Should I upgrade my Solar Fire?
To help you decide, here are the major changes that have been made in Solar Fire from version to version. By upgrading to the latest version, Solar Fire 9, you get a complete new program containing all the additions and improvements that were made in previous versions. You also get complete revised and expanded Solar Fire and Solar Maps user guides in PDF form.
You will find your current Solar Fire version number on your installation CD, and also on the title bar at the top of your Solar Fire main screen. If you still can’t locate it or don’t know your Solar Fire serial number, phone us at 1 800 843-6682 or email Debbie@alabe.com, and we’ll figure it out for you.
To see what features you are missing, read each of the sections below down to the heading that contains your version number.
Added in Version 9 (Solar Fire 9, released in Jan-March 2014)
Compatible with Windows 10, 8.1, 8 and 7, and with 64-bit and 32-bit Vista
Greatly expanded primary directions: Dozens of new possibilities enable you to explore this time-honored predictive method in depth. Previously, in addition to offering van Dam primaries, Solar Fire computed primary directions according to the semi-arc technique promoted by Placidus. Now to determine mundane position you can choose between Placidus’ semi-arc projections and Regiomontanus’ projections based on hour circles. You can also choose the classical or modern definition of converse, and rate keys including Cardan, Placidus, Solar Birthday Longitude and user-defined. It’s all explained in the new and fuller help pages. Also, primary directions compute faster than before.
New interactive Zodiacal Releasing table: Now you can broaden your predictive repertoire with Zodiacal Releasing, a recently discovered Hellenistic Time Lord system that (much like the existing dasa and firdar tables) assigns each life period (and each of 3 levels of sub-period) to a different sign rulership. Zodiacal releasing can show periods of heightened activity or importance regarding topics like career, relationships, etc. It can also show which life periods will be easy or difficult regarding those topics. The new zodiacal releasing tables can make a valuable supplement to your other predictive techniques, helping to particularize and qualify life trends and events.
Part of Fortune houses: There’s an added “Whole Signs (Fortune)” house system that uses equal whole-sign houses with House 1 being the sign that contains the Part of Fortune. To Traditional astrologers this provided an important supplement to the information given by houses based on the Ascendant.
Financial data graphing: Downloading stock or futures prices (from free sources like Finance.Yahoo.com) and overlaying them on SF9’s graphic ephemerides can reveal striking and useful price-aspect correlations. Using regular CSV-type spreadsheet data, you can also correlate aspects with any time-series data -- things like sunspot numbers (from free government sources), the ups and downs of your business income, or even the fluctuations in your weight.
Chart file merge: The new Chart Merge Utility makes it easier to consolidate the chart files on your computer. Plus, it it makes it easy to synchronize your chart files with those on your other devices, such as your laptop or Windows 8 tablet.
Lunar Gardening calendar: Attractive new graphics on the Solar Fire calendar use the current lunar sign and phase to remind you when and what to plant, as well as when to fertilize, weed, reap and rest.
Geo/Helio toggle button: Now you can instantly see what the helio chart looks like without having to re-compute it. Conveniently situated on the Toolbar, you’ll find a new button for quickly switching a chart from geocentric to heliocentric and back again.
More Solar Maps features: Now you can enhance your astro-mapping with newly discovered bodies like Eris, Sedna and Selena. For both the radix and relocated charts, you can see new map lines showing all the locations where the Ascendant and MC would fall. You can also click to instantly see a relocated chart wheel showing all the houses. You can create your own custom paran sets, and click to turn individual paran lines on and off. Plus, there’s better zooming and panning, and you can now save the map image as a JPG (as well as a BMP or GIF) graphics file.
More interpretations: A new solar return report—plus Charubel’s interpretations for each zodiacal degree (in addition to the existing interpretations for the Ebertin medical degrees and the Sabian symbols).
More wheel and page designs: New bi-zodiac, nakshatra, Euro and other wheels, plus new pages including a 12-wheel design to help you write Sun sign columns.
More dials: Examine hidden planetary relationships in over 180 new uni, bi, tri and quad dials in both the major and minor harmonics.
More chart data: Over 200 new charts for politics, entertainment, royalty and more. Additional Aussie charts, and a new file of 100 horse racing charts including famous horses, jockeys and trainers. Like the other charts included with Solar Fire, all are carefully sourced, classified and Rodden-rated.
Better eclipse lists: Now you can view and print detailed eclipse information in one compact list, sort the list by type, date, degree, duration, Saros number or other factors, and click on any eclipse to instantly display the eclipse chart.
New social media links: Now you can click on the Help menu to quickly join the Solar Fire conversations on Facebook and Twitter.
Wider email support: Now you can email charts directly through Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and other services in addition to MAPI services like Outlook.
