Astrology for Beginners: How To Read & Interpret Your Birth Chart?

You are aware of the importance of connecting with your unique natal chart, but If you’re new to astrology, where on earth do you start? How to begin to read and understand all the squiggles and symbols on this funny wheel thing? 

 

Well, with our, very own, Ephemeris Birth Chart, we’ve taken away all the complicated (and often really useless) stuff and made it as simple as possible for you. It’s all made by a real-life Astrologer, and contains the most important nuggets of treasure for you to enjoy! And that’s not to say we have left anything out. The truth is, most Birth Charts are far too packed with information that’s just not digestible for even the most experienced Astrologers out there. 

 

So, without further ado, let’s get you orientated to this most magical of maps! We’re going to work from the outside in, so let’s go: 

 

The Wheel – Layer One 

This is probably the most important aspect of part of the Astrological Birth Chart. “The Wheel” of course, refers to the astrological circle in this diagram. This wheel encompasses: 

It’s a container, so to speak, and carries all the information of the Astrology Chart. Kind of like a cosmic womb, or a spiritual map – or even a blueprint of your soul. 

Notice on the outside of the wheel, there are patterns of stars, called constellations. These are the astrological constellations that correlate to the signs on the outer edge of the wheel.

 

 

The Signs – Layer Two 

You’ll notice that there are 12 signs in neat segments on the outer edge of this magical wheel. You’ll notice the constellations surrounding them, too. These signs are the placements, or place-holders for the planets, which is in the next layer of the Wheel. 

These signs, as you may know, describe HOW a planet behaves. They create a physical point in space and time for that planet to situate itself in. In simple terms, when you’re born, a planet is in a certain sign / constellation (depending on which system you use, but that’s too complicated to outline just now) and STAYS there for the duration of your life. 

So, this wheel with these signs and the planets in these signs is effectively your permanent snapshot of time on the date, in the place, at at the time, of your born-day.  

That’s what makes this so unique and so special. 

Working counter-clockwise from the bottom right (ish), the 12 signs are:

 

 

 

The Planets – Layer Three 

This is the ‘meat” of astrology. Signs are important, but planets are far more important, they are the living, breathing beings in the universe that symbolise all of our different parts within ourselves. They are the beings that have energy to act, to be, to live. 

These can be found on the third layer of the wheel (still working from the outside in). 

Working clockwise from the top, they are: 

• The Moon (easy to find, right?)
• Mercury (the circle with a cross underneath and a little curved “c” on top – like a mini-hat)
• Venus (the circle with a cross underneath – you’ve seen this symbol before, haven’t you?)
• The Sun (the circle with a dot in the middle)
• Pluto (the circle with a C shape underneath, and a cross underneath that)
• Mars (the circle with an arrow emerging out of it)
• Uranus (the lightning conductor-looking symbol)
• Saturn (the cross and sickle symbol)
• Neptune (the one that looks like a trident)
• The South Node (the upside-down headphones) - not a planet, but rather a point
• Jupiter (the one that looks like a giant number 4) 
• The North Node (the right-way up headphones) – not a planet, but rather a point

And that’s it, folks! 

 

 

The Houses – Layer Four

See the inner wheel divided into 12 segments? They – very handily – have numbers from 1 – 12. These are known as Houses; and describe different areas of life that the planets in their signs play out. Houses can be thought of quite literally, for example, you have your “house of relationships”, your “house of career” or your “house of money”. 

You’ll notice that House 1, House 4, House 7 and House 10 have thicker lines than the others. This is because these are very important houses in astrology, particularly 1 and 10, which contain the Ascendant (ASC or Rising Sign) and the Midheaven (known as the MC). 

 

 

Finally, check out the lines in the middle of the wheel. In our example, there’s a very wide triangle and a few dotted and unbroken lines here and there. 

These aspects represent the mathematical and symbolic relationships of the planets to one another. Planets help or harm each other, depending on the type of aspect they have. There are 5 main aspects we use in Astrology: 

1. Conjunction (two planets together, side by side) 
2. Option (two planets opposite each other) 
3. Square (two planets within 90 degrees of each other)
4. Trine (two planets within 120 degrees of each other)
5. Sextile (two planets within 60 degrees of each other)

 

And that, dear astrology-lover, is how you read the Ephemeris Chart Wheel! Not too bad, huh? The more you read, the easier it becomes - like any language! Now, go forth and calculate yours!