Natal chart

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Depiction of the zodiac in a Byzantine edition of the Tetrabiblos from the 9th century

The natal chart or genetic dialogue is the branch of astrology . The main elements of a birth chart are usually the Ascendant and the Medium Coeli and the horoscope houses , celestial bodies like the sun , moon and planets , their positions in the zodiac signs and their aspects to each other, the zodiac signs and moon nodes . On the basis of these elements, calculated for a person's place and time of birth, the natal chart is used to make statements, for example, about the character, life path or fate of the person born. The natal chart is used in both Western and Indian astrology ( Jyotisha ), albeit with considerable differences.

In scientific studies, however, these statements do not prove to be correct more often than would be expected by pure coincidence.

Western genetic dialogue has its origins in ancient Egypt in the 2nd century BC. The so-called Babylonian cuneiform 'horoscopes' of the 5th - 1st century BC can be used as a forerunner of the natal chart. Be considered. However, these collections of omens for the planetary positions at birth on the traditional cuneiform tablets do not represent horoscopes in the astrological sense. The cuneiform tablets only contain information about the position of the planets (which in astrology also includes the sun and moon) in the signs of the zodiac , sometimes supplemented by very simple interpretations - omens - such as "his days will be numerous". The actual genetic dialogue then attained greater importance in Hellenism or based on the late Egyptian Ptolemaic Empire , promoted above all by the Socratic , Platonic and Stoic philosophy, with which the individuality of every single person gained importance. Birth horoscopes were now increasingly created for anyone.

The Tetrabiblos by Claudius Ptolemy , written in the 2nd century AD, is an extensive compendium of ancient natal charts that has been authoritative in Europe for a long time .

For a long time in Babylonia the planets were ascribed similar meanings as they are in today's astrology. Mars, for example, represented the god of war Nergal , and Saturn stood for stability and order. Essential innovations in Greco-Roman antiquity concerned the characterization of the signs of the zodiac based on the Aristotelian four-element theory and the introduction of the aspects , i.e. H. the angular relationships of the planets, as elements of interpretation.

Individual evidence

  1. Jürgen Hamel : Concepts of Astrology . Verlag Harri Deutsch, Frankfurt am Main 2010, p. 302, keyword 'Horoskop'.
  2. ^ Shawn Carlson: A double-blind test of astrology . In: Nature . tape 318 , no. 6045 , December 1985, ISSN  0028-0836 , pp. 419-425 , doi : 10.1038 / 318419a0 .
  3. Stephan Heilen : 'Hadriani Genitura' - The astrological fragments of Antigonus of Nikaia . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2015. p. 546.
  4. ^ Francesca Rochberg : Babylonian Horoscopes . American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia 1998. p. 1.
  5. von Stuckrad, Geschichte der Astrologie , p. 82f., P. 90f.
  6. von Stuckrad, Geschichte der Astrologie , p. 61.
  7. von Stuckrad, Geschichte der Astrologie , p. 45.