How to Read a Birth Chart
First things first: what is astrology?
Astrology is the study of patterns. It’s observing the patterns of the sky in line with the patterns of the world.
Like the stock market, but with millenia of data.
Before we had TV, or cities causing light pollution, people would look up at the sky and see certain moving objects (planets) make certain configurations. After a while, they began to put two and two together: why is it that every time the sky looks like this, a war breaks out? Or when it looks like that, the King dies?
Astrology was only observed through the lens of pop psychology and personality traits come the 20th century.
At its core, astrology = patterns.
What is a birth chart?
Imagine a clock that tells time by showing you what the Universe looked like at that moment — when you stop the clock and examine that moment in time, that’s a chart.
There are all kinds of charts, but for now, we’re keeping it simple and learning the most common one of modern day: the birth chart.
A birth chart is a clock that’s stopped at the moment you’re born; examining it shows you infinite details about you and your life.
Three Key Elements of a Chart
7 Planets
If you’re going to learn one thing ever about astrology, learn the planets. The planets are the actors in your chart.
I go more in depth about the planets here, but I’ve listed the basic representations of the planets below.
Sun: Vitality | Ego
Moon: Emotions | Intuition
Mercury: Communication | Intellect
Venus: Love | Beauty
Mars: Action | Desire
Jupiter: Expansion | Optimism
Saturn: Discipline | Responsibility
12 Signs
You know how the planets orbit the Sun all on one plane?
There are 12 visible constellations along that plane as well.
That is where the 12 zodiac signs come from.
Each sign (constellation) is ruled by (assigned to) a planet in our solar system. Knowing these sign-to-planet associations will give you a lot of insight into the sign’s characteristics.
Let’s put a planet a sign together.
Venus in Aries: the planet of love and beauty (Venus) likes ease, aesthetics, and all things desirable. Imagine she’s walking through a neighborhood that’s ruled by Mars, the planet of war.
Venus likes pretty, easy things! Why is Mars making her walk on hot coals in the name of ‘adrenaline’?
This is the dynamic between planets and signs. The planets are the people, the signs are their current environment.
In a person, this dynamic might look like someone pursuing a relationship in a fiery way, coming on too strong, or teasing someone when trying to flirt.
If Venus were home in her signs of Libra or Taurus, she’d be doing her job with ease, flirting and courting away.
12 Houses
If the signs are the environment in which the planets find themselves in, the houses are which area of life these environments are expressed through.
Study the chart below to understand the meanings of the houses.
The way the planets and signs line up in these houses tell us where our life’s emphasis is (and much more).
The Circle
Here is Miley Cyrus’ birth chart.
You can see the planets represented by glyphs, the 12 signs of the zodiac along the outside, and the numbers representing each house in the middle. So long as we know what each glyph represents, we can begin to interpret the chart.
In the chart above, the Sun ☉ is in the slice that says 7. (The 7th house.)
It’s inside the sign of Sagittarius.
Therefore, the Sun is in 7th house in Sagittarius.
Interpret the Circle
The Sun sheds light and gains attention. It’s their vitality and ego.
This person’s vitality and ego is walking through the sign of Sagittarius. The neighborhood of Sag is one of expansion and growth.
Therefore, this person’s vitality is fueled by freedom, and is expressed through the 7th house, the house of partnerships.
If this person were in front of me, I’d say: there’s a central part of your identity (Sun) tied to freedom and expansion (Sagittarius) that’s found through partnership (7th house).
On to the Moon.
We find the Moon ☽, see it’s in the 6th house, and in Scorpio. This person has a Moon in the 6th house of Scorpio.
The Moon is emotions, erego sensitive to its environment.
The neighborhood of Scorpio forces the Moon into uncomfortable depths. Scorpio is no stranger to pain, while the Moon shows us where/how we seek comfort.
This suggests a tough relationship for this person’s emotional world.
The area of life this pain-in-comfort dynamic shows up in is their 6th house, the area of physical health and work environment.
Extra credit: Do you see how the Moon ☽ and Mercury ☿ are right close to each other?
What do we think might happen when the planet of communication, and the planet of sensitive emotions, walk hand in hand through the underworld?
They might pair up and communicate about these deep feelings they have.
Being in the 6th house, perhaps this person’s job or day to day life allows them to communicate about such matters. Maybe their health is impacted when this communication is blocked.
If this person were in front of me, I’d say: the depths (Scorpio) of your emotions (Moon) feel a strong pull to be communicated and expressed (Mercury). This likely impacts your work and/or health (6th house).
Now Venus.
Venus, ruler of love and beauty, is in the sign of Capricorn.
Let’s imagine the creative, sweet Venus wandering around a neighborhood that values tradition and grounded foundations.
Although it’s not Venus’ gutshot reaction to love, she can appreciate the stability of it nonetheless. Venus, the ethereal being, puts on a blazer and begins to understand the responsibility behind relationships and self-expression.
This responsible love is expressed through the 8th house of deep intimacy and shared resources. This person’s aesthetics may bare the responsibility of Capricorn while walking the provacative line of the 8th house.
If this person were in front of me, I’d say: when it comes to your expressions of love and beauty (Venus), there are two forces at work: one force that demands responsibility (Capricorn), and another that demands unfathomable intimacy (8th house).
In Review
We find the planet, we find its sign, and we find its house. 1-2-3.
The planet is the actor; the sign is the actor’s environment; the house is this area of life the actor and its environment manifest.
You’ve Got the Tools
There are so many more layers to reading a birth chart, but this is the groundwork that you can build upon.
If you want to go a step deeper and learn about how these planets interact with one another, you can read my article on aspects here.
Schedule a Reading
If you like my perspective on astrology and would like to hear my take on your chart, you can schedule a reading here.
The people I meet through my readings always feel so aligned — so if you’re inclined to book, please do!
Can’t wait to chat with you. :)
