Subject: Bonus Issue: Tutorial & Free Mini-Reading!

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Dear Stargazers,

As promised, below is a detailed tutorial with images that will hook you up with a free mini-reading as well as teach you how to understand your personal horoscope. This tutorial is comprised of of three steps. 

The first step will teach you how to use an online birth chart calculator. You will need this for steps 2 and 3. 

The second step will teach you how to use that calculator to get a FREE mini-reading for yourself (and anyone else for that matter). 

The third step will teach you how to find out which house a new or full moon falls in your chart (and which ones a transiting planet is visiting). For this step, you'll need to print out a copy (or two) of the blank chart wheel that's attached to this newsletter, because you're going to be creating your personal horoscope in language that you understand

That's right; no astrological symbols!

The extra bonus at the end will help you be your own astrologer.

Are you ready?  Let's get started!
STEP 1
How to Use the Online Calculator

1.  Print out this section of the newsletter OR open a second browser window. Please note that Safari will not work. Firefox or Chrome are recommended.

2.  Click here to go to the Free Horoscope page on my website. Once you're there, scroll down until you see the Free Astrology Chart Wheel Calculator shown below.
3.   Use the drop down menus to enter your birth information. 

If you don't know the time of your birth, I recommend entering the time the Sun rose on your birthday to create a sunrise chart rather than randomly picking noon or midnight.

To find out when sunrise occurred the day you were born, simply google "What time was sunrise on month/day/year?" 

4.  Next, type in the city of your birth (and if necessary the state or country). As you can see below, a list of places begins to populate. You may have to scroll down to find your birth place.
5.  Once you find your birth place, click on it to select it, and then click the button that says Next.
After you click next, this is what you should see (except of course it will be your chart!)
6.  As you can see above, you can choose different options. I use the True North Node and True Lilith, but if you wish to change that, you would just check the other box.

7. Check the box that says "Display Secondary Asteroids." This will bring up Chiron and the asteroids Juno, Vesta, Ceres and Pallas.

8.  Check the box that says "Display List of Aspects and Positions of Planets." This is what you're going to use to understand where a new moon or transiting planet is in your chart.

9.  Click the box that says "Redraw" and now you should see horoscope with a number of  symbols.
STEP 2
How to Get a Free Mini-Reading

1.  Simply hover your mouse over each symbol, and you'll see a yellow bar above it listing the planet and some information about it. My mouse hovered over the Sun (the orange circle that looks like the Target store logo).

In the yellow box will be the name of the planet, and next to it will be the degree and minutes of its sign, and next to that will be its house location.

In the image below, it says "Sun 22°04' Capricorn, in House IX."  

Translation: The Sun is at 22 degrees and 4 minutes of Capricorn, and it's located in the 9th house. The first set of numbers are read in degrees; the second set is read as minutes.

On the other side of the yellow bar, you'll see the words "Planets: Sun." Next to that is an orange box with a white triangle that's pointing down.
2.  Click the arrow in the orange box to open a window that will give you a mini-reading for whatever symbol you clicked. Do this for every symbol to get a FREE mini-reading of your entire horoscope!
STEP 3
Part I:  Understanding House Cusps

If you want to find out which house a new moon, full moon, eclipse or transiting planet is activating in your personal horoscope, you must know how to read the house cusps. In this section, you're going to learn how to do so.

From this point forward, you won't be using the chart wheel you just created. Instead, you'll be using the lists that follow it along with the blank chart wheel attached to this newsletter. 
When you're finished, you'll not only understand how to read the house cusps, but you'll have created your own personal horoscope without astrological symbols. In other words, in language YOU understand.

I previously tested this tutorial on five people who had zero knowledge about astrology charts, and while it took two of them a bit of time, ultimately every one of them created an accurate chart based on these instructions. Hopefully, it'll work for you too. Either way, please let me know.
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1.  Grab your blank horoscope wheel and the writing instrument of your choice. As you can see, it's divided into 12 sections. These are the 12 houses of the horoscope.