Page Designer: Improvements include the ability to see the inserted graphics while you are designing the page. And, to make it easier to locate the page you want, the Page Topic Index now shows a thumbnail preview of each page design.
More asteroids: Solar Fire 9 includes 15 additional asteroids from the Swiss ephemeris.
More glyphs: New glyphs in the font file ET Asteroid1a (EtAst1a.ttf) include the Galactic Center, the Super Galactic Center, and the asteroids Salacia 120347, Vulcano 4464 and Orcus 90482. Also, there’s now a glyph for the Part of Spirit in the font ET Symbol 3 (EtSym3.ttf).
Nodal Axis: Now you can view an aspect line drawn between the North and South Nodes, clearly showing the nodal axis on the chart.
Improved Appointments Manager: You can now import your contact list from a CSV (comma separated values) file such as you could create in a spreadsheet.
Atlas: An updated ACS PC Atlas provides recent time zone changes.
Added in Version 8 (Solar Fire Gold v8, released in 2011)
Compatible with Windows 10, 8.1, 8 and 7, 64-bit Vista, 32-bit Vista and Windows XP
Solar Maps: The full, professional version of Solar Maps has been added to Solar Fire v8. Now you can add map lines for stars, principal asteroids and Uranian planets, as well as midpoints and aspects to the angles; get point-and-click interpretations for the map lines and also print out locational reports, animate the transiting and progressed maps, view paran lines and lists of the cities that lie along them, plot hurricanes and earthquakes, and enjoy more customization possibilities.
Teacher/Student Feature: Now you can get your students off to a running start (or help your friends) by sending them all your preferred Solar Fire settings in one easily-installed zip file. They can, at any time, switch between your settings and their own.
Astrology Schools: A new “Astrology Schools” item in the Help menu directs a user to a web page where various categories of astrology schools are listed. If you have a qualified school, you can have it added to the list.
User-Defined points: The main wheel of Solar Fire now allows up to 50 User-Defined points, besides the 50 standard planets/points that the main wheel already displayed. The 50 User-Defined points on the main wheel can be selected from a list that is similar to the Extra Ring points (including asteroids, midpoints, fixed stars and more).
More glyphs: New glyphs for 65 asteroids, plus recently discovered bodies like Haumea and Makemake. You can display these either as User-Defined points in the main wheel or as Extra Ring points in wheels that have an extra points ring. Also, a new Glyphs tab in the Preferences enables you to select alternative forms of various glyphs, including a new glyph for Neptune.
Ashtkoot Compatibility Matching: The Ashtkoot (8-factor) system analyzes a couple’s Vedic Moon positions to score their overall chances for long-term relationship success. Fun for dating, and an additional indicator for professional synastry work.
Animated chart: You can now jump directly from the regular chart view to the Animated chart, and if any of the wheels require a different location and time zone, a new “Location” button enables you to change them. Now you can also change the time increment for advancing the chart to Weeks (as well as to the existing Years, Months, Days, Hours, Minutes and Seconds).
Interpretations: New Vertex interpretations and additional asteroid interpretations have now been added to the Standard.int file.
New Appointments module: Clients details can now be stored within Solar Fire. Session appointments can be made for a client with email reminders and receipts for the client available. Session time for the appointment can be tracked and stored. If a microphone is part of or plugged into the computer, sessions can also be recorded, stored and played back.
500 new timed, Rodden-rated (A or B) celebrity charts include today’s newsmakers plus prominent figures from the past.
New wheels and pages: A bi-wheel that shows the house cusps for both charts; wheels that show the ruling planets for terms (Egyptian or Ptolemy) and faces; new Vedic single and bi-wheels with 120-year (and longer) dasa tables; and new “chart art” pages including old-style drawings for each Sun sign, and illustrated pages for each of the 12 possible house positions of the composite chart Sun.
Arabic parts: A new set that specifically addresses commodities.
Atlas: Solar Fire v8 now uses only the ACS PC Atlas and provides recent time zone changes.
Added in Version 7 (Solar Fire Gold v7 released in 2008, v7.1 and 7.2 released in 2009, v7.3 released in 2010)
Compatible with Windows *10, 8.1, 8 and 7, 64-bit Vista, 32-bit Vista and Windows XP
* Solar Fire Gold v7 - v7.2 may not work on Windows 8 and higher
Sabian Oracle: Astrologer Lynda Hill has greatly expanded the Sabian Symbols text to several paragraphs for each degree. She discusses not only the symbolism but also shows in detail how the image applies to everyday life. Solar Fire Gold enables you to consult the Sabian Symbols randomly as an oracle, or have a Symbol interpretation pop up every day to suggest the day’s important theme.
