How To Read Your Natal Chart - For Beginners
The stars provide a wealth of information, which is routinely shared with the public through horoscopes these days.
Author:Michele SievertReviewer:Georgia AshcroftMar 15, 20220 Shares195 Views
The stars provide a wealth of information, which is routinely shared with the public through horoscopes these days.
Our horoscopes may shed light on our everyday lives and assist us in recognizing how the planets' motions — such as Saturn's retrograde motion — can assist us in making beneficial adjustments in our lives.
However, let us take a step back:
What is the mechanism by which this process of interpreting the positions and movements of the planets is carried out?
What is the definition of a zodiac sign, and how dothe planets influence the signs' characteristics? Read this to know how to read your natal chart for beginners.
When it comes to mastering the fundamentals of reading your birth chart, these questions are critical. Your birth chart displays the positions of the planets in the sky at the moment of your birth.
It is possible to get valuable insight into your personality, motives, and goals by an examination of this chart (also known as a natal chart).
Examine how the art of astrologyand the craft of reading birth charts came to be, as well as how you might use it to improve your own life and that of others.
The Chart Basics
The following is a comprehensive collection of keywords that may be used to comprehend the astrological aspects that make up a natal chart in plain English.
- Aries: childish, fast-paced, impatient, fearless, exciting, natural, temperamental, active, fun-loving, enthusiastic, self-involved, adventurous, inconsiderate, and vivacious. Taurus: childlike, fast-paced, impatient, fearless, exciting, natural, temperamental
- Taurus is a slow-paced, teacher, contemplative sign with five senses, material, pleasure, sensuality, and beauty. He is also obstinate, self-indulgent, lethargic, relaxed, possessive, and perseverant.
- Zodiac sign of Gemini: humorous, rapid and fast-paced; impatient; quickly bored; excitable; chaotic; multi-faceted; versatile; adjustable; inconsistent; unfocused; anxious.
- Cancer characteristics include being moody, sensitive, empathetic, compassionate, caring, fun-loving, spontaneous, creative, protective, clinging, needy, manipulative, and grumbling. Cancer characteristics include:
- As a Leo you are: arrogant, lively, enthusiastic; humorous, melodramatic; vain; fun; generous; courageous; loyal; egoistic; thin-skinned; controlling; impatient. As a Taurus, you are: arrogant, vivacious, enthusiastic
- Gemini: critical, meticulous, analytic, intellectually active; Virgo: dependable; picky; harsh; judgmental; compassionate; zany; humanitarian.
- Libra possesses fairness, etiquette, tact and diplomacy, as well as being peaceful and mediating. However, Libra is also characterized by being passive, judgemental, shallow, untrustworthy, distant, laid back and charming, as well as being self-absorbed and humourous.
- Scorpio is bold, focused, obsessive, dominating, powerful, intuitive, balanced, strong, jealous, manipulative, secretive, mysterious, resentful, and a Scorpio is a sign of the zodiac sign of Scorpio.
- Sagittarius is a sanguine and sociable sign. It is also philosophical and shallow. It is unreliable and inconsistent. Sagittarius is also moral and daring. It is impatient and judgmental.
- Capricorns are diligent, practical, dependable, disciplined, sensible, mature, unimaginative, robotic, patient, ambitious, cautious, gloomy, calculating, timid, self-centred, obstinate, moody, and distant. They are also self-centered, stubborn, moody, and disconnected.
- Aquarius: humanitarian, friendly, socially conscious, universally minded, distant, interpersonally clueless, sardonic, humorous, loving, aloof, revolutionary, individualistic zany
- Vulnerable, bold, emotional, sensitive, empathetic, sympathetic, inventive, dedicated, sacrificial, escapism-seeking, accepting, adaptive, compassionate, self-pitying, laziness, and weak-willed are all characteristics of the Pisces sign.
The sun represents you, your ego, consciousness, personality, and action.
Moonrepresents emotions, the unconscious, intuition, and reaction.
Mercuryis associated with logic, reasoning, and communication.
Venusrepresents love, romance, the "feminine" element of one's personality, social connections, aesthetics, tenderness, illusion, and allure.
Marsrepresents aggression, passion, forcefulness, and the "masculine" aspect of a person.
Jupiterrepresents optimism, growth, good fortune, the larger picture, and self-assurance.
Saturnrepresents duty, limitation, order, constraint, teaching, and realism. Saturn is the planet of Saturn.
Uranusis associated with higher thought, individualism, psychic abilities, unpredictability, and invention.
