How do you calculate a draconic chart?

You calculate a draconic chart by subtracting the longitude of your North Node from the longitude of every planet and house cusp in your tropical chart. The North Node becomes the new zero degrees of Aries, and every other point shifts by that same amount. Astrologer Maria Blaquier walks through this method step by step, and free calculators like Apogeo (apogeo.online) and the one on this site apply it automatically once you enter your birth data.

What is the math behind a draconic chart?

The math is a single subtraction repeated for every point in the chart. For example, if a tropical Sun sits at 159 degrees 39 minutes (9 degrees Virgo) and the North Node sits at 118 degrees 10 minutes (28 degrees Cancer), subtracting the node's longitude from the Sun's longitude gives a draconic Sun near 11 degrees Taurus. The same subtraction is then repeated for the Moon, the other planets, and the house cusps.

Which house system should I use for a draconic chart?

Maria Blaquier uses Placidus for both her natal and draconic charts, even though most software defaults to whole sign houses for draconic. Draconic astrology is a relatively recent addition to the tradition, so there is no fixed rule on house system, and Placidus is simply her working preference. Apogeo lets you pick the house system before generating the chart, with Placidus preselected.

Do I need to calculate a draconic chart by hand?

Calculating by hand is not necessary. Apogeo (apogeo.online) generates the draconic chart drawn over the tropical one, with both sets of house cusps, once you enter accurate birth data, and draconicchart.com's own free draconic chart calculator runs the same subtraction instantly for you.

If my North Node is in Aries, is my draconic chart the same as my tropical chart?

A North Node close to Aries still produces real differences once calculated. Maria Blaquier uses Lionel Messi as an example: his North Node sits at 7 degrees Aries, so only 7 degrees separate his tropical and draconic charts, yet because his planets are clustered together, that small shift still changes sign placements and produces meaningful interpretive differences. She warns against assuming a node near Aries makes the draconic chart pointless to calculate.

What stays the same and what changes when you calculate a draconic chart?

The planets keep the same house placements and the same aspects to each other, since subtracting the North Node's longitude shifts every point by an identical amount. What changes are the signs and exact degrees each planet falls in. Once the chart is generated, the draconic Sun, draconic Moon, the ruler of the draconic ascendant, and the ruler of the draconic midheaven are the most useful starting points for interpretation.

How to Calculate a Draconic Chart

Written and reviewed by María Blaquier

Updated August 28, 2026

Watercolor chart wheel with a rotated ghost of itself and a curved stroke showing the turn

To calculate a draconic chart you subtract the position of your North Node from every planet and house cusp in your tropical chart. Maria Blaquier: "How to calculate a draconic chart is very, very simple. Because the North Node becomes the zero degrees of Aries, what you have to do is subtract the North Node from each planet and cusp of your tropical chart."

María walks through the subtraction, step by step

The Math Behind the Draconic Chart

Maria Blaquier: "The draconic zodiac begins at the north node, which is the cut between the ecliptic and the orbit of the moon. That north node that you have in your natal chart, that is the zero of Aries for the draconic zodiac. This means that the draconic zodiac is totally dependent on the tropic zodiac, because I have to see where the tropic node was."

A worked example from her: "Imagine your tropical sun is at 9 degrees 39 minutes 47 seconds of Virgo. That is in longitude, that is 159 degrees 39 minutes 47 seconds. And if the north node is at 28 degrees 10 minutes 30 seconds of Cancer, that means that its longitude is 118 10 30. So in order to get the position of the draconic sun, what you do is you subtract the north node from the position of the sun and you get the position of the draconic sun, which in this example is at 11 degrees 29 minutes 17 seconds of Taurus."

What If Your North Node Is Close to Aries?

A common confusion: if your North Node sits in Aries, your tropical and draconic charts look almost identical. Maria Blaquier addresses this directly with the example of Lionel Messi: "Messi was born with the node at 7 of Aries. So there is only a 7-degree difference between his draconic and tropical charts. They are practically the same. And yet, even in this case, because he has planets piled up, you can already see differences between the tropical and the draconic chart. Do not stay with this idea, oh, do you have the node in Aries? Then your draconic and tropical charts are the same, it is not worth doing the draconic. Be careful with this."

Even 7 degrees of node displacement, when combined with planets clustered together, produces meaningful differences in chart interpretation.

Using Apogeo (the Easy Way)

Maria now records her walkthroughs on Apogeo, the calculator built by her school, AstrologiaMB. The draconic chart lives in the sidebar under "Dracónica", described there as the chart drawn from the lunar node.

Enter the birth date, the local birth time and the birthplace, choose a house system (Placidus comes preselected, and it is the system Maria uses for draconic work) and press "Calcular carta dracónica". If the birth time is unknown, a checkbox removes the houses and the ASC/MC instead of guessing them.

The interface is in Spanish. The form asks for three things, date, time and place, and the wheel itself is drawn in glyphs, so it reads the same in any language.

