Random House Unabridged Dictionary defines Horoscope as a diagram of skies, showing the relative position of planets and the signs of the zodiac, for use in calculating births, foretelling events in an individual’s life etc. The dictionary further defines Horoscope as a forecast of future events or information for future behaviour based on such a diagram.

American Heritage Dictionary defines Horoscope as an astrological prediction, as of someone’s future, according to a diagram of this element of the planets and stars at a given moment. The expression Horoscope comes from a Greek name meaning a look at the hours.

Horoscope is also called as astrological chart, birth chart, astro-chart, celestial map, sky-map, star-chart, tomogram, vitasphere, radical chart, radix, or simply chart. Horoscope forms the cornerstone of horoscope traditions of astrology. In layman’s terminology, horoscope signifies an astrologer’s interpretations of the graph by means of a system called sun sign astrology.

Now-a-days, many news Newspapers and magazines take online kundali reading based on the zodiac signs. It is becoming increasingly popular with the masses as it provides them some insights into their own lives and they can have a peek in their immediate future. However, most astrologers regard these as useless as horoscopes are highly personalized and their interpretations cannot be generalized to thousands of readers just through one planetary placement.

Astrological interpretations are derived from a horoscope diagram. From the diagram, the ground is placed in the middle and it is surrounded by the planets. To build a horoscope, an astrologer has to the specific time and location of the subject is arrival, or the initiation of an event. The time is then interpreted into GMT.

The astrologer uses The time gap between the GMT and local time in the place of arrival to show where the planets will be visible above the horizon at the time and place in question. Then, a table of homes is used to split the horoscope into 12 branches around the circle of the ecliptic.

Aside from these Homes, the astrologers also must take into consideration the aspects or relative angles between planets to build a horoscope. Indian and Chinese zodiac signs are rather different from the approved western astrological signs.

Western astrological Signs are split into 12 zodiac signs like Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. This division is done based upon the date of births of these subjects. By way of instance, persons born between the dates of July 24 and August 23 are awarded the Leo zodiac sign.