Getting Your Horoscope in a Nanosecond

The easiest way to get an accurate copy of your horoscope is to log on to the Internet, go to one of the sites in the following list, and type in the date, year, time, and place of your birth. Here are three of the best sites to visit:

Astrolabe (www.alabe.com): Astrolabe offers an excellent, free birth chart along with about three pages of interpretation. Feed your birth date into their form, send it off, and seconds later, it comes back to you, complete - and I mean complete. In contrast to other Web sites with seemingly similar offers, Astrolabe supplies not only some basic interpretation but also an image of the actual chart, with the Sun, Moon, and planets placed clearly within the zodiac wheel. Astrolabe also offers other services, for which you have to pay.

Astrodienst (www.astro.com ): You can get a free birth chart (or "portrait") at this absorbing Web site - and lots more, including lengthy daily horoscopes, a report on "love, flirtation, and sex," a relationship chart and analysis, and a six-month forecast based on the changing position - or transits (see Chapter 16) - of the planets. All these freebies are abbreviated versions of longer reports you can buy. I donít have a problem with that. The only missing ingredient here is that your actual chart - the round emblem that suggests a personal mandala - is not shown. You have to construct it yourself. (I show you how in Chapter 3.)

Chaos Astrology (www.chaosastrology.com ): The free birth chart offered at this Web site is longer than most - plus, it includes the actual chart, if you know where to look. The trick is simple: After you feed in your birth information and your astrological profile appears on the screen, click on the sun/moon icon at the top of the page. Lo and behold: Your actual birth chart appears.

What It Takes to Cast Your Chart the Old-Fashioned Way

In the past, before the computer infiltrated every corner of human existence, figuring out the positions of the planets was a challenge. It required patience, hours of free time, a fearless approach to mathematics, and an eagerness to grapple with the kinds of boring details that drive most people nuts.

For instance, you had to look up the longitude and latitude of your birth place, and you had to correct for its distance from the standard time meridian for that location. You had to distinguish between local time and Greenwich mean time, not to mention standard time, daylight saving time, and war time. Then you had to calculate the movement of the planets using, among other tools, a table of proportional logarithms. Most people didnít want to bother.

I always felt differently. I liked staying up late surrounded by numerical tables, volumes of astrological data, pads of yellow paper, and the special horoscope blanks I bought at a metaphysical bookstore. As I calculated each planetary position and house cusp, drew the symbols of the signs and planets onto the chart, and counted up how many planets were in fire signs, in earth signs, and so on, the chart - and the person - slowly grew clear in my mind.

That process takes time, and I don't do it anymore. With a computer, you can get an accurate chart without even thinking about math. Later in this chapter, I tell you how.

Still, the best way to understand astrology is to cast a chart the old-fashioned way. Here's what you would need to calculate it yourself:

• The precise longitude and latitude of your birthplace. You can figure it out from a map or look it up in a book like The American Atlas: U.S. Longitudes and Latitudes, Time Changes and Time Zones, by Thomas G. Shanks (ACS Publications), which includes an international atlas.

• The details about your time of birth. Just because you know the exact moment of your birth doesn't mean that your problems with time are over. You also have to know what time zone you were born in - and this is an area riddled with quicksand.
  
  For instance, Tennessee is divided down the middle, half in one time zone and half in another. Most places in Texas observe central standard time - but El Paso doesn't. And if you were born in Indiana between 1955 and 1965, you're in deep trouble. During those years, the powers-that-be, unable to choose between central and eastern time, decided to carve up the state and assign different regions to each time zone. Each year, they did it in a different way. If you were caught in this civic calamity, you have no choice: Go to a professional astrologer. Or log on to one of the Web sites listed later in this chapter.
  
  Then there's daylight saving time. Until 2007, it ran from late April to late October, but the exact days differ from year to year and from state to state. For example, if you were born in California on October 27, 1963, you were born under daylight saving time. But if your birthday is a year later, on October 27, 1964, you were born under standard time.
  
  And did you know that during World War II, the entire U.S. operated under war time? It began on February 9, 1942, about two months after Pearl Harbor, and ended on September 30, 1945. (It was also in operation in some places during World War I.)
  
