columns give the star’s longitude (LONG) and latitude (LAT).  The longitude is given in the sidereal zodiac (or in the tropical zodiac, if one chooses this; note also that there are different possibilities in specifying the sidereal zodiac).  In the above example, the longitude of Hamal is given as 12°55’ Aries and in the following column its latitude is given as 9N58.  This is Hamal’s longitude in the sidereal zodiac specified by the Synetic Vernal Point (SVP), which is the standard sidereal zodiac used in the West, based upon the Babylonian standard location of Aldebaran (the “Bull’s eye”), at 15° Taurus (now at 15°03’ Taurus, owing to proper motion).

Proper motion:  Since the fixed stars have proper motion, their positions in the sidereal zodiac change slightly during the course of thousands of years.  The proper motions of stars is included in the ASTROFIRE star catalog, which recomputes the stellar positions according to historical date.  For example, inputting the date -100 it is evident that Hamal’s coordinates in the sidereal zodiac (SVP) in 100 B.C. were 12°44’ Aries and 9N54.  Thus during the space of 2100 years (from -100 to +2000) Hamal has shifted 0°11’ in longitude and 0°04’ in latitude.  These are typical values for the shift in longitude and latitude of any star, occasioned by proper motion over two thousand years or so, indicating that the fixed stars really are fixed – apart from these slight shifts over long periods of time.

Apparent magnitude:  The next column indicates the star’s apparent magnitude, denoted by a small letter “m”.  The brightest star, Sirius, has an apparent magnitude of -1.44, whereas the fourth brightest star, Arcturus, has an apparent magnitude of -0.05, the fifth brightest star, Vega, has an apparent magnitude of 0.03, the sixth brightest star, Capella, has an apparent magnitude of 0.08, the seventh brightest star, Rigel, has an apparent magnitude of 0.18, and the 19th brightest star, Deneb, has an apparent magnitude of 1.25. The brighter a star appears to be, the lower its apparent magnitude, i.e. the magnitude number grows larger as the star grows fainter.  This might seem confusing. However, it brings to expression the idea of classes of stars.  This idea goes back to Greek astronomers such as Ptolemy (second century A.D.) who designated the twenty brightest stars as those of first magnitude.  According to modern astronomy there are in fact 22 stars with an apparent magnitude of 1.50 or less, which are thus designated as stars of the first magnitude.  Similarly, stars with an apparent magnitude of 2.50 or less are classed as second magnitude; those where m is 3.50 or less are classed as third magnitude, etc.  This is a logarithmic scale which expresses that a star of apparent magnitude 1.00 is 2½ times brighter than a star where m=2.00 which, in turn, is 2½ times brighter than a star where m=3.00, etc.  Thus a star of apparent magnitude 1.00 is one hundred times brighter than a star of apparent magnitude 6.00.  Stars of the sixth magnitude are at the limit of naked-eye visibility.

Absolute magnitude:  The next column indicates the star’s absolute magnitude, denoted by a capital letter “M”. Apparent magnitude is accurately measured by a photometer or photo-electric device that measures the intensity of light emanating from a light source.  Since the intensity of light decreases with the square of the distance, astronomy has devised a measure of the intrinsic brightness of a star by taking account of its apparent magnitude AND its distance in light years from our solar system.  This measure, the absolute magnitude (M) of a star, is the magnitude the star would have if it were placed at a standard distance away of 10 parsecs or about 32½ light years.  M values follow the same logarithmic scale as m values.

Distance:  The star’s distance from our solar system in light years is indicated in the column headed “ly” next to the last column.  For example, Sirius appears so bright because it is one of our largest neighboring stars, located only 8.6 light years from our solar system (approximately 50 trillion miles or 80 trillion kilometers away).

