Chart Settings for Modern Western and Western Sidereal Study

To compare modern Western tropical and Western sidereal work in Hermes, begin with the same date, time, location and Placidus houses. Select Tropical for the first calculation, then Sidereal and Fagan–Bradley for the second. This lets you examine the zodiac reference first. Change the house system in a later exercise.

Give the records specific names: Tropical/Placidus and Sidereal/Fagan–Bradley/Placidus identify the calculations more clearly than “Western astrology.” These are proposed study setups for this guide, rather than factory school profiles supplied by Hermes.

Which starting point does the zodiac choice change?

The Tropical and Sidereal Zodiacs guide explains the two starting points in detail. In short, a tropical zodiac ties 0° Aries to the equinox, while a sidereal zodiac uses a star-based reference identified by the ayanamsha.

The first comparison asks: From which origin am I measuring the same celestial position? A planet’s sign label can change without a physical change in the body itself.

Swiss Ephemeris §2.8.1 explains the two origins and the date-dependent ayanamsha. Do not implement a sidereal choice by replacing sign names alone. Read the planets, Ascendant/Midheaven and cusps within the same frame.

Which source supports the Fagan–Bradley choice?

In Hermes, Fagan-Bradley / Fagan-Allen is one menu entry with code fagan. The two names do not count as two separate ayanamsha options here. This is the option used in our Western sidereal example.

The accessible text of Cyril Fagan and R. C. Firebrace’s Primer of Sidereal Astrology, Chapter II, p.13, reports Garth Allen’s proposed Synetic Vernal Point longitude of 335°57′28.64″ for 1950.0. Source: Fagan and Firebrace, Primer of Sidereal Astrology, Chapter II, p.13. This documents the authors’ method; it does not independently verify the predictive successes described in their account.

Swiss Ephemeris §2.8.2 gives 24°02′31.36″ as the ayanamsha for 1 January 1950 in its Fagan/Bradley definition. The two values complete a circle:

335°57′28.64″ + 24°02′31.36″ = 360°.

One value expresses the equinox point in the sidereal frame; the other is the ayanamsha. They are not competing readings of the same field. Nor should this dated definition become a constant correction for every present-day calculation.

The modern Fagan–Bradley definition is related to reconstructions of the Babylonian zodiac. That relationship does not establish one precise origin across all historical Babylonian records. Keep the proposed historical account separate from the technical definition selected in software.

Does a Western sidereal zodiac also choose the houses?

No. The ayanamsha identifies the zodiac reference; the house method supplies a division of houses. Document the house choice through the text you follow or the purpose of your comparison.

The Fagan–Firebrace text states on p.80 that its example charts use Campanus. Its discussion on pp.81–82 also considers alternatives and expresses reservations about the value of natal houses. Source: the same book, pp.80–82. Turning the first statement alone into a compulsory Campanus rule for all Western sidereal astrology would narrow the source’s discussion.

Contemporary publishers can make different choices too. Astrodienst’s house menu lists Placidus as its default. AstroLibrary’s own report rules instead specify Equal Houses when Fagan–Bradley is selected. These are rules for those products, rather than for Hermes or an entire school.

We retain P in the initial exercise to separate the variables. Afterwards, retain Fagan–Bradley and compare P/C or P/W. In Hermes, C is Campanus and W is Whole Sign. Do not equate the Campanus house option with another coordinate view or a mundoscope calculation; examine the reference and position measure separately.

Can an aspect or house number stay the same when signs change?

A common shift in longitude preserves the longitude difference between planets. Consider an exercise in which both points and every relevant boundary are shifted by the same amount. The chosen 25° offset is not an actual Fagan–Bradley value for a date.

Let sidereal longitude = normalize(tropical longitude − 25°), where normalize returns an angle from 0° inclusive to 360° exclusive.

The signs change, while the 90° separation and placement in the second-house interval remain the same. This table demonstrates the geometry of a common shift, rather than an actual Placidus or Hermes test result. Subtracting 25° from planets while leaving the cusps in the source frame would invalidate the comparison.

Systems rebuilt from sign beginnings, such as Whole Sign, also depend on sign boundaries. Do not assume that every house number must remain unchanged when switching zodiacs. Check the returned frame, the house definition and any point near an edge.

Your interpretation can change separately. Interpreting the same 90° longitude separation through different sign imagery is a different task from changing the astronomical aspect calculation.

How do you distinguish psychological interpretation from settings?

“Modern Western” does not identify a single interpretive method. The Centre for Psychological Astrology, for example, describes its approach as bringing astrology into dialogue with depth, humanistic and transpersonal psychology. That institutional description does not establish clinical assessment or diagnostic power for a house system.

Use three separate note fields:

• Calculation: Date, UTC, place, zodiac, ayanamsha and house system.
• Interpretive source: Author, work/passage and the symbolic concept used.
• Your observation: A concrete experience that fits, or fails to fit, the statement.

Questions such as “What association does this symbol evoke for me?” and “Which experience does this account fail to explain?” make your interpretation easier to examine. Do not record a sign label as a diagnosis, personality-test score or an unchangeable property of another person. A technically correct chart calculation does not validate every psychological proposition attached to it.

How do you compare the two setups in Hermes?

For synthetic data, use 20 March 2000, 12:00:00 UTC; 41° north, 29° east; Gregorian calendar. Retain Normal, Zodiac Longitude coordinates/view and Normal cusp setting and zodiac transformation. Record your node method and other point choices, keeping them unchanged throughout the comparison.

1. Calculate A: Tropical + P. Record planetary longitudes and signs, Ascendant/Midheaven and all twelve cusps.
2. Using the same data, build B: Sidereal + Fagan–Bradley + P. Note the full ayanamsha name and value returned for the date. Keep the fagan choice distinct from other sidereal ayanamshas.
3. Examine degree differences first. Compare sign labels, short interplanetary longitude separations and house boundaries in separate columns.
4. Check house numbers from the result. For a planet near a boundary, do not decide from its rounded sign degree alone. Record any error/warning and the system actually used.
5. Calculate C: retain Fagan–Bradley and try Campanus. This is the house-system experiment. Add W as a fourth, separate calculation if useful.
6. Write the interpretation after the calculation table. Identify which changes come from the reference, which from the house method and which from your interpretation.

The A/B/C calculations for this instant have not been run here. Leave actual result cells blank until you calculate them. Include UTC and the complete setup alongside a screenshot; the title “sidereal chart” cannot supply those details.

If you move on to a solar or lunar return study, also state how you found the return instant. Displaying a chart for the same UTC in another zodiac and solving for the return instant in that zodiac are separate operations. The initial comparison in this article retains the same instant and does not solve a return-time calculation.

How can you reconstruct the two records later?

Give your study notes clear names such as “Tropical / P / same UTC” and “Sidereal / Fagan–Bradley / P / same UTC.” Add the source, data, calendar, program version, node method, coordinates, cusp setting and transformation. Include the exact ayanamsha name and dated value in the sidereal record.

If using a personal settings slot, check which preferences it retains and keep the purpose and interpretive source in your own notes. For saving a preset versus changing new-chart defaults, see the Hermes Chart Settings guide.

When you reopen the record, you should be able to identify the origin, house division and interpretive source behind the sign you read, alongside the label itself.