April 27, 2013

added "Topocentric" (Polich/Page) system of primary directions (under the pole of the significator and in zodiaco).

April 11, 2013

from the Riyal documentation: PRIMARY DIRECTIONS based on "in mundo" positions can be calculated according to any of the following systems: Placidus (semiarc), Campanus, Regiomontanus, Alchabitius, and Horizontal (acimutal). Other house systems produce a warning and take the user back to the main menu so that one of the above house systems can be selected. All the classical aspects plus the quincunx can be used. The directions include the lunar node, converse and direct arcs, conjunctions to the angles (as promisors as well as significators), and directed planets aspecting themselves. Rapt parallels, the Part of Fortune, conjunctions to the intermediate cusps, and progressed or "dynamic" directions, as well as securing the calculations for polar regions will be added later on. All the directions up to 100 degrees are displayed ordered according to increasing age.

The arcs of direction are calculated using one single iterative algorithm that is valid for all house systems and is based on the planets "mundoscope" house positions. This simple approach gives the same results as the "classical" trigonometric methods with and accuracy of 0.001 degrees, and is possible thanks to the mathematical principles and properties of the mundoscope with respect to primary directions and progressions explained by Roberto Luporini from Italy. In a graphic mundoscope we can find the exact dates of all directions and the corresponding mundane positions indirectly, by moving the wheel through time by hand until the mundane aspect becomes exact, but the Primary Directions module calculates and lists all the possible directions directly, based on successive approximations of the directed mundo positions, without having to write or develop a specific formulation for each house system. The same algorithm calculates them all, according to the choice of house system by the user.

I wish to express my sincere thanks to Roberto Luporini for his encouragement and his help in debugging, improving, and testing the algorithm.

March 4, 2013

Riyal now has Oktotopos and Mundoscope wheels, and displays galactic longitudes in "classical" ephemerides format and in comparison "4 SYSTEMS" tabular display

February 26, 2013

Riyal can now save to a file the contents of ListView windows. Please see the list of changes here.

February 19, 2013

Riyal now has the ability to construct tabular ephemerides by numerical integration.

February 2, 2013

Riyal now incorporates VSOP2000 as an optional alternative to VSOP87 to calculate the Moon, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Mars. The accuracy is documented in the "readme" file.

January 17, 2013

New Riyal version has the ability to generate ephemerides of a single fixed star among the 1000+ from its internal catalog. It can also search for the times when a selected fixed star changes enters a zodiacal sign ("fixed star ingress")

June 20 , 2011

I have opened a new bulletin board in these pages, named "OCCAM'S RAZOR". It is a general public astrological discussion forum, with emphasis on the subjects deal with in this web site, mainly the Black Moon, the centaurs and Kuiper Belt objects, sidereal astrology, research methodology, and the theoretical basis of Astrology. I am collecting there a lot of scattered material I have written in different internet forums, so the new bulletin board will contain all the more recent astrological musings and open discussions, as well as the research material that is missing from recent years in this Centaurs website. And hopefully, it will also contain YOUR ideas and contributions. Anybody can become a member and participate. Please visit the forum here.

May 9, 2011

- RIYAL FULL UPDATE (version 3.5). This is the first full update since 2006.

April 11, 2010

- THE VIRGIN AND MOTHER EARTH. An ongoing series of meditations and commentaries (23 so far) on the spiritual meaning of "praying to the Virgin" and of "mother earth". It is written in the form of an extended exercise, with emphasis on organic observation and thinking in the way described by Rudolf Steiner.

September 7, 2008

- PSYCHOLOGICAL ASTROLOGY AND JUNGIANISM - A CRITICAL VIEW

ABSTRACT: There is a tendency among astrologers today to identify the term "Psychological Astrology" with only one particular brand, characterized by the adoption of Jung's analytical language. This paper offers a broader definition of the field of psychological astrology and a critical perspective of the effects of jungianism on modern Astrology. The example of the commonly accepted meaning given to Neptune is developed in some detail to show the effects of psychological reductionism and the lack of authentic social thinking. The paper presents succintly what the author thinks are the logical flaws from the astrological point of view of popular ideas such as synchronicity and the identification of planets with Jung's psychological archetypes. The focus of the presentation is on the negative effects resulting from the uncritical adoption and subsequent abuse of jungian ideas, and its aim is to provide some rudiments from which these negative effects can be further examined and discussed.

Download RIYAL version 3.9