There is no replacing the information you can receive from a personal natal chart interpretation, but if you are just delving into the world of astrology for the first time you can get a basic idea of how all the planetary bodies were aligned at your time of birth by casting your own birth chart. It takes years of experience to interpret all this information and explore how it affects your personal life, romantic relationships, career, financial situation, home and other aspects of life. But for just a simple overview of the astrological “you,” and all your strengths and weaknesses, one of these home charts is a fine place to start. All you need is pen and paper, and a good book on astrology. Once you get started, though, chances are that you will yearn for the technical skills of an experienced astrologer to dig deeper below the surface of your horoscope.

The first step in creating a basic birth chart is to draw a circle with 12 different sections of equal size like cutting a pie, and a smaller circle in the middle. The first slice in the bottom left quadrant of the pie is the first house. The smaller circle in the middle can be used to number the 12 houses starting at that point. Now, your first house will not necessarily be the first sign of the zodiac. The first house is actually your Ascendant, which can be calculated by using an ascendant table or by making a wheel to do an approximate calculation based on your exact time of birth. There are books that explain this further. If you’re getting into astrology you’ll want to get some basic books that explain this and other elemental horoscope calculations. Once you have the first house in place, then you can label all the other 11 houses in the order that they follow the sign of your Ascendant in the first house.

To complete your basic birth chart, you’ll need to be able to determine not only what your sun sign and moon sign are, but you must also be able to determine where all the planets were on your date of birth. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto will each have been in a specific sign on the date of your birth. Some planets (like Mercury) move into a new sign practically every month, while other signs (like Pluto) can stay in the same sign for years because they move through the zodiac so slowly. Again, there are books and online resources that will have all this information.

Once you know what signs all the planets were in when you were born, then you can write the names of the planets into the slices of the corresponding signs that those planets were in on your date of birth. Then you will be able to see which houses you have planets in, and which signs those houses are in. It is helpful to also make a list that is broken into columns starting with the names of the planets, then listing what sign that planet was in at your date of birth, and saving the final column to list which house that sign is in for you. This will make it easy to look up information regarding the planets in the 12 houses, and what it means when each planet is in each of those 12 houses. Each house represents a different facet of life such as self, home or mental exploration and there are different strengths and weaknesses that people will tend to have in each of these areas depending on what planet that house was in when they were born.

While it can be very fun and informative to make a birth chart at home and read further to interpret that chart, there is no replacing the interpretation of a real astrologer. A personalized birth chart interpretation breaks down your horoscope in the deepest possible ways and provides a wealth of knowledge and insight into all your strengths and weaknesses.

- Gaia Veenis