Introduction

Using an ephemeris and a table of houses an astrologer calculates the geocentric positions of the Sun, Moon, and planets for a specific time and place in order to erect a formatted horoscope. This diagram, called a chart, is a stylized map of the heavens.

 

The Sun or the Earth is placed in the centre (depending on whether the ephemeris was heliocentric or geocentric) with the remaining elements around the outside: the planets, the lunar nodes, the ascendant and midheaven, and the houses. Then the angles between the planets are determined.

These angles are the astrological aspects. Different systems of tri-secting arcs produce houses of different size.

In common usage, the word horoscope also refers to the astrologer's interpretation of the astrological chart.

In particular, many newspapers and magazines carry horoscope columns, describing planetary positions and influences for the various astrological signs.

Most astrologers regard those as nearly worthless, since a horoscope is actually highly personalized, and cannot be generalized to thousands of readers just through the position of the Sun at the time of birth.

A definition of a horoscope is: the illustration of the position of the sun, moon, planets and stars from a given location on earth, usually at birth. Which simply means, where everything in the universe was in relation to everything else when a person was born.

The earliest known horoscope was from 409 B.C. where it started to spread in the East with the conquerors of the Roman Empire. From there, it started spreading all the way across to Western Europe, where it was almost considered a science itself by all learned people.