All 52 chapters
  1. Part 1 · The sky and the chart
  2. The sky above us
  3. Time and place of birth
  4. Two zodiacs
  5. How a chart is drawn
  6. Part 2 · The building blocks
  7. The 9 planets
  8. The 12 signs
  9. The 27 nakshatras
  10. The 12 houses
  11. The lagnas
  12. Part 3 · How planets work together
  13. How planets interact
  14. Friends, dispositors, exchanges
  15. House lords
  16. Reading one placement
  17. Part 4 · Strength and condition
  18. Dignity in depth
  19. A planet's mood
  20. Planetary strength
  21. Ashtakavarga in depth
  22. Part 5 · Patterns: yogas and doshas
  23. Yogas
  24. Doshas
  25. Part 6 · The nakshatras up close
  26. Reading a nakshatra
  27. Tara Bala
  28. Part 7 · Divisional charts
  29. Divisional charts
  30. Navamsa in depth
  31. Part 8 · Timing
  32. Dashas
  33. Transits
  34. The annual chart (Tajika)
  35. Part 9 · Relationships
  36. Compatibility
  37. Marriage in depth
  38. Part 10 · Advanced systems
  39. Special points
  40. Jaimini astrology
  41. Arudha padas
  42. KP astrology
  43. Nadi astrology
  44. Part 11 · Choosing the moment
  45. Panchanga
  46. Muhurta
  47. Prashna (horary)
  48. Part 12 · Life areas
  49. Career, money and business
  50. Travel, abroad, spirituality
  51. Health and longevity
  52. Karma and past lives
  53. Remedies
  54. Rectifying a birth time
  55. Part 13 · Western astrology
  56. Western astrology basics
  57. Aspects and chart shapes
  58. Western prediction
  59. Synastry
  60. Horary and electional
  61. Part 14 · The wider world
  62. Mundane astrology and eclipses
  63. Astrocartography and branches
  64. Part 15 · Putting it all together
  65. How it all fits
  66. How AstroMatch4u scores a chart
  67. Using astrology well
Part 1The sky and the chart
CHAPTER 1

The sky above us

What is a birth chart actually a picture of?

Before any meaning, a birth chart is a piece of astronomy: a map of where the Sun, the Moon and the planets were, seen from the place you were born, at the minute you were born. You need only a handful of sky words to follow everything else on this page.

standing in the middle of a giant glass ball. Everything in the sky seems painted on the inside of the ball, and the ball seems to turn around you once a day.

The words for the sky

Celestial sphereThat imaginary glass ball around the Earth. Astronomers map positions on it the way we map cities on a globe.
EclipticThe path the Sun seems to trace across the sky over a year. The Moon and planets always travel close to it.
ZodiacA band of sky about 8° either side of the ecliptic, cut into twelve signs of 30° each. Every planet stays inside it.
Celestial equatorThe Earth's equator projected out onto the sky. It is tilted about 23½° to the ecliptic.
EquinoxesThe two points where the ecliptic crosses the celestial equator (around 20 March and 22 September). Day and night are equal then.
SolsticesThe Sun's farthest points north and south (around 21 June and 21 December): the longest and shortest days.
TropicsThe latitudes 23½° north and south (Cancer and Capricorn) where the Sun stands overhead at the solstices.
Longitude (celestial)How far along the zodiac a planet is, from 0° to 360°. "Mars at 95°" means 5° into the fourth sign.
Latitude (celestial)How far a planet sits above or below the ecliptic. Small for most planets, and the reason eclipses do not happen every month.
DeclinationHow far north or south of the celestial equator something is. Used in Western astrology and for planetary war.
Right ascensionEast–west position measured along the celestial equator instead of the ecliptic. Astronomers' version of longitude.
Horizon and meridianThe horizon is the line where sky meets ground; the meridian is the line running overhead from north to south.
AscendantThe point of the zodiac rising on the eastern horizon at birth. It starts the houses (the lagnas chapter).
Midheaven (MC)The point of the zodiac crossing the meridian, high in the south. Western astrology reads it for career.

How the planets move

The Earth spins once a day (its rotation), which makes the whole sky, and the ascendant, wheel round every 24 hours. The Earth also travels round the Sun once a year (its revolution), which is why the Sun moves through one sign a month.

  • Direct motion: a planet moving forward through the signs, the normal way.
  • Retrograde motion: a planet that seems to move backwards for a while. It never really reverses; the Earth is simply overtaking it, or being overtaken, like a car on a motorway that seems to slide backwards as you pass it. The Sun and Moon are never retrograde. Rahu and Ketu always move backwards.
  • Stationary: the few days when a planet turns from direct to retrograde, or back, and seems to stand still. Tradition treats a stationary planet as especially intense.

The Sun, the Moon and the rest

Astrology uses the bodies you can see with the naked eye: the Sun (a star), the Moon (our satellite) and five planets. Western astrology adds Uranus, Neptune and Pluto (Pluto has been classed as a dwarf planet since 2006 but astrologers still use it), and some add asteroids such as Ceres or Chiron. Vedic astrology does not use these.

Astronomy versus astrology

Astronomy calculates where things are. Astrology interprets what those positions are said to mean. The two share the first step: an ephemeris, a table of planet positions for every day. Astrology uses geocentric positions (seen from Earth), because a birth chart is about a person standing on Earth. Heliocentric positions (seen from the Sun) are what astronomers use for orbits, and a few experimental astrologers use them too.

every position comes from the Swiss Ephemeris, which is built on NASA JPL's planetary data.

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