Questions and answers
What is worth knowing before you enter a birth date, and before you order.
What if I don’t know my birth time?
You still get a chart and a reading. We calculate for noon on your birth date and leave out what depends on the hour: the Ascendant, the Midheaven and the houses. The Sun and the planets move slowly enough for their signs to hold through the day. The Moon covers about thirteen degrees a day, so if it changed signs on your birthday, we name both signs instead of guessing.
How exact does my birth time need to be?
The Ascendant moves about one degree every four minutes, so a time that is right to within a few minutes gives the most reliable chart. A time rounded to the quarter hour is still well worth entering. If all you know is “sometime in the morning”, leave the time out: a chart without an Ascendant is more honest than a chart with the wrong one. Look for the time on your birth certificate or in the hospital record of your birth.
How precise is the calculation?
We test it against an independent reference ephemeris, on ten charts with birth dates from 1933 to 2024. Planetary positions agree to within 17 arc-seconds, and the Ascendant, the Midheaven and the Placidus house cusps to within 0.2 arc-seconds. We also apply the time-zone and daylight-saving rules that were in force on the day you were born. The details are on our How we calculate page.
Is the birth chart calculator really free?
Yes. You enter your birth date and, if you know them, the time and the place. You then see the sky of that moment, your chart wheel, the positions of your Sun, Moon and Ascendant, and three short readings. The chart is calculated in your own browser; we ask for neither payment nor an e-mail address to show it.
What do I receive when I order, and when?
A detailed reading written about your chart, in chapters: the core of your nature, the way you think and speak, love and attraction, drive, growth, persistence, the twelve houses, the aspects, and the direction of your path. We send it by e-mail within 24 hours of payment, as a link to a private web reading page and as a PDF; the invoice arrives by e-mail as well. If nothing has come by then, look in your spam folder first.
Can I order a reading for two people, and what do you need about the other person?
Yes. The two-person reading looks at how your chart and another person’s meet, in a love version or a friendship version. About the other person we ask only for a first name and birth data: the date, plus the time and the place if you know them. We never contact them, and we use their details for nothing but your reading.
What is the difference between the love reading and the friendship reading?
Both rest on the same calculation: the aspects between your planets and theirs and, where the birth times are known, the houses that each person’s planets fall into in the other’s chart. The love reading includes a chapter on attraction. The friendship reading has a chapter on shared enjoyment in its place, and leaves romance out altogether. Neither gives a compatibility score or a verdict on the relationship.
Can I change my mind and get a refund?
Yes. Until the reading is delivered you may withdraw from the order, and we refund the full amount. Once the reading has arrived at your e-mail address the service has been performed in full, and the right of withdrawal ends; you acknowledge this at checkout. How to withdraw is set out in our withdrawal information.
Is a reading a prediction?
No. A reading describes tendencies: what comes easily to you, what takes effort, how the different sides of your nature work together. It does not foretell events, and it does not tell you what to decide. We offer it for self-reflection and entertainment; it is not a substitute for medical, financial or legal advice.
What data do you store about me?
For a reading we keep your first name, your birth date, the time and place of birth if you gave them, and the e-mail address we deliver to. For a two-person reading we keep the same first name and birth data for the other person, and nothing else about them. Your billing details are used for the invoice, and your card details go to Stripe alone; they never reach us. Everything else is in our privacy policy.
Which languages are available?
In English, and in a few other languages: if your browser uses one of them, the site opens in it and offers English at the top of the page. The reading arrives in the language of the site you order on. Our customer service answers in English and Hungarian.
Which zodiac and house system do you use?
The tropical zodiac and Placidus houses, the most widely used combination in Western astrology. Inside the polar circles, where Placidus houses cannot be calculated, we use whole-sign houses. Among the aspects we work with the five major ones: conjunction, sextile, square, trine and opposition.