METHODOLOGY · LAST REVIEWED JULY 25, 2026

How Moira calculates astrology timing

A reading has two layers: what can be calculated, and how that evidence is interpreted. Moira keeps them separate.

This page documents the method behind Moira's natal chart and timing windows. It shows what the product knows, what it infers and what remains uncertain.

1. From local birth details to a moment in time

A date, local civil time and birthplace are converted into a universal timestamp. The place supplies latitude and longitude; the date and region determine the historical time-zone offset. A modern time-zone assumption can shift an older birth by an hour or more.

The timestamp is used to calculate ecliptic longitudes for the Sun, Moon and planets. Without a birth time, Moira does not assign a natal ascendant or houses. It can still calculate placements whose uncertainty range does not cross a sign boundary.

2. The natal chart is the reference frame

Moira uses tropical zodiac longitudes and whole-sign houses for its classical timing structure. The ascendant determines the first whole-sign house when a reliable time is available.

Sect distinguishes day and night charts from the Sun's position relative to the horizon. This changes interpretive emphasis, not the underlying longitude.

3. A transit is geometry before it is language

A transit compares a current planetary longitude with a natal longitude. Moira calculates angular separation, then checks whether it falls inside the configured orb of a supported aspect.

• Aspect: the target angular relationship.
• Orb: distance from that target angle.
• Applying: the moving planet is approaching exactness.
• Separating: it has passed exactness.
• Closest point: the nearest sampled or refined moment in the search window.

A closest point is a timing reference, not proof that an event must occur then.

4. Why a timing window is wider than one date

A transit enters its configured orb, approaches exactness and later leaves it. Retrograde motion can produce several contacts. Moira therefore represents a forming, exact or integrating period rather than isolating one dramatic date.

Planetary speed changes the scale. Lunar contacts may be brief; Saturn contacts can extend across weeks or months.

5. Annual profections provide the chapter

Annual profections advance one whole-sign house for each year of life, repeating every twelve years. The activated house and its traditional ruler provide a broad frame from one birthday to the next.

This is a symbolic timing technique, not an astronomical transit. Moira keeps it distinct from moving-planet calculations.

6. Four clocks, read from wide to narrow

1. Chapter: annual profection and recurring life area.
2. Season: slower transits gathering over time.
3. Week: shorter collective and personal rhythms.
4. Timing window: approach, closest point and integration.

A supportive annual chapter may contain a demanding week; a quiet day can exist inside a major transition.

7. Calculation and interpretation are separate

The evidence layer contains positions, aspect, orb, phase and time window. The interpretation layer turns that structure into plain language and reflective questions. Generated wording is not astronomical evidence and does not alter the calculation.

If interpretation fails, Moira preserves the chart and evidence rather than hiding them behind a generic error.

8. How Moira handles uncertainty

• No birth time means no asserted ascendant or natal houses.
• A Moon that changes sign during an unknown-time birth date is marked uncertain.
• Approximate times can make angles and house boundaries unreliable.
• Computed closest points are not guaranteed event times.
• Astrological symbolism is a reflective framework, not a diagnosis.

9. Appropriate use

Moira is designed for reflection, journaling and observing patterns. It should not replace medical, mental-health, legal or financial advice, or claim certainty about another person's motives.

10. Corrections and review

This page is reviewed when calculation logic, techniques or uncertainty handling changes. To report a mismatch, contact [email protected] without including unnecessary personal data.

The calculation can locate a pattern in time. It cannot decide what that pattern must mean in a life.

Last reviewed July 25, 2026. Moira documents product behavior, not scientific validation of astrology.