Sabian Interpretation Report: By selecting the new “Sabian.int” interpretations file for natal charts, you can also access the expanded Sabian Symbols interpretations as a printable report that discusses the degree symbolism of every point in the chart.
Temperaments Tabulation: A new Temperaments tabulation and page object scores a chart according to William Lilly’s rules for finding Hot, Wet, Cold and Dry qualities in a chart and concluding whether the person is predominantly Choleric, Sanguine, Melancholic or Phlegmatic. It considers the Ascendant sign and ruler, the Moon’s sign and phase, and the signs of planets that aspect the Moon.
Astrology Encyclopedia: When you want to learn the meanings of astrological terms and concepts you can now just look in the Help menu to consult an expanded version of deVore’s classic astrology encyclopedia.
Chart Art: There are now hundreds of new “Chart Art” pages with attractive graphic backgrounds. These are ideal for gift-giving or sale -- or just for personal enjoyment.
New Chart Collections: Included are about 1,000 new charts of celebrities and historical figures, compiled by expert data collectors.
14 New Standard Chart Points: various chart angles and zodiac points plus Selena (White Moon), Sedna and Eris.
New Calendar module: to generate customizable daily, weekly or monthly calendar pages showing your choice of transits and progressions to any natal chart. You can access newly written interpretations, both as on-screen pop-ups and as printed reports that you can provide along with the personalized calendars. You can also export the calendar data directly to MS Outlook and other calendar applications.
New Birthday Reminders: With the little Birthday Reminder window popping up each day, you’ll never again miss your friend and client birthdays. This can also remind you when your clients are due their yearly update.
Reports (tables and listings): now include house modality emphasis, and also planetary stations. Speed to nearest sec arc if rate below 1deg/day.
New Tabulations: A new Tabs section in the Reports selection doubles the range of supporting information that is instantly available on any chart.
Astrodynes/Cosmodynes: Astrodyne tables are presented in the new Tabs section and are also available as objects to insert in your page designs.
New Firdaria Interpretations: Also available as tables in the new Tabs section, firdaria, much like Vedic dasas, divide a life into periods and sub-periods, each of which is ruled by a different planet or combination of planets. The new firdaria reports by Stephanie Johnson interpret either a person’s current firdaria periods or the succession of periods throughout life.
Enhanced Dynamic Reports: All events are now calculated with fullest possible accuracy and can be displayed to the nearest second of time. Daylight Saving Time is now automatically adjusted as required. Events that are within in orb at the start of a report may now be shown, ensuring that the report will include the long-term transits that are in effect even though they never become exact during the report period. You can now right-click on the column headers in the reports to specify which columns of information you want and what order you want to display them in.
Improved Electional Search: Now shows exact aspect hits, allows searches for events relating to natal charts, does midpoint searches, allows searches for chart shapes, and allows bracketing of conditions.
Improved Chart Search: Now allows searches for charts with aspects or synastry placements in relation to any given natal chart. Also allows searches for chart shapes, and bracketing of conditions.
New Wheel Style Preview: Allows user to browse through thumbnail images of the wheel and dial styles before choosing one.
Stationary Points: In both charts and reports stationary points are now marked with an S. User can define what is considered a station.
Page Print Preview: The View Chart screen now has a button that enables you to preview exactly what the chart will look like when printed.
File Locations: Solar Fire now uses standard Microsoft folder locations for all its files, ensuring better compatibility with newer operating systems, and making data backup easier. Now your chart files and settings are stored in Documents\Solar Fire User Files, while the Solar Fire program itself is stored in C:\Program Files.
Stellarium: Now, if you have this impressively featured open-source planetarium program installed, you can directly link to it from within Solar Fire’s View menu. This is in addition to Solar Fire's own built-in planetarium.
House systems: You can select a different default house system for Vedic charts, and the Sidereal/Tropical toggle button now also toggles the house systems as well as the zodiac types.
Retained Charts: You can now add single retained charts instead of having to retain all charts at once.
Page Designer: simpler flexible-list editing, simplified menus and various new object alignment options.
Quinquiwheels: You can now display 5-ringed charts as well as single, bi, tri and quadri wheels.
Extra Point Wheels: You can now show aspects between extra points.
Planetary Status Bar: Pop-up hints have improved format, and nearest lunar phases and eclipses have been added.
Chart View and Report View: A new “Charts...” button enables you to select different charts to view without going back to the main screen.
ACS Atlas: You can now add your own places.
Added in Version 6 (Solar Fire Deluxe, released in 2005)
Compatible with Windows 7, 64-bit Vista, 32-bit Vista, Windows XP and Windows 98se
Chart Search: powerful chart search capability using wide range of astrological criteria and chart data criteria with Boolean logic, on unlimited number of chart files. Wheel preview as well as various other sort/copy/export/email/print functions on lists of matching charts. Savable search criteria.
