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** VERSION 7.40 **

Release notes for Astrolog version 7.40 (March 2022):

This file describes the freeware astrology software program Astrolog version 7.40 and the additions and fixes made to it, over the previous version 7.30 which was released six months ago in September 2021. The main things in this update are chart lists, more file formats, Unicode character support, and improved planetary moon and Esoteric Astrology analysis.

NEW FEATURES

Here are new additions to version 7.40 that weren't in previous versions:

1. Chart lists: Astrolog 7.40 introduces the major new feature area of “chart lists”. This means being able to store an arbitrary length list of sets of chart information. (This list is separate from Astrolog’s standard chart slots which are used to display wheels, bi-wheels, and so on.) Once loaded into the program, a chart list can be inspected, edited, displayed, and more. Here are various features that work with Astrolog’s chart list:

Open chart list: The easiest way to get a chart list is to load one from file. Astrolog’s “File / Open Chart” menu command (and -i switch on the command line) can accept various file formats containing chart lists. They include Quick*Chart format files, Astrodatabank format XML files, Solar Fire text export format files, and AstroExchange (AAF) files when multiple charts are present in sequence. These formats are described in more detail below at the start of the “Extended and Improved Features” section. Astrolog also has its own chart list format which can be loaded, described below. All these formats can also be pasted into the Windows version from the Windows clipboard using the “Edit / Paste” command.

Open chart directory: Before version 7.40, Astrolog always stored every set of chart information in a separate file. Some may have directories containing hundreds of Astrolog chart information files! Astrolog can read a directory, and open every *.as extension file within it into the program’s chart list. (This will automatically skip the special Astrolog files astrolog.as, atlas.as, and timezone.as if present.) Select a directory with the “File / Other Formats / Open Charts in Folder” menu command, or on the command line with the new -id <directory> switch. If the -Yo old file format switch is in effect, then Astrolog will open every single file in the directory (which should be used with care, since it will produce errors if files other than Astrolog chart information files are present in that directory).

Save chart list: Charts lists in memory can be saved to several different formats. The new “File / Other Formats / Save Quick*Chart” menu command (and the new -oq switch on the command line) will save the list to Quick*Chart format. The “File / Other Formats / Save Chart Exchange” menu command (-oa switch on the command line) will save the chart list to a sequence of AstroExchange format (AAF) records. The new “File / Other Formats / Save Chart List” menu command (and the new -ol switch on the command line) will save to Astrolog’s own chart list format. If the chart list is empty, then these commands will save a length 1 list consisting of the chart in standard slot #1.

Iterate chart list: In the Windows version, one can easily display the different charts in the chart list with the commands on the new “Info / Chart List” submenu. The “Previous Chart” and “Next Chart” commands (accessible via the Shift+Up and Shift+Down hotkeys) will display the previous or next chart in the list, which means the appropriate chart from the chart list will be copied into main chart slot #1, and be displayed in the wheel or other chart context. (The program will remember the index of the most recent chart list entry displayed.) Also, the “First Chart” and “Last Chart” menu commands (accessible via the Ctrl+Up and Ctrl+Down hotkeys) will jump to showing the first or last charts in the chart list.

Chart list dialog: In the Windows version, the new “Info / Chart List / Chart List” menu command will bring up a dialog showing the current chart list. In this dialog, one can see the list of sets of chart information, and the number of entries in the list. One may select a chart and click OK to copy that chart list entry into Astrolog’s chart slot #1 and display it. One may also select a chart slot, and use the “Set To Slot” button to copy the chart list entry to that slot, or use the “Copy From” button to append the chart information in that slot to the end of the chart list (which will do nothing if the charts are the same, to prevent duplicates). One can also select a chart slot, and use the “Edit Chart” button to view and change the information using the “Set Chart Info” dialog, or use the “Delete Chart” button to delete it from the chart list. The “Delete All” button will empty the entire chart list, such that the list size will be 0. Note that opening chart list files will not delete the existing chart list first (to allow one to append lists together) so deleting the list is necessary if one wants to start from a clean slate. Finally, the “Sort By” and “Filtering” sections allow one to sort the list, or filter the list to only display certain charts, as described in more detail below.

Sort chart list: The chart list can be sorted in five different ways: By date (earliest to latest), by longitude (from farthest West to farthest East), by latitude (from North to South), by name string alphabetically, and by location string. In the Windows version, the chart list can be sorted in the Chart List dialog by selecting the method and then pressing the “Sort List” button. On the command line, the five sorting methods can be selected with the new -5d, -5x, -5y, -5n, and -5l command switches. Note that sorting will affect the list in memory, and therefore remain in effect if the chart list is subsequently saved to file. There’s also a user customizable method of sorting, accessible via the -5s command switch, which will call the ~5s AstroExpression (described later) to decide how to sort.

Filter chart list: The chart list can be filtered, to display a subset of the charts in it. This is useful to focus upon a set of charts in long lists. In the Windows version, the chart list can be filtered in the Chart List dialog, by entering Name and/or Location strings which must be present in the chart, and then pressing the “Filter” or “Remove Filter” buttons. On the command line, filtering can be done with the new -5f command switch, which takes name and location string parameters. In both scenarios, the name or location strings can be empty, in which case filtering is only done upon the other parameter. The command line will always affect and reduce the number of charts in the list in memory, however in the Windows version filtering won’t affect the list in memory if the dialog is OK’ed with a filter active (which means filtering to select the chart you want won’t affect the chart list, however OK’ing the dialog with a filter on but no chart selected is a way to permanently affect the chart list). There’s also a user customizable method of filtering, accessible via the ~5f AstroExpression (described later), which (similar to the name and location fields) will also set a condition that must be met by charts in order to be present post-filtering.

