⟐ Free Zodiacal Releasing Calculator
Umbriel computes zodiacal releasing from the Lot of Spirit or Fortune.
Runs in your browser.
4420+ people cast their chart here in the last 30 days.
The Hellenistic timing technique that divides a life into chapters and marks the peak periods. Free, in your browser, no account.
TRADITIONALA traditional technique: in the books before 1700.
- What you'll needBirth date, time and place
- What you getYour releasing periods at all four levels, with loosing-of-the-bond transitions and peak periods marked
- CostFree, no account required
What it is
Zodiacal releasing is a Hellenistic time-lord technique recovered from Vettius Valens and now widely used. It starts from a lot (usually Spirit for career and action, Fortune for body and circumstance) and releases periods of years, sign by sign, each with a fixed length taken from the traditional planetary years.
It nests. The first level divides a whole life into a handful of long chapters; the second divides each of those; the third and fourth go down to months and days. The technique's appeal is that the levels line up, a major transition at level one landing on the same date as one at level two is what practitioners look for.
The loosing of the bond is its most distinctive feature: when a period would run past the twelfth sign, the sequence jumps rather than continuing in order. These jumps are read as the sharpest transitions in the sequence, and they are the thing zodiacal releasing is best known for.
It needs an exact birth time. The lots it releases from are projected from the Ascendant, so an hour's error moves the starting point and everything downstream of it. Every period boundary in a lifetime shifts.
How Umbriel computes it
The releasing lot is computed first, with the day or night formula applied from actual sect, and the periods are then laid out using the traditional planetary years for each sign's ruler. The loosing of the bond is applied where the sequence would run past the twelfth sign, and each of the four levels is subdivided from its parent, not computed independently, so the levels stay in step, which is the whole point of looking at them together. Every boundary is converted to a real date in your own time zone.
What's in your result
- Periods at all four levelsFrom lifetime chapters down to days, nested.
- Releasing from Spirit or FortuneBoth, since they answer different questions.
- Loosing of the bondThe jumps in the sequence, marked where they fall.
- Peak periodsThe stretches the tradition marks as most active, including angular-triad periods.
- Dates, not just signsEvery period boundary given as an actual date.
Common questions
What is zodiacal releasing?
A Hellenistic timing technique that releases periods of years from a lot, usually Spirit or Fortune, dividing a life into nested chapters with fixed lengths from the traditional planetary years.
What is the loosing of the bond?
A jump in the sequence, which happens when a period would run past the twelfth sign. These are read as the sharpest transitions in the whole technique.
Should I release from Spirit or Fortune?
Spirit is traditionally used for career, action and the things you choose; Fortune for body, circumstance and what happens to you. Umbriel computes both rather than picking.
Do I need an exact birth time?
Yes. The lots are projected from the Ascendant, so an error in the birth time moves the starting point and every period boundary in the sequence with it.
How is zodiacal releasing different from profections?
Both are time-lord techniques, but profections move one sign per year in a simple twelve-year loop, while releasing uses variable period lengths from the planetary years and nests four levels deep. Profections are checkable in your head; releasing needs computing.
Is the zodiacal releasing calculator free?
Yes. All four levels, both lots, and the loosing-of-the-bond transitions, with no account.
Do I need an account or an email address?
No. There is no sign-up, no email capture and no free trial. Enter your details and the result is drawn in your own browser.
What to look at next
- The LotsThe Part of Fortune, the Part of Spirit and the rest of the traditional lots.
- FirdariaHands each stretch of life to a planet, by a sequence that depends on a day or night birth.
- DecennialsDivides life into periods of ten years and nine months, each split among the planets.
Go deeper
Each of these is a free tool in its own right.
Prints in the head of this page, all public domain except where stated: The dance of death: the astrologer. Woodcut by Hans Holbein the younger., Wellcome Collection; Four signs of the zodiac: Pisces (the fish), Libra (the scales), Scorpio (the scorpion) and Taurus (the bull). Gouache painting by a Persian artist., [between 1800 and 1899?], Wellcome Collection; Johannes Hevelius, Machina coelestis, Danzig, 1673, Silesian Digital Library. Ground: Andreas Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, 1661, Wikimedia Commons.
Umbriel offers every system here as a set of prompts to think with, never as a statement of fact about who you are. Take what's useful, leave the rest.