So you’re interested in astrology but have no idea where to start? Having a copy of your own birth chart is a good place.

Here’s how to get one for free…

To begin you’ll need to know the date, time, and place of birth. Make your way via the magic of the internet to astro.com and click on Charts & Calculations…

Select Chart drawing, Ascendant…

From here it really is a case of following your nose.

You don’t need to be a subscriber, but it is free if you want to sign up. Signing up allows you to keep a bit of a file for your charts if you are learning.

From here you will need to follow the information prompts. If you don’t have an accurate birth time there is an option for “unknown”. The Ascendant, Moon degree (and possibly sign), and house system will not be correct, but the planetary information should be. You’ll end up with a chart that looks something like this

If you click on “view the additional tables (pdf)” you will see the aspect table and house cusps in more detail.

Yep, it really is that easy…

A note on birth time…

If you don’t know your birth time there are astrologers who can reconstruct it using life events etc but unfortunately I’m not one of them. The process is time-consuming and requires a level of detail I’m not comfortable with.

What you can do if you have no way of knowing your birth time is to use a solar chart with a whole house system. This places the Ascendant in the same sign as the sun. It’s this system that astrologers use when they’re writing horoscopes so while it won’t be completely accurate, you can work well with it.

For more on this head to Solar Charts under the FAQ menu.