Guides

Learn about your chart

Clear pieces on synastry, reading a natal chart, and why birth time matters.

• How your chart is calculated

  From a city name to a map of the sky: coordinates, the time zone in force that day, ephemerides, house system and drawing. Plus the certificate that puts it in writing.

• House systems: Placidus, Whole Sign and why your chart changes

  The planets are where they are. What changes between systems is where the twelve houses fall, which is why the system is written on your certificate.

• Time zones and daylight saving: the commonest error

  The time on your birth certificate is local time, and a country's local time changes over the years. This is where most charts go wrong.

• What to read first in your chart: Sun, Moon and Ascendant

  Three facts before any other, with three different demands on precision. What each one needs, and why the ascendant is the one that goes wrong.

• What is a synastry chart

  Synastry compares two natal charts to read how two people relate. Ideal for anniversaries and couple gifts.

• Synastry or composite: which one to order

  Two different ways of looking at a relationship. What each one answers, how they differ, and which one we print.

• How to read your natal chart

  A short guide to natal charts: Sun, Moon, Ascendant, houses and aspects: without app-store jargon.

• Birth time: why it matters

  Without birth time, houses and Ascendant are unreliable. What changes, and what you can still do.

• What to give for a first anniversary

  A first anniversary has an exact date, and that opens an option no other gift has: turning that particular day into a measured object.

• A newborn's birth chart, step by step

  It is the one case where the birth time is recorded to the minute. What data to ask for, what the chart shows, and when to order it.

• Why we do not print our brand on your gift

  The piece you hang carries no name of ours. Here is the decision, what it costs us, and where the brand lives instead.

• Short astrology glossary

  Terms you will see in VisibleCharts: Ascendant, houses, orbs, synastry, nodes: in plain language.