The Month scale — one lunar month at a time

Where the Month boundary falls

The month is a lunar month, so it turns over on the new moon rather than on the first of the calendar month — and the new moon is computed for the reader's own timezone, which can put the boundary on a different date either side of a longitude. This is the only boundary of the five that is astronomical rather than arithmetic, and it drifts against the calendar by about eleven days a year. A reader looking at a month reading in the last week of a calendar month is usually already reading the next one.

What the verdict is called

Every scale returns a verdict, and no two scales use the same words for it. The Month returns a tone, and one written instruction:

• Opportunity
• Warning
• Stable
• Transformative

A verdict is a weighting on the period, not a prediction of an event. It says which way the span leans, and the finer scales inside it decide where that lands.

What the Month scale will not tell you

A month will not resolve a particular day, and its instruction is written for the whole span rather than for any moment inside it. It is also the scale most likely to be read past its evidence, because a month is short enough to feel checkable — a reader who watches one month closely and finds it wrong has learned very little either way, which is the honest thing to say about a layer this narrow.

The scale above it is the Year, which is what this one is read inside. The scale below it is the Day, which is where this one's subject actually lands on a calendar.

The Month reading opens at Soul Bonding along with the other three free scales. Where its focus falls in a particular life needs a cast chart, which is the half the board works out and this page does not.

Frequently asked

What does the Month scale tell you?

The scale that answers what the next few weeks are for. A month names a focus domain and a texture — moving, stressed, prosperous, sociable or stuck — and it is the only scale that closes with a written instruction rather than a description. That is deliberate: a month is short enough that advice is actionable and long enough that it is worth giving, which is the narrow band the other four miss in one direction or the other. It is also the only scale written under a rule that it may never name a star. Everything a month says is said in plain terms about what is happening, on the grounds that a reader deciding whether to push a launch back three weeks does not need the machinery, and the machinery would crowd out the one sentence that was worth reading. The month sits inside the year and inherits its subject, so it usually reads as a chapter of the year rather than a departure from it.

When does the Month scale turn over?

The month is a lunar month, so it turns over on the new moon rather than on the first of the calendar month — and the new moon is computed for the reader's own timezone, which can put the boundary on a different date either side of a longitude. This is the only boundary of the five that is astronomical rather than arithmetic, and it drifts against the calendar by about eleven days a year. A reader looking at a month reading in the last week of a calendar month is usually already reading the next one.

What can the Month scale not tell you?

A month will not resolve a particular day, and its instruction is written for the whole span rather than for any moment inside it. It is also the scale most likely to be read past its evidence, because a month is short enough to feel checkable — a reader who watches one month closely and finds it wrong has learned very little either way, which is the honest thing to say about a layer this narrow.

How does the Month scale relate to the other four?

The five nest, widest to finest: Stage → Year → Month → Day → Hour. Month is one lunar month long and is read inside whatever contains it, which is why the board never shows one scale alone. The other four are Stage (ten years), Year (one year), Day (one day), Hour (two hours).