The Sky Clock

How the chart keeps time

The natal chart is a precise map of the sky from one place on Earth. Its left edge is the eastern horizon, the Ascendant, where the sky rises; its right edge is the western horizon, the Descendant, where the sky sets. That makes the wheel a working clock and calendar at the same time.

Sunrise and sunset

At the moment the Sun rises, it sits exactly on the Ascendant, so the rising sign is the Sun's own sign. At sunset it sits on the Descendant, and the rising sign is the sign opposite the Sun. This happens every day, wherever the Sun rises and sets. Through the day the Sun moves clockwise across the houses, while through the year it moves counterclockwise through the twelve signs.

The seasons and the poles

Each season spans exactly three signs of the wheel. Above the Arctic Circle the midnight sun is always centred on 0° Cancer and the polar night on 0° Capricorn, the opposite sign; at the North Pole the Sun rises once a year, at 0° Aries, and sets once, at 0° Libra.

Why rising signs are not equal

The rising sign changes about every two hours on average, but no sign actually takes exactly that. In Belgrade, Aries rises in about 1 hour 5 minutes and Libra takes about 2 hours 38 minutes; south of the equator the fast and slow signs swap. That is one reason an exact birth time matters so much. See your own chart, drawn the same way, with the free natal chart, and learn to read it in full with The Astrological Awakening.