  To account for these variations in time, you need a trustworthy source. Again, I recommend The American Atlas: U.S. Longitudes and Latitudes, Time Changes and Time Zones, compiled by Thomas G. Shanks.

• A table of houses. This book-size table tells you what degree of the zodiac is rising at any given moment according to the time and latitude of your birth. It also tells the degrees that appear on the other house cusps. One resource for this information is the Michelsen Book of Tables by Neil F. Michelsen (ACS Publications), which includes two popular types of house division as well as a worksheet for casting a horoscope the old-fashioned way.

• An ephemeris for the year you were born. The Rosetta Stone of astrology, an ephemeris is an almanac that lists the positions of the Sun, Moon, and planets for every day of the year, either for midnight or noon in Greenwich, England (the basis for Greenwich mean time, from which all time zones are determined). So if you were born on the stroke of midnight in Greenwich, you don't have to do a thing to determine the position of your planets. You can read them right out of the book.
  If you were born at any other time or place, you have to make adjustments. Using an ephemeris, a table of houses, and the principles of high school algebra, you can come up with a close approximation of your chart. Should you insist on precision (perhaps because you have a dose of Virgo in your birth chart), you need one more item, which I explain in the following bullet.
  

• A table of proportional logarithms. Using this numerical chart makes your calculations precise. But if going to the mat with a table of logarithms sounds like a fight you won't win, do yourself a favor: Skip the calculations and go directly to the Internet.

Coping with an absence of information

A more significant problem arises when you have no idea what time you were born. I have a beloved friend, one of many children, who never knew her birth time. And then one day, things got rapidly worse. During an astonishing conversation with an older sister, she discovered that no one in her family could vouch with 100 percent certainty for the day of her birth - or even the month. Suddenly she wasn't sure whether she was a Libra (no way) or a Scorpio (yes). This rare situation is an astrologer's worst-case scenario.

More typically, people know the day, month, and year of their birth - but not the time. That's not a tragedy. Even without the time, you can uncover a wealth of information about yourself. However, when you go online to get your horoscope - or even when you do it yourself - you have to adjust for the missing information.

In the absence of anything resembling an accurate birth time, I recommend that you do what professional astrologers do: Pretend that you were born either at noon or at dawn and proceed accordingly. (In Chapter 3, I tell you more about what to do if your birth time is lost in space.)

Dealing with approximate birth times

What if no one thought to look at a clock when you were born? First, keep in mind that an approximate time is better than nothing - much better. If all you know is that you came into this world before breakfast or during the Late Show with David Letterman, that's useful information, even if it's not exact.

If you aren't sure of your birth time, you might consider asking a professional astrologer to rectify your chart. Rectification is a complex process. It involves working backwards from major events in your life (such as marriage, divorce, or the death of a parent) to make an educated guess about your probable birth time. Some astrology software includes rectification modules. Even so, it's wise to proceed with caution: Unless the astrologer has considerable experience, rectification isn't a sure bet.

Gathering the Information You Need

If you're like most people, you won't have any trouble finding your birth information. Here's what you need:

• Your month, day, and year of birth
• The place of your birth
• Your exact birth time - or as close to it as you can get

Without an accurate birth time, you can never know what your Ascendant is (see Chapter 11 for more about Ascendants). You won't have trustworthy house placements for your planets. You may not even know your Moon sign because it changes signs every two or three days. Without an accurate birth time, interpreting your chart correctly will be challenging. And predicting the future will be close to impossible.

Fortunately, finding the exact time is usually easy. But don't be surprised if your mother's memory of what must surely have been the highlight of her entire life turns out to be spotty. Since I havenít done a survey, I have no statistics to bandy about, but I will say this: It's shocking how many parents canít remember when their children were born. They donít know if it was 2:05 or 5:02. One mother even confessed to me that she wasn't sure who was born at 10:06 a.m.: her daughter or herself. That's why I recommend that you corroborate your birth time through the official record - your birth certificate.

To get your birth certificate online, check out the National Center for Health Statistics at www.cdc.gov/nchs and click on the link that says "Help obtaining birth, death, marriage, or divorce certificates."

