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The Natal Chart

© Nancy Leigh Jobes

Before we move on from the planets and into the next series, there are several questions that need to be answered. To understand what the signs and the houses are or to get a firm grip on how and why the planets manifest the ways they do, it is important to understand the basic tool of all natal astrologers, the natal chart.

Natal astrology is the ability to interpret the placements of the signs, houses, and planets at the moment and location of someone's birth. A natal astrology report, reading, or session from a real astrologer will require that you have your birth date, time, and location so that they may cast a natal chart that is specific and reliable. The natal chart gives information about you: your psychology, your talents, your challenges, and your drives, to mention a few.

The natal chart is a map of the sky in relation to the place and moment you were born. The chart has a few main parts, which I will go over briefly for you. This is by no means a complete description of how the natal chart is cast or how it works, but rather an overview introduction of the basics. If you have never heard of a natal chart before, this will give you an idea of the actual complexity and calculation that goes into real natal astrology.

Houses

There are 12 houses in the natal chart. The houses correspond astrologically to different areas of life. They tell where certain things manifest in our lives, and also tell of conscious and unconscious attitudes toward different areas of life.

To find the placement of the houses, birth time and place are essential. When casting a natal chart, by hand or computer, the houses are the first thing constructed. To have a basic understanding of how the houses are found, first you need to understand the term ecliptic.

Ecliptic: This is the plane of the Earth's path around the Sun. From our vantage point here on the Earth, it looks like the path of the Sun around the Earth.

Now, the first house in the chart is found where the ecliptic intersects the point that was on the eastern horizon at the moment and location of birth. (This is why the sign on the first house cusp is often called the rising sign.) The rest gets quite mathematical, and there are several different house systems that different astrologers work with, but each house is found in regard to the Earth's rotation on its axis and the place of birth. The lines that separate the houses are called cusps.

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