Chart basics · Beginner
Natal chart
Also called birth chart, nativity, radix
A map of where the Sun, Moon and planets appeared from a particular place at the moment of a birth.
A natal chart records the apparent positions of the Sun, Moon, planets and a few calculated points for one instant and one place, arranged on a circle of zodiac signs and, when the time is known, divided into houses. The positions are astronomy; the reading of them is astrology.
- How it is worked out
- Needs the date, the local clock time with its time zone on that date, and the place's latitude and longitude. Houses and angles need the time; without it only date-level positions can be given.
- Example
- Someone born at 10:30 p.m. in New York on 13 June 1987 has a chart drawn for 02:30 UTC on 14 June 1987 at 40.7°N, 74.0°W.
Sources
- Astrodienst AstroWiki: Birth Chart (opens in a new tab) practitioner
- Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos I.4, “Of the Power of the Planets” (Robbins translation, 1940) (opens in a new tab) historical
Written for Cool Moon Facts in its own words. An astrology source documents what astrologers believe or practise; it does not establish that astrology works.