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.
Explore the Astrology tree →ATiming & comparison
Also: profections · annual profections
A traditional timing method advancing the starting sign by one sign for each completed year of age.
Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
Latin-derived technical phrase.Profection comes from profectio, advancement or going forward; annual specifies the year-by-year advance.
How we know · epistemology
Historical timing ruleCompleted age determines a repeated twelve-sign count under the chosen starting point. The calculation can be checked arithmetically; interpreting the activated sign as a year’s events is an additional claim.
DTiming & comparison
A relationship chart calculated for an intermediate time and geographic position between two births, under a specified midpoint convention.
Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
Eponym.Named for astrologer Ronald Davison. The name identifies his relationship-chart approach rather than a classical-language compound.
How we know · epistemology
Constructed reference chartAn intermediate time and place allow a real-sky calculation for a constructed reference event. That event is not the couple’s birth, and geographic midpoint choices can change the result.
ETiming & comparison
Also: exact transit contact · exact transit aspect
An instant when a moving body's longitude reaches a declared aspect angle from a fixed natal target, within the solver's stated numerical tolerance.
Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
Descriptive English phrase with Latin-derived vocabulary.Exact comes from Latin exactus, associated with examining or measuring; transit from transitus, passage. The phrase names a specified angular passage precisely located in time.
How we know · epistemology
Calculated angular event and declared search conventionThe ephemeris, reference, target and tolerance make the instant reproducible. Exactness does not define the entire orb period or establish that a personal event must happen then.
HTiming & comparison
Also: cross-chart house placement
A placement of one chart's body within another chart's houses; the receiving chart supplies the house boundaries.
Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
A descriptive English name combining astrological house with overlay, the act of placing one image or layer over another.House descends from Old English hūs. In this technical phrase, overlay names the superimposition of one chart on another; the sources do not establish who first coined the complete expression.
How we know · epistemology
Directional chart comparisonThe selected house convention and receiving birth time determine the placement. Its life topic is an interpretive prompt; reversing the charts usually changes the overlay.
ITiming & comparison
An entry into a specified sign or angular sector, found by locating the boundary-crossing time.
Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
Latin borrowing.From ingressus, an entering, related to ingredi, to step in. An ingress is named for entry into a new sign or region.
How we know · epistemology
Coordinate boundary eventAn ingress is a crossing of a defined sector boundary. Changing the zodiac can change its time; the boundary itself does not demonstrate a sudden physical or personal transformation.
LTiming & comparison
Also: annual lord · annual time lord
In annual profections, the traditional ruler of the zodiac sign reached by the completed-age count. Other timing methods assign their own time lords.
Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
English descriptive phrase with an Old English root.Lord descends from Old English hlāford, associated with hlāf (loaf) and weard (keeper). Here the title is a metaphor for a planet’s assigned authority over a year; this does not establish the first use of the technical phrase.
How we know · epistemology
Traditional timing and rulership conventionThe annual lord follows a reproducible count and rulership table. Its symbolic authority is an interpretive premise, not a physical force or demonstrated predictor of events.
History, methods & personal reading →
Timing & comparison
Also: lunar return chart · lunar returns
A chart for the instant the Moon reaches its natal ecliptic longitude again in the selected zodiac, conventionally read for the cycle to its next return.
Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
Descriptive English compound with a Latin-derived adjective.Lunar derives through Middle English from Latin lunaris, from luna (Moon). Return belongs to the English word family traced to Anglo-French returner, to turn back. The compound names a recurrence to a reference position; these word histories do not establish who first coined the astrological term.
How we know · epistemology
Calculated longitude recurrence with attributed symbolic interpretationThe crossing matches natal lunar longitude, not lunar phase. Monthly emotional or event themes are practitioner interpretations. Uncertain birth time changes the target; local houses also depend on the declared return place.
PTiming & comparison
Traditional timing procedures based on spherical daily-motion geometry, translated into years using a chosen timing key.
Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
Historical descriptive method name.Direction means directing or carrying a chart factor forward; primary distinguishes the method based on the sky's daily rotation.
How we know · epistemology
Historical geometric timing methodThe method combines spherical geometry with a chosen conversion from arc to years. Matching the geometry tests the construction; the timing key and event interpretation remain distinct assumptions.
RTiming & comparison
Also: repeated transit passes · retrograde repeat · retrograde repeats
Another exact encounter with the same natal target and aspect branch after a body's apparent motion brings it back across that longitude.
Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
Descriptive English phrase with Latin-derived vocabulary.Repeat descends from Latin repetere, to return to or seek again; pass is related to Latin passus, step. This is a descriptive phrase for recurring crossings.
How we know · epistemology
Calculated angular event and declared search conventionRepeats follow the solved motion and selected window; there need not be exactly three. Pass numbers alone do not establish a universal sequence of introduction, review and resolution.
Timing & comparison
Also: return charts · planetary return chart · planetary return charts
A chart for the instant a selected body reaches its natal longitude again, under a declared coordinate convention.
Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
Descriptive English technique name.Return names a body's coming back to a specified reference position; chart names the diagram cast for that event.
