Where to Get A Free Natal Chart: Step-By-Steps + Hella Cute Worksheet 📝

Okay, true confession. I did not realize that astrologers were referring to charts when they were writing horoscopes. 😳😅

Turns out, a natal chart is a map of where the planets were at the moment and location you were born. “Natal” means “birth,” so this is basically a planetary imprint of your primordial psyche, a god’s eye view on your existential precepts, an index on your karma, personality, and life trajectory. 👐🏻✨

this post shows you my three favorite chart generators for scoring a free copy of a natal chart. 🌟

NOTE > Throughout this website, I use and reference Astro-Seek for all my astrology tutorials, where you can get free astrology charts for your Progressed Moon, a personal transit calculator, and a chart showing where the new and full moons of the year will land in your stars (just to name a few)!

For me, Astro-Seek has been the best (free) option for learning to read actual astrology charts, and creating my own horoscopes based on first-hand analysis (instead of relying on other astrologers to filter the info for me 😜).

HOWEVER, when first learning how to read my chart, Astro-Seek was… a bit extra.

Tho a bit unwieldy to set up, the “extended chart” calculator at Astro.com was more useful for exploring my chart itself, based on the feature that you can plug in codes for any astronomical object you want to see in your chart, including goddess, muse, or centaur asteroids, ALL your midpoints, and even alternative versions of the chart itself cast in different House Systems! 🤩✨

thus, i shall point you towards a couple other free options (astro-charts + cafe astrology), and then provide step-by-steps for scoring a free natal chart through astro.com! 🙌🏻

BONUS > I’ve also included a cute printable worksheet to help you record and memorize your 10 “most important” planetary placements, to be utilized in my next post, How to Read a Natal Chart. ☺️

BTW, if you just need a copy of your natal chart right freaking now, you can use the Astro Charts widget on this specific post to get one (under option #1)…

…but ultimately, by the end of this tutorial, you’ll know how to use (and master) the chart calculator at Astro.com. ✨

Okay, ready to score a legit copy of your natal chart?

Let’s roll. 😎

MY TOP THREE FAVORITE (+ TOTALLY FREE) CHART GENERATORS 🤩 🙌🏻

Here are three different places to grab a version of your chart, all totally free. ✨

IN ORDER TO DO THIS, you’ll need your birth data: the date, place, and time you were born.

Supplying all your birth data gives the most accurate version of your chart, but you can still get one without knowing your exact birth time. Try to ball park it, or for accuracy, look it up on your birth certificate.

FOR NERDS 🤓 > Score a version of your chart from all three sites, plus the ones I link to at the bottom! Each version will look the same or similar, but each offers something extra in terms of summaries, point of view, or resources, which is invaluable if you’re interested in really learning to read your chart. 👍🏻

At the bottom, I’ll have an opportunity for you to grab a printable worksheet to help you start analyzing what’s on your chart, and then link you to my next tutorial, How to Read a Natal Chart: An Extra-Chill Primer on Natal Astrology. 🌟

⭐️ option #1. get a free chart using the astro-charts widget.

Need a copy of your birth chart? …like, right now?

Use this widget and score a totally cute version of your stars! 🤩🥰

Explore your free birth chart with the birth chart calculator .

You can totally hit up my tutorial on reading a natal chart (here’s the link again), or this one from the Astro-Charts blog: How to Read Your Astrology Chart, along with these other Astro-Seek articles! ✨

⭐️ option #2. get a free natal chart report from cafe astrology.

Cafe Astrology generates an entire report for your chart, including tables for everything: your planets in their signs and houses, your elements, your Chiron, and the major goddess asteroids.

Also, you get a table for all your planetary aspects with summaries, which are trickiest to parse out when you’re just learning, so that’s invaluable! 👍🏻

If you want CafeAstrology to save your chart, you’ll have to write down the profile number and PIN assigned to you, especially if you want to clear your cookies or access your report from a different device (your iPhone vs. your laptop, or wherever you first created the account). Cafe Astrology also lets you generate and store up to 10 other natal chart reports as well. 😳😬

HOWEVER, one drawback with CafeAstrology is that you don’t get to select the House System, so your report might read different from what you see in others… for instance, your Mercury might jump from your Fourth to your Fifth House, so the CafeAstrology report might read different from other reports (especially if you continue your astrology studies and try getting free reports from other online calculators).

But, similar to Astro.com, you do get the option of casting transit charts, so, that’s cool!

(Don’t see an image of your chart itself? Scroll all the way to the bottom. 👍🏻) 

⭐️ option #3. use the extended chart generator at astro.com.

Astro.com has lots of cool features, and similar to CafeAstrology, you can create a free account that lets you cast your birth chart over and over again without re-entering all your birth data.

You can experiment with different House Systems, produce a transit chart right over your natal chart, and pick ‘n choose different asteroids, fixed stars, and other arcane markers, as your astro-curiosity broadens. 🤩

You can also generate and store many other charts as well!

HOWEVER, unlike CafeAstrology, Astro.com doesn’t offer summaries or descriptions of your placements. You just get the straight up chart, albeit with plenty of options to experiment.

Also, just FYI: Astro.com is one of the most venerated, most linked to chart generators on the Internet, and has a bottomless blog of info and resources!