Luminosity:  This value is listed in the last column of ASTROFIRE’s star catalog. This column is headed “LUM”. Luminosity is a simple conversion from the logarithmic scale of absolute magnitude, assuming that our Sun has a luminosity of one (L=1). The luminosity of a star expresses how much brighter (or less brighter) it is than our Sun. Sirius, for example, is 23 times brighter than our Sun (L=23), whereas Vega is 51 times brighter (L=51). From our perspective our Sun is an extremely bright star. However, if the Earth were revolving around Sirius—in other words, if Sirius were our Sun—it would be seen by us to be 23 times brighter. If we imagine a second Sun alongside our Sun, then a third Sun, a fourth Sun, a fifth Sun, up to a 22nd Sun, all bunched together as 23 Suns, we gain a conception of the luminosity of Sirius, which would blaze down upon us with the light of 23 of our Suns.

Spectral type:  After the columns indicating apparent and absolute magnitude, the next column in the ASTROFIRE star catalog indicates the spectral type of a star.  This column is headed “Ty”. There are eleven main spectral types:

O:  blue-white; high temperature (35,000°K); large mass; high luminosity; lines of ionized helium, nitrogen, oxygen, in addition to hydrogen.

Examples:  Zeta (ζ) Puppis, Lambda (λ) Orionis, 15 Monocerotis.

B:  blue-white, sometimes called “Orion stars”; temperature 20,000°K; large mass; high luminosity; strong helium lines.

Examples:  Rigel, Spica, Regulus, Alpha (α) Eridani.

A:  white “Sirian” or hydrogen stars; temperature 10,000°K, average luminosity generally ranging from 50 to 100 times that of our Sun; strong hydrogen lines; helium absent.

Examples:  Sirius, Vega, Altair.

F:  yellow-white; temperature 7000°K; weaker hydrogen lines; strong lines of calcium with other metallic lines increasing.

Examples:  Canopus, Procyon, Alpha (α) Persei.

G:  yellow “solar type” stars; temperature 6000°K; weaker hydrogen lines; prominent lines of many metals.

Examples:  our Sun, Capella, Alpha (α) Centauri.

K:  orange “Arcturian” stars; temperature 4000°K to 4700°K; faint hydrogen lines; complex spectra with many strong lines of metals; hydrocarbon bands appear.

Examples:  Arcturus, Pollux, Alpha (α) Ursa Maioris.

M:  red stars; temperature 2500°K to 3000°K; many M-type variables show bright hydrogen lines; rich spectra showing many strong metallic lines with wide bands produced by titanium oxide.

Examples:  Antares, Betelgeuse, Mira.

N: deep red, mostly variable stars; cool giants of temperature 2500°K; peculiar banded spectra showing carbon compounds.

Examples:  S Cephei, R Leporis, Y Canum Venaticorum.

R: orange-red; similar to type N but with somewhat higher temperature; weaker carbon bands; this spectral type may form a connecting link between types G and N.

Examples:  S Camelopardi, RU Virginis.

S:  red; resembles type M, but titanium oxide bands are replaced by zirconium oxide; complex spectra, usually variable, with hydrogen emission lines.

Example:  R Cygni.

W:  Wolf-Rayet stars; hot blue giants; high temperatures (50,000°K and higher); high luminosities; these resemble O-type stars, but show broad emission features caused by expanding gaseous shell; extremely turbulent atmospheres.

Example:  Gamma (γ) Velorum.

Luminosity class:  The next column in ASTROFIRE’s star catalog after that of the spectral type indicates the star’s luminosity class. T his column is headed “Cl”.  In addition to the spectral type astronomers use the following luminosity classes in the form of Roman numerals (I, II, III, IV, V, VI), signifying:I supergiants; II bright giants; III normal giants; IV subgiants; V main sequence; and VI subdwarfs.