Chapter 2 - Getting Your Precise Horoscope: The Old Way versus the Easy Way

In This Chapter

• Assembling your birth information
• Creating your chart with piles of paper, tables, and dusty old books
• Surfing the Internet to get your chart
• Probing your psyche and glimpsing the future with astrological software

What could be more fabulously arcane than an astrological chart? Well, lots of things: Alchemical sigils, kabalistic diagrams, magic spells - you name it. But this blog isn't about them. It's about astrology, which only seems strange. That's because an astrological chart, with all its mysteriouslooking symbols, has nothing mystical about it. It's a representation of the real world, and it isn't peculiar at all. An astrological chart is a picture, in streamlined form, of the solar system at the time of your birth. It's that simple.

To visualize the cosmos as it was then, imagine standing on the Earth at the precise moment of your birth. Imagine, too, that you're facing south and looking at a gigantic clock face that has been superimposed on the sky. To your left, in the nine o'clock position, is the eastern horizon. That's your Ascendant. If you were born around dawn, that's also where your Sun is. The twelve o'clock position is high in the sky in front of you. That's where your Sun is if you were a lunchtime delivery. To your right, in the three o'clock position, is the western horizon. If you were born around dusk, your Sun is there. And if you snuck into this world around midnight, when the Sun was illuminating the other side of the planet, your Sun is in the six o'clock spot.

If you know the phase of the Moon at your birth, you can locate it in a similar way. Were you born under a new moon? Then your Moon and Sun are in roughly the same place. Born under a full moon? Then the Sun and Moon are opposite each other - 180° apart. If one is rising, the other is setting.

The point is this: The horoscope is neither a metaphysical construct nor a mystical symbol nor a psychological portrait. It's a map. Your horoscope shows the position of the Sun, Moon, and planets at the moment of your birth. The astrologer's task is to look at that map and figure out its meaning. But first you have to get your hands on the map. In this chapter, I tell you how to do just that.

Taking the house tour

It makes no difference whether you're a fun-loving Leo or a workaholic Capricorn, you still have to deal with relationships, money, health, career, and so on. Those areas come under the authority of the houses, which divide the sky into 12 parts, beginning with the Ascendant, which marks the start of the first house. The meanings of the houses are summarized in Table 1-4.

Table 1-4 Houses and Their Significance

House	Areas of Concern
First house	Your appearance and surface personality
Second house	Money, possessions, values
Third house	Communication, short journeys, brothers and sisters
Fourth house	Home, roots, one parent, circumstances at the end of life
Fifth house	Romance, children, creativity
Sixth house	Work and health
Seventh house	Marriage and other partnerships
Eighth house	Sex, death, regeneration, other peopleís money
Ninth house	Higher education, long journeys, religion, philosophy
Tenth house	Career, status, reputation, the other parent
Eleventh house	Friends and aspirations
Twelfth house	Enemies, seclusion, secrets

Table Tutorial

Just as every birth chart includes all the planets, every horoscope has all 12 houses. The sign on the cusp, or beginning of the house, describes your approach to it. For instance, if the sign of the bull is on the cusp of your house of work, your attitude toward your job is Taurean, making you dependable, productive, and a bit of a plodder, regardless of whether that house is crammed full of planets or empty.

The word cusp is used in two ways in astrology. When people say they were born "on the cusp," they mean that their birthday falls at the end of one sign and the beginning of another. They usually think that they have qualities belonging to both signs. (I discuss this issue in Chapter 3.) When astrologers refer to the cusp of a house, they mean the houseís starting point.

The Ascendant

Have you ever had a friend who was Miss Congeniality - until you got to know her? Did you ever encounter anyone who seemed standoffish and cold at first but warmed up later on? Do you know anyone whose devil-may-care, lighthearted attitude masks a calculating, manipulative mind? And have you ever wondered how you strike other people, especially when they don't know you well? Your horoscope provides the answer. While your Sun sign may not be apparent to people, they definitely notice your Ascendant. It's your image, your facade, your surface personality. Whether it clashes or harmonizes with your Sun sign, it describes the way people see you and the impression that you make. Indeed, some astrologers consider the ruler of the Ascendant - that is, the planet that rules the rising sign - to be the overall ruler of your chart.

