For the next installment of the Astrology 101 series, we are going to shift gears and explore different ways you can pull up your chart and understand what you’re looking at! We will also touch on one of the foundations and first interpretations you can start to make about your chart to better understand yourself, like whether you were born at Day or Night (called Sect) and what that means.

The Basics

To have an accurate chart and representation of yourself, you need your birth date, birth time, and location. The most accurate birth time will be the one printed on your birth certificate. Timed births weren’t always a common practice, especially before the 1970s. If you do not know your birth time, it can usually be determined with the help of an astrologer using a process called rectification.

During this process, an astrologer will ask you questions about your life, past events, and ongoing interactions to best determine your rising sign. The rising sign is the sign that is “rising” or appearing on the horizon when you were born. This sign changes every 1-2 hours, so it’s important to have an accurate birth time. The rising sign sets the house placements for your chart, and without it, we may miss a lot interesting details about your life.

Even if you don’t know your exact birth time, you can still use the steps below to pull up your chart! All the planets (except for the Moon) move fairly slowly and will be in that same sign during the entire day, so you can still use the chart to see the planets and which signs they’re located in. If you know you don’t have a birth time and are interested in a rectification reading, send me an email here and we can work something out!

Pulling Up Your Chart – CHANI

One astrologer and author that I have followed for some time and learned a lot in the process is queer-minded astrologer Chani Nicholas. She has a great chart resource on her website here. This will generate a very simple chart, but it’s great if you’re just starting out and want something that isn’t too complicated. On the page, simply fill out your personal information and leave the house system at Whole Sign (this is what I, and many other traditional astrologers use! It’s based on the Thema Mundi, as we talked about earlier).

Pulling Up Your Chart – Astro.com

Another great resource that I have used extensively during my early days is Astro.com. This website offers a place for you to create an account and save a database of charts (think family, friends, events) and has options for many advanced techniques in chart exploration including asteroids and aspects. This website is better for you if you already have a good basic understanding of your chart and want to explore more techniques and variants of displaying the information.

I won’t go into full detail for all those options, but for a simple chart pull, start with this link. Create an account if you wish to save the chart on the website, or just enter in your birth data. Fill out the first page then press continue. On the next page, expand zodiac and houses and then for House system select whole signs. Then click show the chart near the top right-hand corner.

This should give you the same chart as Chani’s but a little different display and more options to explore!

Understanding Your Chart

If you are new to exploring astrology, always have your chart handy. Print it out, bookmark, or save the image, and keep it nearby. You know yourself better than anyone and using that vessel of information will make understanding astrology much easier.

Your Rising Sign

On the far-left hand side of your chart you will see either a little Sun rising over the horizon for Chani’s or on Astro.com, the AC symbol. You will also see a little “1” near the center of the triangle that contains that symbol. The zodiac sign the AC point is in is your rising sign! I will touch more on rising signs in the next blog post regarding houses, but you may have heard this term before. This sign is part of your big three, it’s as important as your Sun sign, and contains information regarding yourself, your body, who you are, and how other people see you in the world.

Your Planets

Around the circle of the chart, you may see symbols of the different planets, asteroids, and points. The Astro 101 planets blog post lists out the ten major planets and their meanings. On the very outer edge of the circle, you will either see the glyphs for the zodiac signs or the zodiac sign names. This is the sign your planet is placed within. You can then compare this to the Astro 101 zodiac signs post to see the style or personality of the planetary archetypes.

You can confirm this information by verifying your Sun sign. Find the ☉ symbol in your chart and see which zodiac sign it’s placed in. The numbers beside the planetary symbols is the degrees, or how far the planet has traveled within that zodiac sign when you were born. Each sign is 30° in length. For example, if you were born at the start of the season, your Sun will have an earlier degree number than if you were born towards the end of the tropical zodiac season.

Day or Night Chart (Sect)

There’s a lot we can do with this information on the chart – it’s what I base my entire work and life on! But one cool and simple technique we can learn now is whether you were born during the Day or at Night, and what that means for you!

Start back the rising sign point, the AC or sun rising shown the on the left-hand side of the chart. On Chani’s chart you should see a line that draws to the opposite sign, to the far right-hand at the point labeled DC. This line is not as clear on the Astro.com chart, but you should still see little blue points on right-hand side. If you need to, draw a line with your finger starting with the AC point straight across to the other side of the circle.

This imaginary line is the horizon of the sky. Then we find the Sun ☉ again. Is the Sun below the line or above the line? If it is below the line, this means you were born at Night, if it is above the line, this means you were born during the Day. If you were born during sunset or sunrise, your Sun will be very close to either the AC or DC point. You may have the count the degrees to see if your Sun is technically above or below the horizon!

Why Does This Matter?

Returning back to the older posts and the Thema Mundi doctrine, you may notice the continuous distinction between Day and Night. Each planet besides the Sun and Moon rules a nocturnal sign and diurnal sign. The concept of Day and Night separates the planets into two teams. One team is ruled by the Sun for those born during the Day, and the other team is ruled by the Moon for those born at Night. Each team has a benefic planet and a malefic planet, with Mercury playing the neutral role. Read about benefic and malefic planets here.

This helps to determine which planets may impact you the most, and in which way. For example, if you were born at Night, you may more closely identify with the sign your Moon is in (depending on different factors). Venus will be most helpful planet and will bring the most gifts, while Saturn will be your most challenging planet and bring the most difficult things to work through. Mars will still be a malefic planet, but because it’s on your “team,” you may be able to work with it more constructively. Jupiter will still be a benefic planet, but you will get the most advantage from Venus.

The opposite holds true if you were born during the Day. Here, you may more closely identify with your Sun sign and Jupiter will be your most helpful and beneficial planet. Mars will then be your most challenging planet, because it’s not on your “team”, and may bring you more conflict. Saturn will still bring difficulties, but you may be able to work through them with a constructive outcome. Venus is still a helpful planet but won’t be as useful as Jupiter.

Interpreting Sect

The purpose of Sect, which is determining if you have a Day or Night chart, is to give us a starting point for understanding your chart past the basic planetary archetypes and zodiacal signs. This is where we can determine which areas of your life that may be easier and come naturally for you, as well as areas of your life that have always been more difficult and challenging.

For example, if you have a Night chart and Venus is near your Sun, you may have a natural ability to express yourself and shine authentically. People may be instinctively drawn to you and the energy that you radiate. If you have Night chart and Saturn is near your Sun, you may naturally be more closed off and quieter about expressing yourself and your passions or desires. Shining your light and advocating your needs may feel internally restricted or more difficult.

This can go into many different layers and interpretations, but knowing if you were born during the Day or Night and where the planets on your “team” are in your chart is a great starting point for traditional chart interpretations and understanding your birth chart and soul.

Ready to explore this more personally? Request a consultation for a one-on-one session where I review your birth chart and all the gifts and challenges it has to offer. Subscribe to the newsletter below to get Astro 101 blog posts in your inbox, as well as monthly horoscopes and more! For the next Astro 101 post, we will discuss the houses, another major part of astrology interpretation. (Hint, they’re the little numbers near the center of your chart!)

Astrology 101: Day or Night Chart?