Learn how astrology charts map the sky’s layout, revealing personal insights through planets and astrological moments…
The Map of the Sky at a Certain Moment in Time
An astrology chart is a two-dimensional representation of the layout of the Solar System at any given moment in time. Essentially, it takes the elliptical, three-dimensional reality and transforms it into a flat circle with glyphs for the Sun, Moon, Planets, Asteroids, and calculated points. Additionally, it slices the circle into twelve sections (representing 12 areas of life called Houses), displays lines for angular relationships between the points (known as Aspects), and shows which signs of the Zodiac apply to each Point and House.
Moreover, there are many different types of moments that can be identified by the casting of a chart; the most common is someone’s birth. Another common cast chart is for an important event, like a wedding, or the moment a business opens its doors to the public, and so on. Below is an example, the birth chart of Abraham Lincoln:
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Five Keys to Astrology
There are Five Keys to Astrology: Signs of the Zodiac, the Points (Sun, Moon, Planets, Asteroids, and special calculations), Houses (and House systems), Aspects, and Free Will. This section of the site focuses on the 2nd Key, the Points.
Points in the Sky
Astrology operates from a geocentric (earth-centered) rather than heliocentric (sun-centered) point of view, which is why planets and asteroids appear to exhibit what is called retrograde motion. The Sun and Moon do not retrograde.
Direct, Retrograde, and Stationary Motion Explained
Nearly every month a body in the sky will “go retrograde” or “go direct” (after being retrograde). This article will explain the three phases of observed movement for a planet or asteroid from our viewpoint on Earth. If we were to view the solar system from its true center, the Sun, no astronomical body would show retrograde motion. All motion would appear direct. In truth, even from the view of Earth, all motion IS direct; our relocation of position from the center is reframing the perception of a consistent effect. We see planets and asteroids in direct motion most of the time, in retrograde motion a portion of the time, and in a stationary state (“stand still”) for a very small portion of the time.
For most of human and astrology’s history, a cast chart consisted of only the Points in the sky that were visible to the naked eye: the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. However, Uranus was discovered in 1781, Neptune in 1846, and Pluto in 1930. Consequently, these planets were added to the charts cast in the last half of the 20th century and today. Moreover, Chiron was discovered in 1977 and has been making its way more and more consistently into new beginner books and websites. Therefore, askAstrology includes Chiron as a main Point.
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Even though the asteroid belt was discovered in 1801 and professional astrologer Demetra George wrote her book, Asteroid Goddesses, on the four largest asteroids – Juno, Ceres, Vesta, and Pallas Athena – in 1986, they, and other asteroids, are not part of mainstream astrology yet.
Lastly, there are six important calculated points to consider when learning astrology. Four of them are related to the Houses and are not part of this section; they are: the Ascendant, Descendant, Medium Coeli (Midheaven/MC), and Imum Coeli (IC). Additionally, the other two are the Nodes of the Moon, which are the points where the path of the Moon crosses the solar ecliptic. One is the ascending (north) Node and the other is the descending (south) Node.
So, for the purposes of casting modern charts and learning astrology as a beginner, the points to learn about are:
