The primer
What the three traditions actually do, what each Starwell reading covers, and the terms you’ll meet along the way. Skim it, or read it cover to cover. The catalogue is on the other side of any of these.
01, the three traditions
Most astrology sites pick one tradition and call it the truth. Each of these has hundreds of years of practice behind it. Run all three on the same chart and the agreements get conviction, the disagreements get nuance.
01, Western
The horoscope tradition you grew up with, done properly. Reads the zodiac against the seasons. Modern, archetypal, the read most TikTok astrologers default to.
02, Vedic
Indian classical astrology, with a sidereal zodiac that tracks the actual stars. Adds Nakshatras (lunar mansions), Yogas (planetary combinations), and Dasha periods (planetary timing).
03, Hellenistic
The original Greco-Roman astrology, recovered from second-century texts. Brings sect, traditional dignities, Lots, and Profections. The ancient framework most modern sites skip.
02, birth chart readings
Mini is the focused snapshot. Sun, Moon, and Rising read across all three traditions, with the points of agreement and disagreement called out plainly. About four pages.
Full is the integrated long-form. Personal planets, houses, chart ruler, aspects, Vedic Nakshatras and Yogas, Hellenistic sect and Lots, woven into one synthesised reading.
Terms you’ll meet
The Big Three
Sun (core identity), Moon (inner world, emotional needs), Rising or Ascendant (outer persona, life approach). The first three placements every astrologer reads.
Aspects
Geometric angles between planets. Conjunction, sextile, square, trine, opposition. Each carries a different quality, and tighter orbs carry more weight.
Houses
Twelve life areas. The first house is self and body, the seventh is partnerships, the tenth is career and public role, and so on.
Chart ruler
The planet that rules your Rising sign. Its placement tells you the engine of your chart.
Nakshatras
Twenty-seven Vedic lunar mansions. Each gives the Moon a specific texture beyond the sign it sits in. Vedic readings always note your Moon Nakshatra.
Yogas
Vedic planetary combinations that produce specific life patterns. Some are favourable, some require care.
Sect
Hellenistic concept. Day charts and night charts read differently. Born after sunrise, before sunset, you are diurnal. Reverse for nocturnal.
Lots
Computed points used in Hellenistic readings. The Lot of Fortune and the Lot of Spirit are the most read.
Read your own chart this way.
Get my Big Three →03, forecast readings
The Month Ahead is a 30-day forecast across Western transits, Vedic Dasha periods, and Hellenistic Profection. The days where all three converge are mapped clearly.
The Year Ahead is the 12-month version with annual Profection, Dasha shifts, eclipse season coverage, and outer-planet transits.
Timing terms
Transits
Where the planets are right now relative to your birth chart. Western timing reads transits as the primary signal.
Dasha
Vedic planetary period system. You move through long Dasha periods and shorter Antardasha sub-periods that flavour each year.
Profection
Hellenistic timing technique. Each year of life activates a different house and its Lord, called the Lord of the Year.
Convergence window
A date range where Western, Vedic, and Hellenistic timing all flag the same theme. The peak signals.
Sade Sati
Vedic transit when Saturn moves over your natal Moon, lasting roughly seven and a half years. We flag it when it is active.
Eclipse season
Two windows a year where Solar and Lunar eclipses cluster. Forecasts mark these explicitly.
Forecast readings are next in line.
Notify me →04, compatibility readings
Mini reads your relationship through Western synastry, Vedic Ashtakoot, and Hellenistic compatibility, side by side. Where the three verdicts agree, where they don’t.
Full adds the composite chart, the full Ashtakoot scorecard with Nakshatra pairing, Hellenistic sect-pair analysis, and nine relationship themes covered deeply.
Compatibility terms
Synastry
Western chart-to-chart comparison. Aspects between your planets and theirs, house overlays, the standard relationship read.
Composite
A third Western chart computed from the midpoints of two birth charts. Reads the relationship as its own entity.
Ashtakoot
Vedic 36-point compatibility scorecard, eight kootas, traditionally used for matchmaking.
Sect-pair
Hellenistic check on whether two charts share the same sect (both day, both night) or oppose. Affects which planets are easy and which are difficult.
Venus-Mars dignity cross
How well your Venus and their Mars do in each other's sign and house. Hellenistic and Western both flag this.
Nakshatra pairing
Vedic check on the Moon Nakshatras of both partners. Some pairings are smooth, some are friction.
Compatibility readings ship after Forecast.
Notify me →The whole catalogue
Birth chart is live now. Forecast and Compatibility ship next, in that order.
See the catalogue→$9 / $39