Command lines: Chart lists can also be composed and worked with from the command line. The new -il subswitch is like -i, except the file loaded will have its chart information appended to the chart list. Similarly, the new -ql switch is like -q, except the chart information specified will be appended to the chart list. The new -qL switch will do the reverse, and cast a chart based on the specified index in the chart list (chart indexes start with 0). The new -qc switch takes 10 parameters to fill out all fields of chart information, including name and location strings. (It’s like a combination of -qb which sets the eight pieces of data, and -zl which sets name and location.) When saving a chart list to Astrolog’s own chart list format, the file will consist of a sequence of -qcl switches, which when loaded back in will define the complete sets of chart information and append them to the chart list. The new -50 command switch will delete the entire chart list, such that the list size will be 0.

Display all charts in list: The new -5e switch will display all charts in the chart list in sequence, in text mode. This will produce one stream of text, in which the display options selected will be done for each chart, e.g. “-g -a -5e” will display the -g aspect grid and -a aspect list for each chart in the list. Beware that combining -5e with -e will produce a huge amount of output, e.g. “-5e -e” on the entire Astrodatabank will produce 5 gigabytes of output. The new -5e2 switch is similar, except it will set chart slot #2 to each chart in the list, instead of just the main slot like -5e does. For example, “-5e -rt” will display each chart in the list transited to the time in slot #2, while “-5e2 -rt” will display the main chart transited to each time in the chart list. The -5e3 switch will do a grid of charts, and cover every combination of different charts, such that each chart is matched with each other chart exactly once, e.g. “-g -5e3” will display aspect grids for each combination of charts. Finally, -5e4 is like -5e3 but will do each combination period (which will include each chart being compared with itself, and each pair of charts will be matched with each other twice in different orders). Beware that -5e4 can produce an enormous amount of output, e.g. “-5e4 -r0 -g” on the entire Astrodatabank will produce over 4 billion different aspect grids!

Autocreate chart list: The new “Times Populate Chart List” checkbox in the Transits dialog (-5 switch on the command line) will set a special mode such that any chart that produces a list of times will automatically populate the chart list with those events (replacing the existing list if already present). This includes the -d transit to transit times, -t transit to natal times, and -Zd rising and setting charts. This useful feature allows one to produce things such as a list of Full Moons during the year, or one’s solar returns for the next decade, and then use the arrow keys to display and navigate through all these different calculated charts in the chart list.

Enumerate all charts in list: For technical users who work with AstroExpressions, there’s a quick way to automatically loop over all charts in the chart list. The obscure -Y5 switch (which can also be invoked as -5Y which does the same thing) will loop over all charts in the chart list in sequence. It’s very similar to -5e in that it can be invoked as -Y5, -Y52, -Y53, and -Y54 to loop in different manners, except it won’t display the charts cast. This switch only has effect when the ~5Y AstroExpression has been defined to look at the charts. See the ~5Y switch description for more details. This is designed to analyze the chart list, to perhaps determine data to use for later filtering via -5f and ~5f, and then displaying via -5e. For example, if you want to display all charts in the chart list with the most number of Trines to your natal chart, you first need to determine the most number of Trines any chart has (which can be counted using -Y5 and ~Y5), and the filter the chart list to those chart(s) containing that many Trines (using -5f and ~5f), and then the filtered chart list can be displayed with -5e.

2. Graphic planetary Moons chart: Astrolog’s planetary moons chart can now be displayed in graphical form. Select “Setting / Planetary Moons / Moons Chart” with “View / Show Graphics” on (or use the -8 -X command switch combination). The graphic planetary moons chart shows planetary moon placement and aspects in graphical form. Like the text mode planetary moons chart, this will show the positions of unrestricted moons, or all moons if all moon objects are restricted. The chart itself is divided into four circular parts, and shows top and side views from both geocentric and heliocentric perspectives. Front views are like Astrolog’s telescope chart viewing the planet from the perspective of the current central body, and show prominence zones making it easy to see whether a moon is leading, following, above, or below its planet. Top down views are like Astrolog’s solar system orbit chart looking down upon the ecliptic plane, and show prominence zones making it easy to see whether a moon is leading, following, close to, or distant from its planet. All views have a central circle which indicates the planet itself, in which a moon will only be displayed within the circle if it’s actually eclipsing (transiting over or occulted by) the planet from the perspective in question. If the chart includes moons from multiple planets, they will be overlayed within each area.

3. More aspects: Astrolog has added six new aspects, increasing its total number of supported aspects from 18 to 24. The new aspects are the TriDecile (108 degrees, or 3/10 of a circle) and all the 11th harmonic aspects (Undecile, BiUndecile, TriUndecile, QuatroUndecile, and QuintUndecile, for 1/11, 2/11, 3/11, 4/11, and 5/11 of a circle). These aspects have glyphs similar to those for Septiles and Noviles, which in this case is the number 10 or 11, with a Roman numeral two through five over it if appropriate. With these additions, Astrolog supports all aspects up through the 12th harmonic, or all possible aspect combinations that are x/y of a circle, where y is 12 or less. These new aspects can be turned on or off or customized in the Aspect Settings dialog, or through existing command switches.

4. Waxing/waning aspects: Astrolog now supports displaying aspect orbs as waxing or waning. Waxing means the overall difference between the two planets is increasing, while waning means the difference is decreasing. (Compare waxing/waning to applying/separating orbs in which the exact aspect is about to happen or has just happened, or to positive/negative in which the current angle is greater than or less than the aspect’s angle.) Waxing/waxing can be selected via a new radio button group in the Display Settings dialog, or else on the command line by the -gx or -ax subswitches when selecting the -g and -a switch aspect charts. All three types of orbs can be seen in the -g aspect grid chart, the -a and -D aspect list charts, and the -t and -T transit to natal charts.

5. Character encoding: Astrolog now allows one to specify the character encoding or codepage of text strings that are read into the program and stored internally. There are multiple methods to store special characters other than low-Ascii text, and in previous versions this could sometimes cause special characters to display incorrectly in Astrolog text mode or graphics mode charts. The character encoding can be selected in the Display Settings dialog, or with the numeric digit subswitch to the new -Ya switch (i.e. -Ya0 through -Ya3). This can be an important issue because chart information files or even content within strings on the command line needs to specify how to handle high Ascii bytes that are present. The four options are:

0) Default: This means don’t treat content as in any particular encoding, never do any character translation, and treat things the same way as in previous versions of the program. In previous versions, there was no character encoding anywhere. For example, Astrolog graphics charts would assume characters were in the common Latin-1 codepage, however Astrolog text mode charts emulate a command prompt and display using an old IBM codepage, so special characters that display right one in one context wouldn’t in the other. This setting will still do translation in places where it’s absolutely required, such as when reading in Astrodatabank XML files which are known to be encoded in UTF8.