For example, looking at the relevant columns of ASTROFIRE’s star catalog, the star Betelgeuse (Alpha [α] Orionis) in the right shoulder of the hunter Orion is classified as type “M” and class “I”.  This means that Betelgeuse is a red supergiant, not only vastly larger and more brilliant than our Sun but also operating on a different nuclear energy source, which tells us something about the life history and evolutionary path of this star.  In terms of its astrological influence, “Betelgeuze portended fortune, martial honors, wealth, and other kingly attributes.” [18]  The martial significance of this red supergiant marking the shoulder of the Giant – this being the meaning of Gibbor in the ancient Hebrew for Orion, also called “the mighty Hunter before the Lord” [19] – is born out by astrosophical research investigating the conjunctions of Saturn with Betelgeuse, whose longitude in the sidereal zodiac is 4° Gemini.  Throughout the 20th century Saturn’s passage through the Gemini the Twins – occurring at 29½ year intervals – has had striking consequences for humanity.  The first passage saw the outbreak of World War I on August 1, 1914, when Saturn was in conjunction with Betelgeuse at 4° Gemini.  Its second passage saw the devastation of World War II.  In fact, on D-Day (June 6, 1944) Saturn was at the same zodiacal location in the Twins (4˚ Gemini, in conjunction with Betelgeuse) as it had been on August 1, 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War.  And its third passage in the 20th century through the sidereal sign of Gemini the Twins witnessed the Cold War between East and West and an intensification of the Arab-Israeli conflict.  In fact, in October 1973, when the Yom Kippur War took place, heliocentric Saturn was at 4˚ Gemini, once more in conjunction with Betelgeuse. And when heliocentric Saturn in March 2003 subsequently returned to 4˚ Gemini – yet again in conjunction with Betelgeuse – the US-led Iraq War broke out.  It is this kind of research that ASTROFIRE makes possible, also research into the conjunctions of the Sun, Moon, or any planet (geocentrically or heliocentrically) with any fixed star such as Betelgeuse in the horoscopes of individuals or groups in ASTROFIRE’s database.  These research options are breathtaking and remarkable, signifying a new era in astrological and astrosophical research.

Mega stars:  Another area of research opened up by ASTROFIRE is that of the mega stars, stars of high luminosity.  One example is Deneb (α Cygni), the main star in the constellation of the Swan, sometimes also referred to as the constellation of the Northern Cross.  Seen as the Swan, Deneb marks the Swan’s tail; seen as the Cross, Deneb is located at the head of the Cross.  In terms of apparent magnitude this first magnitude star is the 19th brightest star visible to the naked eye.  Located at a distance of 3200 light years from our solar system, Deneb is a mega star, some 270,000 times more luminous than our Sun.  In 2003 Robert Powell discovered the significance of mega stars when he noticed the extraordinary role played by these stars at events in the life of Christ [20] Deneb well illustrates the significance of mega stars. Looking up at Deneb, we see that it is 60° North of the zodiac—this is its latitude.  If we trace an arc down from the ecliptic pole through Deneb, it intersects the sidereal zodiac at 10½° Aquarius—this is Deneb’s longitude. According to astrosophical research, at Christ’s feeding of the 5000 the Sun was at 10½° Aquarius. [21] This is especially striking in light of Rudolf Steiner’s indication that, “It was always in accordance with the collective Being of the whole Universe with whom the Earth is in harmony, that all which Christ Jesus did took place.” [22].  From these words it is clear that it was not mere coincidence that there was a conjunction between the Sun and the mega star Deneb at the feeding of the 5000, but that the cosmic forces streaming from Deneb were received by our Sun and transmitted to Christ at the time of the miracle of the multiplication of bread and fish. Here the word “conjunction” means a conjunction in longitude, both at 10½° Aquarius.  Even though the Sun and Deneb were 60° apart in terms of latitude, there was still a conjunction in longitude, with the Sun crossing the Deneb meridian at the time of the miracle.  Just as there are meridians—lines of energy flow—in the human being, these meridians exist also in the greater cosmos of the macrocosm.  As may be understood from the law of correspondences “as above, so below”,  if there are meridians in the human being, they must exist also “above” in the cosmos. Thus we can picture an energy flow streaming from each star and intersecting the zodiac, the place of intersection indicating the point of influx of the energy flow from our cosmos into our solar system. For Deneb this point of influx is 10½° Aquarius, and so whenever the Sun or any planet in our solar system crosses the Deneb meridian at 10½° Aquarius, the Deneb energy flows in to unite with that planet or with our Sun. (Here energy is to be understood as the Divine Energy or Divine Love radiating from the stars).  Focusing upon the meridians as energy lines flowing through every star, the entire celestial sphere becomes significant.  The significance of Deneb at the feeding of the 5000 is just one example, and there are many more examples of the important role played by mega stars at various events in the life of Christ.  The meridians which run through the mega stars circle around the entire celestial globe.  For astrosophical research purposes all that needs to be known is the mega stars’ longitudes in the sidereal zodiac, which are listed in ASTROFIRE’s star catalog.  These longitudes (such as 10½° Aquarius, where Deneb’s meridian intersects the zodiac) are especially potent points in the zodiac.  Included in ASTROFIRE’s star catalog—in addition to the stars identified by Greek letters (Bayer) and by number (Flamsteed)—are a group of stars referred to as Mega and numbered 1 Mega, 2 Mega, 3 Mega etc.  This group comprises 1070 stars with a luminosity of at least 550.  The inclusion of these mega stars in ASTROFIRE’s star catalog makes further research into the significance of these most luminous stars possible [23]

