How the Sign Index Works

What the Sign Index is

The Sign Index gathers scattered almanac guidance into a single score you can read at a glance. A higher number means the signs are more favorable. A lower number means tradition leans toward waiting or choosing another day. The Sign Index combines the Moon's current sign, phase direction, and illumination using traditional almanac correspondences. Local sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset, weather, and seasonal information provide practical context but do not change the score.

What goes into the score

Every Sign Index starts from a neutral middle and then uses the Moon's real position and light to move the reading up or down:

• Moon's current sign, the Moon's sign for today's reading, taken at local noon, fruitful, semi-fruitful, or barren in the tradition.
• Moon phase, whether the Moon is waxing (building) or waning (releasing).
• Illumination, how full the Moon is on that day.

Around the score, the reading also shows the body-map area for the current sign, per-activity favorability, sunrise/sunset and moonrise/moonset for your chosen location, and, on today's reading, the current weather as a practical note. Those give the day its context; only the three lunar signals set the number.

How the inputs are weighted

The daily Sign Index is built from exactly three lunar signals, added to a neutral baseline of 50, the same breakdown shown on the Sign Index page:

• The Moon's current sign: fruitful water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) add the most; semi-fruitful signs (Taurus, Capricorn, Libra) add a little; barren signs subtract.
• Phase direction: a waxing Moon nudges the day upward, a waning Moon downward.
• Illumination: a gentle adjustment for how full the Moon is.

Weather and season are never part of the score. They appear alongside the reading as practical notes, worth checking before outdoor work, but they cannot move the number. Activity scores are a separate layer: each activity is scored on its own traditional correspondences.

The result is a guide, not a guarantee. The Sign Index points you toward the better and the lighter days; it is meant to inform your own judgment, not replace it.

Why a day is favored, fair, or best avoided

The final number falls into one of six bands, and that band is what colors your reading and the Almanac Planner. The free 7-Day Signs strip shows no bands or numbers; it lists each day's facts only:

The daily Overall Sign Index moves within 24 to 81. Individual activity scores use the same bands and can range wider in either direction.

Free daily read versus Premium guidance

The free daily read gives you today's overall Sign Index, the Moon's current sign, phase, body area, and general favorability, for today. Full readings for yesterday and tomorrow are free as well. The free 7-Day Signs strip shows the facts for the week ahead: each day's Moon sign, its traditional body area, whether the Moon is waxing or waning, and when it changes sign. Interpretation of the days ahead belongs to Premium: which days the signs favor for your plans, best-for and best-avoided guidance, timing windows, longer-range calendars, and activity-specific explanations.

Why different activities get different scores

This is the heart of it: one day is not simply good or bad. It is favored for some things and best saved for others, just as the old almanacs taught.

That is why the homepage separates favored activities from activities best saved for another day. We score each activity on its own terms, then surface what today actually supports. The overall Sign Index is the broad daily read, while activity scores show how the same day changes depending on what you want to do.