Lehman Associates brings you the best astrological software from around the world.
Why does Lehman Associates sell more than one brand of software? Because we see merits in all of the software we sell. Lee will tell you that in any typical day, she's got Sirius, Solar Fire, Solar Spark and Millenium all up and running on one or both of her computers. Often, she is also running Solar Maps or Solar Writer. Why? Because each program has unique features that are useful to her.
Ok, so Lee is a professional with over thirty years of experience. If you are a beginner, which software should you start with?
First, let's be honest. When are you beginning astrology, you probably don't need a program at all. What you do need is to be able to calculate horoscopes for yourself, your family and your friends. A good site for getting these calculations for free is: http://www.astro.com/horoscope. Think of this site as a learning curve. You can easily use this free service to make your way through your first half dozen astrology books - maybe more.
But at some point, what you need is something more robust. And this is why I recommend that you start with online calculation - because you need to be able to see your pathway within astrology to know what is your best choice in software path.
What makes this true? The answer involves the extent to which you expect to become involved in different styles of astrology - and what they are. The two major fields of astrology that push the envelope are classical astrology and Vedic (Jyotish) astrology.
Lehman Associates is not a Solar Fire dealer - but both Lee and Maggie Meister have worked with Esoteric Technologies since Solar Fire Version 4 in beta testing and new product ideas.
Lee would compare the flagship programs - Solar Fire, Sirius, and Millennium as follows.
- Solar Fire has a very robust set for features that range over modern astrology, classical astrology, and Vedic astrology - although most Jyotish astrologers prefer stand-alone Vedic programs. Solar Fire works with a series of additional programs, such as Solar Maps, Solar Writer, Imperial Astrologer and Jigsaw.
- Sirius and Solar Fire have a substantial overlap in techniques - but not a complete one. Each has features the other one doesn't. Sirius has a more graphically-based system for examining transits, as well as a much more complete research capability. The mapping module in Sirius is more complete - but Esoteric Technologies has the stand-alone program Solar Maps which is more complete still. Both Esoteric Technologies (Solar Fire) and Cosmic Patterns(Sirius) have a series of stand-alone report writers that can be purchased as additional modules, as well as several each that come as part of the program.
- There is an overlap with the timing and signatures in Millennium and in Sirius. In Millennium, the group module, tabulations and rectification modules overlap with Jigsaw, although they do emphasize different techniques. Both Millennium and Sirius have a very robust rectification module - and I for one like to use different programs on this, so I can compare how they overlap. In fact, I find a greater overlap between Millennium and Kepler 7.0/Sirius than with Solar Fire - because Solar Fire is less based on graphic transits and model building.
- Sirius has the most extensive collection of art wheel types appropriate for sending to clients.
- Millennium has a number of features unique to itself, like its Time Tunnel, vertical graphic ephemeris, circle chart module, and daily aspects systems. Many of these unique features are designed to make it very easy to do on-the-fly predictions with a client on the phone.
Having said all this, there is one technical consideration which I must mention: and that is atlases. AIR Software and Esoteric Technologies use the ACS Atlas, while Kepler 7.0/Sirius use Cosmic Pattern's own atlas. Sadly, at this point in time, this is a significant difference. While twenty years ago, the ACS Atlas was considered state-of-the-art, this is no longer true. The ACS Atlas has not been kept fully up to date, whereas the Cosmic Patterns one has. I have found discrepancies in charts for the Gulf War, and for clients born outside the US. These discrepancies are sufficiently frequent that I always check the time zone through Kepler 7.0/Sirius, and I do not believe that professional astrologers can afford to be without one of these programs because of time zone accuracy questions.
Esoteric Technologies - brought to you by the people who wrote Solar Fire, Solar Maps, Solar Writer, Imperial Astrologer and their other products enhance the power of Solar Fire, or run as stand-alone products.
Cosmic Patterns - Features an entire line of software, from Pegasus for beginners, the Kepler 7.0 for intermediate to advanced students and professionals who only use modern techniques, to Sirius for professionals and the technically obsessed. There is only a minimal cost to upgrade from one product to the next higher in the series.
AIR Software - This line of software provides excellent visualization tools, especially for the professional astrologer who does phone consultations and doesn't like to generate pages and pages of print-outs to end up in a garbage dump.
Lehman Associates - Our own software is designed to help teach you primarily classical concepts, using the combined audio and visual capabilities of your browser.
PO Box 19185, Asheville NC 28815-1185
