Methodology
Last updated: July 2026
Every reading you get from Astrosimpl actually comes from two separate systems that work together but never blend into each other.
The first is pure astronomy: your Lagna (rising sign), planetary positions, houses, and Dasha (planetary period) timeline are the output of a deterministic calculation. Given your birth date, time, and place, there is exactly one correct answer — the same way there is exactly one correct sunrise time for a given place and date. No AI, no interpretation, no probability involved.
The second is interpretation: when you ask Astrosimpl a question, your specific chart is combined with the most relevant passages from a library of classical and scholarly Vedic astrology texts to generate a response grounded in real textual sources rather than generic pattern-matching.
This split matters because it is the honest answer to "how accurate is this": the chart math is exact. The interpretation, as with any astrologer, is where reasonable readers of the same texts can differ.
Astrosimpl computes every planetary position using the Swiss Ephemeris, an astronomical calculation library built on NASA JPL planetary data. It is the calculation engine underlying most professional astrology software worldwide, Western and Vedic alike, chosen for its precision over the simplified formulas some older or lower-cost tools rely on.
Vedic astrology uses the sidereal zodiac, anchored to the actual fixed stars, rather than the tropical zodiac (anchored to the seasons) used in Western astrology. Astrosimpl uses the Lahiri ayanamsa — the offset officially adopted by the Government of India's Calendar Reform Committee in 1952 and the most widely used standard in Vedic practice today, fixed to the star Spica (Chitra) at 0° Libra.
Because sidereal and tropical zodiacs are offset by roughly 24°, your Vedic Sun sign will often differ from your Western Sun sign — that is expected, not an error.
Astrosimpl uses the whole-sign house system: each house maps to exactly one zodiac sign, counted from your Lagna. This is the system described in Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra and used throughout classical Jyotish — distinct from Placidus, Koch, or Equal-house systems more common in Western astrology software.
Your planetary period (Dasha) timeline follows the Vimshottari system — a fixed 120-year cycle divided among the nine classical planets, always in the same order. Your starting Dasha and the exact date it began are determined by the Moon's precise position within its Nakshatra (lunar mansion) at birth.
These nine periods (Mahadashas) total 120 years and repeat in the same fixed order. Each Mahadasha is further divided into Antardashas (sub-periods) ruled by the same nine planets, and each Antardasha further into Pratyantardashas — the hierarchy Astrosimpl uses to pinpoint timing questions.
Astrosimpl's AI readings draw on a library of roughly 28 classical and scholarly Vedic astrology sources. About seven are foundational classical Sanskrit treatises — texts written centuries ago that remain the bedrock of Jyotish practice: Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (Maharshi Parashara), Brihat Jataka (Varahamihira), Phaladeepika (Mantreswara), Saravali (Kalyana Varma), Uttara Kalamrita (Kalidasa), the Jaimini Sutras, and Prasna Marga (Harihara).
The rest is respected 20th- and 21st-century scholarship that systematized and extended that classical tradition for practical use — including the substantial body of work by B.V. Raman (Hindu Predictive Astrology, How to Judge a Horoscope, Muhurtha or Electional Astrology), along with K.N. Rao, Sanjay Rath, David Frawley, Dennis Harness, and other established authors. We describe this honestly as "classical & scholarly" sources rather than claiming everything in the library is an ancient Sanskrit text, because it isn't — and the distinction matters for how much weight to give any single passage.
When you ask Astrosimpl a question, it is matched against the library through semantic search, which retrieves the handful of passages most relevant to that specific question. Those passages are combined with your exact computed chart — not a generic horoscope — to generate a response.
This means the same question from two different people is grounded in the same underlying texts but read against two different charts, which is why the answer is specific to you rather than a template. It also means Astrosimpl isn't drawing on the entire library for every answer — it's a live, per-question retrieval of the most relevant material, the same way a well-read astrologer would reach for the specific classical reference that applies to the question in front of them, not recite everything they know.
Which ayanamsa does Astrosimpl use?
Lahiri (Chitrapaksha) — the ayanamsa officially adopted by the Government of India’s Calendar Reform Committee in 1952, and the most widely used sidereal ayanamsa in Vedic astrology today. It is anchored to the fixed star Spica (Chitra), placed at 0° Libra.
Which house system do you use — Placidus or whole-sign?
Whole-sign. Each house corresponds to exactly one zodiac sign, counted from your Lagna (rising sign). This is the house system used in Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra and most classical Jyotish texts, and remains the standard in traditional Vedic practice — distinct from Placidus, Koch, or Equal-house systems more common in Western astrology.
How precise are the planetary positions?
Astrosimpl computes planetary positions using the Swiss Ephemeris, an astronomical calculation library built on NASA JPL’s planetary data and considered a gold standard for ephemeris precision in professional astrology software worldwide, both Western and Vedic.
Is the chart math the same as what a human astrologer would use?
Yes, for the chart itself. Lagna, planetary positions, houses, and Dasha periods are deterministic calculation — given accurate birth data, there is one correct answer, the same way there is one correct sunrise time for a given place and date. Where astrologers (and Astrosimpl) differ from each other is in interpretation, which is inherently more judgment than arithmetic.
Does a human astrologer review my reading?
No. Readings are generated by AI, grounded in your exact computed chart and cross-referenced against Astrosimpl’s library of classical and scholarly Vedic astrology texts. No individual reading is reviewed by a person before you see it. For major life decisions, we’d always encourage also consulting a professional you trust.
Is Astrosimpl a substitute for professional advice?
No. Astrosimpl is built for guidance and reflection, not as a substitute for professional medical, legal, financial, or mental health advice. For decisions in those areas, please consult a qualified professional.