CHAPTER 1

Looking a Chart in the Face

After studying astrology for a while—ten months for some, ten years for others—youdecide it's time to stop reading books and start reading charts. You pickone up and wonder how to proceed. You recall dozens of rules and techniques,some of which contradict each other. You stare at the chart. Confronted by adizzying array of symbols, you try to figure out what's important. Over time,astrological sophisticates develop their own systems for reading horoscopes.This chapter, and the rest of this book, presents mine. This is not the onlymethod for reading charts. You may not choose to use it. But this is the way Ianalyze charts in my practice. It identifies the most significant features invery short order.

First, Check the Birth Time

Begin by speculating on the accuracy of the data. Times that have been roundedoff, like 7:00 or 7:30, are suspect. Times on the quarter-hour are likely to becloser to the truth, and a time like 7:06 may be exact. Be especially cautiouswhen the Ascendant is in the last few degrees of one sign or the first fewdegrees of the next, since a slight difference in birth time can change therising sign. In borderline cases, ask for the Sun sign of both parents, as oneof them may be the correct Ascendant.

Ask where the person got the data. If it's from Mom's memory, she's 80, and shehad seven kids, the data may be faulty unless memorable circumstancesaccompanied the birth. A birth announcement or baby book may be given somecredence. If the time was noted on the birth certificate, it is at least asclose as the delivery-room staff could make it.

However, when difficult planets like Saturn, Pluto, or Neptune fall near theAscendant, inquire if any unusual circumstances accompanied the delivery. Often,there is quite a saga. If this was a chaotic (Neptune) or a particularlydifficult birth (Saturn or Pluto), the data could well be in question.Especially in life-threatening circumstances, delivery-room staff pay attentionto the baby and the mother, not the clock on the wall. Typically, when bothstabilize and cleanup begins, someone will ask when the baby was born. Theperson in charge looks at the clock and makes a guess, and that guess isrecorded for posterity.

Take the birthplace and year into account as well. Until 1967, observance ofDaylight Savings Time was notoriously changeable from town to town and even yearto year, especially in the Midwest. The best reference, at this writing, forchecking this is The American Atlas, but even that is amended as new informationcomes to light.

In some areas—and some eras—state law has mandated that Standard Time berecorded on the certificate, rather than Daylight Savings Time. Illinois wassuch a state until 1959, as was Pennsylvania between 1921 and 1970. Where thisrule was in effect, the birth certificate of someone born on May 25th at 9:00P.M. EDT would read 8:00 P.M. Not all hospitals paid attention to the law—andnot all delivery-room staff remembered it all the time. As a result, even thetime on a birth certificate may not be recorded correctly.

For Pennsylvania and Illinois natives, you should definitely ask for the sourceof the time. A baby book or birth announcement notation may be based on clocktime, and thus might be Daylight Savings Time. A parent's memory of the birthtime may be from the clock (and thus Daylight Savings Time) or may be from alater glance at the birth certificate (and thus possibly Standard Time). For DSTbirths, ask for a few key past events to double-check the Midheaven throughtransits or progressions. Despite precautions, errors may creep in, but at leastyou'll be forewarned.

That's bad enough, given that there are 186 timetables for Pennsylvania alone inThe American Atlas. At least, for six months of the year, we don't have to worryabout Daylight Savings Time—except for those born during World Wars I and II andthe oil crisis of 1974–5, that is. However, just when I thought it was safe tofire up the software, I discovered that, if Pennsylvanians find a town name theylike, they tend to use it more than once.

I surveyed one two-page spread—two of 26 pages of towns in Pennsylvania. Amongthe many redundancies were two Bethlehems, two Bryn Mawrs, three Bloomingdales,five Brooksides, and seven Bridgeports. (There may also be North and EastBridgeport and Old Bridgeport—they wouldn't be listed on that page.) You alsohave to watch for spelling variations—there were two Bridgetons and oneBridgetown.

These towns are often far enough apart to produce several degrees difference inAscendants and Midheavens. Between the two Bethlehems, there are three degreesdifference on the Midheaven and four on the Ascendant. That is enough to throwpredictions off seriously or change a rising sign. To avoid error, ask thecounty of birth or the name of the nearest goodsized city. (Pennsylvania isn'tthe only problem area—there are three Brooklyns in New York state. Two are inthe boonies a considerable distance from New York City, but the one where somany bright, funny, famous, and infamous folks were born is 73W56; 40N38.)

A Visual Survey of the Chart

Astrology is primarily a visual medium. Out of the five or six usual senses, weeach have one or two that we prefer. Some of us are visually inclined, some aretactile, and some learn best by hearing. If you're not particularly visual, youcan train yourself to see more acutely. You could accentuate color in drawing upa wheel, as some astrologers do. They may use red ink for planets in fire signs,green for earth, blue for water, and perhaps orange for air. Another visual aidis the European system of drawing houses their exact size rather than theillusory equal size (the pie chart) of most printed charts.

Whatever devices you adopt, keep the wheel uncluttered. As discussed in theintroduction, I focus on the basic, no-frills chart—the ten original planetsand outer-planet transits. In actual practice, I start with a one-ring chartwith just the natal placements. After analyzing them and drawing in the aspectsby hand, I use a bright color to plot in house positions of the transiting outerplanets and...