HOW TO: How I use TMSA (and other things)

[Jim Eshelman]

I want to mention how strong a tool Mikestar's TMSA program has become. He still has a lot of plans for it coming down the road - many new sub-versions along the way to 1.0 (and a bunch of refinements in the version he's currently working on, things that make it easier to use and a few bug fixes) - but it's already become an amazing tool.

Simple example: If I do a return chart for someone here on the forum, historically I'd then pull out the Excel spreadsheet for calculating exactly how angular the natal planets are. I don't do that any longer - I open TMSA instead and jump straight to the tables at the bottom. Added advantage: as textual data, it's easy to post on the forum (without adding graphics of a drawn chart when all we need are the numbers). Another added advantage: The chart is a text file (a Notepad file) so you can copy and paste it, edit it, all sorts of things to make your post more effective.

It also calculates slightly more accurate times for return charts and ingresses.

One example: Here are the full tables for my current SSR:

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Pl Longitude   Lat   Speed    RA    Decl    Azi     Alt     PVL    Ang G
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                           Transiting Planets                           
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mo 18Sc54'44" 01S01 +14°28' 252°28' 23S29 101°08' -26°34'  27°00'  47%  
Su 22Vi27'42" 00S00 + 0°59' 196°08' 06S52 121°00' +26°33' 329°45'   0%  
Me 20Vi28'29" 01S36 - 1°09' 193°40' 07S35 123°32' +27°45' 327°44'   0%  
Ve 08Sc22'29" 02S48 + 1°05' 240°49' 23S35 107°00' -17°22'  18°07'  62%  
Ma 21Vi39'38" 00N38 + 0°40' 195°38' 05S59 120°42' +27°32' 328°46'   0%  
Ju 27Cp23'12" 01S10 - 0°02' 325°10' 15S08   1°09' -70°00'  89°35' 100% F
Sa 11Cp50'20" 00S49 - 0°00' 309°30' 19S21  46°12' -68°45'  74°20'  46%  
Ur 18Ar44'40" 00S25 - 0°02'  41°28' 15N34 290°48' - 2°10' 177°41'  99% F
Ne 26Aq03'15" 01S10 - 0°01' 352°17' 04S36 314°56' -50°45' 120°02'  41%  
Pl 29Sg16'41" 01S40 + 0°00' 296°32' 22S53  71°59' -61°57'  63°07'   3%  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                            Radical Planets                             
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mo 27Aq24'00" 04N46 +14°42' 351°11' 01N23 321°16' -46°21' 120°50'  40%  
Su 22Vi27'42" 00N00 + 0°59' 196°08' 06S52 121°00' +26°33' 329°45'   0%  
Me 17Li21'03" 03S10 + 0°45' 218°56' 18S35 114°39' + 2°14' 357°33'  98% F
Ve 01Sc52'48" 05S48 + 0°30' 233°09' 25S07 112°12' -12°17'  13°14'  83% F
Ma 28Sg55'21" 02S50 + 0°37' 296°23' 24S06  74°22' -62°28'  63°20'   3%  
Ju 03Cn36'46" 00N09 + 0°07' 120°49' 20N35 242°47' +63°50' 246°23'  11%  
Sa 14Li56'37" 02N10 + 0°07' 218°17' 12S45 110°28' + 6°20' 353°15'  88% F
Ur 03Cn19'58" 00N30 + 0°01' 120°35' 20N58 243°47' +63°55' 246°17'  10%  
Ne 01Li20'24" 01N39 + 0°02' 205°04' 08S38 115°47' +18°54' 339°10'  21%  
Pl 02Le06'08" 09N55 + 0°01' 152°59' 21N45 152°12' +75°08' 277°04'  87% F
------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Class 1 Aspects          Class 2 Aspects         Class 3 Aspects     
------------------------------------------------------------------------
tJu sq tUr 01°54'  93% M          None                              None
tJu sq rMe 02°02'  92% M                                                
tUr op rMe 00°08' 100% M                                                
rMe co rSa 02°24'  89%                                                  
rVe sq rPl 00°13' 100%                                                  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                     Non-Foreground Partile Aspects                     
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                        tSu co tMa 00°48'  99%                          
                        tMa co rSu 00°48'  99%                          
                        tNe co rMo 00°48'  99% M                        
                        tPl co rMa 00°13' 100% M

Or, to make a cogent point, I can edit this down and only show the most important factors in a more compact form:

Code: Select all

Pl Longitude   Lat   Speed    RA    Decl    Azi     Alt     PVL    Ang G
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                           Transiting Planets                           
Ju 27Cp23'12" 01S10 - 0°02' 325°10' 15S08   1°09' -70°00'  89°35' 100% F
Ur 18Ar44'40" 00S25 - 0°02'  41°28' 15N34 290°48' - 2°10' 177°41'  99% F
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                            Radical Planets                             
Me 17Li21'03" 03S10 + 0°45' 218°56' 18S35 114°39' + 2°14' 357°33'  98% F
Ve 01Sc52'48" 05S48 + 0°30' 233°09' 25S07 112°12' -12°17'  13°14'  83% F
Sa 14Li56'37" 02N10 + 0°07' 218°17' 12S45 110°28' + 6°20' 353°15'  88% F
Pl 02Le06'08" 09N55 + 0°01' 152°59' 21N45 152°12' +75°08' 277°04'  87% F
------------------------------------------------------------------------
tJu sq tUr 01°54'  93% M
-------------------------------
tJu sq rMe 02°02'  92% M                                                
tUr op rMe 00°08' 100% M                                                
-------------------------------
rMe co rSa 02°24'  89%                                                  
rVe sq rPl 00°13' 100%

[Jim Eshelman]

In any case, I want to encourage everybody to check it out - start using it! - which also has the advantage that you can have opinions, give feedback, and help shape what may be the most important Sidereal astrology calculating tool going forward.

BTW (I keep thinking of advantages), the way the data is presented is also instructive - the available data helps shape how you look at a chart, draws out what we've found to be the most important factors (and makes their relative importance more obvious). In short, it builds new, better habits for astrological analysis.

[Jim Eshelman]

An example of how the current version of TMSA helps you zero in on details of a natal chart. Here are the data tables for my natal chart. (I've simplified the example by leaving out Eris and Sedna, though they add some wonderful details.)

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Pl Longitude   Lat   Speed    RA    Decl    Azi     Alt     PVL    Ang G
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mo 27Aq24'00" 04N46 +14°42' 350°20' 01N01 274°11' - 3°15' 176°45'  97% F
Su 22Vi27'42" 00N00 + 0°59' 195°16' 06S31  81°47' -19°08'  19°19'  60%  
Me 17Li21'03" 03S10 + 0°45' 218°00' 18S18  75°14' -43°36'  44°34'  15%  
Ve 01Sc52'48" 05S48 + 0°30' 232°10' 24S54  70°07' -57°58'  59°32'   0%  
Ma 28Sg55'21" 02S50 + 0°37' 295°23' 24S16 294°46' -60°00' 117°40'  45%  
Ju 03Cn36'46" 00N09 + 0°07' 119°50' 20N46 114°28' +54°36' 302°54'  36%  
Sa 14Li56'37" 02N10 + 0°07' 217°22' 12S28  69°58' -39°16'  41°02'  23%  
Ur 03Cn19'58" 00N30 + 0°01' 119°37' 21N10 114°12' +55°01' 302°33'  37%  
Ne 01Li20'24" 01N39 + 0°02' 204°12' 08S18  76°50' -26°56'  27°33'  46%  
Pl 02Le06'08" 09N55 + 0°01' 152°04' 22N05  87°14' +31°40' 328°18'   0%  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Class 1 Aspects          Class 2 Aspects         Class 3 Aspects     
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mo sx Ma 01°31'  95%     Mo tr Ve 04°29'  62%     Mo tr Ju 06°13'  29%  
Me co Sa 02°24'  94%     Mo tr Ur 05°56'  35%     Mo oc Sa 02°33'  26%  
Ve sx Ma 02°57'  83%     Ma op Ju 04°41'  76%     Su sq Ma 06°28'  24%  
Ve tr Ju 01°44'  94%     Ma op Ur 04°25'  79%     Su co Ne 08°53'  20%  
Ve tr Ur 01°27'  96%                                                    
Ve sq Pl 00°13' 100%                                                    
Ma sq Ne 00°07' 100% M                                                  
Ju co Ur 00°17' 100%                                                    
Ju sq Ne 02°16'  90%                                                    
Ur sq Ne 02°00'  92%                                                    
Ne sx Pl 00°46'  99%                                                    

Glance through the data tables. (You may want to copy them to Notepad so that you can see them altogether without scrolling: Click Select All, then Copy.)

When I look at the tables, here is how my eye moves and what my brain gathers:

Starting at the upper left, I see the luminaries are Virgo-Aquarius (and may wander a few lines and note Mars in Sagittarius).

My eye then jumps to the right edge of the table for foreground planets and see the foreground (F) Moon, noting that it is pretty strong (I can see the PVL 176°45' if I want to note that this means Moon is 3°15' from the angle; or I can just note the 97% strength level). On the same far-right column, if I want, I can look for low numbers and see the 0% strength of Venus and Pluto in the immediate background. (You can also have the program mark background planets with a B. I usually just look for the single-digit numbers.)

In 3 seconds of looking, therefore, I see this is a Virgo-Aquarius (Mars in Sagittarius) with a foreground Moon (and very background Venus and Pluto).