1) IBM / DOS: This means the encoding used by old IBM and DOS computers, sometimes called the OEM codepage or codepage 437, which is still used today within most Windows command prompts. Unix users and even most Windows users should avoid this, however this option is still present because those who primarily run the Windows command line version of Astrolog from command prompts (which use this codepage by default) may have old chart information files that store special strings in this manner.

2) Latin-1: This means the common encoding used by most of the Western world, called Codepage ISO-8859-1 or Latin-1 (or more technically Windows-1252, which is a superset of it which also defines characters in the 128-159 byte range). For example, this is used when viewing plain Ascii text files in Windows Notepad, or characters in classic Unix command prompts (that don’t already support UTF8). Therefore, this is the generally the simplest option that will work in most cases. Like #1, this is a single byte codepage, so only covers 256 possible Unicode characters, which means other characters will be displayed as “?” if necessary. Some file formats are always saved in this format, such as PostScript and Windows metafiles.

3) UTF8 Unicode: Unlike #1 and #2, this is a multibyte codepage, which uses two or three bytes to encode high-Ascii and high Unicode characters greater than 127. Because this can cover the entire Unicode range, this option can display East Asian and other special characters. These special characters are available when saving to HTML output, and for graphics charts on the Windows screen when using system fonts. When Astrolog saves text chart in UTF8, the first three bytes in the file will be the special UTF8 byte order mark (BOM) which indicates the file is in that format (which most text readers that understand UTF8 will automatically skip over).

Output encoding: The setting above will not internally change the byte content of strings, but rather it affects how they’re displayed. (That means if special characters ever display incorrectly or as garbage character sequences, changing the character encoding setting will likely fix it.) There’s a parallel setting defined by the new -Yao switch used to set the encoding for how strings should be output to file (i.e. -Yao0 through -Yao3). Combined with the input encoding defined by -Ya, this can allow one to do codepage conversions, for example if they want to convert an Astrolog chart information file known to be in one encoding, into a different encoding.

6. Store/Recall restrictions: The new -YRo switch will store and remember a copy of all restrictions. The new -YRi switch will do the reverse and recall and restore the most recent set of restrictions saved with -YRo. This includes object restrictions, transiting object restrictions, aspect restrictions, sign and direction restrictions, rising/setting angle restrictions, and rulership set restrictions. This is useful for scenarios such as automatically finding the time of and displaying the chart for an event, in which one first restricts all objects to the set necessary to find the event, and then later restores the original set for displaying the chart. For example, to display the chart for the Full Moon this month, do: astrolog -Yq2 "-n _e =dm -YRo -R0 Sun Moo -RA0 Opp -YR0 1 1" "-i set _e -YRi"

7. Add hours: The new -+t and --t switches will add or subtract the specified number of hours to the chart being cast. Decimal numbers are accepted for partial hours. They work similarly to the existing -+m and -+y switches which adjust a chart by the given number of months or years.

8. New dialog fields: In the Windows version, several new fields have been added to dialogs for easier access to certain settings that were already in the program, but only accessible before using the command line. In the Calculation Settings dialog, there’s a dropdown for the current house system (which is equivalent to the Setting / House System submenu, but also contains additional experimental systems). In the Chart Settings dialog, there’s a checkbox for whether the standard radix chart shows decan positions (-v3 switch), and a dropdown for what to sort the aspect list chart by (-a subswitches). In the Graphics Settings dialog, there’s a field for the solar system orbit trail length (-YXj switch), a field for the solar system orbit and telescope zoom scale (-YXS switch), checkboxes for whether the display of the full star list includes bigger dots and name labels (-XU subswitches), and a dropdown for how to color cities from the atlas (-XL subswitches).

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Here's a summary of the 24 new command switches in Astrolog 7.40 that weren't in previous versions:

-gx: Like -g but generate waxing/waxing instead of offset orbs.

-ax: Like -a but generate waxing/waxing instead of offset orbs.

-qc <mon> <day> <year> <time> <dst> <zone> <long> <lat> <name> <city>: Like -qb but takes additional parameters for name and city.

-qL <index>: Compute chart based on index within chart list.

-ql [..]: Like -q but also append chart info to chart list in memory.

-il <file>: Like -i but also append chart info to chart list.

-id <dir>: Open all chart files in directory into chart list.

-ol <file>: Write current chart list to Astrolog chart list file.

-oq <file>: Write current chart list to Quick*Chart format file.

-5: Set whether transit event charts autopopulate chart list.

-5e[2-4]: Display text charts for all charts in chart list.

-5[dxynls]: Sort chart list by date, lon, lat, name, or city.

-5f <name> <city>: Filter chart list to charts containing substring.

-50: Delete all charts in chart list, leaving an empty list.

-+[t,m,y] [<num>]: Cast chart for num of hours/months/years in future.

-Ya[0-3]: Set text input encoding to none, IBM, Latin-1, or UTF8.

-Yao[0-3]: Set output encoding to none, IBM, Latin-1, or UTF8.

-YR[oi]: Store or recall all object, aspect, and other restrictions.

-Y5[2-4]: Enumerate all charts in chart list via ~5Y AstroExpression.

-~7 <string>: Set notification for esoteric interpretation Rays.

-~Zd <string>: Set filter for rising and setting events.

-~5s <string>: Set sort order method for charts in chart list.

-~5f <string>: Set filter for charts in chart list.

-~5Y <string>: Set notification for chart enumeration via -Y5.

Here's a summary of the 8 new menu commands in the Windows version of Astrolog 7.40 that weren't in previous versions:

File / Other Formats / Open Charts in Folder...

File / Other Formats / Save Chart List...

