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Using an ephemeris and a table of houses an astrologer calculates relative positions of the sun, the moon, and the planets for specific time and place in order to erect a horoscope. This diagram, called a chart is a stylized map of the heavens. An horoscope is a chart or diagram representing the positions of the planets and other celestial bodies at the time of an event such as a person's birth. The term horoscope is derived from Greek words meaning, "a look at the hours."
The sun or the earth is placed in the centre (depending on whether the ephemeris was heliocentric or geocentric) with the remaining elements around the outside: the planets, the lunar nodes, the ascendant and midheaven, and the houses. Then the angles between the planets are designated.
These angles are the astrological aspects. Different systems of tri-secting arcs produce houses of different size. The calculation of a horoscope is a complex but purely technical skill normally carried out by computer software.
The following terms apply to contemporary mainstream western astrology. The procedures used in vedic astrology, Chinese astrology and some schools of western astrology differ significantly.
The Ephemeris: An ephemeris (plural: ephemerides) is a table providing the apparent positions of the sun, the moon, and the planets in the sky at a given moment in time, at a given point on the earth. It also provides data on astronomical phenomena of interest to astrologers such as solar and lunar eclipse, apparent retrogradation, planetary ingress, sidereal time and positions for the nodes of the moon.
The Birth Chart: This chart is a personal map of the heavens as they existed at the time and place of your birth. It is drawn as a circle and divided into 12 segments and shows the exact positions in degrees of the sun, moon, and planets in the signs. The areas where the planet-sign combinations fall in the chart is known as Houses and they are determined by the Ascendant or rising sign - the degree of the ecliptic that was rising on the eastern horizon when you were born.
Chart Interpretation
The Ascendant : the eastern point where the ecliptic and horizon intersect. The The ascendant is of great significance in most schools of astrology, where is usually expressed by stating the sign into which the ascendant falls along with its angle relative to the start of that sign. Its opposite point in the west is the descendant. In draughting a horoscope the ascendant is traditionally placed as the left-most point of the chart. In the course of a day, because of the earth's rotation, the entire circle of the ecliptic will pass through the ascendant and it will be advanced by about 1º. This provides us with the term rising sign, which is the sign of the zodiac appearing on the native's ascendant.
The Houses : a series of twelve intervals on the plane of the ecliptic. Astrologers have devised at least nine different ways of calculating the positions of those houses. Just as this article does not seek to discuss the validity of astrology, it is also beyond its scope to attempt to resolve questions which may be disputed among astrologers. The use of a particular system of house division is often more a result of what calculations are available than of any conscious consideration of one system's merits over that of an other. Similarly, explanations in this article based on the Equal House System are not meant to give any theoretical preference to that system; it is simply the system whose geometry is easiest to understand. Using an Equal House System the ecliptic is divided into twelve equal spaces of 30º each. The first house begins at the ascendant and the others are numbered consecutively counterclockwise from that point. The first six are all below the horizon, and the later six are all above. The positions of these houses remains fixed relative to the native. The signs move through the houses. The planets move through the signs.
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