Moving to the aspect tables, my eye is always going to reach for three things: (1) Focus on Class 1 aspects, (2) let my eye wander to Class 2 for luminary aspects, especially hard aspects, and (3) look for the loudest, strongest aspects in Class 1. So, in the second 5-10 seconds of glancing at this, I see that there are no close, hard luminary aspects; Moon sextile Mars is the one strong luminary aspect; three 100% strong aspects scream out (Venus-Pluto, Mars-Neptune, Jupiter-Uranus) with other very close aspects including Mercury-Saturn conjunction, Venus trine Jupiter-Uranus, and Jupiter-Uranus square Neptune.

That's a lot of information! It took less than 15 seconds to see and register all of that - and it's delivered in the sequence I most want to see it. If I'm working up a chart for someone, I'll still want to study it a while longer, but I already have enough to tell me the gist of the chart. With this first 15 seconds (or, gasp, after maybe another 30 seconds), I'll have a general feel of the core nature of someone. The program actually leads your eye to all of this from a simple top-to-bottom, left-to-right, Table 1 then Table 2 sequence.

At a later stage of examining the chart, I may want to go planet-by-planet to examine each part of the person in isolation. Again, the structure of these tables guides my eye to that information. If I want to examine Sun specifically, the same flow of eyes tells me: (1) Sun is in Virgo; (2) Sun is 60% strength [it's middleground, neither stressed nor repressed; and, if I look further down the rightmost column, I see that it's the second strongest planet); (3) it has no Class 1 or 2 aspects, but Class 3 Mars and Neptune aspects. - If I want house position, it's in front of me either on the chart face or from the PVL column. I can note that nothing important is in Leo or Aries.

That's exactly the information I need to understand this Sun! - It's a Virgo Sun, middleground, acting roguish and independently as an "unaspected" planet (no close or moderate major aspects), but has its strongest connections being weak ties to my Mars-Neptune square.

Or, if I want to analyze the Mercury position - to see what this person's mind and communications are like - a few seconds of looking at the table shows me (1) Mercury is in Libra, (2) it's only 15% strong, almost exactly mid-quadrant and its most repressed, (3) yet Sun is in Virgo, so Mercury themes will dominate the whole character, and (4) Mercury has a Class 1 (close) conjunction with Saturn. That gives me all I need to zero in on how this Mercury works.


In brief, TMSA will teach you how to read a chart - without appearing overly preachy - because of the way it organizes and presents information. You are likely accidently and almost despite yourself to give proper proportionate weighting to all the factors simply because of how they are tabulated.

Leave it to a Pisces to be this sneaky! <vbg>

[Jim Eshelman]

Here's an example for you to try on your own. These are the tables for SteveS's chart. I've left out the extra planets but added in the node (important to him, and more important in his chart than most) and, as an example, selected the option to mark Background planets explicitly.

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Pl Longitude   Lat   Speed    RA    Decl    Azi     Alt     PVL    Ang G
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mo 15Sc22'23" 01S15 +12°16' 247°30' 23S06 106°57' -16°42'  17°24'  63%  
Su 02Vi50'09" 00S00 + 0°59' 177°06' 01N15 139°51' +49°46' 298°36'  44%  
Me 20Vi10'09" 00S19 + 1°32' 192°56' 05S53 128°23' +34°37' 318°38'   9% B
Ve 07Vi26'45" 01N19 + 1°15' 181°52' 00N38 134°28' +46°35' 304°01'  35%  
Ma 29Ge50'02" 00N49 + 0°36' 115°52' 22N09 259°02' +55°45' 236°14'   1% B
Ju 29Li42'26" 00N44 + 0°10' 231°31' 18S00 110°57' - 1°24'   1°30'  99% F
Sa 24Cn02'47" 00N49 + 0°07' 140°45' 16N12 213°10' +69°05' 258°11'  66%  
Ur 02Ge06'20" 00N08 + 0°01'  85°46' 23N31 278°30' +31°36' 211°53'  38%  
Ne 16Vi01'30" 01N29 + 0°02' 189°48' 02S37 128°42' +39°07' 313°49'  17% B
Pl 20Cn13'48" 06N54 + 0°01' 138°52' 23N09 230°32' +73°43' 257°17'  62%  
No 01Ta09'43" 00N00 + 0°01'  52°49' 19N04 291°05' + 3°01' 183°14'  97% F
------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Class 1 Aspects          Class 2 Aspects         Class 3 Aspects     
Mo oc Ma 00°32'  96%     Mo sx Me 04°48'  57%     Su oc Pl 02°24'  34%  
Mo sx Ne 00°39'  99%     Mo tr Pl 04°51'  56%     Ve co Ne 08°35'  25%  
Su sq Ur 00°44'  99%     Su co Ve 04°37'  77%     Ve oc Pl 02°13'  43%  
Su tr No 01°40'  95%     Su sx Ma 03°00'  83%     Ve tr No 06°17'  28%  
Me sx Pl 00°04' 100%     Su sx Ju 03°08'  81%     Sa sq No 07°07'   9%  
Ve sq Ur 02°08'  91% M   Me sx Sa 03°53'  71%                           
Ma tr Ju 00°08' 100%     Me co Ne 04°09'  81%                           
Ma sx No 01°20'  97%     Ve oc Sa 01°36'  70%                           
Ju op No 01°27'  98%     Ju sq Sa 05°40'  41%                           
Sa co Pl 00°54'  98% M   Ju oc Ne 01°19'  79%                           
Ne oc No 00°08' 100%     Ne sx Pl 04°12'  67%                           

