How to Build a Natal Chart
There was a sky
when you arrived.
Imagine looking up at the moment of a birth. The horizon marks the edge of what you can see, but a natal chart also includes directions hidden below it, gathering them onto a single circle.
We’ll build that circle for Mira, whose fictional birth gives us a moment and a place to follow through each step.
Begin with a birthBring your curiosity. We’ll introduce the maths along the way.
From a birth record
to a map of the sky.
You may already recognise the symbols on a chart and wonder how they found their places. We’ll begin with Mira’s birth record, use her birth moment to find the directions of the planets, and then relate those directions to the horizon at her birthplace.
Astrology Engine does the calculations so we can follow the reasoning behind them. Along the way, you can try the arithmetic in short exercises and see how each step contributes to the chart.
Your way around the sky.
Six lessons, from Mira’s birth record
to her calculated chart.
- Explore lesson
Begin with a birth
A moment, a place, a sky.
- Explore lesson
Put the sky on a circle
From an angle to a zodiac sign.
- Explore lesson
Find the planets
Where positions come from.
- Explore lesson
Find the Ascendant
Meet the eastern horizon.
- Explore lesson
Construct houses
Divide the circle, step by step.
- Explore lesson
Assemble your chart
Bring the whole picture together.
A little astronomy,
a chart you understand.
Mira was born in London on 1 January 2000. We’ll prepare her birth time and location together, then learn how to draw the circle that will hold her chart. As we add the planets and the divisions that organise the chart, we’ll explain what each calculation measures and where a choice of convention enters.
You can follow Mira throughout or use your own birth date, time and place in the exercises. The first lesson shows how to prepare those details, and you don’t need to code to continue. Optional code examples are there if you’d also like to explore how the software performs the calculations.
Start the first lesson