File / Other Formats / Save Chart Quick*Chart...

Info / Chart List / Chart List...

Info / Chart List / Previous Chart

Info / Chart List / Next Chart

Info / Chart List / First Chart

Info / Chart List / Last Chart

EXTENDED AND IMPROVED FEATURES

A list of improvements to existing features in Astrolog 7.40, such as new things you can now do with old features that you couldn’t do before, or ways that existing features work better than before:

1. Quick*Chart import: Astrolog can import Quick*Chart format files. Such files can be selected with the -i switch, selected in the Windows version Open Chart dialog, or even be pasted in from the Windows clipboard. This format stores multiple charts, and so will populate Astrolog’s chart list (and the last chart read will be put into chart slot #1, so a file containing just one chart is immediately displayed). This file format usually has the “.qck” extension, and contains a simple text list of charts in fixed width fields, with each line containing 100 characters. Files are recognized as Quick*Chart format because their lines are always 100 (or sometimes 101) characters long.

2. Astrodatabank import: Astrolog can import Astrodatabank format files. Such files can be selected with the -i switch, selected in the Windows version Open Chart dialog, or even be pasted in from the Windows clipboard. This format stores multiple charts, and so will populate Astrolog’s chart list (and the last chart read will be put into chart slot #1, so a file containing just one chart is immediately displayed). These are XML format files with an advanced schema containing records for a variety of astrological data, although only fields corresponding to Astrolog’s chart information fields will actually be read in. Files are recognized as Astrodatabank format because their first character is “<” for a HTML-like tag. The Astrodatabank can be viewed online at https://www.astro.com/astro-databank/ and the actual Astrodatabank XML itself (of which the full database currently contains 65258 charts in a large 187MB file) can be downloaded from: http://www.astro.com/adbexport/

3. Solar File import: Astrolog can import text files created by astrology program Solar Fire. Such files can be selected with the -i switch, selected in the Windows version Open Chart dialog, or even be pasted in from the Windows clipboard. This format stores multiple charts, and so will populate Astrolog’s chart list (and the last chart read will be put into chart slot #1, so a file containing just one chart is immediately displayed). This doesn’t mean the actual Solar Fire file binary format which has the “.SFcht” extension. Instead, Astrolog can import Solar File’s text file export, which is created in Solar File by doing “File / Open / Chart Database / Send/Add / Email All Charts”. Make sure “Attach chart file to email” and “Text File” are turned on, and “Include chart comments” and “Include life events” are off. The human readable “charts.txt” attachment produced is what can be loaded in to Astrolog, which is a quick way to transfer a Solar File chart database into Astrolog. Files are recognized as Solar Fire export format because their first line is blank, followed by records for each chart which are lines for name, time, and location, separated by blank lines.

4. AstroExchange list import: Astrolog can import multiple charts at once that are stored in the AstroExchange (AAF) format. Astrolog could open AAF format files in previous versions, but would only read a single chart. Now, a sequence of AAF records in the same file will be loaded into the chart list (and the last chart read will be put into chart slot #1, so a file containing just one chart will still be immediately displayed). For example, the http://www.astro.com site can show saved charts in AAF format, if you click the “aaf” button in the “Stored Astro Data” section of your profile. Once there, you can simply select the lines of AAF text for one or more charts, copy it to the clipboard, then do “Edit / Paste” in Astrolog for a quick way to transfer your Astro.com profile charts into Astrolog.

5. Graphic transit calendar: Astrolog’s graphic calendar when showing aspects within each day box (-K -XA switches) will show transit to natal aspects when in a comparison chart mode, showing aspects between the transiting date (such as set in the Transits dialog) and the natal chart. For example, turn on the “Info / Comparison Chart” menu command (-r0 switch) to show it. This will do progressed to natal instead if in “Progressed to Natal” node (-rp switch). To distinguish this from standard transit to transit calendar aspects, transiting planets will be flagged with a “T” prefix, and progressed planets with a “P” prefix.

6. House influences: Astrolog’s influence chart (-j0 switch) now includes house influences in addition to sign influences. A list of houses ranked by influence will be displayed separately from the existing list of signs ranked by influence. This will also include summaries for the four house “elements” (called Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha houses in Vedic astrology), and the three house “modes” (Angular, Succedent, and Cadent). Each house has a base influence, and houses also receive influence based in the influence of the planets within them. Because house influences are now tracked separately, sign influences no longer receive influence if a planet is in the corresponding house (e.g. a planet in the 10th house no longer adds influence to Capricorn). The old behavior of only tracking sign influences is still available if the -l0 switch is in effect. Also, sign influences now have the option to add influence to the decanate sign placements of each planet, if the -v3 switch is in effect.

7. Esoteric interpretation: Astrolog’s Esoteric Astrology chart (-7 switch) will display a special Esoteric Astrology interpretation when interpretations are turned on. For each planet in sign placement, Astrolog will display the esoteric meaning of the planet, the Ray of the planet and its meaning, the esoteric lesson of the sign, the mundane and esoteric mantras of the sign, the spiritual type of Light of the sign, the sign’s associated Labor of Hercules, the mundane/exoteric and esoteric ruler(s) of the sign, along with the sign’s Ray(s), and any standard, esoteric, or Ray rulerships. If the “text influence chart shows sign influences too” setting (-j0 switch) is on, then house placement will be esoterically interpreted too. Astrolog will display the esoteric meaning of the house, the Ray(s) of the sign corresponding to the house, and any house Ray rulerships.