Electional/Time Search: powerful time search capability using wide range of astrological criteria and chart data criteria with Boolean logic.
Solar Live: provides access (in your default browser) to the latest news and links posted online.
New chart file format: comments and life events stored in single chart file.
Life events: ability to store unlimited life events for each natal chart - for use with subsidiary charts and animation module. Events may be imported from and exported to chart files.
Chart Open: MRU chart list and search multiple folders. User-definable chart details columns, sortable by any column. Chartwheel preview window.
Chart Save on exit: new dialog allowing easy save/discard for any unsaved charts to any file/s.
Restore Charts: from backup location.
Import Charts, Files and Settings: from earlier version of Solar Fire or Solar Fire on other computer.
Animation module: can now export calculated charts and jump to Chart View screen at any time. Can view pop-up interpretations. Can use dial interactively.
Page Objects: now have in-place property editing.
Save to PDF: wheels/pages/graphic ephemeris.
User-defined point order: (e.g. Sun before Moon) in listings and reports.
Date/time entry improvements: default month/year, year only entry, a/p time abbreviations, up/down buttons for d/m/y in chart data entry.
Lat/Long entry improvements: Decimal entry allowed.
Aspect highlighting and filtering on displayed and animated wheels, grids, aspect lists and preview charts. Applies line thickness changes to highlight closest orbs. Filtering by a range of criteria including aspect pattern, by individual chart point, by aspect harmonic, and others.
Transparency: selectable for some dialogs (XP/2000 only).
More resizable dialogs: e.g. "View Chart", "Chart Database", "Charts Search Results", "Chart Tabulations & Reports", all Subsidiary chart dialogs, etc.
Automated check for updates on web informs users if patch update is available.
Speaking interpretations: (WinXP or other operating systems with extra download of speech engine from MS).
Vedic Charts with optional vedic/tropical warning and new quick toggle between sidereal/tropical.
Age Harmonic Charts also in dynamic reports and graphic ephemeris.
Longitude Equivalent Declination Charts as new chart types.
Subsidiary charts: User can now keep dialog open for multiple subsidiary calculations (Apply button), and dialog stays open if user cancels anywhere in calculation process.
Lunar Phase charts: User can now define how many sequential phases to calculate, and addition of current/nearest/next New Moon and/or Full Moon chart.
Eclipse charts added under Lunar Phase charts.
Direction Arc Multipliers for Solar, Ascendant and Vertex Directions for static charts or dynamic reports.
Transit charts as new subsidiary chart type, allowing precessed/converse transit charts to be calculated.
Pages: graphical vertical declination and latitude strip boxes. Nakshatras and Chinese Lunar mansions page objects, extra column types for these in Flexible point list. Chinese Lunar Year Info.
New ayanamsas: Sri Yukteswar, JN Bhasin, Larry Ely, Takra I, Takra II.
Extended aspect pattern analysis report with extra patterns, pattern preview, chart search and Electional search by pattern.
Dynamic Reports: New automatic report start date selection options, and van Dam primary directions method. Added Jayne's directions of declination. Added arc multipliers for directions. Added Void of Course moon events (entering VOC + last aspect and sign ingress).
Graphic Ephemeris shows date/angle of cursor crosshairs. Added Jayne's directions of declination. Ability to jump forward or back in time without exiting.
Selection of displayed transiting points to optionally avoid showing chart angles and/or inner planets when viewing transits etc.
Added in Version 5 (v5.0 released in 2000, v5.1 in 2002)
Compatible with Windows 32-bit (not 64-bit) Vista, Windows XP and Windows 98se
32 Bit: Solar Fire is now a fully compiled 32bit Windows program, running on Windows 32 bit platforms such as Windows 95, 98, NT4 and later releases. It is now able to access the full power of the 32 bit computer chips (such as Pentium processors), and take advantage of powerful operating system features, such as long file names.
State of the Art Calculation Accuracy: Planetary calculations now use the Swiss Ephemeris™, based on JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) data, providing state of the art accuracy across more than 10,000 years. The full set of Swiss Ephemeris asteroid files may now also be used with Solar Fire (available for free via web download or at low cost on CD).
Astro-Locality Mapping: A new mapping module is included to allow planetary, eclipse path and local space lines to be viewed on a selection of world maps. This module is compatible with (and may be upgraded to) Solar Maps as a fully comprehensive mapping package.
