Why Time Is So Important
In Doing A Chart
by Lanny Logan

I often get questions about why the time of birth is important to preparing
and understanding transit readings. To understand the importance of the exact birth time, you first have to understand the framework upon which
transits are evaluated.
Transits are plotted on the individual’s natal chart for which the reading is being prepared.
The natal chart is a static chart created for the exact moment of the person’s birth. When he or she draws their first breath
as a unique individual separated from their mother they are considered a person, astrologically. None of the “when is an embryo a person “
argument, found in today’s media and throughout society apply here.
I use the term static in reference to the natal chart, because the natal chart is set at birth and remains constant throughout
a person’s life. The chart is divided into a 12-house framework with the first house, the ascendant, set at the degree of the zodiac rising over
the horizon at the moment of birth. In my readings, I use the equal house system, meaning that each house boundary is exactly 30 degrees apart.
In this house system, each house has the same degree on it as the ascendant. For example, if the ascendant is 5 degrees Aries, the second house
will start at 5 degrees Taurus, and so on. I find this house system the most revealing, because each house is a harmonic of the first house of
the Self.
As indicated above, the degree of the zodiac sign on the horizon sets the starting point of the natal chart. Approximately one
degree of sign passes over the horizon every 5 minutes. So a child born between 1:00 PM and 1:30 PM could have a 6 degree difference. In a
specific reading, that might not make a difference depending on the location of the planets. If Uranus was at 15 degrees Virgo, for example, and
the ascendant was between 2 degrees Aries and 10 degrees Aries, Uranus would still be in the 6th house. However if Uranus were at 5 degrees
Virgo, it could be in either in the 5th or 6th house.
Of greater concern, particularly in evaluating a natal chart is that the
child could only have one of the two ascendant or rising signs. The ascendant effects three parts of the individual; their Self-awareness
(approach to life), their physical attributes (how they look), and their personality (the mask that they project to the world). The location and
aspects of the ascendant’s ruler also hold a great deal of importance in natal evaluation. Obviously, if the ascendant sign could be either of
two signs, this greatly effects the evaluation.
Transits provide the dynamic component of chart. As the natal planets continue to move through the natal chart structure they
bring their energy to the various houses that they transit and combine their energy in one way or the other with natal planets that they
aspect.
Content has been reprinted with permission of the author.
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