New house and card options: where should you look?
Sunshine (Makransky), the Huber Age Point and Octotopos are being prepared for the next Hermes release. Bhāva madhya is already part of the Vedic settings.
Changing house boundaries, following an age cycle and studying an eight-place arrangement are different tasks. These four additions to the guide do not mean four new house algorithms. The 18 October source inventory contains 49 house-menu choices: 9 main, 24 specialist and 16 point-based entries. The Huber and Octotopos cards are not added to that total.
Sunshine (Makransky): a separate choice from Treindl
Sunshine (Makransky) sits alongside the existing option in the House System list. The earlier entry is now identified as Sunshine (Treindl). Both relate to Bob Makransky’s Sunshine construction, but use different solutions; do not assume identical cusps at every date and location.
Swiss Ephemeris documents the Treindl and Makransky solutions separately. Keep the birth data and other settings fixed and change only this choice. At high latitudes in particular, record all twelve cusps and any calculation warning. A fallback calculated with another method should not be presented as a Sunshine result. Swiss Ephemeris programmer’s guide.
Bhāva madhya: the ASC at the centre of the house
This option was already available under Vedic settings → Bhāva; it is not a new implementation. Equal houses span 30°. With the ASC at the centre of the first house, its first boundary is 15° before the ASC. This differs from Whole Sign, where the entire rising sign is the first place.
Does the degree given in your lesson mark a boundary or a centre? Establish that first, then record zodiac position and house placement separately. Our Bhāva madhya explanation in the Jyotish and KP guide works through the distinction.
Huber Age Point: a timing card rather than a house option
The Huber Age Point card on the chart’s left rail follows an age point starting at the ASC. In the Huber method, each house represents six years and a complete cycle spans 72 years. Houses need not have equal widths: the same six-year period can cover different arcs of longitude. This is a symbolic age cycle, distinct from a planet’s actual motion or secondary progression.
The card brings together the age point’s position, house-cusp and Low Point passages, and aspects to planets. The Huber approach uses Koch houses. If you select another house arrangement, read the method note on the card and retain the house system in your working record. This symbolic cycle does not establish inevitable life events. Huber Age Progression: six-year phases and the 72-year cycle.
Octotopos: a separate card for eight places
Octotopos (8 places) examines eight places in its own left-rail information card. Opening it does not turn the main wheel into an eight-house drawing; the twelve-house wheel is retained. Keep a place in this card distinct from a house number on the main chart.
Record the eight-place approach you are studying and the headings shown by the card. Then read the planet’s wheel position and the card’s place information separately. The method’s name alone does not mean that every historical eightfold arrangement is implemented identically.
How should you record the comparison?
Keep the program version, card or menu name, house system, date, time, location and warnings together. Change one thing at a time. Comparing Makransky with Treindl tests house calculations; opening Huber examines an age cycle, while opening Octotopos examines another place arrangement. This keeps the cause of each difference visible.
When you select “Fortune in the first house,” “Geodetic · Placidus,” or “Gauquelin Sectors,” can you read the twelve divisions on the chart in the same way?
First, identify what the choice changes. Some options anchor the houses to another point. Others divide the celestial sphere through a different geometry. Gauquelin uses a measure of 36 sectors.
The 24 specialist house choices in Hermes can be organised into six families: three equal-house arrangements, three Sun/Fortune references, three Sripati/Pullen options, eight other spherical constructions, six geodetic choices, and Gauquelin. This grouping helps you learn the menu; it does not make every entry an independent base algorithm.
For the main methods, start with our guide to Placidus, Whole Sign and the nine main house systems.
1. Equal houses: distinguish the beginning from the centre
Knowing that each house spans 30° does not tell you where the first one begins. These three specialist choices use different references:
| Option | Construction | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Equal · first house at 0° Aries · N | The first house starts at 0° Aries; subsequent cusps follow at 30° intervals | The Ascendant need not be the first cusp |
| Equal Houses from MC · D | The tenth cusp is the MC; the first cusp is MC + 90° | The MC does not mark the beginning of the first house |
| Vehlow Equal · V | The first cusp is ASC − 15°, placing the Ascendant in the middle of the first house | Distinguish the Ascendant degree from the house boundary |
Positions are normalised to 0°–360°. For example, 370° corresponds to 10° on the circle. These definitions are described in Swiss Ephemeris §6.2.5.
Assume an Ascendant of 18° Leo and an MC of 7° Taurus
These values illustrate the construction. They are not Hermes results for a specified date and location.
- N: The first cusp is directly at 0° Aries.
- D: The MC at 7° Taurus is 37°. The first cusp is 37° + 90° = 127°, or 7° Leo.
- V: The ASC at 18° Leo is 138°. The first cusp is 138° − 15° = 123°, or 3° Leo.
All three arrangements have houses of 30°, but their first cusps occupy different degrees. Add the Equal Houses from ASC method covered in the main house systems guide, and its first cusp would be exactly 18° Leo.