Also included is an esoteric “Ray chart” for the person or time in question. A true Ray chart can’t be determined objectively, but it’s possible to give clues or hints to a Ray chart based on astrological influences. Displayed will be the potential Rays for soul, personality, mental vehicle, astral vehicle, and physical vehicle. For each vehicle, each of the Seven Rays is given a score, and these Rays and their percentages are displayed in order. Each vehicle focuses upon two or three planets that align with it, which may include Earth and Vulcan, so for best results these objects should be unrestricted. For the planets in question, the Ray vehicle score calculating process looks at the Rays of the planet’s sign, along with the Rays of the exoteric and esoteric rulers of the sign (and the Rays of their dispositors or planets which rule those signs). Some signs have multiple or veiled exoteric or esoteric rulers, in which case both lines are considered. If the “standard radix chart shows decan positions” setting (-v3 switch) is on, then also considered will be the sign based decanates. (This means looking at four things: Standard sign placement and ruler, along with 1/3 score for the decanate placement of the sign ruler, 1/3 score for the sign of the ruler of the decanate, and 1/9 score for the decanate placement of the decanate ruler.) Finally, for the three vehicles, Rays are proportioned to align with the common distribution of Rays for those vehicles: Physical Ray is usually 7, 3, or 1. Astral Ray is usually 6, 2, or 1. Mental Ray is usually 5, 3, 4, or 1.

The text used for the mantras, spiritual Light, and Herculean Labors is from the book “Esoteric Astrology” by Alice A. Bailey. The text used for esoteric planet meanings, esoteric sign lessons, and esoteric house meanings, along with the main design logic of the astrological influences Ray chart itself, is by Esoteric Astrologer BL Allison.

8. Esoteric years graph: The Ray ephemeris (i.e. the graphics version of the esoteric chart, or the -7 -X switches) can now display multiple years instead of just one. Similar to the graphic standard ephemeris, the Ray ephemeris will look at the “Years to Span” field in the Transits dialog (or the -EY switch setting on the command line).

9. Planetary moons interpretation: Interpretation of the planetary moons chart (-8 -I switches) now will include interpretations for the meanings of moons in prominence zones, i.e. moons that are leading, following, close, or distant from their planet.

10. Progressed ephemeris improved: The text and graphics mode ephemeris charts (-E switch) now work better with progressions, when displayed with progressed mode on. The ephemeris will now show a progression of the fixed natal chart to the span of dates covered in the ephemeris, instead of just graphing a changing natal chart to a single fixed progression date.

11. Transit influence orb options: The transit influence charts (-D and -T switches) can now display aspect orbs in terms of positive/negative difference, applying/separating in time, or waxing/waning in offset, based on the value of the -aa and -ax switch settings. Before, these charts always only displayed applying/separating. Positive/negative orbs will be prefixed with “pos” or “neg”, applying/separating will be prefixed with “app” or “sep”, and waxing/waning with “wax” or “wan”.

12. Astro-graph transits: The text mode astrocartography chart (-L -r0 switches) now has a version that displays when in relationship comparison mode. This relationship astrocartography chart will map the lines of both sets of planets separately, and indicate latitude crossings or parans where one chart’s lines crosses the other chart’s lines. For example, this can do a relationship comparison between two people and see where their lines cross, or compare between transit and natal charts to see how current energies are affecting one’s natal energies. Each line will be marked with “#1” or “#2” to indicate the two chart slots, or else be marked with “T.” or “P.” or “N.” to indicate transiting, progressed, or natal.

13. Astro-graph angle restrictions: The text mode astrocartography chart (-L switch) will now respect the rising and setting restrictions, which when set will prevent the display of latitude crossings involving the Ascendant, Midheaven, Descendant, or Nadir.

14. Astro-graph Fortune: The Part of Fortune will now appear in the text and graphics mode astrocartography charts, as well as in the world map and globe charts. This object used to always be prevented from appearing, however it can be plotted in the sky since it has a definite longitude and latitude. (The Part of Fortune’s latitude is normally 0, but if the 3D houses setting is on it will have its latitude also set using the Part of Fortune’s formula.)

15. Telescope labeling: The graphic telescope chart (-XZ switch) and local space chart (-Nl -X switches) will label the axes on the edges of the chart to the nearest arcsecond, if the chart is zoomed in enough. Before, the edges would only display markings to the nearest arcminute, which might not show anything at high zooms.

16. Aspect table ordering: The list aspects help table (-HA switch) will now also include a list of all aspects in order of their angle in degrees. This will list the number of degrees covered by each aspect based on the aspect’s orb, along with the number of degrees covered by the gaps between aspects. If any aspects are defined with wide enough orbs so that their areas overlap, this condition and the amount of overlap will be indicated. (When overlap causes more than one aspect to be valid, Astrolog will choose the aspect with the earlier index to be in effect.)

17. More headers: Text mode charts now include more informative headers. For example, relationship modes of charts such as the aspect grid and aspect list will display header information for both charts, instead of just the first chart. The text mode relationship list (-v -r0 _X switches) will include header lines for the cities and longitude/latitudes, in addition to just the names and dates. Also, when progressed mode is on, the date being progressed to will be included.

18. Larger internal font: Astrolog’s internal vector graphics text can now be displayed at odd text scales such as 150%. Before, the 50% offsets only had a different effect if an actual system font was chosen for text. To support this, Astrolog has a new internal font 150% size of its standard font, which it uses for this scale.

19. New Vertex glyph: Astrolog can display a new Vertex glyph, which is the abbreviation “Vx”, which in current years in the most common form of this glyph. Astrolog can still do its classic Vertex glyph of a cross with split ends. Either glyph can be selected with a new option in the Graphics Settings dialog, or with the -YXG switch (in which the Vertex glyph is selected by the 1’s place digit, which means the other glyphs have all been moved “left” one digit). For example, -YXG 1 will be the classic Vertex glyph, while -YXG 2 will be the new “Vx” glyph.

20. Eclipse aspect glyphs: Astrolog can display special aspect glyphs indicating eclipses, in which a filled in Conjunction glyph indicates a solar eclipse or occultation, and a filled in Opposition glyph indicates a lunar eclipse. These glyphs are available in Astrolog’s default font, and the filled in Conjunction is available in the Hamburg font. Eclipse glyphs can be seen in Astrolog’s aspect graphic grid, calendar, and transit graph charts (-g, -K, and -B switches).

21. More Astro glyphs: The Astro font will now display glyphs for the objects Chiron and Lilith. The Astro font has always contained these glyphs, but Astrolog used to always display its own default glyphs for these characters instead.