How we know · epistemology
Calculated crossing with symbolic useThe returning body's longitude match defines the chart. The selected cycle and location complete its setup; interpreting that chart as a period's themes is a further practitioner convention. Its defining luminary conjunction recurs by construction; repeated geometry is not independent predictive evidence.
Timing & comparison
Also: return locations · return reference place
The geographic place used to calculate a return chart's local angles and houses.
Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
Descriptive English workspace label.Return specifies the recurrence event and location the chosen observing place used for its angles and houses.
How we know · epistemology
Declared chart-location conventionPractitioners choose different reference places. For a geocentric longitude return, this choice changes the local chart structure, not the solved UTC crossing; it cannot establish that travel controls future outcomes.
STiming & comparison
Also: secondary progression
A Western astrological timing method that symbolically maps one day after birth to one year of life; it is not a chart of the current sky.
Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
The ordinary English words secondary and progression: secondary denotes a second order or stage, while progression denotes advancing or a connected sequence.Merriam-Webster establishes those general English senses, not the historical naming of the astrological technique. Available method documentation distinguishes secondary progressions from primary directions and solar arcs, but it does not establish why this method acquired the label “secondary.” This entry therefore makes no founding-author, first-use, or derivation claim for the technical name.
How we know · epistemology
A stated symbolic time-mapping convention plus calculated ephemeris positionsThe day-for-year correspondence is an adopted astrological analogy. Arithmetic can reproduce the mapped epoch under a named key, and an ephemeris can describe positions at that epoch; neither establishes that the mapping predicts events or personal traits.
Timing & comparison
Also: solar arcs
A symbolic method shifting chart positions by a solar arc; the arc’s definition and year convention must be stated.
Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
Descriptive mathematical phrase.Solar names the Sun, arc its angular travel, and direction the displacement applied to chart factors.
How we know · epistemology
Symbolic angular mappingA defined solar arc is applied to chart points by rule. Arc and year conventions must agree between programs; directed positions need not describe an actual configuration of planets.
Timing & comparison
Also: solar return chart · solar returns
A chart for the instant the Sun reaches its natal ecliptic longitude again in the selected zodiac, conventionally read for the cycle to its next return.
Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
Descriptive English compound with a Latin-derived adjective.Solar derives through Middle English from Latin solaris, from sol (Sun). Return belongs to the English word family traced to Anglo-French returner, to turn back. The compound names a recurrence to a reference position; these word histories do not establish who first coined the astrological term.
How we know · epistemology
Calculated longitude recurrence with attributed symbolic interpretationThe crossing is a computational result; annual themes are an interpretive convention. Zodiac and return location must remain explicit. A sidereal solar return alone does not implement Tajika’s specialized annual judgment.
Timing & comparison
Also: stations direct · stationing direct · direct station
The turning instant when apparent longitude changes from decreasing to increasing in the selected reference frame.
Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
Descriptive English phrase with Latin-derived vocabulary.Stationary belongs to Latin statio, a standing; direct comes from directus, straight. The qualifier names the direction resumed after the apparent pause.
How we know · epistemology
Computed apparent-motion eventA root of longitude speed is classified by motion on both sides. Its time depends on the coordinate convention; it is not a physical restart or an automatic improvement in circumstances.
Timing & comparison
Also: stations retrograde · stationing retrograde · retrograde station
The turning instant when apparent longitude changes from increasing to decreasing in the selected reference frame.
Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
Descriptive English phrase with Latin-derived vocabulary.Stationary belongs to Latin statio, a standing; retrograde comes from retrogradus, going backward. Together they name the apparent pause before backward longitude motion.
How we know · epistemology
Computed apparent-motion eventThe change of speed sign distinguishes the turning point from a merely slow position. The body continues its orbit; claims of disruption or inward focus are interpretations, not measured consequences.
Timing & comparison
Comparison of two natal charts, especially cross-chart angular relationships; it does not establish another person’s feelings.
Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
Greek through Late Latin.Greek syn- means together and astr- refers to stars; synastria became the term for comparing two people's stellar configurations.
How we know · epistemology
Cross-chart comparisonTwo independently established charts supply the compared positions. Orbs and interpretive rules determine the reading; a match cannot establish attraction, consent, fidelity or another person’s private feelings.
TTiming & comparison
Also: transits
A moving planet’s position at another date, often compared with a natal position.
Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
Latin-derived noun.Latin transitus is a passage or crossing, from transire, to go across. Astrology applies it to moving bodies passing chart positions.
How we know · epistemology
Astronomical comparisonA second instant supplies moving positions that can be compared with a fixed chart. The contact can be calculated precisely; its proposed connection to a personal event needs separate assessment.
ZTiming & comparison
A traditional sequence of periods assigned to zodiac signs, commonly started from a specified lot.
Word origin, evidence & sources
Word origin · etymology
Modern English rendering of an older technique name.Releasing expresses setting loose or starting a time sequence; zodiacal identifies its progression through signs. A single first English coiner is not established here.
How we know · epistemology
Historical period schemeA selected lot and traditional sign periods generate a dated sequence. Results depend on the starting lot and timing conventions; a named period does not independently establish a turning point in life.