2.  Scroll down further and you will see several lists. You will have to use the scroll bar on the side as well as the one in your browser to scroll down to see them all. 

The first one is the Position of Planets. I want you to SKIP IT (we'll come back to it later) and scroll down to the next list which is called PLANETS IN HOUSES. 

3. As you would expect, it lists the respective house positions of the planets and asteroids (as well as the True Node and Part of Fortune) in your chart. 

4.  Take your blank chart wheel and starting with the Sun, write the name of the planet in the corresponding house, and leave some room next to the word. Since you're going to do this for every planet, asteroid and point (i.e., Node, Part of Fortune) on the list, you want your words to be on the small side. If you have more than one planetary body in a house, list them in a vertical column so there's room next to them.

For example, using the list below, I would write the word "Sun" in the House that has the number 9 in it; the word "Moon" in House 6; the word "Mercury" in section 8, the word "Venus" in House 10 and so on.

When you're finished, move on to No. 5 below.
Note: Based on my personal and professional experience, I strongly disagree with the above note and do not subscribe to this common practice. I simply haven't lived a 4th house Uranus life (and by now I think I'd know). In my chart, Uranus rules my career, and it's in my 3rd house. From secretary to astrologer to teacher to attorney, every one of my professions is rooted in the house of communications. While I would like to say that it exerts an influence on my 4th house (I've worked from home for 15+ years and also worked as real estate attorney), that's easily explained by the fact that the planetary ruler of my house of work (Pluto) lives in my 4th house.
5. Now that you have all the names of the planets written in your horoscope wheel, I want you to scroll back up to the POSITIONS OF PLANETS list. 

This lists the position (degrees and minutes) of the planets, Chiron, the asteroids, the True Node, Lilith, the Part of Fortune, the Ascendant (Rising Sign) and the Midheaven (10th house cusp), as well as their planetary motion at the time you were born.  In other words, if they direct (moving forward) or retrograde (backwards). Note: The Sun and Moon are luminaries and are never retrograde. 

How do you read this list? Looking at the sample below:

The position of my Sun is 22 degrees and 4 minutes of Capricorn.
The position of my Moon is 24 degrees and 25 minutes of Libra.
The position of my Mercury is 28 degrees and 35 minutes of Sagittarius.
And so on. 

As you look at this list, you'll see an "Я" listed in the rows for Venus, Uranus, and Pluto and Ceres. This symbol means that those planets were retrograde (moving backwards) when I was born. Everything else was moving forward.


6. Now that you understand how to read the list, I want you to add the degree, minutes and Sign next to every planet in your horoscope

For example, I would look for the word "Sun" in my wheel, which I wrote in section 9. Next to the word "Sun" I would write "22°04' Capricorn". I could also write it out as 22 degrees 4 minutes Capricorn" but I recommend using the degree and minute symbols to save space. 

When you're done adding everything to your horoscope wheel, you're ready to go to No. 7.
7.  Scroll down to the list called POSITIONS OF HOUSES.  Why is it in red? Because this is the one you need to understand in order to figure out where a new moon falls or a transiting planet is visiting in your natal chart.

The Position of Houses tells you where each house (section) begins and ends in your chart. There are 12 houses and there are 12 signs, and most of you will have a different sign on each house. However, some of you (like me) will have the same sign on more than one house. If you fall into this group, then you have what's known as an "intercepted chart." At some point in the future, I'll talk about the meaning of intercepted charts but not today. 

If you have an intercepted chart, there's an additional instruction for you at the end of this section.

Now it's time for you to set up your own horoscope wheel!

8.  Look at the horoscope wheel

(a) There is an outer ring that goes around the entire wheel.

(b) There are 12 houses (sections) separated by dividing lines.

(c) The dividing lines are called house cusps (or cusp for short). 

