Astrology Planners and Applications
This is an updated version of one of my most popular posts from Substack regarding my favorite astrological planners, tools, and applications.
Watching the sky quite literally, following along in a calendar or an app, and then recording how you feel in your record of personal gnosis is one of the Slow Magick secrets to learning astrology. Honestly, the time will pass either way, so why not?
I bet you check the weather every day. This is no different.
An astrological calendar, app, or planner is a tool that I could not live without. It is just as important to me as my tarot deck. One of the first things I recommend to my ritual clients is observing the movement of the planets in the sky. Depending on their experience level, this is as simple as tracking the moon or as detailed as a personalized ephemeris.
This share is about the different calendars, journals, and digital tools that will help you not only track the spirits of the sky but also assist you in learning astrology if that interests you. There are various options, everything from free tools to subscription-based apps, and I’ve personally worked with all of these. If you have a favorite calendar or app, please let me know in the comments. I’d love to check it out.
Also, this is not sponsored, and I do not receive any compensation if you click on these links or purchase any of the products below. Please note that I wrote these from the perspective of an everyday user. This is not a review of professional astrology software for the consulting astrologer.
Mobile Astrology Applications
I love having astrological information at my fingertips! I love being able to look anything up on the go or on a whim if I am not at my computer. My iPhone is seven years old and runs these just fine.
⭐️ Chani App
Hands down, it is my number one recommendation for a personal app if you have the cash and can afford the paid version. Chani and the team have created a personalized and accessible mobile app with beginner-friendly information. The app is based on traditional astrology techniques, so it uses Whole Sign Houses and house-based aspects. So, if that is not your jam, I’d give it a pass because there is no way to change that within the app.
While there is a list of all the planets and points and what sign they currently occupy, this app has no general transit wheel, so you’d still need to look up aspects. You cannot go forward or backward in your personal transits, so you’d need to look that up in another app if that is important.
Chani and the team focus on the personalized experience of this app, so if you have the paid version, you’ll have a page with the current transits for your chart specifically. It also contains a daily horoscope and a library of meditations and affirmations and is updated weekly with a reading for your rising sign, ritual, and other elements.
There is a free version of the app, but I had a trial of the full experience from the first day it launched, so I don't know exactly what the free version is like. I assume it has everything except the personalized portion, and there are likely in-app advertisements for the paid version. Chani often has promos for a month of free trials, so sign up for her mailing list if you want to try for an extended period before buying.
The Chani App runs on Android and Apple products, though I have not experienced the Android version. Chani and the team also added osculating Black Moon Lilith this year!
Find out more at https://app.chani.com/
⏱️ Time Nomad
This app is free, and I love it. The plus side is it contains planetary hours. So once you set it up, which, to be honest, is a little clunky, you will know the planetary hours for your location at any time. You can add other locations when you get the hang of it. This could be helpful if you travel a lot or advise folks in different time zones. You can also compute planetary hours by hand, but since the info is so widely accessible, there is no need to do that regularly. FYI, the first planetary hour starting at sunrise is the same as the planetary day.
You can add birth data to Time Nomad and get planetary placements without interpretations. I love this app and recommend it to folks who need to know the hours for working with their heavenly spheres.
I tend to operate in chaos mode when learning technology in general, and my best advice for learning this app is PRESS EVERYTHING. You won’t break it; you can see what everything does, even if you are unsure of what it is. I am sure there are some tutorials out there, too. I use it for planetary hours and learned it just fine.
Time Nomad is available for iPhone and iPad, and the developers of this app do not collect any of your data, which is very important. Earlier this year, they added a few beautiful Moon widgets for the lock screen. They are not free but are a one-time purchase available in the app.
Find out more at https://timenomad.app/
If you are overwhelmed by the above, I recommend Time Passages by Astrograph. It doesn’t have planetary hours but is a solid free app with in-app purchases.
Astrological Calendars & Planners
In addition to having information at my fingertips, I love writing in a notebook and having a physical record of my work and experience. This is also helpful if your power goes out, you are camping, or otherwise off-grid without internet access. We all need to unplug a little more often.
🍯 Honeycomb
I could not live without my Honeycomb personalized ephemeris. If I only had to pick one physical calendar, it would be this one. I first got one courtesy of my enrollment at the Portland School of Astrology, and I got hooked. I’ve bought one every year ever since.
Imagine, if you will, a planner/calendar that contains ALL of the mundane transits and ALL transits to your birth chart! This sorcery exists, brought to us by the awesome folks at Honeycomb, and it has many customizable formats. I recommend getting the base version with no add-ons if you are starting out. In other words, if you don’t know what that add-on is, skip it. You will have plenty, and I mean plenty, of information as it is.
