So anyways, we’re interrupting our planned program to bring you some extra information.

You know how last week we talked about chart shapes? Come on…it wasn’t that long ago…

Well, I’ve had a few questions about calculating the distance from one sign to the next.

I mentioned that there was less than 120 degrees of orb between Ian Thorpe’s Moon and his Neptune, so therefore it fit the definition of a bundle shape.

A few people have asked me how I worked that out.

There’s a couple of ways of doing this- an easy way and a slightly less easy way.

The easy way first:

You know how there’s 30 degrees in each sign?

If the Moon is at 29 Leo, we know there’s just 1 degree left in that sign before we run into Virgo. Right?

From here it’s a simple matter of counting the signs.

Virgo- 30

Libra- 30

Scorpio- 30

Neptune is (rounded up to) 25 Sagittarius- 25

So, we have 1 + 30 + 30 + 30 + 25= 116

Too easy.

For the not so easy way (which is still pretty easy and absolutely worth knowing if later we decide to branch out into Arabic Parts…who knows where the Toolbox will lead us?)….no, you don’t need one of those fancy pants calculators… you can convert each degree in each sign to a numerical value.

It’s known technically as Zodiacal Longitude…and it goes something like this:

Aries 0-29

Taurus 30-59

Gemini 60-89

Cancer 90-119

Leo 120-149

Virgo 150-179

Libra 180- 209

Scorpio 210-239

Sagittarius 240-269

Capricorn 270-299

Aquarius 300- 329

Pisces 330- 359

Each of your planets gets a number according to this. Round them to the nearest degree. What if it’s at, say, 29 Aries 58’? It’s up to you, but I’d take it to 30. You’re not classing that planet as being in Taurus, you’re giving it a numerical value for future calculations.

Let’s take my Jupiter as an example. It’s at 25 Cancer. Cancer starts at 90, so 25 Cancer would be 90+25= 115

My Moon is at 27 Pisces. Pisces begins at 330, so 27 Pisces would be 330+27= 357

My Saturn is at 1 Aries. Aries begins at 0, so 1 Aries is…1. Get it?

If we’re looking at Thorpie’s Leo Moon it would be…anyone? That’s right. 149. 120 +29.

And his Neptune? Right again, 265…240 + 25.

And the distance between them?

265-149 = 116

If you’re having problems reading the degrees etc, the start of each sign should be relatively well marked. Depending on the app you’re using you should be able to change the chart style to show the markings for degrees. If you’re using astro.com, the default chart looks something like the chart below. Apologies for the screenshot, but you get the idea.

Find the start of the sign and count around anti-clockwise- there are marks also for each 10 degrees.

If you’re still unsure, the table at the bottom of the chart tells you exactly where everything is.

Back next week with our regular programming…