(d) A house cusp is the gateway (entrance) into the house and marks where the house begins

(e) The house numbers go in a counter-clockwise direction

(f)  This means that every house begins at the cusp (dividing line) that appears before the house number. 

This is extremely important because if you screw this up, you screw up the chart. To help ensure you get it right, look at the chart.

The ASCENDANT (rising sign) is the starting point of the 1st house. The 1st house cusp is the line that separates 12 and 1.

The IMUM COELI  is the starting point of the 4th house. The 4th house cusp is the line that separates numbers 3 and 4.

The DESCENDANT is the starting point of the 7th house. The 7th house cusp is the line directly below the number 7.

The MIDHEAVEN is the starting point of the 10th house. The 4th house cusp is the line that separates numbers 9 and 10.

Again, the chart is always read in a counter-clockwise direction. 

10.  You are now going to copy the degree and minutes of each house cusp into the outer ring of the appropriate houses in your personal horoscope. I strongly recommend using the degree and minute symbols for this part, because you are going to be adding this information into the outer ring of the horoscope wheel. 

To help you understand this better, I'm going to demonstrate the process.
 
11.  Look below at the Position of Houses for my chart.

(a) As stated above, House I is the Ascendant (rising sign), so I would write "4°51' Gemini" in the outer ring next to the word "Ascendant."

(b) In the outer ring of the next cusp (the dividing line that separates 1 and 2), I would write the information listed next to House 2 (28°16' Gemini). 

(c) In the outer ring of the next cusp (the dividing line that separates 2 and 3), I would write the information listed next to House 3 (18°48' Cancer).

(d)  In the outer ring of the next cusp, (the dividing line that numbers 3 and 4),  I would write the information listed next to House 4 (11° 06' Leo) above the words IMMUM COELI.

(e)  In the outer ring at the next cusp (the dividing line that numbers 4 and 5), I would write the information listed next to House 5 (9°43' Virgo).

(f)  In the outer ring of the next cusp (the dividing line that the numbers 5 and 6), I would write the information listed next to House 6 (19°26' Libra).

(g) In the outer ring of the next cusp (the dividing line that separates the 6 and 7), I would write the information listed for House 7 (4° 51' Sagittarius) in line with the word DESCENDANT.

And so on.

12.  To confirm that you transferred them correctly, when you're finished go back to the ASCENDANT and then look directly across to its opposite point (the DESCENDANT). You should see the exact same degree and minute as the ASCENDANT but in the opposite sign.

If this isn't clear, look at the list below. House 1 is 4°51' Gemini. House 7 is listed as 4°51' Sagittarius.  Houses work in pairs and the ends of their respective axis (the line that extends from one end of the chart to the other) should have signs that oppose each other at the same exact degree and minute.

If you're not familiar with the signs, here's a list to help you.

If Aries is on one house cusp, Libra should be on the opposite one.
If Taurus is on one house cusp, Scorpio should be on the opposite one.
If Gemini is on one house cusp, Sagittarius should be on the opposite one.
If Cancer is on one house cusp, Capricorn should be on the opposite one.
If Leo is on one house cusp, Aquarius should be on the opposite one.
If Virgo is on one house cusp, Pisces should be on the opposite one.
If Libra is on one house cusp, Aries should be on the opposite one.
If Scorpio is on one house cusp, Taurus should be on the opposite one.
If Sagittarius is on one house cusp, Gemini should be on the opposite one.
If Capricorn is on one house cusp, Cancer should be on the opposite one.
If Aquarius is on one house cusp, Leo should be on the opposite one.
If Pisces is on one house cusp, Virgo should be on the opposite one.

If you do not have an intercepted chart, go straight to No. 14.

13.  Special Instruction for Intercepted Charts

Since you have duplicated signs, it means there are probably* two houses in your chart (they are opposite each other) that contain all 30 degrees of a zodiac sign (and these signs oppose each other as well). These are known as intercepted signs, and if you have any planets in these signs, they're known as intercepted planets. (*It's possible to have double interceptions.)

