Welcome to the Basics of Astrology for Western Astrologers
Introduction
Basic Astronomy to help you understand your chart
1. Your birth chart is a symbolic map of the placement of the planets in the sky at the time of your birth. Imagine at the exact time, date and place where you were born someone placing the wheel of your natal chart in the sky - this is the symbolic position of where the planets were. The signs on the outer wheel of the chart represent the signs of the Zodiac from Aries to Pisces. This is called the Tropical Zodiac.
2. The natal chart is based on our observation of the movements of the planets around the sun looking at it from earth hence it is called Geocentric. If we were living on the moon or on other planets we would need to review our approach.
3. Although we are all well aware that the Moon and the Earth all revolve around the Sun, from our point of view of living on Earth it feels like the sun is revolving around the earth.
4. The 12 divisions in the Natal Chart are called 'Houses'. They represent different areas of your life and go from 1 - 12 in an anti-clockwise direction. There are many ways to create these divisions, called House systems. The most common are: Equal House, Koch and Placidus. My preference in working with Psychological Astrology is to use Placidus but I would encourage you to try out different systems to see what works best for you. None of them have a scientific basis. You will notice that some houses have several planets and some have none. The houses that are busiest are the ones which will demand more attention from you throughout this lifetime.It does not mean that the other houses in your chart are not important but they will not require you to work you to work on their issues in quite the same way.
5. The 12 houses of the chart are in blocks of 3 divided by one of 4 'Angles' or lines. These are called:
- Ascendant or Rising sign as it represents where the Sun was rising at the time of your birth (on the middle left side of your chart). This is also the start of the 1st house of the chart using Placidus House System.
- Descendant as this is where the Sun was setting (on the middle right side of your chart). This is the start of the 7th house of the chart.
- IC or Immun Coeli - where your feet were standing when you were born (at the very bottom center of your chart). This is the start of the 4th house of the chart.
- MC or Medium Coeli - where your head was facing when you were born (at the very top center of your chart). This is the start of the 10th house of the chart.
These are called the 'angles of incarnation' as they form the backbone of the chart. The planet that rules (is connected to) your Ascendant is called the ruler of your chart and is very important.
5. Psychological Astrology uses mythology to describe the archetypal energies of planets in a symbolic way.
Section 2 - The Meaning of the Houses in Your Chart