The start line in astrological prognostications is the astrological chart generally called the personal horoscope natal chart. It is important the chart is delineated properly and correctly. To avoid flawed judgements and pronouncements it’s necessary to inquire and determine the precision. Nowadays, PC horoscopes are extremely common and they are susceptible to blunders. To cast a horoscope, 3 necessary inputs are needed - time of birth, date-of-birth and place of birth. Rectification of time of birth can only be done by an expert astrologer. For this he needs to discern some past events with their timing to enable corrections to the time of birth. Often , there is misunderstanding about the dates when the birth had taken place at night.

During the past, in India, the weekday was considered to last from dawn to the following dawn. In the war years,clocks were complicated for different amounts of time. Often , the year is given in Vikram era. An information of these is essential for an astrologer. An astrologer shouldn’t be blind to by hand casting the horoscope. 2 books are critical.

One is the standard ephemeris and the other Raphael’s “Tables of Houses”. By the method of rule of 3, the heavenly longitudes are appeared at for the date and time of birth. For Rahu ( Caput ), the shade planet, mean longitude is considered. Ketu ( Cauda ), another shade planet is diagonally opposite to the position of Rahu.

They also are called as the Karmic planets. The Rahu-Ketu axis is critical in prognostications. The astrologer shouldn’t forget to notice if any planet is retrograde. A retrograde planet gives different results relying on its placement in the chart. The ‘ayanamsa’ or precession is also to be noted down. If the ephemeris relies on Sidereal or Nirayana system there isn’t any need to take the ayanamsa. Next, determine the longitude and latitude of place of birth.Find the local time of birth if the given time is in standard time. Determine the sidereal time of birth and make required corrections for the longitude. Longitude can be either west or east. Use this info to notice the cusp of rising sign ( ascendent ) from Raphael’s tables.Again apply the rule of 3 to work out the cusp. The tables also give the cusps of tenth, 11th and 12th homes. If Equal House system is followed, then cusps of the ascendent and the tenth serve. Since the tables give the cusps in Sayana or Tropical system, ayanamsa is to be took to get the Nirayana or Sidereal cusps.