apollo, thank you so much for your interesting post. it's such a complex but fascinating subject.
she was born in liverpool, england.
would the place of birth have an effect on her sunsign? what effect does the place of birth have on the birth chart in general?
The place of birth has no bearing on the sun sign; but for those that don't know - let's analyse that... If you draw a circle and divide it equally into 12, each segment has 30 degrees. The zodiac is the circle and the each 30 degree section is a sign. The sun is said to travel through each sign while moving forwards and spends about a month in each sign. However the facts are different: the sun actually stays still. The constellations actually stay still - only we on Earth - move...
While we sit on this spinning and slowly 'wobbling' Earth, as we look out into the sky we see the turning of the Earth in reflection with the stars seemingly in motion - but it is the other way around - we move while they stay still.
Therefore when the sun is said to be in Libra for instance, it is only perceived as such because, looking from Earth, the sun appears to be in the 'back drop' of the segment of Libra.
Wherever you are on Earth will make no difference to this perception in principle; the place of birth is irrelevant in determining what sign the sun appears to be in.
The place of birth does however determine the chart houses and angles. Being born in London will give you one set of house cusps and being born elsewhere gives you another set. The ascendant or first point of the rising sign is just one of 12 points that make up the houses. Explaining how the houses are calculated would take some time. However the subject as a whole is not really anywhere near as difficult as it was to learn... Now you can get a chart in seconds with a cheap program for a pc; when I learned - calculators had only just begun to enter the scene and log tables were still being used! There were no pc's in those days and all work was done / drawn by hand... now its very simple - so for beginners now - its only really the theory you learn the maths can be calculated for you...:)
A.
tigress, tucker and apollo - thank you! you've been a great help.