Astrologer’s Assistant: A new and very powerful task automation feature which allows you to record various tasks and then save them for replay at any time. For example, you could record a task to print a chart, calculate a progressed chart and transits chart for the current date, display them together in a triwheel and print them, run a dynamic report with a years transits and progressions and then print that out. This set of tasks can then be replayed for any other starting chart at the click of a button.
Animated Charts and Pages: Any chart or viewable page can now be run as a real-time astrological clock, or animated backwards or forwards in time using customizable time steps.
New Chart File Structure: A new chart file storage structure allows users to save almost all kind of charts generated within Solar Fire, including progressed, directed and composite charts, for example. Solar Fire is backwards compatible with all earlier version chart files, and can optionally save to earlier chart file formats if required. Comments may now also be saved with subsidiary charts, and enhanced chart comment editing features make it possible to access and edit chart comments whilst casting a chart, as well as at any stage prior to saving it. Chart files may now be accessed from (or saved to) any location on your computer or network.
Toolbar Buttons: A fully customizable Toolbar contains graphical buttons for all frequently used option in Solar Fire, allowing quicker access to commonly used features.
Screen Customization: The user may now easily select background colors and graphics for the Main Screen and all data viewing screens (such as chart viewing pages), and save these preferences along with other color selections in named Color Schemes. These allow different colors to be selected for use with a printer, thus obviating the need to change color selections when printing.
Synastry Reports: Full text for synastry reports has been included as part of the standard interpretations text base, and is easily accessible via a new menu item.
Eclipse Data: 5000 years of accurate solar and lunar eclipse data has been included, plus a module to allow flexible searching based on chart contacts, eclipse types, Saros numbers etc.
Page topic index: Displayed chart pages may now be selected via a customizable topic index, where pages can be grouped into categories such as Beginner, Classical, Cosmobiology, Esoteric, Vedic etc. Many new page object have been added such as square (traditional and vedic) charts, dasas and bhuktis, flexible listings of asteroids, arabic parts, fixed stars and other bodies, etc.
Email Support: Chart data and graphical data (such as chart page displays) may now be saved into JPG file format for easy attachment to emails, and (for MAPI compliant email programs like MS Outlook and Eudora) the email program is automatically launched with the data file/s already attached or listed in the body of the message.
ASCII Data Export: A powerful and highly flexible method of exporting chart details and or positions of planets, midpoints, asteroids, stars, Arabic parts etc, which can be read in by other programs such as spreadsheets or other astrology programs.
Enhanced Dynamic Reports: It is now possible to view dynamic events of one person’s chart in relation to another person’s radix planets, to merge multiple reports into a single listing, and to include a greater range of extra dynamic points, such as fixed stars and asteroids.
Enhanced Graphic Ephemeris: You can now see an ephemeris of declination or latitude, and also include extra dynamic points such as planetary midpoints.
Enhanced Atlas: Greatly expanded with more time zone information, and more forgiving automatic lookup facilities. Default place may now have an automatic timezone lookup on startup, thus allowing automatic adjustment for daylight savings periods. Also the user may select a list of favorite places for quick and easy default location changes.
Enhanced Wheel Designs: Chart wheels may now have multiple house and zodiac rings, so that both the tropical and sidereal zodiac can be displayed on the same chart, for example. Different chart rings in a wheel may retain their own house cusps instead of always anchoring on the inner chart’s house cusps. A ring of user-defined additional points may also be displayed with a planets ring, including points such as asteroids, stars, arabic parts etc.
Enhanced Reports: New Planetary Differences report, new Midpoint Weighting Analysis (MWA) report, Adjusted Calculation Date (ACD), Chart Hylegs, star parans displayed in local times, etc.
Added in Version 4 (released in 1997)
Compatible with Windows XP and Windows 98se (possible font problems with 32-bit Vista)
New Chart Types: True Tertiary Progressed, Arc Transform, Relocated, Johndro, Geodetic, Progressed Solar Return, Wynn-Key Return, Lunar Phase Return
Page Designer: The user may design page layouts including items such as wheels, grids, points lists, house cusp lists, dignity tabulations, midpoint trees, modulus sort strips, balance of element and mode. There are about 50 different types of object which may be placed onto a page design, moved and re-sized at will. A variety of useful pre-designed pages are also supplied.
Graphic Ephemeris: A flexible and elegant graphic ephemeris may be viewed and printed, either with or without radix planetary positions. A novel features is the ability to display aspect symbols wherever dynamic points cross radix positions.
User Definable Aspects: There are a variety of new aspecting options, including moieties, unidirectional aspects, and the ability to add any number of user-defined aspects.
Dial Pointers: Dials now have moveable pointers, showing midpoints and aspects as the dial is rotated.
Enhanced Rectify Assist: The ascendant may now be adjusted directly, and the user has a choice of step increments when adjusting times or angles.