Neptuneis associated with idealism, spirituality, religion, fantasy, illusion, dreams, and creative expression.
Plutois associated with money, sexuality, the shadow/dark side, metamorphosis, and personal growth.
First House// AC: self, "door of perception" how you view the world, how the world views you - when you act unconsciously.
Symbols associated with the Second Houseinclude: self-worth; security; material possessions; money; comfort; safety; luxury; the five senses; and food.
The Third Houserepresents theory work, communication, creativity through communication, thought, wit, neighbors, short excursions, and siblings.
Fourth House/ IC: where we come from, our early life experiences that have influenced who we are.
Fifth House: play, imagination, spontaneity, romance, children, hobbies, and games are all aspects of this house.
The Sixth Houserepresents health, the workplace, service, and analytical thinking.
Seventh House/ DC: one-on-one partnerships, as well as attractionand/or repulsion between individuals.
Death, change (rebirth), taboo, intimacy, mystery, and other people's things are all represented by the Eighth House.
Greater education, extensive journeys, experience, philosophy, religion - to discover something higher for oneself to follow are all represented by the Ninth House.
Tenth House/ MC: When we behave deliberately, what we aspire for, who we want to be recognized as, what we want to achieve, and how outsiders see us are all represented.
The eleventhHouse represents communal awareness, groups, friends, organizations, hopes, aspirations, and wishes, as well as society in general.
In the twelfth Houseof horoscopes, we discover the following themes: dreams; unconscious; subconscious; spirituality; sacrifice; loneliness; enemies; imprisonment; religion; finding something to devote one's life to.
Aspects And Degrees
There are 360 degrees in the chart and each of the 12 zodiac signsis 30 degrees in length, thus the connections (aspects) shared by the planets (and the MC and the AC) in your chart are decided by the distance between the signs that they are in.
These are the characteristics that are archetypical:
- Trine- a group of signs representing the same element.
Aries, Leo, Sagittarius (fire signs), Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn (earth signs), Gemini, Libra, Aquarius (air signs), Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces (water signs) (water)
Sextiles are signs that have the same polarity as one another but have a different element in common.
Because fire and air are both masculine/positive signs, when a fire sign comes into touch with an air sign, a sextile is established between them.
Earth and water are both feminine/negative signs, hence when an earth sign comes into touch with a water sign, a sextile is produced between the two signs.
Squares are indicators that have the same modality but do not have the same polarity.
Fixed:
Taurus and Scorpio are conjunct.
The signs of Leo and Aquarius
Gemini and Sagittariusare in a mutable relationship.
Virgo and Pisces are the signs of the zodiac.
Signs that are diametrically opposed to one another in terms of modality and polarity.
Aries and Libra are the zodiac signs.
Taurus and Scorpio are the zodiac signs.
Gemini and Sagittarius are the signs of the zodiac.
Cancer and Capricorn are complementary signs.
The signs of Leo and Aquarius
Virgo and Pisces are the signs of the zodiac.
Conjunction consists of the same sign, the same modality, the same element, and the same polarity.
The degrees, on the other hand, are the most significant, and there are occasions when two signs that would ordinarily get along might form a disharmonious aspect because of their differences.
The following are the degrees of the principal aspects, as well as their archetypal energies:
Junction 0° / harmonious and disharmonious combinations
180 degrees of opposition / disharmonious
a 90-degree square / a disharmonious combination
Trine - 120° / a state of harmony
Sextile - 60 degrees / harmonies
The minor components' degrees of manifestation, as well as their archetypal energies:
Disharmonic - 45° semisquare / disharmonic
a semisquare with a 135-degree angle of disharmonious
Half-sextile - 30° / a neutral and happy relationship
Equinox or Inconjunction - 150° / neutral and discordant
Quintile - 72° / a perfect combination
Biquintile - 144° / a harmonious combination
The aspects between each planet obviously don’t always fit to the exact degrees so there is often a gap.
This void between these two qualities is referred to as an orb.
Keeping in mind that the signs of the zodiac are in the following order: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces, we can see that Libra and Aquarius are separated by three signs: Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, and Aquarius.
Add the degrees of 30 from Libra up to Aquarius and you get four lots of 30 degrees - Scorpio 30 degrees, Sagittarius 30 degrees, Capricorn 30 degrees, and Aquarius 30 degrees.
The angle generated by these two signs is 4 x 30° = 120°, which indicates that the aspect established between them is a trine.
