This is version 1.01 of the horoscop package for typesetting astrological
charts in LaTeX.

Features include:

  * A unified interface for astrological symbols/glyphs, supporting three
    different astrological fonts as well as text abbreviations and Unicode
    astrological symbol code points.
  * Support for invoking Astrolog or Swiss Ephemeris to calculate charts. 
    Positions can also be specified manually. 
  * Loading and saving object and cusp positions into TeX macros. 
  * Typesetting of angles and positions as text. 
  * Ready-made templates for basic wheel charts, dial charts including
    multi-dials with up to four sets of objects, and decorative wheel
    charts. 
  * Optional variations of the standard templates:  aspect webs,
    highlighting for angular cusps, choice of what to include in object
    labels, and house labels inside the houses. 
  * Low-level graphics functions for plotting in polar coordinates and
    building new templates. 
  * Labels move, and where necessary houses expand, to prevent crowding. 
  * Smart rounding of angles for display. 

FILES IN THIS PACKAGE

README       - this documentation file
horoscop.dtx - documentation and style file (to be unpacked by horoscop.ins)
horoscop.ins - installation driver file
horoscop.pdf - precompiled documentation

This is a LaTeX package distributed in the traditional dtx/ins format.
Run TeX on the horoscop.ins file to extract the file horoscop.sty, which is
the package file used by LaTeX, from the combined code/documentation file
horoscop.dtx; run LaTeX on horoscop.dtx directly to typeset the
documentation.

Typesetting the documentation is not trivial; you will need all of
horoscop's dependencies, and (for really correct results) also two runs of
makeindex on the "glossary" and "index" files, and an extra run of LaTeX to
resolve links, *and* you will need to run LaTeX with shell escapes enabled
and on a system where Swiss Ephemeris is installed and working.  You are
probably better off to just read the precompiled PDF file.

DEPENDENCIES

Typesetting chart wheels requires the pict2e package (i.e. a version of it
that actually works and is not just a placeholder).  This package seems to
have been introduced in 2011 - horoscop long predates it but was much more
annoying to use before the update.  As a result of this dependency, this
version may not work on some older installations of LaTeX.

Chart *calculation* (i.e. computing the locations of the planets and other
objects based on a native's time and place of birth) requires running with
shell escapes enabled (not the default, and somewhat dangerous) and an
installation of either Swiss Ephemeris (http://www.astro.com/swisseph/) or
Astrolog (http://www.astrolog.org/astrolog.htm).  Without either of those
things, it is still possible to typeset charts, but you must do the
calculations and enter the object positions manually or write your own
software for it.  Chart calculation with external software has only been
tested under Linux, but there is no reason it shouldn't work on other
systems.

Typesetting astrological symbols requires an appropriate font.  The horoscop
package can work with the marvosym, wasysym, and starfont LaTeX packages,
with varying quality in the results; starfont is recommended and default. 
It can also use text-only substitutes if none of those packages are
available, or in XeLaTeX or LuaTeX it can use Unicode code points, in which
case font management to typeset those code points is left to the TeX
enginge to resolve.

Other, less significant, dependencies may exist; consult the PDF manual.

PUBLIC DOMAIN

The horoscop package is public domain.  External calculation software might
not be; you are responsible for any relevant licensing issues for any other
software you use.

LINKS AND TUG 2016 PRESENTATION

LaTeX astrology page:  https://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/entry/107
Online demo:           https://edifyingfellowship.org/astro/

Skala, M. 2016.  Astrological charts with horoscop and starfont.  TUGboat,
37(2):p. 182.  Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the TeX Users
Group (TUG 2016), Toronto, Ontario, July 25-27, 2016.

PDF from proceedings:  https://tug.org/TUGboat/tb37-2/tb116skala.pdf
PDF of slides:         https://tug.org/tug2016/slides/skala.pdf
Video of talk: http://zeeba.tv/astrological-charts-with-horoscop-and-starfont/

CONTACT

Matthew Skala
mskala@ansuz.sooke.bc.ca
https://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/
