The Pattern barely says astrology. We say it constantly.
Same input, opposite presentation. One hides the machinery on purpose; we put it on the page.
3 min read · Published 7 September 2026
In one paragraph
The Pattern takes your birth data and returns psychological descriptions of you, your cycles and your relationships, largely without astrological vocabulary. AsterNym takes the same data, computes eight symbolic systems and tells you which tradition each sentence came from and how. The Pattern is better if the words Saturn return put you off; we're better if you want to know why an app is saying what it's saying. We built AsterNym, which is the bias to watch for here.
The app that would rather not say astrology
The Pattern's App Store listing describes "a psychological blueprint of one's self" and a mirror for understanding yourself and others, with in-depth insight into personality traits, transit cycles and compatibility between birth charts. The birth chart is in there, doing the work, but the reading you get talks about you rather than about Saturn.
There's a strong argument for that. Astrological vocabulary is a barrier, and half of what people dislike about astrology is the jargon rather than the claims. Strip the jargon and a lot more people will read the thing.
There's a cost too, and it's the one we care about: when nothing names the source, you can't tell what a statement is based on, and you can't check it. A line about your childhood reads as insight when it's a house placement being described in English.
What The Pattern does better
- Writing about people, not planets. The prose is about your patterns and it lands, which is why the app has 15,000 ratings and a 4.0 average.
- Bonds. Relationship reads are the heart of the product and they're built for sharing, with a public-figure database to compare against.
- Timing as a story. Their cycle features narrate a period of your life rather than listing transits, and "travelling through time" over past events is a good idea well executed.
- No prior knowledge needed. You can use it having never heard of a house system, which is not true of us.
What we give you instead
- Attribution on every line. Each reading names the system it came from and the convention it used, so a claim can be traced or disputed.
- Eight traditions instead of one. Your BaZi and your Western chart are computed separately and shown side by side, including where they conflict.
- Free, with no tiers. The Pattern's listing shows Go Deeper+ at $14.99 monthly, $29.99 quarterly or $83.99 annually, plus Connect+ and profile-slot purchases, checked 7 September 2026. Our reading is free.
- Explicit limits. No death, illness or pregnancy predictions, and no house-based reading when your birth time is missing.
I'd rather be told a statement about me came from a twelfth-house Moon and be free to think that's nonsense, than be handed the same statement with the source removed. That's a preference, not a proof.
Bonds against our match page
Both products compare two charts. The Pattern's Bonds are written as relationship dynamics and are meant to be shared with the other person. Our compatibility match reads both charts across the traditions and reports where they disagree about the pair, which is less shareable and more specific about method.
If you want something to send to a friend, theirs is better made for it. If you want to know why a match scored the way it did, ours shows the working.
Mira Hale