iVillage

This is the chart form that I have used for the last 30-some years. As you can see, it is an open wheel, and each of the planets is placed exactly where it goes (as near as possible) in the zodiac. In the center of the chart form, the major aspects (opposition, trine, square, sextile, etc.) are drawn with colored lines to bring out the main patterns.

And note that the houses are still further de-emphasized. Here only the ascendant-descendant axis is drawn in (red line), as well as the midheaven-IC axis (blue line). The red arrow marks the ascendant, or First House cusp, and the blue arrow marks the midheaven, or Tenth House cusps. The other house cusps are not even shown.

My reason for this is that I am more interested in the two chart axes than I am with the intermediate cusps. The intermediate cusps change depending on what house system you are using, and there are dozens of them now, but the two axes (ascendant and midheaven) are the same for most major house systems. My interest is more in these four major quadrants, than in the houses in between. Also, I often use a standard wheel of houses when I want to look at the houses separately, but I seldom do so.

In summary, we have looked at what are probably the most popular chart wheel formats used by both amateur and professional astrologers today. But keep in mind that there are literally hundreds of wheel variants out there.