A date in the sky
Give a date that matters — a birthday, an anniversary, the day something happened — and this works out where the sun and moon actually stood, then shows what six different traditions call that arrangement.
The Western tropical zodiac
Twelve thirty-degree divisions counted from the March equinox — the zodiac of Ptolemy, of the Renaissance astrologers, and of every newspaper column since. The decan is a further division into thirds, each given a planet in the Chaldean order.
What this library holds on it
370 volumes in this library use the term. These use it most; the number is how often.
- Christian Astrology, Volume 2 William Lilly 1129
- Introduction to Astrology William Lilly 559
- The Message of the Stars Max Heindel 477
- Astrology Its Technics and Ethics C. Aq. Libra 475
- Esoteric Astrology Leo, Alan 388
The Indian sidereal zodiac
The same sky, measured from the fixed stars instead of the equinox. Because the equinox drifts, the two zodiacs have come apart by roughly twenty-four degrees — most of a whole sign — so a person\u2019s Western sign and their Indian one are usually different. The nakshatra is the moon\u2019s station among twenty-seven lunar mansions.
What this library holds on it
50 volumes in this library use the term. These use it most; the number is how often.
- The Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 29: The Grihya-Sutras, Part I: Sankhayana, Asvalayana, Paraskara, Khadira, translated by Hermann Oldenberg Müller, F. Max (Friedrich Max), 1823-1900 (editor) 47
- The Brihat Samhita of Varaha Mihira Varahamihira, 505-587; Iyer, N. Chidambaram (translator) 36
- The Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 30: The Grihya-Sutras, Part II: Gobhila, Hiranyakesin, Apastamba, translated by Hermann Oldenberg Müller, F. Max (Friedrich Max), 1823-1900 (editor) 34
- Folk Lore Notes. Vol. I—Gujarat Jackson, A. M. T. (Arthur Mason Tippetts) 27
- The Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 44: The Satapatha-Brahmana, Part V: Books XI, XII, XIII and XIV, translated by Julius Eggeling Müller, F. Max (Friedrich Max), 1823-1900 (editor) 27
The planetary day
The seven-day week in the Chaldean order of the planets, which is where the names of the days come from in most European languages.
What this library holds on it
15 volumes in this library use the term. These use it most; the number is how often.
- Cosmic symbolism Sepharial 36
- Astrology Its Technics and Ethics C. Aq. Libra 19
- Simplified Scientific Astrology Max Heindel 17
- Christian Astrology, Volume 2 William Lilly 15
- Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage S. L. Mac Gregor Mathers 10
The sexagenary cycle
An animal and an element, repeating every sixty years. The year does not begin on 1 January but at the lunisolar new year, which is computed here from the actual new moon after the December solstice.
What this library holds on it
5 volumes in this library use the term. These use it most; the number is how often.
- Tradition, Principally with Reference to Mythology and the Law of Nations Arundell of Wardour, John Francis Arundell, Baron 5
- The Fundamental Principles of Old and New World Civilizations A Comparative Research Based on a Study of the Ancient Mexican Religious, Sociological, and Calendrical Systems Nuttall, Zelia 4
- The Chinese Reader's Manual: A Handbook of Biographical, Historical, Mythological, and General Literary Reference Mayers, William Frederick 4
- The Chinese Reader's Manual (1910 reprint): A Handbook of Biographical, Historical, Mythological, and General Literary Reference Mayers, William Frederick 4
- The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 11 of 12) Frazer, James George 3
The Mesoamerican count
Two interlocking calendars: the Tzolk\u2019in of thirteen numbers against twenty day-names, and the Haab of eighteen twenty-day months plus five days at the end.
What this library holds on it
27 volumes in this library use the term. These use it most; the number is how often.
- Introduction to Mythology Lewis Spence 28
- Chips from a German Workshop, Volume 1 Essays on the Science of Religion Müller, F. Max (Friedrich Max) 19
- American Hero-Myths: A Study in the Native Religions of the Western Continent Brinton, Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison) 14
- A Study of the Manuscript Troano Thomas, Cyrus 14
- Day Symbols of the Maya Year Thomas, Cyrus 13
What this is, and what it is not. The positions are measurements and can be checked. The names are history: they record what a particular culture, at a particular time, called that arrangement of the sky. This library does not join those two things into a statement about anybody, and nothing on this page is a prediction, a diagnosis or advice. If you want to know what these traditions claimed the arrangements meant, the books listed under each heading say so in their own words, and they disagree with each other freely.
Where the arithmetic comes from. The sun and moon are computed from Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms, chapters 25 and 47; the lunisolar new year from the phase series of chapter 49. The file your browser just ran is generated from the same source the test suite checks — it reproduces Meeus\u2019s worked examples to the digit, and puts the end of the 13th baktun on 21 December 2012 as 4 Ahau 3 Kankin, which is the one Maya date the whole world checked at once.
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