The moderating role of some firm characteristics

There are three ways to compile a natal chart: by computer, which will be discussed in this chapter; by

"eyeballing," which will be discussed in chapter 9; by kind calculated math, which will be discussed in chapter 10.

Each method has its advantages and disadvan- (ages. You can evaluate each, and choose the one, or ones, you prefer. I have used all three extensively, and I prefer (lie computer generated charts by far over the other two.

By now you know what a computer generated natal

• hart looks like because you have referred to figure 1 doz-

< ns of times up to this point in the book.

Figure 4 is another computer generated chart, my wife's, which I am including now because it shows an im- portant feature that I have deliberately not mentioned be- hire.

Figure 4 illustrates a natal chart with intercepted

•agns. Until now, we have discussed charts that have a

« I i I ierent zodiac sign on each house cusp. That is, twelve In *uses, each with a different zodiac sign ruling it.

A chart with intercepted signs has some duplicated

109

signs on house cusps and has other signs that do not ap- pear on any house cusp. The signs that do not appear on any house cusp are contained completely within some house— they are "intercepted" in that house.

Look at figure 4, and I'll explain. Look at the Ascen- dant (ASC); it has Taurus on the 1st house cusp.

Going counterclockwise, look at the cusp of the sec- ond house. It has Gemini on it. Look at the 3rd house; it also has Gemini on it.

Follow the house cusps around. When you get to the 6th house, notice that it has Virgo, but when you proceed 10 the 7th, it has Scorpio. What happened to Libra which comes between Virgo and Scorpio?

Libra falls completely within, or is intercepted by, I he 6th house. The 6th house is a really big house in this chart, having approximately 41 degrees in it.

The 12th house on the opposite side of the chart also has 41 degrees in it because Aries is completely contained (intercepted) in the 12th house.

In this chart then, the 2nd and 3rd houses are each

11 iled by Gemini, the 8th and 9th houses are each ruled by ' ׳.igittarius, and Libra and Aries are intercepted by the 6th .md 12 houses respectively.

This is what is meant by a natal chart with inter-

« opted signs. Sometimes you will hear the term "cap- lured signs," which means the same thing as intercepted

«Igns.

So what is the big deal about charts with intercepted

״Igns? Not much, really. You interpret them just the same i t any other chart; all the same rules apply. But you need in be aware of what they are, otherwise you would think il'cre was an error when you cast a chart with intercepted Nlgns.

Intercepted signs are fairly common, and occur mostly in charts for extreme northern or southern

loca-The Modern Way— By Computer / 111

110 ! Astrology for Beginners

CHART PREPARED HY WILLIAM W HtWlfl 2a / M

y\ / 2.5 22 >( 02

28 H 50 04 II 25

CARD FIX MUT FIRE I I 2 EARTH 3 0 I

AIR 0 0 0

WATER 2 0 0 HEWITT, DELORES

PLANETS ABRV PLACE R DECL. ELEM, +/־־ TRIP HOUSES OIGNI ADRV ZODIC SIGNS

MOON ) MO I9SA57 -27 27 FIRE POS MUT sue a Y AR ARIES

SUN o SU 24CP33 -21 12 LAHTI 1 Nt 0 CARD ANG 10 W TA TAURUS

MERCURY V Ml 06CP11 R -2012 EAHIH NE G CARD CAD 9 IT GE GEMINI

VENUS V VE 00SA07 -17 37 FIRE POS MUT sue 8 & ^CN CANCER

MARS d־ MA I1LE33 R ♦21 27 FIRE POS FIX ANG 4 0 ^{LE LEO}

JUPITER '4 Jll MCNIG R ♦22 52 WAItH NE G CARD CAD 3 EXAULT ÏÏP VI VIRGO

SATURN h ^SA I5CP27 -2213 EARTH NEG CARD CAD 9 RULER £ל LI LIBRA

URANUS UR I1AR43 ♦ 4 02 FIRE POS CARD CAD 12 HI. SC SCORPIO

NEPTUNE '1' Nf 05VI24 R ♦10 12 EARTH NEG Mill sue 5 DETRI / SA SAGIP ARIIII

PLUTO e n I9CN4? R ♦22 Ofl WATER NEG CARD CAD 3 CA CAPHICIIHN

NDCII M a ^NO 1 BAHSO R ♦ 7 23 AO AQUARIUS

MC/MIDH MC 22CP08 -2138 PART OF FORTUNE - 78PI56 X PI PISCES

ASCENOA A:. Q3TA38 ♦ 1244 EUUATASC (CP) 2 ־SAR47

VERTEX VI T4U5I - 551 SU/MO ANGLE *325 IS 16 ־"

Figure 4

NataJ Chart with Intercepted Signs.

