The AstroScroll Guide
Birth chart basics
What a birth chart is, how it is calculated and how to start reading yours.
Birth chart basics
A birth chart without a birth time
Yes, a birth chart works without a birth time. The planets keep their signs, but the Rising sign and houses are missing. Plus: how to find your birth time.
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Birth chart basics
Your child's birth chart: what it can tell you
A child's birth chart gives parents a language for temperament: what calms a child, how they learn and how they meet new things. What it offers, where it ends.
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Birth chart basics
How to read a birth chart
To read a birth chart, start with the Rising sign, then the Sun and Moon, the personal planets, the houses and the aspects. A step-by-step method for beginners.
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Birth chart basics
What is a birth chart?
A birth chart is a map of the sky at the exact minute and place you were born. What it shows, what you need to calculate one, and how to start reading yours.
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Birth chart basics
Ophiuchus: is there a 13th zodiac sign?
No, there is no 13th zodiac sign. Ophiuchus is a constellation on the Sun's path, but zodiac signs are twelve equal sections of the sky. Your sign is unchanged.
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Birth chart basics
Astrology vs astronomy: one sky, two different questions
Astronomy is the science of the sky. Astrology is a symbolic language that reads the positions of the planets as a picture of character. Where the two meet.
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Birth chart basics
What astrology can and cannot do
Astrology is a tool for self-reflection, not a way to predict events. What a reading can give you, what it must never decide, and how to read it clearly.
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Birth chart basics
Tropical vs sidereal zodiac: two starting points for one sky
The tropical zodiac starts at the March equinox, the sidereal zodiac is tied to the stars. They are about 24 degrees apart, so most Sun signs shift by one.
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Birth chart basics
House systems explained: one sky, four ways to divide it
A house system is the method that divides a birth chart into twelve houses. How Placidus, Whole Sign, Equal and Koch differ, and what stays the same in all.
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Birth chart basics
Aspects in astrology: how your planets talk to each other
Aspects are the angles between planets in a chart. What conjunction, sextile, square, trine and opposition mean, what an orb is, and why a square is not bad.
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Birth chart basics
Cardinal, fixed and mutable signs: start, stay, adapt
Cardinal signs start, fixed signs sustain, mutable signs adapt. What the three modes of astrology mean and how they combine with the elements into twelve signs.
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Birth chart basics
How to find your birth time
Your birth time is usually on the long-form birth certificate or in the birth register. Six places to look, how exact it must be, and what works without it.
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Birth chart basics
The four elements in astrology: what you reach for first
The four elements of astrology sort the twelve signs into fire, earth, air and water. What each one is read as, and what a missing element in your chart means.
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Birth chart basics
Why your horoscope does not fit
A Sun-sign horoscope is written for everyone born in the same 30 days. Why it so often misses you, and what your Moon, Rising sign and full chart add.
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Birth chart basics
Zodiac sign dates, and why there is no cusp sign
The dates of all twelve zodiac signs, why they shift by a day from year to year, and what being born on the cusp really means: the Sun is in one sign only.
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For self-reflection and entertainment. Not medical, psychological, legal or financial advice.