Frequently asked questions
Products > Personal Portrait
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Why are (retrograde) planets interpreted in different houses than on other websites or in other reports?
Astrodienst has developed reports with many different astrologers, in the 40 years of its operation. The Personal Portrait is based on work the author Robert Pelletier did in the 1970s (!) with the American company called ParaResearch, later Astral Research. At Astrodienst, we acquired this company in the late 1990s, and integrated their products into our set of offerings.
A principle of our work with the different astrologers is that we implement those astrological techniques which the author used at the time when the report was developed.In astrology, there exists no unified doctrine how an astrologer works and how he/she reads a chart. Astrologers are individualists, and each works differently, unless they happen to belong to the 'same school'.
For example, there is no fixed rule how to interpret the retrograde state of a planet in the zodiac, in a house or in an aspect. There is the so-called 5 ddegree rule, according to which a planet positioned 5 degrees or less from the next house cusp is interpreted in the next house. However, not all astrologers employ this rule. Some astrologers may apply the rule with retrograde planets, and others will not.At the time the 'Personal Portrait' (earlier called Astral Portrait) was developed, Pelletier chose NOT to consider retrograde state in this particular report.