A Southern Hemisphere Chart

I guess the title of this post should be MY way of doing Southern Hemisphere charts.  I got a question under my You Tube video showing the Southern Hemisphere sky, or at least the virtual one on Stellarium.  The viewer wondered how the radically different view of the sky informs understanding of the zodiac from Southern Hemisphere point of view.

In response I am offering an example of how I alter the charts given on astro.com to reflect the actual sky seen from the Southern side of the equator.

I chose the birthchart of Eduardo Galeano, born 3 Sept, 1940 in Montevideo, Uruguay.  Astro.com uses the time 8:05am because (using their Northern Hemisphere zodiac) that gives a Libra ascendent.  The Libra AC comes from a quote which is copied below from astro.com:

Sy Scholfield quotes him in "World Authors, 1985-1990" by Vineta Colby (H.W. Wilson, 1995), p. 284: "blame my sign, Virgo, for my mania for perfection, ... And they say my rising sign, Libra, is behind the hunger for beauty that has turned me into a glutton who devours people and words."

A speculative time of 8:05am gives mid Libra (15 degrees) rising.

This would seem to indicate that Mr. Galeano accepts Virgo as his sun sign and Libra as his rising sign.  I however, with my little housecleaner mind, think of him as a Pisces with Aries rising.  

I am posting the chart from astro.com which shows the Virgo sun above horizon on the left side of the chart and Libra AC.  Then I have a hand drawn chart showing a Pisces sun coming up on the right side of the chart, since folks in the Southern Hemisphere face North to see the ecliptic and see the sun rise on their right.  No, I've never been to Uruguay, but I trust Stellarium.

One neat thing to sort out is the Moon's nodes.  They are in the same signs as the Northern Hemisphere chart. Take some time to compare the two charts and figure out how and why they are different.  Let me know what you think.  Is the hand drawn chart a better reflection of the actual sky in Southern Hemisphere?

For instance, consider that the MC in a Northern Hemisphere chart is due South, while it is due North in a Southern Hemsphere Chart.  (I forgot to include MC in the hand drawn chart. The purple line at 9 Capricorn is the MC)  Notice that the first house in the hand drawn Southern Hemisphere chart is on the right instead of the left.  The first house is where a planet is right before rising.  Then it goes to the back of the lineup and works its way through  house 12, 11 etc till it is back in the first house again after 24 hours, ready for another rising.

I find Galeano's writing to be very challenging.  I have read that a large percentage of writers have Libra AC, so that supports the astro.com Libra AC; but if you actually read Galeano, the Aries AC might make more sense. He calls it commitment to memory, but it feels more like a determination to reveal bitter truths that are normally hidden.

I hope this helps encourage thoughtful exploration of Southern Hemisphere astrology. 

I hope Mr. Galeano is cool with this.  I was sweetly surprised to find the quote of him remembering his AC.  It made me more eager to go back and try to read his writing.

This goes to the video introducing Southern Hemisphere using Stellarium (free downloadable planetarium software for your PC).