Guide
What a natal chart is
For someone who knows their sun sign and nothing else. What the chart is a picture of, and what it is not.
Draft outline
This page is for a reader who knows their sun sign, has heard of a rising sign, and has never seen a chart. It should assume nothing and apologise for nothing.
The picture
A natal chart is a diagram of where the sun, moon and planets stood, from the point of view of one place on Earth, at one minute. That is all it is. Everything else — the signs, the houses, the lines across the middle — is a way of writing that position down.
The three things people conflate
Cover the difference between a sign, a house and an aspect, in that order. Most confusion a beginner arrives with is one of these three being mistaken for another.
What it is not
State plainly that the chart does not contain events, dates, or outcomes. Point at the positioning page rather than arguing the case twice.
Where to go next
Link to Why birth time matters and How to read the wheel.