Dignity/Almuten Editor: The manner in which essential dignities are calculated may be specified by the user. Also, it is possible to define complex almuten calculations whose results are displayed in a tabulation.
Extra House Systems: Several extra house systems have been added, including Alcabitius.
Interpretations In-place editor: Interpretations may now be edited in-place, without the need to compile them, which greatly simplifies the editing process.
256, Hi-color and True-color screen support: Colors of signs, planets and aspects may now be chosen from the full range of possible colors.
Additional Asteroids: 38 additional asteroids are now available in reports and certain page objects. It is also possible to install further asteroids.
Dynamic report - extra points: Dynamic reports may now include transiting, progressing or directed midpoints for any combination of chart points. Also, the radix chart may also include midpoints, fixed stars, Arabic Parts and asteroids.
Dynamic report - primary directions: Dynamic reports may now use a method of Primary Mundane directions.
Planet Search facility: It is possible to search any chart file for planets in signs, houses, or in aspect to other planets or positions, and to combine search criteria to perform a complex search.
Chart Details Comments May Be Printed: It is possible to print summaries of chats or chart files, including chart details and optionally also any chart comments included with the charts.
TimeZone Tables for Solar Fire Place Database: The Solar Fire place database now allows the use of user editable timezone tables. These tables have been populated for several countries.
Added in Version 3 (released in 1995)
Compatible with Windows XP and Windows 98se
Context Sensitive Help: Help may be invoked by using the F1 key anywhere in Solar Fire.
New Chart Points: 8 TransNeptunians, TransPluto, Black Moon Lilith (mean)
New Chart Types: Tertiary, Minor and User Rate Progressed; Ascendant Arc and Vertex Arc and User Arc Directed; Coalescent; Prenatal (18 types, including conception and quickening); Rising/Setting using either visual or true altitude; Transiting and Progressed Lunar Phases.
Savable Charts: Return, Ingress, Prenatal and Relationship charts may also now be saved to a chart file.
Retainable Charts: Any selection of calculated charts may be retained for an indefinite number of future Solar Fire sessions. Retained charts appear immediately in the list of "Calculated Charts" when Solar Fire starts up. Any type of chart may be retained, including composite and progressed charts, for example.
Opening Charts: It is possible to search for a chart through all your chart files at once. Chart names may be displayed in a variety of orders to help find the charts you want. Charts may be opened from Nova type chart files transparently.
Chart Comments: Virtually unlimited comments or text may be added to any saved chart, and this text may be easily browsed or edited whilst opening the chart.
Deleting Charts: Any number of calculated charts may be selected for deletion all at once.
Rectifying Charts: The date of a chart may now be altered in addition to the time and the Midheaven. This makes it possible to cross date boundaries when attempting to rectify charts whose times are close to midnight.
Displayed Points: It is now possible to select a set of displayed points to apply to a single chart instead of to all charts. This makes it possible, for example, to view only the outer planets in a transits chart outside all the planets in a natal chart.
DTP: Any chart or grid displayed in Solar Fire may now optionally be copied to the clipboard or to a file in Windows Metafile format. This allows scalable Desk-Top-Publishing quality charts to be viewed and printed in many other programs.
Draconic Zodiac: The Draconic zodiac may be selected for the calculation of any new chart, in addition to the existing zodiac types. Draconic charts may be mixed with other types of charts in biwheels and reports, for example.
Angle Progression Methods: Solar arc in longitude and right ascension; Naibod in longitude and right ascension, mean quotidian (also known as daily houses). These may be used both in progressed charts and in dynamic progressions.
Progressions Day Type: May be either Standard or Bija.
Lunar Parallax: The moon’s position may optionally be adjusted to take account of the location on the earth’s surface. This correction may be used in any chart or dynamic report.
Vulcan Calculation: The position of Vulcan may be calculated using either the orbital parameters proposed by L.H. Weston, or the theory of D. Baker.
Dials: Any displayed wheel may easily be viewed as a 90 degree dial. The wheel designer may be used to design dials of any modulus for viewing in Solar Fire.
Wheel Designer: All of the supplied wheel and dial display styles are editable with a supplied utility program. You can also create your own designs from scratch if you prefer. Editable features include zodiac glyph style, house cusp style and arrows, color fills, planet and degree positions, and much more.
New Dynamic Reports Features: Dynamic reports may use any progression or direction method. From a dynamic report you can: View interpretations of a dynamic event (e.g. Transiting Uranus Square Natal Sun); Export all the interpretations for the report to a file for editing or printing in a word-processor; View a list of similar events, including the number of exact hits before and after the report; View a list of aspects made to the radix chart by an eclipse or stationary point; View a chart for the time of the dynamic event; View a graphical Time Map for all the items in the report.
