Chart Shapes

Chart Shapes. The overall pattern the planets make around the wheel is called the chart shape, and it describes a person's basic temperament at a glance. The astrologer Marc Edmund Jones identified seven classic shapes, judged by how the planets are spread or grouped around the circle. Reading the shape gives a sense of the whole before any single placement is considered. The seven shapes are the Bundle, where all the planets crowd into a small span and focus narrowly; the Bowl, where they fill one half of the chart and seek what the empty half lacks; the Bucket, a bowl with one planet opposite that acts as a funnel; and the Locomotive, where the planets fill two thirds of the wheel and drive forward with momentum. The others are the Seesaw, with planets in two opposing groups that weigh opposites; the Splash, with planets scattered evenly for broad and varied interests; and the Splay, with irregular clusters that give a strong, individual stamp. Each shape suggests how a person's energy is distributed, whether concentrated, balanced, or spread wide. The chart shape is only a starting impression, refined by everything else in the chart, but it is a useful first read on the character as a whole.