Because we must account for the degrees of the signs the planets are in – we must subtract the degrees of the planets together if the result becomes a negative number because we are working with a circle – the distance between the Sun and the Moon is no longer exactly 120° as it was previously.
As a result, the arithmetic is as follows: (3.45 – 1.57) – 4 x 30 = 118.12 degrees.
If I round this to 120°, the aspect produced between my Sun and Moonis referred to as a trine.
The angle between the aspects is 120° - 118.12° = 1.88°, hence the orb between the aspects is 1.88°.
Sun is at 27.57 degrees Libra and my Moon is at 1.45 degrees Aquarius, and we do the math: (27.57–1.45) – 4 x 30 = (93.88–1.45) degrees Libra and Aquarius.
When we round this up to the nearest degree, we obtain 90°, which is a square aspect.
3.88° is equal to 93.88° minus 90°.
So, despite the fact that these two signs naturally make a trine, Sun and Moon form a 3.88° degree orb between them.
Always remember to start with the highest number possible. While arithmetic can be difficult at times, utilizing a natal chart calculator to generate your chart will almost always result in a simpler method to examine elements; nevertheless, it will not be as detailed as a circular chart.
The majority of them will employ glyphs to symbolize the aspects, which you may refer to using the glyph key to learn more about them.
The following are the keywords for the important aspects:
The following words are used in conjunction: sameness, oneness, mirroring, intimacy, unpleasant, engrossed.
Dynamism, conflict, energizing, motivation, tug-of-war, boundless, demanding, and thrill are all characteristics of opposition.
Obstacles, confusion, conflict, rigidity, development, change, strength, solidity, wisdom, "party-pooper" are all represented by the square.
Trine is associated with the words easy, simple, lazy, relaxed, talent, gifted, power, comfort, and natural.
Sextile: relaxed, uncomplicated, enjoyable, exciting, and comfortable
In light of the fact that aspects have a particular degree of significance, the orbs are restricted in their ability to effect persons beyond a certain point in their lives.
The stronger the aspect, the tighter the orb is made (i.e. the stronger the influence it has on the individual).
Using the chart we have been using, Jupiter is 4.40° Aquarius and the Sun is 21.55° Aquarius; these two planets are in the same sign but their orb is 17.15°, which means that they are not in conjunction with one another. This is because the orb is too wide to consider these two planets to be in conjunction with one another.
The rules for orbs differ significantly among astrologers, but only by a small margin.
My orb rules are as follows (please note that these rules apply exclusively to natal charts and do not apply to synastry, transits, or other astrological phenomena):
All orbs inside 2° are the strongest (meaning they have a very powerful impact on the individual), and if the aspect contains an asteroid or a fixed star, no more than 2° is permitted in the aspect's length.
Only the angles of the Ascendent or Midheaven should be included in the aspects that are greater than 5° in length.
Conjunctions and oppositions are strongest inside 9°, with the strongest being 5° and below.
Aspects with the outer planets, on the other hand, must be less than 9°.
If the angle is 7° or higher, the impact is minimal.
Square, trine, and sextile: 7° and below, 4° and below is the strongest, and 7° and below is the weakest.
Minor aspects: They should not be more than 5°, but they should be less than 3°.
Only go up to 5° if the planet is one that you know well.
Piecing The Puzzle Together
This might be the most challenging aspect, but it is the one that provides us with the answers we need to fully comprehend the natal chart.
We'll have to sum everything up and see what the final figure is.
Please keep in mind that this is only a guide that I developed to use as a starting point.
It would be better to conduct more in-depth research on the components of the natal chart - houses, planets, and so on - before proceeding to this phase.
For the time being, I'll pick an example from the same chart that we've been working with thus far.
Mercury and Neptune are the planets I'm planning to use.
We can already see that these planets are in conjunction because they are located right next to each other in the 2nd house, but we'll go ahead and complete the calculations just to be sure.
Mercury is at 2.00° Aquarius and Neptune is at 28.21° Capricorn. Mercury is in Aquarius and Neptune is in Capricorn.
This is the result of the calculation: (28.21° - 2.00°) - 1 x 30° = 3.79°
When we look at the orb between this conjunction and the ecliptic, we can see that it is 3.79°, and because it is less than 5°, we can agree that this aspect has an impact on the person, but not on astrology, as it would be if it were less than 2°.
We must now determine how these planets behave in relation to the signs in which they are positioned.
The conjunction of Mercury and Aquarius may also be seen as an "equation."