ASTROFIRE’S DATABASE is made up of three Tables:

1. birth data of historical personalities;
2. death data of historical personalities; and
3. data relating to events in the life of Christ.

Richard Wagner (1813-1883), the German operatic composer, who wrote the poems (texts) of his operas before setting them to music.  Wagner was highly gifted both as a poet and composer, whose “music dramas”, as his operas have come to be known, are milestones in the history of Western culture.
Rabindrath Tagore (1861-1941), the Bengali poet, philosopher, social reformer and dramatist, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913, whose poems express his profound love of God, Man, and Nature.
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), the English romantic poet who ranks as one of the greatest lyric poets in the history of English literature.
Hölderlin (1770-1843), the German romantic poet who sought to express a religious vision in which humanity would be reconciled to the world of Nature and to all the forms through which God has revealed himself, who drew his inspiration particularly from the ancient Greek culture and religion.
Matthew Arnold (1822-1888), the English poet and social critic, who was concerned with preserving personal values in a world drastically transformed by industrialism, science, and democracy.  In Arnold’s case the superior conjunction of Venus with the Sun was exact. Matthew Arnold later lived at Rydal in the Lake District of England, where his neighbor was the aged romantic poet William Wordsworth, also born when Venus was loosely in superior conjunction with the Sun.

All of the above examples are of poets, each born at the time of a superior conjunction of Venus with the Sun. (In addition to being a poet, Wagner was also a composer, of course). In the case of each of these examples an element of social criticism (in Shelley’s case he was an outright rebel or revolutionary in his younger years) is indicated, and all of them display a great love of Nature and (with the possible exception of Matthew Arnold) a mystical tendency.  Of course, not all people born at the time of a superior conjunction of Venus with the Sun become poets or mystics, but a characteristic tendency or leaning is indicated.  And regarding a love of Nature it is perhaps symptomatic that the Earth Summit, the world’s largest-ever gathering to focus on ecological/environmental issues, which took place in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, occurred at the time of a superior conjunction of Venus with the Sun in the region of the horns of the Bull (28 ½º Taurus). [26] [27]

[1] Willi Sucher, Cosmic Christianity & the Changing Countenance of Cosmology (Gt. Barrington, Mass.: Anthroposophic Press, 1995). Other works by Willi Sucher are available from the Astrosophy Research Center, P.O. Box 13, Meadow Vista, California 95722.

[2] Elisabeth Vreede, Anthroposophy and Astrology (Gt. Barrington, Mass.: Anthroposophic Press, 2002) is her main work. Cf. also Esoteric Studies: From Mathematics to Star Lore (London: Temple Lodge Press, 1997).

[3] Rudolf Steiner, The Spiritual Guidance of the Individual and Humanity (Gt. Barrington, Mass.: Anthroposophic Press, 1992), among the many works of Rudolf Steiner dealing with cosmology and the relationship of the human being to the world of stars from a spiritual perspective, provides a good introduction.

