What is a birth chart?

A birth chart is a diagram of the sky, drawn as a circle, for one moment and one place: yours. Picture yourself standing where you were born, at the minute you were born, and noting where the Sun, the Moon and each planet stood against the twelve signs of the zodiac. That snapshot is your birth chart. Astrologers also call it a natal chart.

The sky never stops moving, which is why the snapshot is so specific. The Moon changes sign about every two and a half days. The Rising sign, the sign coming up over the eastern horizon, changes about every two hours. Two people born on the same day can have clearly different charts.

What you need to calculate a birth chart

• Your date of birth places the Sun, the Moon and the planets in their signs.
• Your time of birth sets your Rising sign and the twelve houses.
• Your place of birth matters because the sky looks different from every spot on Earth, and because it tells us the time zone.

Don't know your birth time? A chart can still be calculated. It then leaves out the Rising sign and the houses. The birth time is often on the birth certificate, so it is worth a look. How AstroScroll calculates your chart

The four building blocks of a chart

Every chart is made of the same four things. Once you know them, a chart stops looking like a secret code.

Planets: what is at work

Each planet stands for a part of you.

Signs: how it shows

Each planet stands in one of the twelve signs, and the sign colors how that planet behaves. Mars in Aries acts fast and directly. Mars in Libra weighs things up and looks for what is fair before it moves.

Houses: where in life

The chart is divided into twelve houses. Each one is linked to an area of life, from home and family to work and friendships. The houses depend on your birth time and place, which is why the birth time matters so much.

Aspects: how the planets relate

Aspects are the angles between planets. Some bring two planets into easy cooperation, others into tension. A tense aspect is not bad news. It often marks the place where a person grows the most.

Birth chart vs. zodiac sign

When someone says "I'm a Gemini", they mean the Sun was in Gemini when they were born. About one person in twelve shares that. Your birth chart adds the Moon, the Rising sign and eight planets, each in its own sign and house.

There are 1,728 possible combinations of Sun, Moon and Rising sign alone.

That is why a horoscope column, written for a twelfth of all people, rarely feels as accurate as a reading of your whole chart.

What a birth chart can and can't do

A chart describes tendencies: how you tend to feel, think, love and react. It can give you words for patterns you already sense in yourself. It does not predict concrete events, and it does not make decisions for you. We treat it as a tool for self-reflection, not as fate.

How to start reading your own chart

1. Start with your Sun, Moon and Rising sign. Together they are called the Big Three. What the Big Three mean
2. Then look at Mercury, Venus and Mars: how you think, how you love and how you act.
3. Notice what stands out: several planets in one sign or one house, or a planet close to your Rising sign.

If you would rather have it read for you, a Birth Chart Reading walks through all of it in twelve chapters.