New Reports: Horary - planetary day and hour, almutens of houses, ancient dignities, point count per planet; Sensitive points - zodiacal positions at which aspects are made to chart’s planets; Midpoint Modal Sort - zodiacal midpoints sorted by mode; Arabic Parts - zodiacal positions and aspects to chart’s planets; Star Aspects - zodiacal positions and aspects to chart’s planets plus keywords for each star; Star Parans - list of stars in paran to chart’s planets plus keywords for each star; Planetary Nodes - zodiacal positions of each planet’s nodes and aspects to chart’s planets.
Planetarium: Any chart may be displayed on the celestial sphere with fixed stars in the background. Special features are: Click on a planet to find the nearest star; double click on any star to get full information, including an interpretations (where available); view the sphere in equatorial, ecliptical or local coordinates, from the side or towards either pole; rotate the celestial sphere by clicking on a scroll-bar; highlight any constellation by selecting it from a list.
Time Map: Any dynamic report may be displayed graphically with bar lines indicating entering and leaving orbs along a time scale. This is scrollable and printable to allow all events in the report to be viewed.
Interpretations: Solar Fire is supplied with 2 sets of interpretations - one for natal charts and one for transits to a natal chart. It is also possible to specify a different default interpretations file for up to 7 different types of charts or dynamic events, if you create or acquire other interpretations sets. For example, you can use one set of interpretations for a natal chart, and another set for a solar return chart.
Interpretations Compiler: This now keeps track of all the text files related to a set of interpretations, and allows them to be edited directly from the compiler using Windows Notepad, Windows Write or any other word-processor of your choice.
Fixed Star Editor: Technical data and interpretations text my be entered for any fixed stars or other astronomical objects for use in the planetarium and fixed star reports.
Arabic Parts Editor: Any combinations of A+B-C may be entered for use in the Arabic Parts report.
Ephemeris Generator: It is possible to browse or print an ephemeris for any combination of planets and asteroids for virtually any time period and using any time interval.
Utilities Menu Editor: Any program may be added to the Utilities menu so that it may be called up directly from Solar Fire.
Added in Version 2 (released in 1993, released as Solar Fire Standard in 1995)
Compatible with Windows XP, Windows 98se, Windows 3.1 (and possibly 32-bit Vista)
Windows 3.1: Due to use of Truetype fonts, v2 requires Windows 3.1 - it will no longer run on Windows 3.0.
Improved Accuracy: Planets are now accurate to within several seconds of arc in most cases, with the Sun accurate to one second of arc.
Use of Glyphs: Through the use of specially created fonts, all reports may now be viewed on the screen or printed with either word abbreviations or the graphical glyphs of signs, planets and aspects, according to your choice.
Status Bars: Status bars have been added to the top and bottom of the main menu screen. These shows the current date, time, location and a continually updated Ascendant, Midheaven and planetary positions. Retrograde planets are shown in red.
Additional Menu Help: Whilst the menu is being browsed the bottom status bar gives a fuller description of whichever menu item is being browsed.
Chart Edit: Any calculated natal chart may now be copied and edited (for example to alter the house system) by a simple menu selection.
Chart Delete: Any calculated chart may be deleted from the list of "Calculated Charts" by a simple menu selection.
Coordinate Systems: It is possible to create charts in heliocentric coordinates. Heliocentric charts may be used alongside geocentric charts in synastry grids and reports, biwheels, triwheels etc.
Zodiacs: It is possible to select either Tropical or any of 7 different Sidereal zodiacs, plus the ability to define your own sidereal ayanamsa.
House Systems: There are two new house systems - Whole Signs and Hindu Bhava.
Precession and Converse Charts: It is now possible to use precession or converse timing with any progressed or return charts.
Return Charts: Planetary and asteroid return charts have been included.
Improved Place Database: It is now possible to easily edit, copy or delete places on and between place database files (without having to "mark" records first). It is also possible to type in a place name (or part of a place name) on any screen requiring a place, and the details of that place will be retrieved automatically from the current place database file, if a match is found.
Dual Wheel Display: It is possible to view or print two separate wheels on a single page.
Rectify Assist: It is possible to alter the time, or Midheaven angle of a natal chart via a simple dialog screen, after which the chart is automatically redrawn.
Faster Chart Display: Due to use of special Truetype fonts, chart displays are faster than in version 1.2x.
LMT Support: Typing "LMT" in any timezone box will cause the LMT to be calculated automatically from the longitude.
Chart Compliments: Up to six lines of text may be entered to appear on printed charts as compliments text (i.e. your name and address).