No matter what your Sun sign might be, any one of the 12 signs might have been on the eastern horizon when you were born. If you were born around dawn, when the Sun was peeking over the horizon, you already know your rising sign: It's the same as your Sun sign. If you were born at any other time of day, your rising sign and Sun sign differ.

For those people whose Sun signs and rising signs are identical, the surface and the substance are the same. For everyone else, what you see isn't necessarily what you get.

Consider Whoopi Goldberg: She has Aquarius rising, so she appears progressive, sociable, and eccentric - a personality with a lively mind and a detached, observant approach to life. In fact, her Sun is in Scorpio, so beneath her brilliant Aquarian surface, she's intensely emotional, passionate, and secretive - not detached at all.

To determine your rising sign, you need to know the time of your birth. When you have that, turn to Chapter 3, which gives you a rough estimate of your rising sign. Then go to Chapter 11 for an interpretation.

Besides shaping your personality, the Ascendant serves another function: It opens the door to the houses. For more about that subject, read on.

Assessing the Ascendant and the Houses

The planets arenít the only essential components of your chart. The Ascendant or rising sign - the sign that was climbing over the eastern horizon at the moment of your birth - is equally important. It refers to your mask or persona - the face that you show the world. It also marks the start of the 12 houses.

Who Rules? Discovering the Rulers of the Signs

In an ideal world, each planet would work well in each sign. But in fact, some placements are better than others. The sign in which a planet seems to function most effectively is the sign that it is said to rule. Two thousand years ago, when astrologers only had to worry about the Sun, the Moon, and five planets, they assigned the rulerships this way:

• The Sun ruled Leo.
• The Moon ruled Cancer.
• Mercury ruled Gemini and Virgo.
• Venus ruled Taurus and Libra.
• Mars ruled Aries and Scorpio.
• Jupiter ruled Pisces and Sagittarius.
• Saturn ruled Aquarius and Capricorn.

After Uranus was discovered in 1781, followed by Neptune in 1846 and Pluto in 1930, astrologers modified the system. Today, the most commonly accepted planetary rulers are as follows:

• The Sun rules Leo.
• The Moon rules Cancer.
• Mercury rules Gemini and Virgo.
• Venus rules Taurus and Libra.
• Mars rules Aries.
• Jupiter rules Sagittarius.
• Saturn rules Capricorn.
• Uranus rules Aquarius.
• Neptune rules Pisces.
• Pluto rules Scorpio.

In recent years, astronomers have discovered legions of asteroids, moons, and other celestial bodies in our solar system. One of them is Chiron, which was discovered in 1977. Some astrologers believe that Chiron is the ruler of Virgo. Others associate it with Sagittarius. Many donít bother with it at all, and it has yet to be assigned the rulership of a sign.

Considering the Sun, the Moon, and the Planets

The Sun, the Moon, and the planets play individual parts in your horoscope. Their meanings are as follows:

The Sun represents your essential self, will, individuality, vitality, and desire for power. More than any other planet, it represents who you are. It also symbolizes men in general.

The Moon represents your emotions, subconscious, instincts, habits, and memory. It also represents women in general.

Mercury symbolizes your style of communication, your reasoning ability, and the way you think.

Venus represents those parts of your life that are concerned with love, attraction, beauty, possessions, and the arts.

Mars is the planet of desire and aggression. It represents your physical energy, combativeness, enterprise, and courage.

Jupiter is the planet of expansion and good fortune. It represents growth, prosperity, abundance, wisdom, generosity, and the higher mind. Jupiterís position in a horoscope tells you where youíre lucky.

Saturn represents limitation, restriction, caution, organization, endurance, and discipline. It tells you where you have to face your fears ó and also where youíre ambitious.

Chiron, a dwarf planet discovered in 1977, represents past hurt and future healing. Astrologers, not all of whom use Chiron, often associate it with holistic medicine.

Uranus represents originality, independence, rebelliousness, inventiveness, insight, and everything unexpected.

Neptune represents spirituality, dreams, psychic ability, intuition, disintegration, compassion, self-sacrifice, deception, and illusion.

