An astrology chart is an exact picture of the heavens set for that specific time at that specific location. This celestial picture is brought down to earth and placed in the twelve mundane or earthly houses. Everything that exists on this earth can be found in one of the twelve houses. Because of this, an exhaustive list of meanings is impossible to mention, and the astrologer is required to understand the essence of things the difference between the thing itself and its function.

The Astrology Chart

• It is the means by which we bring the heavens down to earth and apply it to our mundane lives.
• Square or round charts can be used: this is determined by the preference of the astrologer.
• The chart is not really a wheel, it is an assemblage of 4 groups of 3 houses; they are not quadrants, and are centred around the 4 angles.
• This is a lot clearer in a square chart as opposed to a circular one.
• The chart is divided into 12 mundane houses: earthly reflections of the celestial houses, which are the division of the sky into 12 and called the zodiac.
• Everything that exists in the world is to be found in the mundane houses.
• There are hundreds of house systems available: house systems are the method by which we bring the heavens down to earth and they link celestial events to earth.
• For all charts the place, date and time of birth are required: it is that which pins the heavens to that moment in time, at that location.
• In traditional astrology we use the Regiomontanus house system for horary and Placidus for natal and other charts.
• The chart always begins at the Ascendant (house 1) where the Sun rose on that day, at that location.
  
• Planets in angular houses (1, 4, 7, 10) have the most power to act; planets in succedent houses (2, 5, 8, 11) less so; planets in cadent houses (3, 6, 9, 12) have very little power to act; 3 houses are deemed most unfortunate (6, 8, 12) and planets posited therein are deemed completely powerless to act.
  
• The planetary placements in houses is known as an accidental dignity.
• The 4 angles are the structural key to the chart; the other houses lean on these angles for support; that is why angular houses have the most essential dignity.
• The houses following the angular houses (the supporting beams) are the succedent houses; they succeed the angles.
• Cadent do not follow but fall away from the angles.

Primary and Secondary Motion

It is important to understand we are dealing with 2 separate kinds of motion: why are the houses numbered anti-clockwise, rather than clockwise? We are dealing with the rapid motion relative to ourselves, visible by watching the Sun move around the sky.

• This primary motion starts in the East and moves towards the West, completing a full circle in approximately 1 day. This is the motion created by the Earth’s daily rotation and is called primary motion.
• Secondary motion is the movement of the planets through the signs of the zodiac: slower than primary motion and proceeds in the opposite direction. This is the consequence of the planet’s movement around the Sun.

Primary motion in the chart is clockwise, but the secondary motion is anti-clockwise.

The Quarters of Heaven

• 1st Quarter: East inclining South; hyemnal/brumal (winter) ¼; phlegmatic (cold moist); Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn.
• 2nd Quarter: South inclining West; autumnal/harvest ¼; melancholic (cold dry); Sagittarius, Scorpio, Libra.
• 3rd Quarter: West inclining North; estival (summer); choleric (hot dry); Virgo, Leo, Cancer.
• 4th Quarter: North inclining East; vernal (spring) ¼, sanguine (hot moist); Gemini, Taurus, Aries.

The Twelve Houses 

Everything that exists on this earth can be found in one of the twelve houses; because of this, an exhaustive list of meanings is impossible to mention, and the astrologer is required to understand the essence of things the difference between the thing itself and its function. A brief description of the 12 houses is as follows:

• 1st: also known as the Ascendant, physical body as a whole, your name, the querent in horary, the head
  
• 2nd: moveable assets, your self-esteem, the throat, food
  
• 3rd: siblings, routine journeys, elementary school, arms/shoulders/hands
• 4th: also known as the Imum Coeli the lowest part of the heavens, immovable assets, parents (father if separate), cities, the chest and lungs
• 5th: pleasure and places where we take our pleasure such as sports or parties, sex, children and pregnancy, heart, liver, stomach, sides and back
• 6th: small animals, illness, hospitals, staff, rural areas, lower belly, bowels and intestines
• 7th: also known as the Descendant, your partners, others in general, colleagues, open enemies, clients, reproductive system and pelvis
• 8th: death, partner's moveable assets, others' opinion of you, organs of excretion
• 9th: special journeys such as holidays, the house of God, religion and all things spiritual, foreign countries, higher learning, dreams and prophecies, hips and buttocks
• 10th: also known as the MC or Mid Heaven, the boss in any situation, your job and public persona, public accolades, your mother, thighs and knees
• 11th: salary/income from work, pennies from heaven, friends, calves and ankles 
• 12th: secret enemies, sin and self-undoing, witchcraft, large animals, the feet