Solar charts

Moongold

Hi Minderwiz,

Some people don't know the exact time of their birth which makes it difficult to do precise natal charts.

Winstar Express suggests keying in all the relevant data EXCEPT the exact time of birth and then choosing SOLAR HOUSES in the calculation mode. Gail Forsyth (Choice Centred Astrology ) suggests a similar technique.

What do you think? My relatively new interest in astrology has stimulated interest in my friends but many of these don't know the exact time of their birth and can't get that information.

Thanks in advance,

Moongold
 

Minderwiz

Moongold,

Yes this is quite an acceptable alternative. It basically assumes that you were born at Sunrise and many Astrological programmes have this option. It has a long and honourable tradition and is also used by some Newspaper 'Star Sign' columns.

The main effect is to place your Sun on the Ascendant of your chart, so you will have the same Sun sign and Ascendant sign. It reduces the Astrological information as a result but then there will be some error with any method you use.

An alternative is to assume that you were born at midday and do a chart for that time. This of course is also the point at which the Sun reaches its Zenith, so the Sun should be on your MC (though the operation of time zones rather than local solar time will mean that it is a small distance away).


Either method will do, Personally I would try both and see which seems to fit best, then use that one as my chart.
 

AquarianGoddess

Back in the day, I always used solar charts (when I didn't know how to do the math).

Moongold, just be aware that the Moon can be off as much as 12 degrees with a solar chart. The Moon moves appx. one degree every two hours and without the exact birth time, one never gets the "right" Moon. On the days when the Moon changes signs, you're left to choose between two signs, however, I have found most of the time, you can determine which sign fits best.

AG