Pluto represents elimination, destruction, regeneration, renewal, and transformation.

One way to simplify all this is to assign a single word - or, as astrologers prefer to say, keyword - to each planet. These keywords, which summarize each planetís meaning, appear in Table 1-3.

Table 1-3 Keywords for the Planets

Planet	Keyword
Sun	Self
Moon	Emotion
Mercury	Communication
Venus	Love
Mars	Action
Jupiter	Expansion
Saturn	Restriction
Chiron	Chiron
Uranus	Revolution
Neptune	Imagination
Pluto	Transformation

Table Tutorial

Planets Symbol

Putting the zodiac back together

Once you know the order of the signs, it's easy to assign them to their correct polarity, modality, and element because those classifications always occur in sequence. (You can clearly see that sequence in Table 1-2.) Those classifications convey a great deal of information. If all you know is the polarity, modality, and element of each sign, you know a lot.

Table 1-2 The Qualities of the Signs

Sign	Polarity	Modality	Element
Aries	Positive	Cardinal	Fire
Taurus	Negative	Fixed	Earth
Gemini	Positive	Mutable	Air
Cancer	Negative	Cardinal	Water
Leo	Positive	Fixed	Fire
Virgo	Negative	Mutable	Earth
Libra	Positive	Cardinal	Air
Scorpio	Negative	Fixed	Water
Sagittarius	Positive	Mutable	Fire
Capricorn	Negative	Cardinal	Earth
Aquarius	Positive	Fixed	Air
Pisces	Negative	Mutable	Water

Table Tutorial

For example, take Cancer the Crab. It's the sign of negative cardinal water. This tells you that Crabs tend to be internal and receptive (negative), with a heavy dose of initiative (cardinal), and strong emotional awareness (water).

Or consider Leo, which lives next door to Cancer but boasts a very different personality (as is always the case with adjacent signs). Leo is the sign of positive fixed fire. This means that its natives tend to be outgoing (positive), determined (fixed), and full of flash (fire).

The polarity, modality, and element provide a rudimentary sense of what each sign is about. For a detailed description of the signs, turn to Part II.

Elements: Dividing the zodiac by four

Describing the temperament of each sign of the zodiac by assigning it to one of the four ancient elements is probably the most famous method of classification. The four elements are fire, earth, air, and water:

• Fire brings vitality, excitement, and intensity. The fire signs are Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius.
• Earth gives stability, common sense, and the ability to get things done. The earth signs are Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn.
• Air enlivens the intellect and enhances sociability. The air signs are Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius.
• Water strengthens the emotions and the intuition. The water signs are Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces.

Modality: Dividing the zodiac by three

The three modalities describe different forms of expression, as follows:

Cardinal signs are enterprising. They initiate change and make things happen. The cardinal signs are Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn.

Fixed signs consolidate and preserve change. They're focused and determined. The fixed signs are Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius.

Mutable signs are flexible and versatile. They adapt and adjust. The mutable signs are Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces.

Within the cycle of the zodiac, the three modalities occur in sequence. Cardinal energy initiates change, fixed energy digs its heels in and maintains the status quo, and mutable energy adapts to shifting circumstances.

Polarity: Dividing the zodiac by two

You can figure out the polarity of each sign by dividing the zodiac in half. Beginning with Aries, six positive or masculine signs alternate with six negative or feminine signs. The sexist language, I regret to say, is traditional. Many astrologers use the terms yin and yang instead. Call them what you will, the meanings are as follows:

• Positive (yang) signs are more extroverted, objective, and assertive.
• Negative (yin) signs are more introverted, subjective, and receptive.

The zodiac can also be divided into pairs of opposing signs. The opposite signs are: Aries and Libra; Taurus and Scorpio; Gemini and Sagittarius; Cancer and Capricorn; Leo and Aquarius; and Virgo and Pisces.

Identifying the Signs of the Zodiac

The sign that the Sun occupied at the moment of your birth is the most basic astrological fact about you. It defines your ego, motivations, needs, and approach to life. But the Sun isn't the only planet that affects you. (For astrological purposes, both luminaries - the Sun and the Moon - are called planets. Do yourself a favor and don't use this terminology when talking to astronomers.) Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Chiron, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, not to mention the Moon, represent distinct types of energy that express themselves in the style of the sign theyíre in.