22. No sidebar houses: The graphic sidebar for wheel charts won’t list the 12 house cusp positions when the house system is set to Null. That’s because the Null system has the 1st house always at 0Aries, so its position and that of the other cusps is obvious. This can be used as a way to remove listing the cusp positions, if one wants more room to list the planets below them.

23. More ayanamsas: In the Windows version, the “Zodiac Setting / Ayanamsa” dropdown has been populated with five additional sidereal zodiac ayanamsas: Deluce, Usha-Shasi, Yukteshwar, J.N. Bhasin, and Galactic Center (in which the Galactic Center is at 0Sag). The offsets of existing ayanamsas have been adjusted slightly to more accurately reflect how Swiss Ephemeris computes them, although they’ve changed less than an arcsecond in all cases.

24. Generic zodiac offset: The standard zodiac offset setting (the optional ayanamsa parameter to the -s switch) is now only applied when the sidereal zodiac is active. This makes it easier to switch back and forth between the standard tropical zodiac, and the sidereal zodiac with an ayanamsa set. There’s a new separate setting which is always applied to all charts (both tropical and sidereal). It’s set by a new optional parameter to the -Ys switch. For example, to invert all zodiac positions 180 degrees for charts in the southern hemisphere, set this parameter to 180 when the chart latitude is below 0 degrees South.

25. Hotkey extended: In non-GUI graphics versions of Astrolog such as X-Windows, pressing the "v" key will display the standard listing of chart positions in the console (-v switch). Now, if in relationship comparison mode, it will output the relationship comparison version of the text listing.

26. Degree time zones: Time zones may optionally be specified as a degree value to use instead of hours. Treat this like a longitude value, but with the prefix “m”. For example “m90e00” means 90 degrees East, which is interpreted the same as “6:00E” for 6 hours East. This was added to support Astrodatabank files, which sometimes specify time zones in this manner.

27. TZ database updated: Astrolog’s time zone change information has been updated to use TZ database version “2022a” (instead of “2021a” which was used before). This new version has a few subtle corrections and improvements to various areas in the world.

PROGRAM CHANGES

A few changes that aren't new feature additions or bug fixes have been made to Astrolog 7.40, which means certain old assumptions are no longer valid. Most can be considered improvements, but they still change existing behavior. A list of these follows (which aren't useful to be aware of unless you have used previous versions of the program):

1. Lilith glyph changed: Astrolog’s “European” glyph for Lilith has been modified to have a cross below the backwards facing crescent, which in current years is the most common form of this glyph. This glyph has also been made the default, over Astrolog’s “Classic” glyph of a circle with a slash through it. The classic Lilith glyph is still an option in the Graphics Settings dialog (-YXf switch).

2. Vertex glyph changed: Astrolog’s default glyph for the Vertex has been changed to a “Vx” abbreviation, which in current years in the most common form of this glyph. The classic Vertex glyph of a cross with split ends can still be selected using a new option in the Graphics Settings dialog (-YXf switch).

3. Transit event restrictions moved: In the Windows version, the transit time event restriction settings (for sign, direction, latitude, and distance changes) have been moved from the Setting / Display Settings dialog to the Chart / Transits dialog, which makes them easier to notice and change when doing transit charts.

4. Previous button renamed: In the Windows version, the “Previous” button in the Chart Info dialogs has been renamed to “Recall”. This aligns better with the Animate / Recall Chart Info menu command, and is better named too since it recalls a particular chart that was set before, which isn’t necessarily the immediately previous chart that one worked with.

5. Sidereal offset differentiated: The zodiac offset / ayanamsa setting (in the Setting / Calculation Settings dialog, as well as set with the parameter to the -s switch) now only applies when the sidereal zodiac is on, and doesn’t also apply to tropical zodiac charts. This is more intuitive and allows one to easily switch between standard tropical charts, and sidereal zodiac charts with any particular ayanamsa. There’s a new separate setting (the optional parameter to the -Ys switch) that gets applied to all charts, and can be used to cover obscure scenarios such as adding 180 degrees to all charts in the Southern hemisphere.

6. Monthly offset changed: The -+m and -+y switches will now add the specified number of calendar months or years to the chart, instead of exactly 30 or 360 days. That’s more intuitive and useful behavior.

7. Thicker lines display: When the thicker lines graphics setting is on, it will no longer apply to text and glyphs drawn at the smallest scale. At the smallest scale, text and glyphs with thick lines were hard to read, since their lines were overlapping.

8. MAC graphics dropped: The #ifdef MAC and #ifdef MACOLD compile time options have been removed. The old Macintosh libraries they referenced no longer exist, and were only used for ancient Macintoshes with non-Intel chips. Modern Macs are effectively Unix boxes, and Astrolog can be compiled on them using the Unix settings (including with X11 graphics).

BUG FIXES

Here are bugs or other issues with version 7.30, all of which have been corrected in 7.40:

1. Sidereal nutation inaccuracy: Sidereal zodiac positions included nutation for house cusps and related objects like the Vertex and East Point. Normally, nutation (which can cause an offset of up to 18 arcseconds) is only added to tropical zodiac positions.

2. Wheel chart coloring: In graphic wheel charts, the short line segment between a planet glyph and the point along the ring where the planet actually lies is a gray color for retrograde planets. This coloring wasn’t always applied correctly for single ring wheels.

3. Sector placement inaccuracy: The Gauquelin sector charts would include house cusp and related objects like the Vertex and East Point that shouldn’t ever be present (even if unrestricted). House cusps don’t rise or set like planets do, and therefore don’t have proper timings to produce Gauquelin sector positions, and so the positions presented were inaccurate.

4. Rising and Setting display: Text mode rising and setting times charts covering more than a day (such as produced by the -Zdm or -ZdY switches) would label the day of the week incorrectly, and always show the day of the week for the current chart.

5. Rising and Setting sidereal: The graphics rising and setting chart (-Zd -X switches) would produce inaccurate timings if the sidereal zodiac were in effect.

6. Progressed times inaccuracy: Showing exact times of progressed to natal aspects (-tp switch) would produce somewhat inaccurate times. This was especially visible when doing progression times for a single day (-tpd switch) which would always produce times late in the day near midnight.

