A sky chart can look like a clock whose hands learned another alphabet. You do not need to memorize it. Today’s Sky is meant to be read from the outside in: when the sky was calculated, where the bodies are, what is especially active, and then what Lunaire makes of it.
Start with the time
The date and calculation time belong to the whole page. Every current position, Moon detail, and completed event is anchored to that same instant. Lunaire refreshes as the real sky changes, so an event that has not happened yet does not get written as complete. A separate search looks strictly after the captured instant and before the next local midnight to identify one upcoming station, ingress, or exact Full Moon. That change may enter the reading in future tense.
The wheel: where everyone is standing
The outer ring holds the twelve signs. Each planet marker shows where that body falls along the tropical zodiac as seen from Earth. Tap or hover a body to see its sign, degree, and whether its apparent motion is retrograde.
A planet in a sign combines two pieces of astrological language. The planet supplies the subject; the sign describes its style. The planetary guide introduces the whole cast and the concern each character carries.
Several bodies can share a sign without being close enough to form a conjunction. Think of it as standing in the same room, not necessarily having the same conversation.
The cards: what is worth noticing now
The first cards keep the Sun and Moon in view. The remaining cards surface a small number of conditions that are current or already completed today rather than listing every fact the sky could support. An identified upcoming change may appear in the reading, but it stays out of the completed-event cards until it happens. Today’s Sky does not forecast aspect-perfection times, and it does not make exact future clock-time claims for Pluto because his position uses a separate orbital approximation.
- Ingress
- A body crosses from one 30-degree sign into the next. Astrologically, the setting and style of its concerns change.
- Station
- A planet’s apparent zodiac motion turns retrograde or direct. The turn gets more emphasis than an ongoing state.
- Retrograde
- A planet appears to move backward through zodiac longitude from Earth. It has not reversed its physical orbit.
- Aspect
- A specific angle between two bodies. Conjunctions, sextiles, squares, trines, and oppositions each describe a different traditional relationship.
- Stellium
- For Today’s Sky, a stellium is three or more tracked planets or luminaries gathered in one sign. The Sun and Moon count; calculated points do not. A Sun-inclusive grouping still receives its own Stellium event card alongside the fixed Sun card: the cards describe placement and pattern separately.
The longer field guide shows exactly how Lunaire calculates these conditions and how close an aspect must be to earn space on a daily page.
The Moon: a second clock
The Moon card tells you three different things. Her sign is her place in the zodiac. Her phase is her stage in the Sun–Moon cycle. Her illuminated percentage is the physical share of the near side currently lit.
“Full today” is precise: the exact Full Moon moment must fall on the viewer’s local calendar date. Nearly full remains nearly full, however convincing she looks.
The reading: what the pattern may mean
Once the measurements are visible, the prose can move more freely. Planets become characters with wants and tempers. A phase becomes a stage of a cycle. An aspect becomes two kinds of wanting trying to occupy one sentence.
Read it as recognition, not instruction. The page describes the symbolic pattern of the current geocentric sky. It does not forecast local visibility, promise an outcome, or know the private facts of your day.