Nevertheless, astrologically speaking, your Sun sign is the most essential fact about you. To determine your sign, use Table 1-1. Keep in mind that the dates vary from year to year. After all, although a circle has 360 degrees, and each sign has precisely 30 degrees, it's an inconvenient fact that a year has 365 days - not counting leap years. As a result, the signs don't divide into the days as neatly as you would want. If you were born on the first or final day of a sign, you may want to check your birth sign by using the tables in the Appendix, venturing onto the Internet, or consulting an astrologer.

Table 1-1 The Sun Signs

Understanding the Signs

Like any truly satisfying system, astrology classifies and interprets its basic building blocks in a number of ways. Just for starters, each sign is defined by a polarity (positive or negative reaction pattern), a quality or modality (form of expression), and an element (describing basic temperament).

The signs, the constellations, and the precession of the equinoxes

Thousands of years ago, when the Babylonians were establishing the principles of astrology, the constellations and the signs of the zodiac were in alignment. On the vernal equinox (the first day of spring), the Sun was "in" the constellation Aries: That is, if you could see the Sun and the stars simultaneously, you'd see the Sun surrounded by the stars of the Ram. In those happy days, the signs and the constellations coincided.

Alas, this is no longer the case. On the vernal equinox today, the Sun shows up amidst the (dim) stars of Pisces the Fish - a very different kettle indeed.

The reason for this shift is that the Earth wobbles on its axis, which traces a circle in space like the spindle of a spinning top. As the axis shifts, the constellations seem to slip backwards. The amount of slippage over a human lifetime is minuscule, but over generations it adds up. As a result, every equinox takes place a little earlier in the zodiac than the one before. This process is called the precession of the equinoxes. It explains why the vernal equinox, which used to occur in the constellation Aries, now takes place in Pisces.

When the equinox moves back even further, to the constellation of the Water Bearer, the Age of Aquarius will officially begin. Astrologers differ about when that will be. Some are convinced that it's happening now. Others believe that it's decades - or centuries - away. Eventually, the cycle will begin again. Around the year 23800, the vernal equinox will return to Aries, and astrologers will be able to skip this entire explanation. Meanwhile, constellations of the zodiac and the signs of the zodiac arenít the same.

Skeptics who attack astrology - and for some reason, these wary souls can be amazingly hostile - often point to the changing position of the constellations and the precession of the equinoxes as proof that astrology is bogus. The truth is that astrologers are well aware of this phenomenon. They consider the constellations as signposts and little more. What matters is the division of the ecliptic. The stars, glorious though they are, have nothing to do with your sign.

Looking at the Starry Sky

Picture, if you will, our solar system. In the middle is the Sun. Spinning around it are the planets and asteroids, whose orbits surround the Sun roughly the way the grooves on a record album encircle the label in the center.

That idea, drilled into us in childhood, would have astonished ancient stargazers. They never doubted that the Sun, Moon, and planets revolved around the Earth. And although we know better, thinking so didnít make them stupid. The Sun really does look as if it revolves around the Earth. It seems to rise in the east and set in the west. And it always stays within the confines of a ribbon of space that encircles the Earth like a giant hoop. That strip of sky is called the ecliptic.

Following are the three most important facts about the ecliptic:

• The ecliptic represents the apparent path of the Sun around the Earth - apparent because, in fact, the Sun doesnít spin around the Earth at all. It just looks that way.

• Like a circle, the ecliptic is divided into 360 degrees ó and each degree is, in turn, divided into 60 minutes. The first 30 degrees of the ecliptic are Aries, the next 30 degrees are Taurus, and so on.

• The stars that are scattered like dust along the entire length of the ecliptic form the constellations of the zodiac.

Here comes the confusing part: The signs of the zodiac and the constellations that share their names aren't the same. The signs are divisions of the ecliptic, each exactly one-twelfth of the total length ó 30 degrees. The constellations have nothing to do with the signs. I explain this sorry state of affairs in the sidebar "The signs, the constellations, and the precession of the equinoxes."