The words a chart uses
What is a natal chart?
A natal chart is a map of where the Sun, the Moon and the planets stood, seen from your birthplace, at the moment you were born.
A natal chart, or birth chart, is a drawing of the sky at one moment from one place. It records where the Sun, the Moon and the planets appeared along the zodiac, which of the twelve houses each fell in, and the angles they made to one another.
The calculation itself is astronomy: given a date, a time and a place, the positions follow. What the positions mean is a matter of tradition. Astrology has given each planet, sign and house a set of associations over many centuries, and a chart reads them together.
How the chart is drawn
The outer ring is the zodiac, divided into twelve signs of thirty degrees each. Inside it are the houses, twelve divisions that turn with the Earth through the day, which is why the time of birth matters. The planets sit at their degrees, and lines across the centre mark the aspects, the angles between them.
Becoming Choice draws two rings of houses: the Placidus system inside and whole sign houses outside, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
How we read it
Here a chart is a set of symbols for reflection, not a description of who you are. Each placement offers a theme and a question. You bring your own examples, notice what fits, set aside what does not, and consider what you want to do with what you notice.
A chart does not cause anything, measure a personality, or decide what happens to you. It can begin a conversation, and the conversation is yours.