Prince William Horoscope Chart Systems

The Differences in the Five Chart Systems: Below you can find notes to illustrate the differences between the five chart systems. They correspond to the numbers on the figure captions on the right hand side of the page.

(1) A heliocircumspectus [Sun-View Point] chart is a view of where you would see the planets if you could observe them from the Sun, not the Earth. The Moon position is almost the same as the Earth's position [which isn't shown], i.e. from the Sun we'd be seen against the sidereal sign of Sagittarius, at Prince William's birth.

(2) Cyril Fagan attempted, fairly unsuccessfully, to popularize a Sidereal [star-based] Zodiac in the West. This is a twelve-fold division of the Ecliptic which takes into account the movement of the ages, and so the Zodiac signs are a much better fit for the position of the constellations that we see today than is the case for the Tropical Zodiac. However it still assumes that all the signs should be approximately the same length, which is inaccurate, and leaves out the Zodiac Constellation Ophiuchus.

(3) A heliocircumspectus chart contains no houses. Houses and House Systems are purely symbolic Earth-view point ways of looking at the stars and planets, with no reality in the solar system.

(4) Heliocircumspectus charts don't contain Sun Signs, as a Sun Sign is the Sun's position as seen from the View Point of Earth only.

(5) The Ascendant [and also the Midheaven] is a phenomenon caused by the Earth's Spin and has nothing to do with the rest of the solar system. Hence there aren't any for a heliocircumspectus chart.

(6) The Tropical Zodiac is a twelve fold division of the ecliptic which doesn't taken into account the movement of the ages. Therefore, as well as the oversimplifications of the Sidereal system, it's now almost a whole sign out of synchronization with the Real Solar Zodiac. This makes the planets one sign out from the sidereal heliocircumspectus chart. It therefore also changes the position of the Aspects between the planets. However, the angles of the Aspects remain unaltered. This is because all the planets shift position by exactly the same angle changing from Sidereal to Tropical Zodiac Zodiac Wheel, that is about one-twelfth of the circle. [Note the planets don't actually move, see below, it's the Zodiac we are charting them against that has been moved.]

(7) This is a geocircumspectus, i.e. Earth View Point based chart. This shows the planets as viewed from Earth and so their positions with respect to the Zodiac Wheel have changed a lot in comparison to the heliocircumspectus charts. Note, that the planets have not actually changed position in the Solar System. They are where they always were at William's birth. [For a chart of the planets natal positions at William's birth follow this link.] But our View Point of them changes if we are at the Sun or at the Earth and this makes the background stars we see them against change. This also means that the Aspects, the angles the planets make with each other on the Zodiac Wheel vary with where we observe them from. So the geocircumspectus Aspects are very different to those of the heliocircumspectus charts. Actually, if you compare the Real Solar System with either class of Zodiac you will see that the Planets actual angular relationships with each other don't bear much resemblance to the Aspects seen from either the Sun or the Earth. You would need to get a long way out of the solar system to view its actual planetary Aspects.

(8) The Placidus House System is currently the most popular House System in Western astrology.

(9) As this is a geocircumspectus chart a Sun Sign can be given, as we can mark the position of the Sun as seen against a Zodiac from the View Point of Earth. Against the Fagan Sidereal the Sun is seen as in transit across Gemini at William's birth. As is the Moon. In reality the Sun is on the cusp between the constellations of Taurus and Gemini at Williams birth as viewed from Earth. The Sidereal does, however, get the majority of the other planets in the correct constellations, as seen from Earth. The exceptions are: Jupiter which it places in Libra instead of rightfully against the constellation Virgo, Uranus in Scorpius instead of against Libra and Neptune in Sagittarius instead of the reality of Ophiuchus for Prince William.

(10) As this is a geocircumspectus chart the ascendant can be added, as can the Midheaven. These are both purely Earth based views of the sky. Actually in the real view of the sky from London at William's birth William's Ascendant is Ophiuchus, but neither the Sidereal nor the Tropical Zodiac use Ophiuchus.

(11) If you compare the charts you will see that there is only a tiny difference between Fagan and the Lahiri system. Lahiri is the Sidereal astrology system used by hundreds of millions of Hindus in India. It is considerably better than the Tropical Zodiac used by Western astrologers because it's not a bad description of the real constellations. However, it still assumes the signs are of the same length and ignores Ophiuchus. [Fagan and didn't use Lahiri as they were attempting to get back to the "Babylonian original" of the Zodiac.]

(12) This is the standard zodiac wheel of Western astrologers. It gives a different Sun Sign to the Sidereal Zodiac, Cancer instead of Gemini because it's off by almost one complete sign from the real sky. It also puts the Moon in Cancer instead of Gemini. For William it places all the planets in the wrong signs in comparison with the real constellations view from Earth, except Venus, with the Sun very difficult to call on a cusp.

(13) Sagittarius is still given as William's Ascendant in this chart, but if you compare the Tropical Zodiac and a Sidereal chart you'll see that the Ascendant has moved to the other side of that sign. Again this ignores the fact that actually William's Ascendant is Ophiuchus. The angle between the Ascendant and the Midheaven is purely an Earth-based View Point and nothing to do with the choice of Zodiac, so it remains the same between the Zodiac Types.

Prince Williams Horoscope Chart Systems: View Points and Zodiacs