2. Starting from the Sun’s sign or the exact Fortune degree
This family anchors the first house to a planet or a calculated point. The distinction in the Hermes calculation is:
| Option | Beginning of the first house |
|---|---|
| Solar Sign · SOLAR | 0° of the sign containing the Sun |
| Whole Signs from Fortune · ROTW:FORTUNA | 0° of the sign containing Fortune |
| Fortune in the first house · ROT:FORTUNA | Fortune’s exact longitude, followed by equal houses of 30° |
If the Sun is at 8° Capricorn, Solar Sign begins the first house at 0° Capricorn. Placing the Sun’s exact degree on the first cusp would be a different arrangement.
For Fortune at 24° Libra, the two Fortune options differ as follows:
| Boundary | Whole Signs from Fortune | Fortune in the first house |
|---|---|---|
| First house | 0° Libra | 24° Libra |
| Second house | 0° Scorpio | 24° Scorpio |
An illustrative planet at 10° Scorpio lies in the second house in the first arrangement and in the first house in the second. Keeping the planet’s longitude fixed lets you examine the effect of the boundary.
Fortune is a calculated point rather than a planet. Keep its calculation rule unchanged in the two trials and record the resulting degree. That way, you are not changing Fortune’s calculation at the same time as the house arrangement.
If you use Solar Sign for a study with an unknown birth time, record the time you entered. This choice does not recover the birth time or remove uncertainty in the Moon and other time-dependent positions.
3. Sripati and the two Pullen options
These three methods can be studied together to investigate how ecliptic quadrants are divided. They should not be expected to produce identical boundaries.
| Option | Defining distinction |
|---|---|
| Sripati / Hindu Bhava · S | In the Swiss implementation, Porphyry boundaries are calculated first; new cusps are derived from the midpoints of the arcs between successive boundaries |
| NeoPorphyry (Pullen SD) · L | Distributes quadrant-size differences through a sinusoidal pattern of differences in house widths |
| Pullen SR · Q | Uses a sinusoidal pattern of ratios between house widths |
When comparing Sripati, distinguish the boundary a program calls a “cusp” from the point a source calls the “house centre.” A menu label of “Hindu Bhava” does not establish that every Jyotish source uses the same boundary definition.
Neo-Porphyry is an earlier name for Pullen SD; Hermes includes both names in one menu label. SR is a separate method. Walter Pullen’s own explanation describes the difference between SD’s differences and SR’s ratios. It also explains how SD can reach a house of zero width in very narrow quadrants. This is one reason to examine more than the appearance of a smooth chart wheel.
Compare Porphyry with S, L and Q using the same data. Record all twelve cusps and the arcs between consecutive boundaries. Their relationship to quadrants does not make the intermediate houses interchangeable.
4. Seven other ways to divide the celestial sphere
For this group, a useful first question is: Which circle or celestial motion is divided, and how is that division transferred to the ecliptic?
The celestial equator is Earth’s equator projected onto the celestial sphere. Right ascension is an angular coordinate measured along that equator. Using the same coordinate does not require two methods to choose the same house boundaries.
| Option | Basic construction | Question for comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Morinus · M | Equal equatorial divisions transformed into ecliptic coordinates | Does the ASC match the first cusp, or the MC the tenth? |
| Meridian (Axial) · X | Equal equatorial divisions from a meridian reference, matched to ecliptic points with those right ascensions | How does the first cusp differ from the ASC? |
| Carter Poli-Equatorial · F | Equatorial divisions beginning from the Ascendant’s right ascension | How does the tenth cusp differ from the MC? |
| Horizon (Azimuth) · H | Division of the horizon into directions | Are the east direction and the Ascendant distinguished? |
| Krusinski-Pisa · U | Division of a great circle through the ASC and zenith, projected to the ecliptic through meridian circles | Can you identify the defining great circle? |
| APC Houses · Y | A construction from divisions of the Ascendant’s declination parallel above and below the horizon | Are opposite cusps exactly 180° apart? |
| Sunshine (Treindl) · I | Trisection of the Sun’s diurnal and nocturnal arcs | What happens when the Sun does not rise or set? |
| Sunshine (Makransky) · J | Makransky’s solution of the Sunshine construction | How do its cusps and high-latitude warnings compare with Treindl on the same data? |
These geometries are described in Swiss Ephemeris §6.2.7–6.2.15. Morinus and Meridian use similar vocabulary, but transfer the equatorial divisions to the ecliptic differently. Sunshine is also distinct from Solar Sign, which begins at the start of the Sun’s sign.
Do not assume that every pair of opposite cusps in APC and Sunshine is exactly 180° apart. Record all twelve boundaries supplied by the program rather than filling in an opposite cusp by adding 180°.
When comparing the name Krusinski-Pisa with Krusinski, Pisa or Goelzer in other sources, compare their definitions too. The Swiss documentation discusses the publication history around these names and the same construction. Counting the names does not count additional algorithms.