I also love that you can buy this calendar anytime. You choose the start month and can get six or 12 months at a time. And if a hard copy calendar isn’t your thing, they have a digital PDF option. The ephemeris is customized to your location, so the astrological data is in the same time zone!
Sweet lord, I could write a whole post on my love for my Honeycomb alone. It has so many features that you need to check out their website. They have also added Secondary Progressions this year!
Learn more at https://www.honeycomb.co/
🌙 Many Moons
I have bought a Many Moons calendar every year from 2019-2024, except in 2023. Many Moons is my go-to recommendation for someone starting an intuitive practice. It is such a treasure trove of information. While it contains some additional astrological info, tracking the Moon in her different phases and signs is the main focus here. And our Lady of the Nite Skies deserves nothing less.
The creator of Many Moons, Sarah Faith Gottesdiener, is a seasoned practitioner and a beautifully sensitive soul. Sarah and her impressive list of contributors wrote this calendar's social-justice-minded and spot-on insights and rituals. The artwork is inspiring and gorgeous.
I highly recommend this planner for those who need less astrological transit information and who desire an accessible, embodied, intuitive experience. It is available in digital and hard copy formats. Note that all astrological information is in Pacific Time.
Get your Many Moons 2025 planner at
https://moon-studio.co/products/many-moons-2025
🚀 Chani’s 2025 Astro Planner
Chani's astro planner would be my pick if you are somewhere between a personalized ephemeris and a moon calendar. It has a good amount of astrological data without being overwhelming, with lots of opportunities for ritual and reflection. I had one for 2023 and enjoyed it very much. The artwork for the 2025 calendar, with its gothic collage style, is especially appealing to me.
It also has fun extras like stickers; you can add your birth chart to the first few pages. This planner has some color elements in addition to black-and-white ink. Note that all astrological information is in Pacific Time.
Check it out at https://chani.com/products/the-2025-astro-planner
💖 Magic of I.
I am a huge fan of Magic of I.’s vegan leather notebooks. I love their texture, the cover design, and the weight and feel of the pages in their lined journals. Yep, I need lines, people, or chaos guaranteed; I look forward to writing in them daily. So, I was hella excited to get their planner for the year 2022. Unwrapping this baby was orgasmic; all of my needs were being met. And I thought I had found THE ONE.
It was all going swimmingly, and I could feel my enthusiasm building along with my love and adoration for this planner. This planner contained everything I wanted—planning tools, reference tools, and astrological data. It was the end of 2021, and it felt like 2022 would finally be the year that all of my dreams came true. I was on cloud nine.
And then I saw it.
Their key for the full moon was a solid dark moon; the new moon was an open, empty circle. And y’all, I could not get past it. And I tried—oh man, did I try. I wanted this planner to be THE ONE, but the chemistry was gone. I needed that filled-in circle to be the new moon and the open circle to be the full moon. And it was on too many pages throughout the planner for me to ignore.
And that was that. The heart wants what it wants. I will forever stan their journals. But it still might be the right planner for you!
Note all astrological info is in Pacific Time. Find out more at https://magicofi.com/products/2025-astrological-planner
Web-based astrology tools
If you, like me, are still searching for the perfect planner, aka THE ONE, you may need to supplement your yearly picks occasionally. So, here are three other web-based tools I use and recommend.
Planetary Hours is a website that uses your location and date to give you the planetary hour. This free site is convenient if you don’t like or don’t want to use Time Nomad. There is a tip jar feature where you can buy a coffee for Grant, the human behind this wonderful tool. Grant has a transit viewer calendar for you to explore, too.
Astro.com is perhaps the OG program most of us are familiar with regarding accessing free astrological data. If you create a free account on the site, you can store birth data for you and anyone else you’d like.
Luna is another option, and while it has a price tag of $8 per month or $60 per year, it is a solid piece of technology with many customizations available. It does not have an app available for mobile, but you can create a shortcut on your phone’s home screen that takes you to the mobile version of the site. And if you are already logged in, it really functions just like an app would as long as you are connected to the internet. Luna has added functionality over the years, including an asteroid catalog, which you can search for by name or number.
Summary
Observing the celestial bodies in the sky daily is the Slow Magick way to get first-hand knowledge of astrology. It can be a fulfilling experience that enriches your life and broadens your horizons. By paying attention to the positions of the luminaries and the planets relative to one another, you can gain insights into the dynamics influencing your life.
Of course, everyone is different, and tuning into these rhythms may take some time. Some people may be more sensitive to the celestial energies, while others may need more practice to develop their perception. However, the effort is well worth it. By observing the movements of the stars and planets, you can gain a deeper appreciation of the beauty and complexity of the cosmos and your place in it.