Pop-Up Menu: Clicking the right hand mouse button in the Chart View screen causes a pop-up menu with all the display option to appear. It is therefore possible to alter colors, displayed points, aspects etc, all without leaving the chart viewing screen.
Charts without Aspects: It is possible to select options to prevent aspect lines being printed in the center of any single wheels, or to prevent aspect symbols being printed in the center of each aspect line.
Enhanced Copy Ability: It is possible to copy any report (including dynamic reports) to the clipboard, with an option of either clearing the clipboard first, or simply appending the report to the current contents of the clipboard. In this manner, almost any number of reports can be "stacked up" in the clipboard for later pasting into a word processor document, for example.
3-D Aspects: (Also known as True Body Aspects) It is possible to select an option so that all reported aspects will be 3-D aspects instead of aspects of longitude and latitude or declination. (This option does not apply in dynamic reports).
Applying/Separating Aspects: All reports and grids giving aspects have been modified to show applying/separating. The calculation of these is based on the actual rate of movement of each point involved in the aspect. A separate orb angle may now be specified for applying and separating aspects.
Editable Rulerships and Weightings: Modern, Old, Esoteric and Hierarchical rulerships are supplied with the program. It is possible to edit and alter these, or to add your own definitions of rulerships of signs and decanates, exaltations and falls. You may also alter the weightings applied to planets, asteroids and other chart points for reports containing assessments of the balance of modes, elements and rays.
Midpoint Reports: Four new reports have been added - 1) Chart point sort (any modulus), for one or two charts combined; 2) Midpoint listing in planetary order or by zodiacal position (any modulus), for one chart, or for one chart combined with the primary positions of a second chart. This may be used to examine transiting positions relative to the midpoints of a natal chart, for example; 3) Midpoint axes (any modulus or orb); 4) Midpoint trees (any modulus or orb). Also the existing Aspect Analysis report has been amended to include a list of aspect patterns found in the chart (Unaspected planets, stelliums, Grand Crosses, T-Squares, Kites, Grand Trines, Mystic Rectangles, Yods, Focussed Yods).
Dynamic Reports: It is possible to define a set of "radix points" to be used in any dynamic reports, instead of the use of the "displayed points". All dynamic options have been incorporated into a single comprehensive module with the following capabilities:
Transits to Radix, Transits to Transits, Transits to Progressions, Transits to Solar Arc Directed, Progressions to Radix, Progressions to Progressions, Solar Arc to Radix, House Ingress, Sign Ingress, Parallels of Declination or Latitude, Stationary Points, Solar and Lunar Eclipses, Entering and Leaving Orb, Precessed, Converse
It is possible to view reports using either graphical glyphs or name abbreviations, both on the screen and printer. It is also possible to view or print reports using the user-defined colors for each glyph.
On-Screen Interpretations: A major new feature is the ability to browse through natal chart interpretations, plus basic definitions of a large variety of items in a charts. By simply clicking on a particular part of any natal chart which you have displayed in the chart viewing screen, you can instantly browse through an interpretation. For example, if you click on a planet, you will see an interpretation of that planet in its house and sign. If you click on a house cusp, you will see an interpretation what the sign on the cusp of that house means. If you click on the degree of a planet or house cusp, you will see information about that degree of the zodiac. If you click on a second planet (within 3 seconds of clicking on a first planet) you will see an interpretation of the aspect between those two planets. The following types of information are available in relation to a natal chart: Balance of modes, elements, quadrants, hemispheres, rays, lunar phase, chart point in house and sign, chart points rulerships and dispositor, list of aspects to a point, interpretation of an aspect between two chart points.
The following general types of information are available (without referring to a natal chart): Degrees, decanates, signs, modes, elements, houses, quadrants, hemispheres, rays, aspects, chart points, houses, signs on cusps, chart points in signs, chart points in houses, chart point aspecting another chart point.
The information supplied with the program contains interpretations of every planet in aspect to every other planet with a major aspect (conjunction, opposition, trine, square, sextile, quincunx), every planet and asteroid in each house and sign, and every sign on each house cusp, in addition to information relating to individual degrees, signs, houses, modes, elements etc.
Although the interpretations module has been designed specifically for use whilst viewing charts, it is also possible to save all text relating to a chart into a file, which may subsequently be edited or printed using a word-processing program, for example.
Interpretations Compiler: It is possible to edit/alter the interpretations supplied with the program, or to add your own entirely new text with the use of the supplied compiler. This reads through the source text files and compiles them all into a single indexed file which Solar Fire can then use to access any required paragraph of text almost instantly. It is possible to include any of a huge variety of information types, as described above.
ACS PC Atlas: It is possible to use the ACS PC Atlas instead of the Solar Fire place databases, if you have this installed on your computer.
