General Issues > Authors

1. In what way is Robert Hand involved with Astrodienst? Can I contact him for questions concerning your services?
   
   Robert Hand is the author* of astrological reports and online features we offer at Astrodienst. He is not involved directly in the services offered at www.astro.com.
   
   Therefore we would like to ask you to refrain from contacting Robert Hand for any questions or comments concerning products or services at Astrodienst.
   
   * Most of the astrological texts by Robert Hand were written in the 1970s for the company Astral Research. Astrodienst acquired the company in 1998, and with it the world-wide exclusive copyrights for the texts. The same applies to John Townley and Robert Pelletier.
   
   

General Issues > Personal Counselling

1. Your services have stirred up a serious problem in me - can you help?
   
   If you have serious problems, please, do not rely on the information we provide here in our (free) services. Please, look for qualified psychological counselling. A computerised horoscope cannot replace professional face-to-face counselling.
   
   
2. How does a computer horoscope compare to personal counselling?
   
   Astrology is not a deterministic system, meaning that the course of your life is not predetermined by your birth chart and cannot be seen by the astrologer. In a personal dialogue it is possible to analyse your life situation and circumstances in the light of the horoscope. This is impossible for a computer which knows nothing outside your birth chart. Still, a computerised horoscope can give valuable hints and express central parts of your personality. It can point out chances and challenges which are inherent in your birth chart. But it is not sufficient to accompany you in very difficult situations, and certainly it cannot replace professional counselling if you are in a real crisis.
   For more detailed information, please read Dr. Treindl's interview on computer-generated horoscopes.
   
   
3. Is it possible to have personal counselling by Liz Greene?
   

   At this time and in the foreseeable future Liz Greene cannot accept any new personal clients for counselling. She is too busy with other projcts and only receives long term established clients from time to time.

General Issues > Astrology Forum

1. Do you offer a forum where interested people can discuss astrology?
   
   Yes, since 21 march 2007 we do. Please see the top menu item Forum
   

General Issues > Homosexuality

1. Do you take homosexual orientation into account in your reports?
   
   Yes, we have adjusted the software in single person horoscope readings in a way which allows the reader to change the gender of partner references in the text. Once changed, the wording in the horoscopes will be adjusted according to your preferences.
   In order to change the partner references, you can click on the link "Edit data for ..." at the top of every horoscope page and activate the respective "same sex" checkbox right beside the gender choice.
   In partner horoscopes, the gender of both persons is known, and Astrodienst has gone through great efforts in its reports and the various translations to make sure that the wording of the report is adapted, depending on the gender of both partners.
   
   
2. Is sexual orientation reflected in the AstroIntelligence reports?
   
   Yes, you can specify this information when you order your report. The wording will be adjusted according to your preferences, not the actual contents though.
   
   

General Issues > Twins

1. Why can twins - who have an almost identical chart - be very different?
   
   The simple answer is that twins divide the chart between them. Every horoscope contains several themes, archetypal figures, inner contradictions, etc. A child who is not born a twin will settle this within his or her own personality, choose to live some of these issues and keep others in the background. In the course of his/her life, some of the formerly unconscious issues will be developed and expressed. The different roles within the personality are all there as dispositions at the beginning of the child's life but will be developed at different times.
   
   For twins, this is different. They 'divide' the chart between them early in life. If they live and grow up together, they cannot both enact the same roles which are part of both their personalities but tend to choose different roles. Often, the 'alpha twin' is stronger and makes his/her choice, leaving the rest to the other. This division can change in the course of a lifetime.
   There are cases in which identical twins are brought up to be really identical, by parents who find this so cute. It is, in our opinion, psychologically very unhealthy to force children into this game. In twin research, there are striking cases of separated twins who have developed very similar lives. This is no surprise if we think along the lines described above. If the twins grow up separated, the other does not occupy the roles they would like to express themselves. Both can play the same roles, as indicated in their identical horoscopes, because the other is not in their way.
   
   Liz Greene writes in a special paragraph for the Child's Horoscope, the really excellent computerised report available at Astrodienst:
   
   The horoscope of a twin boy or girl
   This child is one of a pair of twins. He/She shares with the other twin an almost identical birth horoscope. But any parent of twins will recognise that each has his or her own distinctive personality. Twins, sharing many personality characteristics, often try especially hard to define their own psychological territory, and often they do this by a kind of "division" of the birth chart. One twin will appropriate certain features of the horoscope while the other twin will appropriate the rest. Twins tend to polarise. In their need to assert a separate individuality they may both unconsciously avoid sharing qualities which they fear will make them too like the other. The perceptive parent may observe that in early childhood twins periodically exchange roles, each one trying out personality traits which the other was displaying a little while earlier. The polarising process sets in a little later on. As they grow older and develop separate lives twins usually find it easier to own and express those qualities they "gave away" to the other twin in early life. And the unique spark of individuality within will always ensure that, even if they look alike, they will remain distinct individuals with a unique journey through life.
   
   Of course our computer cannot know whether a chart is the chart of a twin. Only when this is indicated by the person ordering the reports, the 'twin paragraph' is included by our order processing staff.
   If you want to order reports for twins, we offer the second copy, which is identical in most cases except for the name, at a very much reduced price of 25% of the regular price if ordered at the same time.
   
   
2. What kind of chart comparison can I do for twins? A composite chart turns out the same as the natal charts. Are there other methods?
   
   The composite chart does not work for twins. The only approach for a relationship chart for twins which works, as far as we know, is the one by our author Mona Riegger, as used in the report "Horoscope for Two". It can be ordered in the Astro Shop.
   Mona's approach makes a distinction between 'the older' and 'the younger', which is always defined with twins, even when born by cesarean section. Then she reverts some elements of the Davison relationship chart for the younger one, getting two distinctive charts. She is able to make very interesting deductions about the relationship between the two. Not accidentally Mona is a mother of twins.
   
   

General Issues > Eastern Astrology

1. Why don't you offer Eastern types of astrology?
   
   Astrodienst stands in the Western tradition of astrology. We are aware of the fact that in other parts of the world, there are great astrological traditions that differ from ours and are just as valid. The technical, philosophical and cultural differences in astrology vary hugely, depending on where the art is practised.
   
   We have specialised in the Western kind of astrology, and even here there are techniques that we cannot offer. It would be impossible to provide in-depth information on all the different kinds of astrology, be it Vedic, Hindu, Joytish or Chinese - and there are many more ... But there are plenty of Indian or Chinese astrology websites, full of interesting offers based on their respective tradition.
   
   
2. Why do I have a different sun sign in Indian astrology?
   
   The systems of astrology as practised in India and in the West are quite different. This accounts probably for this difference.
   Hindu astrology uses a fixed star based zodiac which was taken over from the Greeks in the Hellenistic times, when Hindu astrology had its main formative period.
   Since then, the spring equinoctial point has moved by nearly a sign, and western astrology, which uses the tropical coordinate system of modern astronomy, has shifted its sun-signs accordingly (see also: Precession and Zodiac). Hindu astrology however sticks to a zodiac of 2000 years back in time. It has developed different traditions of knowledge, also in many other respects.
   Under Free Horoscopes -> Extended Chart Selection, there are options for specialists which allow you to compute a chart also with the Hindu-style zodiac.