[4] Robert Powell, Hermetic Astrology, volumes I and II (distributed by Anthroposophic Press and also by the Sophia Foundation of North America). Volume I describes the heliocentric and hermetic horoscopes, also the hermetic rule and how to apply it, with examples. Volume II describes the astrological biography and how it is computed, giving examples of its application. The astrological biography is specified by the correspondence between (a) the movements of the planets against the background of the signs of the zodiac during the entire period between conception and birth, and (b) the unfolding of a person’s destiny between birth and death.

[5] The hermetic horoscope includes the Sun, Moon, ascendant, etc. (as in the geocentric horoscope) but the heliocentric planetary positions are given instead of the geocentric ones. This was the ancient Egyptian system (hence the word “hermetic”, going back to Hermes, the teacher of the Egyptians), which was brought forward in a modern astronomical form by the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546-1601); thus the ancient Egyptian-hermetic astronomical system is now known as the Tychonic system.

[6] Robert Powell, Hermetic Astrology, volume I.

[7] Robert Powell & Peter Treadgold, The Christian Star Calendar (Eugene, Oregon: Sophia Foundation of North America, yearly), which gives the daily positions – geocentric and heliocentric – of the Sun, Moon, and planets in terms of the sidereal zodiac, indicates the approximate format of the ephemeris program.

[8] Robert Powell & Peter Treadgold, The Sidereal Zodiac (Tempe, Arizona: American Federation of Astrologers, 1985).

[9] Otto Neugebauer and R.A. Parker, Egyptian Astronomical Texts. 3 volumes (Providence, Rhode Island: Brown University Press, 1960, 1964, 1969), vol. 1, pp. 95-96 and vol. 3, p. 168.

[10] Lacquanna Paul & Robert Powell, Cosmic Dances of the Zodiac Eugene, Oregon: Sophia Foundation of North America:, 2003) gives an overview of the Egyptian decans and their relationship with the constellations.

[11] Otto Neugebauer, A History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy. 3 volumes (Berlin-Heidelberg-New York: Springer, 1975), vol. 1, p. 6.

[12] Arthava-veda Samhita XIX.7.i, translated by W.D. Whitney (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1905), p. 906.

[13] Paul-Emile Dumont, “The Istis to the Naksatras (or Oblations to the Lunar Mansions) in the Taittiriya-Brahmana,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 98, 1954, pp. 204-223.

[14] Surya-Siddhanta, translated by E. Burgess (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1860), p. 324.

[15] Robert Powell & Peter Treadgold, The Christian Star Calendar 2006 (Eugene, Oregon: Sophia Foundation of North America, 2005), will give an overview of the 28 nakshatras (lunar mansions).

[16] Richard Hinckley Allen, Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning (New York: Dover Publications, 1963), pp. 80-81.

[17] Robert Powell, Hermetic Astrology, volume I (p. 220 and p. 451) and volume II (p. 121 and p. 409) give Rudolf Steiner’s horoscope and birth data.

[18] Richard Hinckley Allen,Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning (New York: Dover Publications, 1963), p. 311.

[19] Ibid., p. 309.

[20] Robert Powell, “Mega Stars,” Christian Star Calendar 2004 (Eugene, Oregon: Sophia Foundation of North America, 2003), pp. 26-30. Cf. also Robert Powell, General Introduction to the Christian Star Calendar: A Key to Understanding (Eugene, Oregon: Sophia Foundation of North America, 2003), pp. 11-18.

[21] Robert Powell, Chronicle of the Living Christ (Gt. Barrington, Mass.: Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 170.

[22] Rudolf Steiner, The Spiritual Guidance of the Individual and Humanity (Gt. Barrington, Mass.: Anthroposophic Press, 1992), p. 47.

[23] The stellar coordinates and proper motions of the Bayer and Flamsteed stars in the ASTROFIRE star catalog are from the Yale Bright Star Catalog, while other data and all the data for other stars (in particular for most of the mega stars) is from the Hipparcos Catalog.

[24] Robert Powell, Hermetic Astrology, volume II, pp. 63-100 reproduces Willi Sucher’s analysis of Wagner’s astrological biography.

[25] Ibid., p. 5 and p. 412 gives Wagner’s horoscope and birth data

[26]

[27]

[28]

[29]

[30]

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