7. Transit influence positions: The transit influence charts (-D and -T switches) wouldn’t display the positions of each body in parentheses correctly, for parallel aspects when that setting was on. These positions will now show the proper vertical position of each body. They will also now respect the -sd display format switch, allowing positions to be displayed as decimals.

8. Calendar year glitch: Showing the graphic calendar chart for an entire year, with daily aspects included and visible (-Ky -XA switches) would change the current chart month to December.

9. Calendar monthless bug: Showing the calendar chart for a saved chart which has no time or space, would show garbage text for the month and potentially crash. The same issue would happen for the text mode wheel chart (-w -X switches) for the chart date in the middle of the wheel.

10. Calendar parallel aspects display: Showing the graphic calendar chart with daily aspects included, and the parallel aspects setting on, would incorrectly mark Sun/Moon (contra)parallel aspects as New or Full Moons.

11. Astro-graph omission: Text mode astrocartography charts wouldn’t include all possible latitude crossings in the list of parans, and would sometime miss seeing Ascendant/Descendant crossings near the poles. For any astrocartography chart with a given number of uniquely positioned objects, with any orientation of its lines there should always be the same number of crossings total.

12. Local space display typo: In the graphic local space chart (-Nl -X switches), zooming in enough to show latitudes to the nearest minute along the left/right edges would display them as “W/E” instead of “N/S”.

13. Local space zoom bug: In the graphic local space chart (-Nl -X switches), zooming in too much would distort the lines so they only display at 90 degree angles.

14. Planetary moons chart limitation: In the text mode planetary moons chart (-8 switch) the left hand Lead/Close columns would always show percentages from the geocentric perspective, even if set for heliocentric or some other central body.

15. Planetary moons custom limitation: When customizing an object slot to be a planetary moon computed by a JPL Horizons Web query (-Yej switch) the resulting object would be computed correctly, however it wouldn’t be treated as a planetary moon. For example, it wouldn’t appear in the planetary moons chart, it wouldn’t be automatically colored based on the planet it orbits, and so on.

16. Telescope glitch: In the graphic telescope chart (-XZ switch), Uranus’ rings would sometimes be displayed as having a rotation of greater than 360 degrees. Ring rotations should always be between -180 and 180 degrees.

17. Timeless relationship limitation: Charts with no time or space (such as composite) wouldn’t work right when used as inputs into other relationship charts, such as composite or synastry.

18. Progressed and natal limitation: The progressed and natal comparison chart (-rp switch) would use the normal set of object restrictions for the progressed planets, instead of the alternate set of transit restrictions.

19. Chart sphere limitation: Chart spheres in relationship comparison modes would only display up to the first four chart slots, and not include chart slots #5 or #6.

20. General meaning crash: The list of general meanings (-HI switch) would crash when star objects were unrestricted.

21. File import limitation: Astrolog would fail to parse command lines in files, specifically the very last line in a file, if those files didn’t end with a CR or LF character.

22. Compiler error: Compiling Astrolog would give an error about the function AddTime() not being found, if Astrolog were compiled with "#ifdef GRAPH" on, and also if all of the interactive screen graphics options like "#ifdef X11" and "#ifdef WIN" were off.

ASTROEXPRESSION UPDATES

AstroExpressions or “Astrolog Expressions” are programmable customizations that don’t require recompiling the program, and can be considered an extended form of command switches. AstroExpression functions and related command switches have been updated in version 7.40. This section can be ignored if one doesn’t use this feature area.

The following lists all new AstroExpression functions. The name of each function is listed, followed by the type of its return value and the expected types of its parameters (if any). Numbers will automatically be converted to Integer or Real as needed.

MonL, DayL, YeaL, TimL, DstL, ZonL, LonL, LatL: Int(Int) or Real(Int): Chart list indexed chart. Like the functions used to access chart information in specific slots, but returns chart info for the referenced chart index in the chart list.

ListCnt: Int. List count. Returns the size of the chart list in memory.

ListCur: Int. List current position. Returns the index of the most recent chart list entry displayed with the commands on the “Info / Chart List” submenu.

List1: Int. List index #1. Returns the index into the chart list used for chart slot #1 when using any of the -5e switches.

List2: Int. List index #2. Returns the index into the chart list used for chart slot #2 when using the -5e3 or -5e4 switches.

TiltXY: Real(Int, Real). Coordinate transformation. Tilts the longitude and latitude coordinates referenced by custom variables Int and Int+1, by Real degrees. Returns the adjusted longitude. For example, “TiltXY %x Oblique” will translate between ecliptic and equatorial coordinates (effectively doing the same as the -sr switch) assuming longitude and latitude are stored in @x and @y.

=Obj: Int(Int1, Int2, Int3, Int4). Copy object. Copies the contents of object Int2 in chart slot Int1, to object Int4 in chart slot Int3. This includes the object’s longitude and latitude position, horizontal and vertical and distance velocity, and its house position. Returns the longitude position.

=Hou: Int(Int1, Int2, Int3, Int4). Copy house cusp. Copies the contents of house cusp Int2 in chart slot Int1, to cusp Int4 in chart slot Int3. Returns the house cusp longitude.

DCol: Int(Int). Set draw color. Sets the color to use for the other D-prefix drawing functions, and returns that color.

DDot: Int(IntX, IntY). Draw pixel. Sets a pixel in the current draw color at a coordinate. Returns the drawing color used. Functions like this can be called in contexts such as the ~Q2 AstroExpression to add additional content to a graphics chart after it’s been drawn.

DSpot: Int(IntX, IntY). Draw spot. Sets a small cluster of five pixels in the current draw color at a coordinate. Returns the drawing color used.

DLine: Int(IntX1, IntY1, IntX2, IntY2). Draw line. Draws a line in the current draw color from a start coordinate to an end coordinate. Returns the drawing color used.

DBox: Int(IntX1, IntY1, IntX2, IntY2). Draw box. Draws a rectangle outline in the current draw color between two opposite corner coordinates. Returns the drawing color used.

