Learning Astrology 01 - Getting Started - Getting Your Free Chart

There are many ways to enter into the study and practice of astrology ... many different doors.  I want to take you through a particular door and down a particular path to help reduce confusion until you are in a better position to evaluate all the variables that make up the Astrological Field.  To help this process I want to actually throw some of the complexity out in front to show why trying to teach all the nuances at the beginning can be more self-defeating that self-enlightening.  The field has an over 5,000 year history, beginning with Babylonian Astrology around 3,000 BC.  As you can imagine, there are probably well over 100,000 in and out-of-print texts (including cuneiform) about the subject.  All three major civilizations have a form of Astrology: Western (Europe/America), Eastern (China/Japan), and Indian (India/Pakistan).  Within each civilization there are many different branches and interpretations (think of the denominations of Christianity as an example).  In Western astrology, you have Evolutionary, Psychological, Ancient, and Predictive.  Deeper in you will discover that there are over 15 different House systems that can be used to construct a chart (Placidus, Koch, equal, whole signs ... just to name four).  There is even a schism in the West  and East between tropical and sidereal astrology that leads to some very unruly debate.  With all this knowledge and information swirling around beginning can be a bit overwhelming, which is why most beginning books just pick a door and get going.  Its a good process, probably the only useful process, but one I want to reveal the assumption all the books make explicitly because so many new students start out believing there is one "correct" way to know and practice astrology when, in fact, there are many.  It can be come extremely confusing to go down one path and get far enough to figure out that there are many paths and you could have actually chosen a different one to start.

Here are three different systems that could be starting points, with the most common one at the beginning.  If you pick up most any beginning book on astrology through Amazon or in the US, you will be cast into Tropical Astrology using the Placidus House system.  It is most often the default system in the West.  With a little bit of knowledge you could begin with a Sidereal system, either Vedic (Indian) or Western (made popular by John Frawley and Robert Powell).  With a little bit more knowledge, you could begin with Cosmobiology, developed by Rheinhold Ebertin, which is a system that throws out the Houses altogether, works with a 90 degree dial, and utilizes midpoints.  If you have made it this far and want to keep going, then here is the big reveal.  I will be teaching you astrology using the Tropical system and the WHOLE SIGN House system.  If you want to understand the difference between Tropical, Sidereal and Cosmobiology right now, then your should read Vaughn Paul Manley's web page on Tropical versus Sidereal and the Wiki article on Cosmobiology.  Now, let's get started!

I firmly believe that getting started with astrology should begin with a copy of your birth chart in hand.  You should obtain a fully rendered chart and have it handy at all times when you read an astrology text or this blog.  So this very first entry will walk you through the steps to get a free chart that contains a large number of energy points and shows all your primary aspects (lines connecting one energy point to another) ... your cosmic circuit board if you will.  Below is my birth chart, fully aspected (click on the image of the chart to enlarge, a new window/tab will open):

I obtained this chart from Astrodienst (http://www.astro.com) and you should go there right now and get your account set up and your chart cast and printed off.  Here's the steps to follow and its important to follow them correctly since there are a number of charts you can get and there is one I want you to use specifically through out this learning process.

1. To create a new account, go to the registration page.
2. Once your account is created (or if you already have an account) and you are logged in, you will be at a page to enter new data, referred to as the My Astro page (link for this page is in the upper right corner of the heading that appears on all pages).
3. Select the link for Add New Astro Data and enter your own data (birth date, birth time, and birth location)
4. Once you have completed the data entry, you will return to the My Astro page and be able to select your own name
5. This link will take you to the Free Horoscopes at Astrodienst page.
6. You want to scroll down that page until you see the option: Extended Chart Selection, A wide selection of horoscope types, house systems, asteroids, etc. (DO NOT select the Chart Drawing, Ascendant option)
7. When you get to the next page, you will have a lot of data to select from, most of it you can leave alone; however, you will need to change the "default" setting under the heading Options > House System to whole signs
8. Scroll down the page until you get to the bottom and see Additional Objects.  Push down your crtl button and click on the words Pars Fortunae, Lilith, Chiron, Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Vesta, and Eris.
9. Move your eyes to your right and in the check boxes next to these words select "aspect lines to all"
10. Hit "Click here to show the chart" and you are finished.

Once you have the chart on your screen, print it out.

In the next entry, I will orient you to the data, symbolism, and shorthand that appears on the chart.