Now to take a closer look:

But first, what exactly is a birth chart? It’s a snapshot of the sky at the moment of your birth. It shows where the planets were at the exact moment you were born -creating a blueprint that gives insight into aspects of your personality as well as pinpoints the timing of key events.

There are three main parts to interpreting a birth chart: the planets, the signs, and the houses. The sky will be divided up into 12 equal slices for the 12 zodiac signs, so every planet will fall within a certain zodiac sign. 

The sky will then also be divided up into 12 houses with each planet falling within a specific house. So while everyone will have the same planets in their charts, they typically won’t be in the same zodiac signs or houses, giving everyone their unique chart. The innermost circle shows the twelve houses, the outermost circle shows the twelve zodiac signs, and symbols representing the planets fall within the slices.

It will also show your “big three” - your sun sign, your moon sign and your rising sign. What are these? The three taken together are basically your “vibe.”

Your sun sign (the zodiac sign that the sun was in at the time you were born) is what we generally know as our zodiac sign. It’s your core personality and identity. It’s what we look up in the newspaper to see what kind of day we’re going to have.

Your moon sign (the zodiac sign that the moon was in at the time you were born) is connected to your inner emotional life and soul - think your feelings and intuition. Some say that your moon sign is how you give and receive love. It is just as, if not more, important than your sun sign.

Your rising sign (where the sun was rising on the eastern horizon at the exact time you were born) reveals how you project yourself to the outside world—your body, your style, and your image—and how you come across to other people. Your “mask” is how some astrologers describe it. Pretty cool stuff.

The fundamentals:

The chart is meant to be read counterclockwise and each sign is 0-30 degrees long (from left to right). So in the chart above, you can see this person’s Sun is in Capricorn, Moon is in Sagittarius and the Ascendant (rising sign) is in Pisces. Those are the “big three”.

This is the first thing astrologers typically look at when reading your chart and this can be fun to analyze. While Capricorns are typically known as industrious and disciplined, this person has their moon in Sagittarius, which is much more free-spirited and wanderlusting. So we are much more complicated than just what our sun sign says!

Let’s add in the houses and look at love:

Looking at the birth chart again, we have Venus in Aquarius in the 12th House. Last week that would have meant nothing to me, but now I know that lots of different pieces of the puzzle make up your whole self.

So, Aquarius traits are individualistic and eccentric; looking at that in the world of Venus (and love) that makes for some interesting romances. Add in the 12th house - which is associated with solitude and hidden matters- could mean an interesting mix of individuality and mystery. 

You can do this with every aspect of your birth chart! 

As you can see, there is so much to reading a birth chart - this was just a little amuse-bouche! You can spend hours (or dollars if you go to see a professional!) in analyzing all that these charts layout for you! In fact, I will be doing all of my family’s birth charts as a little Christmas gift!