Fixed Star Lab

Before house systems and minor aspects, astrologers watched the bright stars. A luminary or angle exactly conjunct Regulus, Algol, or Spica was read as a marked chart. This lab applies that strict old test: nine stars, six points, two degrees of orb, nothing else.

Load a chart to test the nine classical stars against your Sun, Moon, and chart angles, the only contacts the tradition treats as significant.

The nine stars

Algol at Taurus 26.2° (J2000)

Intensity, raw power, the demon eye. Activates fierce instincts when conjunct a luminary or angle.

Aldebaran at Gemini 9.8° (J2000)

Royal star of the east, the watcher. Integrity rewarded, honor through right action.

Rigel at Gemini 16.8° (J2000)

Teacher, technical mastery, lasting legacy. Engineering of the practical and durable.

Sirius at Cancer 14.1° (J2000)

The brightest star, sacred mission. Calling that arrives larger than the personal self.

Regulus at Leo 29.9° (J2000)

Royal star of the north, the heart of the Lion. Leadership achieved by holding moral ground.

Spica at Libra 23.8° (J2000)

Gift, talent, protection. The star that signals natural ability rewarded.

Antares at Sagittarius 9.8° (J2000)

Royal star of the west, the rival of Mars. Obsession that builds or destroys; intensity demanding restraint.

Vega at Capricorn 15.2° (J2000)

Artistic refinement, the harp star. Creative pursuits that bring magnetism and influence.

Fomalhaut at Pisces 3.9° (J2000)

Royal star of the south, the mystic. Vision and spiritual aspiration with the risk of self-undoing.

How to use the Fixed Star Lab

The tradition

Classical astrology read a small set of bright stars as potent when exactly conjunct a luminary or an angle: nothing else, no orbs beyond a degree or two, no other aspects. This lab follows that strict tradition: it tests the nine most-used stars against your Sun, Moon, Ascendant, Midheaven, Descendant, and IC within 2 degrees.

Reading a contact

A star contact is a flavor laid over the point it touches, often described as a mythic assignment: Regulus on the Midheaven historically marked public elevation with a warning against revenge, Algol on a luminary marks intensity that must be channeled. Take the meanings as compressed folklore with a long observational pedigree, not as doom or destiny.

Precision matters

Star positions here are epoch J2000 and drift about 50 arcseconds a year by precession, under a degree per human lifetime, well inside the 2 degree orb. Angle contacts depend on your birth time being right to within a few minutes.