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Birth Chart (Natal Chart)

The map of planetary positions at the moment of birth.

A birth chart (natal chart, horoscope) is a geocentric map of where the planets, lunar nodes, and key sensitive points were at the instant of birth, calculated against the date, time, and place. Western astrology calls it a natal chart; Vedic astrology calls it kundli. The chart is the foundational document of any reading — every other technique (transits, progressions, dashas, returns, synastry) refers back to it.