To add these intercepted signs to your horoscope wheel:

(a)  Look at your Position of Houses list and identify the signs that are missing from it.

For example, if you read my list, you will see that Scorpio and Taurus are missing from it.

(b) Once you've identified them, you need to locate them in the horoscope. Go back to the Position of Houses list and find the first missing sign. 

Which house is it in? It's in the house of the sign that precedes it in the list.

For example, the first missing sign in my list is Scorpio. Libra is House 6 and Sagittarius is House 7. Since House 7 begins a new sign (Sagittarius), Scorpio has to be contained in House 6. This means Libra is on the cusp (gateway) of my 6th house and all of Scorpio is contained within it.

You can repeat this process for the second sign, but it isn't necessary.  Remember, houses work in pairs, so if Scorpio is missing in my chart, so is Taurus. and if Scorpio is intercepted in my 6th house, then Taurus must be intercepted in my 12th house

(c) To indicate them in the horoscope, simply write the name of the sign in the middle of the outer ring of the appropriate house. 

For example, I would write "Scorpio" in the outer ring of my 6th house and "Taurus" in the outer ring of my 12th house.

14. Congratulations! You just set up your horoscope in language that you understand!
Part II: How to Find New Moons, Full Moons, 
Eclipses & Transiting Planets in Your Horoscope

To find out where a lunation or transiting planet is occurring in your chart, you need to find where the sign and degree of the planetary body falls in your horoscope. Let me take you through the process.

First, it's important to remember that every house cusp (dividing line) marks the beginning of the house that's in front of it. This means that houses begin at one cusp and end right before the next one.

For example, if you look at the Position of Houses for my chart, House 1 begins at 4°51' Gemini and House 2 begins at 28°16' Gemini. 

Since House 1 has to end before House 2, it means that House 1 ends at 28°15' (just one minute before).

Let's put it into practice.

To determine where a planetary body is falling or transiting in your chart, you need to do a tiny bit of simple math

For example, as I'm writing these instructions, transiting Jupiter is at 13°33' Libra. (You can view the current positions of the planets anytime by clicking here.) 

To find out where Transiting Jupiter is in my chart:

(a) I need to find the house cusp with Libra on it.  

(b) According to the House Positions list above, Libra is on House 6.

(c) Next, I look at the degree, and it's 19°26'.

(d) This means my 6th house cusp begins at 19°26' Libra.

(e) Transiting Jupiter is 13°33' Libra.

(f) Here comes the math:  Does 13°33' come before or after 19°26'?

(g) It comes before it, which means that Jupiter hasn't reached House 6.

(h) Therefore, it must be in House 5.
EXTRA BONUS!
How to Be Your Own Astrologer

Now that you know the planetary signs and placements, as well as how to figure out where transiting planets are in your chart, scroll down further to see one last list called the List of Aspects. This lists all of the aspects (connections) in your natal chart.
If you'd like to learn more about your planetary signs and placements, aspects or transits, here's a FREE and easy way to do so.

Simply google "What is the meaning of" and fill in the blank. Just remember to add the word "natal" if the planet or aspect is in your birth chart and the word "transiting" to aspects between planets in the heavens and your natal chart. 

Keep in mind that the information you'll find is very general in nature and doesn't take the promise of your chart into consideration. It's important to remember this when you come across a dire interpretation (and trust me, at some point you will!) Transits and aspects don't occur in a vacuum; the true art of astrology is in the synthesis. 

When I launched Anchored in Astrology back in 2008, my intention was to make astrology accessible to everyone, and this tutorial is part of on that ongoing commitment.

Dane Rudhyar said:

Astrology is a language. If you understand this language, the sky speaks to you.

Listen with your heart as well as your mind.
May Jupiter's blessings be your constant companion,

Debra Anne Clement

© 2016 Debra Anne Clement. All Rights Reserved.
Debra Anne Clement, 4030 Wake Forest Rd, Ste 349, Raleigh, NC 27609, United States
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