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Astrology wiki

Explore wiki concepts, word origins, evidence and their connections to traditions and tools.

Meaning, evidence and context

Concepts A–Z

512 concepts, each with a definition, word origins, a brief epistemology and source links. Hover or focus a dotted term to preview it. Tap once for the preview, then follow the entry.

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Subject

7 terms

K
Tibetan calendars

Kālacakra →

Also: Kalachakra · Kalacakra

A Buddhist tantric tradition and body of teaching conventionally called Wheel of Time. Its literature includes calendrical and astronomical material associated with later Tibetan calendar lineages.

Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
Sanskrit title, conventionally translated Wheel of Time.

The teaching source uses Wheel of Time and distinguishes external, internal and alternative Kalachakra. This title is not simply another name for the Phugpa conversion algorithm.

How we know · epistemology
Attributed religious tradition and historical mathematical transmission

Practitioner teaching documents the religious framework; Janson describes the calendar mathematics. Implementing one Phugpa date-conversion version does not reproduce the wider ritual, contemplative or cosmological system.

L
Tibetan calendars

Losar →

Also: lo gsar · Tibetan New Year

A Tibetan name for New Year, observed through different calendars and customs across Himalayan communities. A Phugpa Losar calculation identifies one named calendar’s year boundary.

Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
Tibetan lo gsar: lo, year, and gsar, new.

The compound means new year. Its shared name does not make every community’s date or observance identical.

How we know · epistemology
Cultural observance and school-specific calendar boundary

Historical and contemporary accounts document several Losar traditions. Calculating the first civil day of a Phugpa year does not determine all regional New Year festivals.

O
Tibetan calendars

Omitted lunar date →

Also: omitted lunar day · skipped lunar date

A numbered lunar date with no corresponding civil day in the selected calendar. The sequence of civil days continues normally while one lunar label is absent.

Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
English descriptive calendar phrase; Tibetan technical term chad.

Berzin records chad for an omitted lunar date. Omitted describes the absent label; no claim about the term’s first historical use is made.

How we know · epistemology
Consequence of a named calendar’s date-assignment rules

In this Phugpa implementation, successive lunar endpoints assigned to the same civil day leave one label without a civil occurrence. This is a calculated status, not a missing physical day or a personal omen.

P
Tibetan calendars

Phugpa →

A Tibetan calendrical tradition with its own constants and month rules; another lineage can assign a different date.

Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
Tibetan lineage name: Phug-pa.

Named for Phugpa Lhundrub Gyatso, associated with the fifteenth-century calendar version. Phukluk/phug-lugs is a related tradition label; deeper personal-name derivation is left open.

How we know · epistemology
Tibetan calendrical lineage

The date follows a particular set of astronomical and calendrical rules, including omitted and repeated days. Another lineage may legitimately give a different label; a converter must expose its tradition rather than present a universal Tibetan date.

R
Tibetan calendars

Repeated lunar date →

Also: repeated lunar day · doubled lunar date

A lunar date label assigned to two successive civil days. In the selected Phugpa convention the first occurrence has leap-day status and the second is the subsequent occurrence of that label.

Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
English descriptive calendar phrase; Tibetan technical term lhag.

Berzin uses lhag for a doubled lunar date. The translation is contextual: the glossary also records other meanings for the same transliteration, so it should not be expanded automatically in unrelated passages.

How we know · epistemology
Calendar correspondence with two civil occurrences

Both dates are valid under this convention. A record needs its civil date or occurrence marker to distinguish them; repetition does not supply a separate astrological interpretation by itself.

T
Tibetan calendars

Tibetan lunar day →

Also: tshes-zhag · tshes zhag

One of thirty divisions of a lunar month in Tibetan calendrical calculation. Its numbered label is assigned to civil days by the selected calendar rules, so a label may be omitted or repeated.

Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
English descriptive label; Tibetan tshes-zhag.

Berzin translates tshes-zhag as lunar date day. This records the specialist translation; an earlier historical derivation of the Tibetan compound is not established here.

How we know · epistemology
Traditional calendrical model and civil-date assignment

A numbered lunar day and a civil day are different units. The tool reproduces the declared calendar model; its day label is not an observed modern lunar-phase timestamp.

Tibetan calendars

Tsurphu →

A Tibetan calendar tradition with calculations differing from Phugpa; it is not simply another timezone setting.

Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
Tibetan place and tradition name.

Tsurphu/Tshur-phu identifies the monastery associated with the Karma Kagyu calendar lineage. The place name is retained without inventing a literal translation.

How we know · epistemology
Tibetan calendrical lineage

Its constants and month rules define a distinct computational tradition. Reproducing a date requires those rules as well as the instant; changing a timezone cannot turn a Phugpa calculation into a Tsurphu one.