Читать книгу Astrology For Dummies - Rae Orion - Страница 36

Someday, should you resolve to quit your day job and become a professional astrologer, you may want to learn how to cast a chart the old-fashioned way. It wouldn’t be a waste of effort, and if you decide to become a certified astrologer through one of the official astrological organizations, such as the American Federation of Astrologers, you’ll be required to master that skill. At the moment, though, there’s no need to climb that particular mountain because you can obtain a copy of your chart for free just by going to an astrological website and entering the date, time, and place of your birth. Many websites offer free horoscopes. Here are a few of the best:

 Astrolabe (https://alabe.com): Astrolabe provides a no-frills birth chart with two or three pages of interpretation. Its resources and services are not as extensive as those of some other websites, and its charts are not as lovely. But if you go to this website, look for “Free Astro Chart” (or words to that effect), enter your birth data, and hit “submit,” your natal chart will instantly wing its way back to you. Astrolabe does not tempt you with too many bells and whistles. (Don’t worry, I tell you in the following bullet points where to satisfy that craving.) But if you want an easy-to-read birth chart with some basic interpretation, you can get it here — fast and free.

 Astro-charts (https://astro-charts.com): The first thing you’ll see here are the words “Welcome to the home of beautiful astrology charts.” That’s an exaggeration, but the charts do look good, and they are accompanied by lists of planetary placements, aspects, and chart patterns. (See Chapter 14 for more on that subject.) They are not, however, accompanied by interpretation. For that, you have to pay. One other caveat: this website requires a birth time. There is neither an “unknown” option nor a sunrise option. If you don’t know the time of your birth, I recommend that you create a noon chart by entering 12:00 p.m. as your time.

 Café Astrology (https://cafeastrology.com): “Where do I begin?” asks the home page. A line or two below you will see the words “How to obtain my natal chart.” Click on that, follow the instructions, and you will obtain an analysis of your chart. The chart itself does not appear until the end of the report. Keep scrolling past the multi-colored introductory tables, past the interpretative paragraphs, almost to the end. It’s a pretty chart, but you’ll have to look carefully for the house cusps, which are indicated with Roman numerals and delicate dashes. Cafe Astrology also offers dozens of articles, daily horoscopes, yearly overviews, all kinds of forecasts you can purchase, and a free yearly horoscope based on the day of your birth. Look for “If Today Is Your Birthday,” even if today is not your birthday. A few extra clicks will bring you where you want to go.

 Astrodienst (www.astro.com): And so we arrive at the oldest, most respected, and most professional astrological website. At Astrodienst, a Swiss site founded in 1980, you can do more than entertain yourself; you can educate yourself. But navigating this site can be a challenge. Here’s how to get your free natal chart:Go to “Free Horoscopes,” visible at the top of the home page on the left. Let the cursor hover over “Free Horoscopes.” A menu will appear. One of the items (on the right-hand side, as of this writing) is “Natal Chart/Ascendant.” Click on that.Now you’re on a page welcoming guest users and registered users. For the moment, count yourself a guest. Click on the words “click here to go to the data entry page.”On the data entry page, tick the box accepting their privacy policy. Then fill in your birth data and click “continue.” Your chart will magically appear. To print it out on a page of its own, sans ads, click on the small circle in the middle.

Now you can go to town. You might browse through the section called “Free Horoscopes.” Want a report on Love, Flirtation, and Sex, as reflected in your chart? A Psychological Portrait? A Yearly Horoscope Analysis? A Color Oracle? (Fun, though what this has to do with astrology, I do not know.) For a full report, you’ll have to pay. Fortunately, the folks at Astrodienst are giving away free samples, and although those samples are abridged, they are perceptive and interesting. Also available are astrology lessons, a huge library of articles from multiple sources, daily and weekly forecasts, and an Astro-Databank of 56,611 public figures (and counting). The more you bop around this site, the more you’ll discover.

These are only a few of the websites that offer free natal charts. To assess some of the others, just Google “free birth chart” or “free natal chart” and shop around.