The Modern Way— By Computer / 113

* G E O C E N T R I C ) ABPECTS 8. 360 MIDPOINTS FOR HEWITT,WILLIAM

MO ' SU ' ME ! VE ! MA ! JU ! SA ! UR ! NE ! PL f NO י

tTAOA! 13GE17 ! 04GE36 ! 22TA30! 09CN18'26TA40 Î07P1 la ! 29AR34'08CN37'1BCE07 1_NO_•

1 I ! ( | 1 i i . , ,

ווו««ז DATA-BCOPE FOP HEWITT, WILLIAM (HEWITT, WILLIAM

*»PECTS PER PLANET ! ASPECT ANALYSIS 1 ! HOUSES •

Computer generated chart indicating aspects and degrees of separation.

112 / Astrology for Beginners

tions, although they can occur anywhere. Notice my chart in figure 1 is for Toledo, Ohio, and the one for my wife in figure 4 is considerably further south, N ew Or- leans.

Even though I am discussing this in the chapter about computer generated charts, this information is valid for hand calculated charts also. This just happened to be the point where I decided to discuss the matter.

N ow back to computer generated charts.

A glance at figure 4 shows all of the information given clearly. Not only do you get a very accurate chart wheel, you get various tables that summarize valuable in- formation.

Also with the computer, you can generate other kinds of tables and charts such as is shown in figures 5 and 6. Figure 5 shows all the aspects and the degrees of sepa- ration. This saves much time from having to figure it out yourself. Figure 6 shows harmonic patterning, which will not be discussed in this book because it is more ad- va need astrology.

The advantages then of a computer generated chart are:

1. Fast to generate.

2. Get a great deal of additional information for free.

3. Extremely accurate.

With regard to accurate—the computer is accurate provided you put accurate birth information into the com- puter in the first place.

The facts you need to obtain an accurate chart are:

1. Month, day, and year of birth.

2. Exact time of birth, and be sure to indicate am or pm. Time of birth is usually indicated on birth cer- tificates.

3. Place of birth (town, state, country).

4. The time zone and any time changes due to day- light savings time, war time, etc.

The M odem Way— By Computer /1 1 5

If you don't know the exact time of birth, you can still i >btain a reasonably accurate natal chart. Many people do not know their birth time. In these cases, you always use a birth time o f 6 ant. This provides a "solar" natal chart, which still can furnish a lot of accurate, valuable informa- lion. A solar chart will not be as complete or accurate as one cast with the exact birth time.

The computer will then do the rest of the calcula- I ions. The computer has a built in ephemeris and formu- las for converting time from the ephemeris.

The ephemeris contains planet placements at Green- wich, England, which is zero longitude. Therefore, the computer must convert that to the time and place where I he birth takes place, compensating for the curvature of I he earth, and a few other things. It is quite complex.

The computer also figures out the house cusps by sign and degree, which is another complex process.

On my computer, this whole process for one natal chart takes approximately ten minutes. I have an older, slower computer. Newer computers would whip it out taster. By hand, it takes me several hours.

With a computer, it is also possible to have additional astrology programs that will print out a 10 -12 page inter- I )rotation of the chart. These interpretations are pretty good, but not a substitute for a knowledgeable astrologer analyzing the chart. Figure 7 is one page from a computer I titer preted chart just to give you an idea of what they are like.

The computer saves a tremendous amount of lime. In a few moments I will tell you about a chart inter- I )rotation I would not have tackled without a computer because of the enormity of the job.

The computer does have disadvantages.

1. Expensive if you plan to purchase the computer

■md software. Even if you already have a computer, the .istrology software is quite expensive.

114 / Astrology for Beginners

not have tackled if I had not had a computer.

Shortly after I purchased my computer and astrology programs I was asked by a man and his wife (previous as- trology clients of mine) to help them decide the best time for their new baby to be born.

Here are the facts:

1. The baby was definitely going to be born by Cae- sarean section because of the mother's physical condition.

2. Their physician told them the baby could be born anytime they wished within a certain two week period he designated.

3. The only restriction was that the physician would operate only between 7 am and 10 am, Monday through Friday. This narrowed the potential birth times to 10 cal- endar days, and within 3 hours on any one of those days.

4. The physician agreed to make the incision at whatever time they wished in order to get the birthtime they wanted.

I had to work fast because I only had a couple days to t ome up with the best birth time. Of course, I asked the parents exactly what they wanted in a child, and I used I liât as my criteria during the ensuing investigation.

First 1 generated a chart for 8:30 am (the mid-point) of

• ach day and studied those charts. I am quite good at eye- I ׳.tiling charts and could see the trends and changes. This enabled me to eliminate about half the days right away be-

׳ .»use of harsh aspects, full moon period, or weak aspects.

Then I zeroed in on the remaining days, generating