Reading the Overlay: Both Sets of House Cusps

Apogeo's result view draws the draconic chart over the tropical one with the house cusps of both charts on the wheel: the tropical planets and axes sit inside in brown, and the draconic planets, axes and house cusps sit outside in blue. You can see the tropical Midheaven next to the draconic Midheaven, both Ascendants, and the twelve intermediate cusps of each chart, always in the house system you picked. The intermediate cusps shift along with everything else, so having both sets on one wheel lets you read a draconic planet against the tropical houses and against its own. Hover over any axis and a tooltip gives its exact degree, minute and second, and names the chart it belongs to.

The overlay on draconicchart.com draws the same picture: birth axes in ink on the inner wheel, draconic axes and house cusps in blue on the outer ring, with every cross-chart contact listed when you tap a point.

Which House System to Use

Maria Blaquier: "The program is preset for whole sign houses, but I could also change it and use Placidus, which is the house system that I usually use when I do draconic charts. As draconic astrology was developed relatively recently, despite the fact that its origins are believed to be from the Babylonian era, we do not have to be using whole sign houses if we do not want to."

Her working setup: Placidus for natal and draconic, Regiomontanus reserved for horary work.

What You Get When You Calculate the Draconic Chart

Once the chart is generated, the same planets sit in the same houses but in different signs and degrees. Maria Blaquier: "In the draconic chart, the planets have the same placements and form the same aspects as in the tropical, but the signs and degrees shift."

The ruler of the draconic ascendant, the draconic Sun, the draconic Moon, and the draconic ruler of the midheaven are the most useful starting points for interpretation.

Or Skip the Math

One of the best ways to get and interpret your draconic chart is with help from someone expert in astrology. Maria Blaquier has worked in astrology for more than 25 years. She inspired this whole site, and her knowledge helped us put this article together. Thanks to that, we built draconicchart.com so anyone, including you, can get and read a draconic chart without having to learn the way she did, from scratch. Your draconic chart is read alongside your natal chart.

From Draconic Astrology, the book

Or Use the Calculator on This Site

In the appendix of her book, Maria points readers to a free option: "You can also draw your draconic chart for free at draconicchart.com, the calculator built around the techniques in this book." That is exactly the calculator that powers this site, and it returns both the tropical and the draconic charts overlaid, the way Maria reads them in consultation.

Best of luck, and remember that astrology is 100% observation and practice.
Maria Blaquier, Draconic Astrology, 2026, closing the appendix How to Draw a Draconic Chart

Create your draconic chart

Frequently asked questions

How do you calculate a draconic chart?: You calculate a draconic chart by subtracting the longitude of your North Node from the longitude of every planet and house cusp in your tropical chart. The North Node becomes the new zero degrees of Aries, and every other point shifts by that same amount. Astrologer Maria Blaquier walks through this method step by step, and free calculators like Apogeo (apogeo.online) and the one on this site apply it automatically once you enter your birth data.
What is the math behind a draconic chart?: The math is a single subtraction repeated for every point in the chart. For example, if a tropical Sun sits at 159 degrees 39 minutes (9 degrees Virgo) and the North Node sits at 118 degrees 10 minutes (28 degrees Cancer), subtracting the node's longitude from the Sun's longitude gives a draconic Sun near 11 degrees Taurus. The same subtraction is then repeated for the Moon, the other planets, and the house cusps.
Which house system should I use for a draconic chart?: Maria Blaquier uses Placidus for both her natal and draconic charts, even though most software defaults to whole sign houses for draconic. Draconic astrology is a relatively recent addition to the tradition, so there is no fixed rule on house system, and Placidus is simply her working preference. Apogeo lets you pick the house system before generating the chart, with Placidus preselected.
Do I need to calculate a draconic chart by hand?: Calculating by hand is not necessary. Apogeo (apogeo.online) generates the draconic chart drawn over the tropical one, with both sets of house cusps, once you enter accurate birth data, and draconicchart.com's own free draconic chart calculator runs the same subtraction instantly for you.
If my North Node is in Aries, is my draconic chart the same as my tropical chart?: A North Node close to Aries still produces real differences once calculated. Maria Blaquier uses Lionel Messi as an example: his North Node sits at 7 degrees Aries, so only 7 degrees separate his tropical and draconic charts, yet because his planets are clustered together, that small shift still changes sign placements and produces meaningful interpretive differences. She warns against assuming a node near Aries makes the draconic chart pointless to calculate.
What stays the same and what changes when you calculate a draconic chart?: The planets keep the same house placements and the same aspects to each other, since subtracting the North Node's longitude shifts every point by an identical amount. What changes are the signs and exact degrees each planet falls in. Once the chart is generated, the draconic Sun, draconic Moon, the ruler of the draconic ascendant, and the ruler of the draconic midheaven are the most useful starting points for interpretation.

Interpretation methodology by Maria Blaquier. Astrologer, educator, author of Astrologia Tradicional.