How to Make a Birth Chart

Artistic Interpretation of the Zodiac Signs on a Wheel Chart

Astrologists believe that the placement of the stars and planets at the moment of our birth has a strong bearing on our personalities and who we are. In order to counsel people on their strengths and weaknesses, an astrologist will draw up a birth chart in the form of a wheel. The wheel represents the entire sky around the Earth, what can be seen above the horizon and what cannot be seen, below, during the season of your birth.

Things You'll Need

• Planisphere Paper Markers Ruler

Instructions

1. Gather information. You must know not only the day and year you were born, you must know the time you were born and the place you were born. All of these factors effect the placement of the stars and planets in relation to you at your birth.

2. Purchase or borrow a sky map. Sky maps, also called planispheres, are paper wheels that allow you to move a map of the stars around to fit a specific date, time and hemisphere. Set the sky map to the date, time and place of your birth. Some sky maps are designed only to help you recognize stars at night, so make sure you are using a more versatile sky map that will allow you to see where heavenly bodies were located at any time of day.

3. 

   Notice where each sign of the zodiac is in the sky at the moment of your birth. Copy the wheel chart in the image. The first six houses (I to VI) are below the horizon, meaning they could not be seen in the sky when you were born. The next six houses (VII to XII) are above the horizon and the six constellations in those houses were above in the sky when your were born. In each of the 12 houses, write the name of the zodiac constellation that was in that position at the moment of your birth.

4. 

   Holding the wheel and the planisphere next to each other, chart where each of the following astrological bodies were in the sky: sun, moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. In the last picture, three circles are shown as an example; you need to chart where all 10 luminaries were.

5. 

   You now have the your basic birth chart. Interpreting the chart is complicated; each house has significance, each zodiac sign has meanings and the relation of the the 10 luminaries to the signs in their houses completes the picture of you. To learn how to interpret your chart visit a website like astrology.com (see resources), or consult with a professional astrologist.

Resources

• Interpret Birth Chart
• Sky Maps