5. Six geodetic choices and their place reference
Geodetic houses construct a reference linking geographical longitude to the zodiac. In the Hermes calculation, 0° Greenwich corresponds to an MC reference of 0° Aries. The selected house method is then applied.
Under this definition with Tropical and Normal settings, 29° east corresponds to a geodetic MC reference of 29° Aries. This does not say that a normal birth chart for that time has the same MC. The example illustrates the origin of the geodetic mapping.
| Geodetic option | House method applied to the shared place reference |
|---|---|
| Geodetic · Campanus · GEO:C | Campanus |
| Geodetic · Koch · GEO:K | Koch |
| Geodetic · Placidus · GEO:P | Placidus |
| Geodetic · Porphyry · GEO:O | Porphyry |
| Geodetic · Regiomontanus · GEO:R | Regiomontanus |
| Geodetic · Topocentric · GEO:T | Polich-Page |
The six options apply different house divisions to a shared reference; they do not supply six different Greenwich origins. Distinguish angles in a geodetic chart from the actual local horizon angles for the birth moment.
A relocation study examines the same instant at another place, using that place’s local angles and houses. To investigate geodetic construction, first compare normal P with GEO:P at the same location. Then hold the location fixed and compare GEO:P with GEO:O. These two trials separate a change of reference from a change of house method.
GEO:T is also a house-method choice. Its “Topocentric” label does not establish that the planetary observation centre has changed automatically.
6. Gauquelin’s 36 sectors and a twelve-house display
Gauquelin Sectors · G uses 36 sectors of daily celestial rotation. Its numbering direction and measure differ from the conventional twelve houses. The Swiss Ephemeris programming manual, §16–16.1, describes sector position as a separate calculation.
The Hermes calculation preserves the 36-sector data while selecting particular sector beginnings for its twelve-house representation. Four reference points in that mapping are:
| Gauquelin sector beginning | Reference | Corresponding cusp in the twelve-house representation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ASC | First |
| 10 | MC | Tenth |
| 19 | DSC | Seventh |
| 28 | IC | Fourth |
Do not transcribe a planet in “sector 10” as a planet in “house 10.” Nor are the 36 sectors thirty-six equal slices of 10° along the zodiac: they concern divisions of daily arcs.
In your trial, record the sector value, house value and method separately. Include any polar-region calculation warning. The availability of a sector calculation does not validate historical Gauquelin interpretations or statistical claims.
In what order should you try the options in Hermes?
Choose one family for each study. You can use the synthetic sample 20 March 2000, 12:00:00 UTC, 41° north, 29° east; Gregorian calendar. Make the correct time-zone conversion if the form requires local time.
Keep Tropical, True Node, Normal cusp setting, Normal transformation and Normal coordinate view fixed. In the Fortune comparison, preserve the same Fortune calculation preference. The illustrative degrees in this article are not product results for this date.
| Distinction to investigate | Suggested comparison | What to record |
|---|---|---|
| Starting points of equal houses | E → N → D → V | ASC, MC, first and tenth cusps |
| Beginning of a sign versus an exact point | ROTW:FORTUNA → ROT:FORTUNA | Fortune and the first two cusps |
| Sun reference | SOLAR | Sun’s degree and the first cusp |
| Division of quadrants | O → S → L → Q | Twelve cusps and the arcs between them |
| Equatorial constructions | M → X → F | Relationship of ASC/MC to the cusps |
| Other spherical constructions | H → U → Y → I → J | Directions, projection, opposite boundaries and warnings |
| Geodetic reference versus house method | P → GEO:P; then GEO:P → GEO:O | Reference MC, house boundaries and method used |
| Sector versus house | G | Separate records of sector information and the twelve-house display |
For every trial, record the version, selected option, method used in the output, and any warning. If an option cannot be calculated, do not attribute results produced by a different method to the original selection.
The Hermes Chart Settings guide explains the controls and purposes of saved preferences. Our Placidus–Whole Sign walkthrough provides a starting exercise.
When adding a specialist option to your notes, specify three things: where the houses began, which construction divided them, and which measure you are reading. That will help you recognise when two similar-looking charts are answering different geometrical questions.
Frequently asked questions
What are geodetic houses?
Geodetic houses link geographical longitude to the zodiac: in Hermes, 0° Greenwich corresponds to an MC reference of 0° Aries, so 29° east gives 29° Aries. The six geodetic options apply different house methods to that reference.
What are Gauquelin sectors?
Gauquelin Sectors divide daily celestial rotation into 36 sectors. Hermes keeps the 36-sector data and, for its twelve-house display, uses sector beginnings 1, 10, 19 and 28 for the ASC, MC, DSC and IC.
What is the difference between Sunshine Makransky and Treindl?
Both relate to Bob Makransky’s Sunshine construction but use different solutions. They need not give identical cusps at every date and location, so compare them on the same data, especially at high latitudes.