What is a natal chart

• A chart needs the date, time and place of birth. Without an exact time, part of the chart stays unknown.
• A chart consists of the signs of the zodiac, planets, houses, angles and aspects — the connections between planets.
• It is broader than a “sun-sign horoscope”: the Sun sign is only one of its many parts.
• A chart is a basis for interpretation, not a forecast of events and not a scientific personality test.

A chart is usually drawn as a circle. Around the outer edge run the twelve signs of the zodiac — simply divisions of the path along which the Sun, Moon and planets move across the sky. Inside the circle are marked the bodies themselves and the lines between them.

For more on how these parts are read together, see the article how to read a natal chart. The three anchor points that people usually start with are covered separately: the Sun, Moon and Ascendant.

When people say “I’m a Taurus”, they mean only the sign the Sun was in. That sign is shared by everyone born in roughly the same month. A natal chart also takes into account the position of the Moon, which changes sign every two to three days, as well as the planets, houses and angles. That is why people born on the same day but at different times or in different cities have different charts.

Daily sun-sign horoscopes describe the current movement of the planets for everyone born under a sign at once. A natal chart is a snapshot of a single moment, and it does not change over time.

The example is fictional: these positions were invented for explanation and are not calculated from anyone’s data.

Suppose that in a chart the Sun is in Taurus, the Moon is in Scorpio and the Ascendant is in Cancer. From the Sun sign alone, all you can say is that the person values stability and unhurried pace. The Moon in Scorpio adds depth and reserve in the feelings, and the Ascendant in Cancer a careful, protective way of entering something new. The interpretation is built not from a single indicator but from the combination: how a calm outward manner coexists with strong inner experiences.

This is also how a reading is put together: every statement rests on a specific factor, and contradictions between factors are described rather than hidden. You can see what it looks like as a whole in the open sample reading.

• Birth time. The Ascendant and houses change roughly every two hours, so without an exact time they cannot be determined reliably. More in a chart without a birth time.
• Place. The houses and angles depend on the coordinates, and the conversion of local time to Universal Time depends on the time zone.
• The chosen system. Different services use different house systems and aspect orbs, which is why charts sometimes differ. The rules we use are described in the methodology.

A chart does not predict specific events and dates, does not make diagnoses and does not choose a profession or a partner for anyone. Astrology is a tradition of interpretation, not a science; an accurate calculation of planetary positions does not prove that the description of character is correct. It is wiser to treat a reading as a prompt for reflection: what resonates, what does not and why.

The simplest way is to build your own chart: the full reading includes the positions of the Sun, Moon and planets, the Ascendant (if the time is known) and an interpretation in 11 chapters. If you would first like to understand how it works, continue with the article how to read a natal chart.