[Jim Eshelman]

The program makes it easy - utterly simple - to see the difference between two locations. For that purpose, we mostly want to look at which planets are foreground in the new location. Something else of great importance is that the aspects change because the mundane aspects change - and having a list of mundane aspects isn't good enough, you want to see the relative orbs compared to the other aspects. However, the differences often leap out almost at a glance.

To show how easy this is, I'll post below my NATAL and then LOCAL output, but I'll trim out all but the most important information. What you'll see is a list of foreground planets and the most background planets, followed by a list of Class 1 aspects (ecliptical and mundane interwoven). See how your brain grasps the difference in seconds!

First, my chart for birthplace:

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Pl Longitude   Lat   Speed    RA    Decl    Azi     Alt     PVL    Ang G
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mo 27Aq24'00" 04N46 +14°42' 350°20' 01N01 274°11' - 3°15' 176°45'  97% F
Ve 01Sc52'48" 05S48 + 0°30' 232°10' 24S54  70°07' -57°58'  59°32'   0%  
Pl 02Le06'08" 09N55 + 0°01' 152°04' 22N05  87°14' +31°40' 328°18'   0%  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mo sx Ma 01°31'  95%
Me co Sa 02°24'  94%
Ve sx Ma 02°57'  83%
Ve tr Ju 01°44'  94%
Ve tr Ur 01°27'  96%                                                    
Ve sq Pl 00°13' 100%                                                    
Ma sq Ne 00°07' 100% M                                                  
Ju co Ur 00°17' 100%                                                    
Ju sq Ne 02°16'  90%                                                    
Ur sq Ne 02°00'  92%                                                    
Ne sx Pl 00°46'  99% 

Second, my chart for residence:

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Pl Longitude   Lat   Speed    RA    Decl    Azi     Alt     PVL    Ang G
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Su 22Vi27'42" 00N00 + 0°59' 195°16' 06S31  60°45' -45°18'  49°12'   8%  
Ve 01Sc52'48" 05S48 + 0°30' 232°10' 24S54   7°07' -80°46'  88°51' 100% F
Ma 28Sg55'21" 02S50 + 0°37' 295°23' 24S16 262°53' -35°49' 143°58'   2%  
Ju 03Cn36'46" 00N09 + 0°07' 119°50' 20N46  84°23' +30°34' 329°19'   0%  
Ur 03Cn19'58" 00N30 + 0°01' 119°37' 21N10  84°05' +30°56' 328°56'   0%  
Ne 01Li20'24" 01N39 + 0°02' 204°12' 08S18  53°00' -52°47'  58°46'   0%  
Pl 02Le06'08" 09N55 + 0°01' 152°04' 22N05  66°58' + 5°27' 354°04'  99% F
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mo sx Ma 01°31'  95%
Me co Sa 01°36'  95% M
Ve sx Ma 02°57'  83%
Ve tr Ju 01°44'  94%
Ve tr Ur 01°27'  96%                                                    
Ve sq Pl 00°13' 100%                                                    
Ma sq Ne 02°25'  89%                                                    
Ju co Ur 00°17' 100%                                                    
Ju sq Ne 00°33'  99% M                                                  
Ur sq Ne 00°11' 100% M                                                  
Ne sx Pl 00°46'  99% 

[mikestar13]

Jim, I am most grateful to receive both your enthusiastic endorsement and some useful guidance to new users. TMSA has already grown into a tool well beyond what I had foreseen when I started writing version 0.1 (then called Astro), and there is a deal more growing yet to do, as Jim noted.

TMSA is my masterwork in both astrology and programming and is a wonderful learning tool for me in both disciplines.
In astrology, I have learned quite a few finer nuances of Fagan-Bradley-Eshelman Sidereal Astrology.
In programming, in my quest for the best way to accomplish my goals I have explored many dark corners of Python and learned a lot about a language I did not know at the start of 2021. I had only done one non-trivial project in Python when I started TMSA.

[mikestar13]

My thought was this thread would be a starting point which could eventually be edited into a PDF book that could be distributed with TMSA, a project Steve has expressed some interest in.