Mercury represents thinking, communication, and logic, and Aquarius represents humanitarianism, friendliness, social consciousness, universal orientation, detachedness, interpersonal unawareness, sarcasm, wit, affection, aloofness, progressivism, rebelliousness, individualism, and zaniness, we can infer that this individual's way of thinking and communicating is universally oriented, detached, zany, sarcastic, witty, affection, aloofness, progressiveness,
If someone is like this in their thinking and communicating, it is likely that they will learn in unconventional ways, they will think outside the box, they will enjoy having strange (zany) conversations, and because sarcasm and wit are present, this is likely to be the type of person that they will be as well.
In contrast to Neptune, whose characteristics include creativity, fancy, and illusion, Capricorn is disciplined, unimaginative, realistic, and calculating.
The combination of these appears to be highly contradictory; the energies appear to be in opposition to one another.
That is, when it comes to 'managing' this planet, the individual may have difficulties.
Despite this, we may still put together the puzzle: if Capricorn is ambitious and diligent, and Neptune is associated with imagination, we can conclude that this individual may daydream (fantasize) about success.
This person's dream life is likely to be firmly based in reality because Capricorn is an unimaginative sign while Neptune is a sign of imagination (the reality they perceive anyway).
This individual most likely does not fantasize about getting swept off their feet by their favorite fictitious romantic interest in their spare time (unless, they believe that it could actually happen - sometimes reality is a funny thing).
This individual is going to fantasize about things that they feel are possible and could truly occur.
Putting the two planets together - (Mercury + Aquarius) x (Neptune + Capricorn) - has finally become possible.
It is possible to describe this individual as unconventional in their thinking and communication but practical in their imagination and creativity, keeping in mind that the conjunction signifies similarity and proximity. We can also describe these individuals as creative and "open-minded," but they will only believe something if it makes sense and is consistent with the reality of our everyday lives.
This person probably employs independent (Aquarius) communication (Mercury) and inventiveness (Neptune) to drive ambitious (Capricorn) ambitions.
Finally, we turn our attention to the home.
In the horoscope, both of these planets are located in the 2nd house of self-worth, money, and material possessions.
If the conjunction of these two planets manifests in this house, we may infer that it has something to do with their sense of self-worth.
When they catch themselves thinking about the unattainable, they feel guilty, and when they discover that they are unable to be imaginative at all, they might become depressed and frustrated.
Because the second home represents money and belongings, they may wish to make money from it in some way, or they may choose to spend money on D.I.Y. projects and the like.
They may enjoy reading (and purchasing) fantasy stories that make sense' and force them to think.
Conclusion
The stars provide a wealth of information, which is routinely shared with the public through horoscopes these days.
Our horoscopes may shed light on our everyday lives and assist us in recognizing how the planets' motions — such as Saturn's retrograde motion — can assist us in making beneficial adjustments in our lives.
However, let us take a step back:
What is the mechanism by which this process of interpreting the positions and movements of the planets is carried out?
What is the definition of a zodiac sign, and how do the planets influence the signs' characteristics?
When it comes to mastering the fundamentals of reading your birth chart, these questions are critical. Your birth chart displays the positions of the planets in the sky at the moment of your birth.
It is possible to get valuable insight into your personality, motives, and goals by an examination of this chart (also known as a natal chart).
Examine how the art of astrology and the craft of reading birth charts came to be, as well as how you might use it to improve your own life and that of others.
Michele Sievert
Author
Michele Sievert is a seasoned expert in astrology and spirituality, boasting over 10 years of experience in these transformative fields. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Astrology from the International Academy of Astrology, showcasing her dedication and expertise in the mystical arts.
Michele's insightful guidance has positively impacted numerous individuals, helping them navigate life's complexities with clarity and purpose. Her deep understanding and engaging style make her writings a trusted resource for those seeking spiritual enlightenment.
In her leisure time, she enjoys spending moments of tranquility with loved ones, fostering a balanced and fulfilling life.
Georgia Ashcroft
Reviewer
Georgia Ashcroft is a seasoned astrologer and spiritual practitioner with over 5 years of experience. She holds a Master's degree in Physics from Princeton University, enriching her astrological insights with a deep understanding of scientific principles.
Georgia's published works encompass insightful analyses of astrological phenomena, including zodiac signs and horoscope interpretations, establishing her as an esteemed figure in astrological circles.
Beyond astrology, Georgia is passionate about tarot and regularly incorporates its wisdom into her spiritual practice.
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