DBlock: Int(IntX1, IntY1, IntX2, IntY2). Draw block. Draws a filled in rectangle in the current draw color between two opposite corner coordinates. Returns the drawing color used.

DCirc: Int(IntX1, IntY1, IntX2, IntY2). Draw circle. Draws an ellipse outline in the current draw color between two opposite corner coordinates. Returns the drawing color used.

DDisk: Int(IntX1, IntY1, IntX2, IntY2). Draw disk. Draws a filled in ellipse in the current draw color between two opposite corner coordinates. Returns the drawing color used.

_Ys, _Ys1, _Y8, _Ya, _Yao, _Yoo, _Yb, _YXa, _YXW: Bool or Int. Program setting. This list of functions queries the Astrolog setting that’s set with the identically named command switch. There are only a few exceptions or alternate behaviors: Functions ending with “1” access the first argument passed to the switch without that digit. Function _Yoo is a Boolean for the -Yo switch setting, and includes a extra “o” in its name to avoid a case insensitive name conflict with _YO.

There are several new command switches which allow one to define AstroExpression “hooks” into areas of chart calculation or display, to modify or filter their results. All AstroExpression related command switches start with the tilde (~) character:

1. ~7 <string>: Notify Ray chart. This is called when the esoteric chart is being interpreted (-7 -I switches) and allows tracking Ray charts. On entry, @v through @z contain the top percentage Rays for physical, astral, mental, personality, and soul. Return value is ignored. For example, to track the count of each possible personality Ray in custom variables @a through @g, do: ~7 " =u %y = Var @u Inc Var Var @u"

2. ~Zd <string>: Filter rising and setting times. On entry, @x is the planet, @y is the event (0=rises, 1=zeniths, 2=sets, 3=nadirs), and @z is the azimuth in degrees (0 = due East, 90 = due North). Return value is whether to display the event. For example, to only show rising events within 10 degrees of due East, do: ~Zd "And Equ @y 0 Lt LonDist @z 0.0 10.0"

3. ~5s <string>: Adjust chart list custom sort order. This is called when the -5s switch is invoked. For each chart in the chart list, the chart will be cast, and then the AstroExpression called. On entry, @z is the current chart’s index within the chart list. The return value is the weight to give this chart, to be used when sorting. (After all charts have been given weights, the chart list will be sorted from lowest to highest weight.) For example, to sort by Sun/Moon angle (which will place New Moon charts first in the list and Full Moon charts last) do: ~5s "LonDist ObjLon O_Sun ObjLon O_Moo" -5s

4. ~5f <string>: Adjust chart list custom filter. This is called when the -5f switch is invoked (and also in the Windows version in the Chart List dialog when the “Filter” button is pressed). For each chart in the chart list, the chart will be cast, and then the AstroExpression called. On entry, @z is the current chart’s index within the chart list. The return value is whether to keep the chart in the list (in which zero means delete). For example, to only show charts from the chart list which have the “Moon in the 7th house and Jupiter aligned [Conjunct] with Mars”, do: ~5f "And Equ ObjHouse O_Moo 7 Equ AspLon O_Jup O_Mar -1 A_Con" -5f "" ""

5. ~5Y <string>: Notify chart list enumeration. This is called when the -Y5 switch is invoked. For each chart or chart pair in the chart list, the chart(s) will be cast, and then the AstroExpression called. On entry, no custom variables are set, and return value is ignored too. However AstroExpression variables List1 (and List2) will be the index of the current chart(s) being considered. For example, to check which chart in the chart list forms the most Trine aspects to a natal chart (i.e. to transfer that chart to slot #2), first load the natal chart in slot #1, then do: ~5Y "DoGrid2 =c 0 For %i 0 Objs If ObjOn @i For %j 0 Objs If ObjOn @j Do =e GridNam @i @j If Equ @e A_Tri =c Inc @c If Gt @c @d Do =d @c =a List1" ~1 "=d 0" -5Y2 -qL2 ~@a

LICENSE

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Astrolog and all chart display routines and anything not enumerated below used in this program are Copyright (C) 1991-2022 by Walter D. Pullen (Astara@msn.com, http://www.astrolog.org/astrolog.htm). Permission is granted to freely use, modify, and distribute these routines provided these credits and notices remain unmodified with any altered or distributed versions of the program.

The main ephemeris databases and calculation routines are from the library SWISS EPHEMERIS and are programmed and copyright 1997-2008 by Astrodienst AG. The use of that source code is subject to the license for the Swiss Ephemeris Free Edition, available at http://www.astro.com/swisseph. This copyright notice must not be changed or removed by any user of this program.

Additional ephemeris databases and formulas are from the calculation routines in the program PLACALC and are programmed and Copyright (C) 1989,1991,1993 by Astrodienst AG and Alois Treindl (alois@astro.ch). The use of that source code is subject to regulations made by Astrodienst Zurich, and the code is not in the public domain. This copyright notice must not be changed or removed by any user of this program.

The original planetary calculation routines used in this program have been copyrighted and the initial core of this program was mostly a conversion to C of the routines created by James Neely as listed in 'Manual of Computer Programming for Astrologers', by Michael Erlewine, available from Matrix Software.

Atlas composed using data from https://www.geonames.org/ licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Time zone changes composed using public domain TZ database: https://data.iana.org/time-zones/tz-link.html

The PostScript code within the core graphics routines are programmed and Copyright (C) 1992-1993 by Brian D. Willoughby (brianw@sounds.wa.com).

More formally: This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful and inspiring, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details, a copy of which is in the LICENSE.HTM file included with Astrolog, and at http://www.gnu.org

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* Walter D. "Cruiser1" Pullen :) ! Astara@msn.com *

O Astrolog 7.40 Web site: http://www.magitech.com/astrolog/astrolog.htm O

* "Who am I, What am I? As I am, I am not. But as we are, I AM. And to *

O you my creation, My Perfect Love is your Perfect Freedom. And I will be O

* with you forever and ever, until the End, and then forever more." - GOD *

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