They also feature special computerized reports informed by the work of legendary astrologers from all over the world (Liz Greene and Bernadette Brady, for example 😍🤤), based on all kinds of special topics, so you will literally never run out of astrological schools and perspectives to explore your chart through (until you go bankrupt or blind, I guess 😳😵‍💫).

HOWEVER, Astro.com is kind of tricky getting set up, so that’s what I’m going to walk you through it!

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HOW TO CREATE AN ACCOUNT AT ASTRO DIENST
(a.k.a. ASTRO.COM)

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#1 TYPE ASTRO.COM INTO YOUR BROWSER.

#2 HOVER YOUR CURSOR OVER "FREE HOROSCOPES."

In the drop down menu, on the far right column, click "Extended Chart Selection."

Why "extended"?

Options, baby. 😸

#3 PROCEED AS EITHER A GUEST USER, OR, IF YOU ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT, LOGIN.

Even if you proceed as a guest, it will save your chart, & you can create your login info at the end.

#4 ENTER YOUR BIRTH DATA: THE DATE, TIME, & LOCATION YOU WERE BORN.

If you wanted to do a synastry reading (combining your chart with your BFF's or your momma's or your flavor of the week), this is where you'd select for that & then enter their birth data.

Double-check your birth hours. Be advised that it uses military hours, so if you were born at 9 o’clock at night, you want to click 2100 hours.

When ready, press ‘continue.’

#5 CHOOSE OPTIONS FROM THE “EXTENDED CHART SELECTION” PAGE.

This is where the options are.

Press “Click here to show the chart” to proceed straightaway to your chart…

OR, you can change your House System, or select additional objects.

If you want to select a specific House System, press “Options for zodiac and houses.” Changing the House System changes the layout of your natal chart, sometimes scooting planets into different signs and houses altogether. Aeolian Heart Astrology suggests total newbies use the Whole House System, just until you understand the “delineations,” or how everything on the chart works together.

I use the Placidus House System.

If you choose "default," the software generates your chart in the Placidus House System.

(So, I'm basic.)

#6 WHEN YOU’VE SELECTED FOR ALL YOUR DESIRED OPTIONS, PRESS “CLICK HERE TO SHOW THE CHART.”

REMEMBER, press "Additional Objects” to select for Chiron, Black Moon Lilith, Goddess Asteroids, fixed stars.... all the secret goodies a natal chart can offer!

(Never heard of any of those? I link to all that info down below.)

Pro tip: hold the “shift” key to click + select multiple “objects” from the drop down menu.

Et voilá! Your chart will display on the following page!

OTHER PLACES TO SCORE FREE Birth CHARTS… 🌟

Alongside Astro-Charts, CafeAstrology, and Astro.com, I recommend…

The Astro Twins free chart generator ✨ For birth charts on the fly, try the CoStar, Time Nomad, and the Time Passages apps (Co-Star will also email you free horoscopes!)✨ ALSO, for $5 a month, you can subscribe to Luna Cloud astrology, and store hella birth charts, track transits, plus create synastry and composite charts! ✨ And as mentioned in the intro, my go-to and personal fav is the free Astro-Seek birth chart calculator, scroll down for interpretations for all your planets, including your aspects!

OKAY, I HAVE MY CHARTS!
SO MUCH INFO! 🙀

…WHAT DO I DO WITH IT ALL?

FIRST, right-click and save each version to desktop.

THEN, upload each version into a special folder in Google Drive where you can also store quotes and links to free articles you dig up all about your natal placements!

For sure, it’s going to be a lot of information. The more info you gather, the clearer and faster your chart starts making sense. 👌🏻

Basically, what I’m telling you to do is to decipher your chart through self-directed research! Yayyy!

• IF YOU’RE READY TO BEGIN, check out this post: How to Read a Natal Chart. ✨

• Of course—there are pro astrologers out there to read the whole thing for you! This post also links to all my favorite online astrologers for astrology self-study. Some astrologers are poets or essayists, others are educators or researchers. Many offer horoscope newsletters, virtual classes, and personal readings. ✌🏻

• And if you want to close the learning gap, this post has my guidelines for selecting an astrologer and preparing for your first astrology reading. ✌🏻

But, because you have your chart(s), let me help you get organized, so you know what to start researching…

I’VE CREATED A HANDY, PRINTABLE WORKSHEET TO HELP YOU START THE PROCESS AND JOURNEY OF LEARNING TO READ YOUR OWN NATAL CHART… 🤩🥰

I'D LOVE A PRINTABLE WORKSHEET, THX! 🌟

In my next post, I’ll walk you through the basics and best practices for DIY’ing a natal chart analysis (just using Google 🪄), plus link you to all my favorite astrology resources to help you get started! ✨

P.S. And if you want to get buck wild on your astrological research binge, check out this post, Are You a Star Witch? 🌟🔮

How to Prepare + Get the Most Out Of Your First Astrology Reading (F.A.Q.’s + 3 Crazy Things I learned From Mine 🤯)

Does anyone need an astrology reading? 🤔

Yes. Fuh sho.

You don’t have it all figured out. 😜

Maybe you’ve got a problem that isn’t bad, but in one of your blind spots.

Maybe you need someone not part of your halo of influence to tell it to you straight.

An astrology reading might be the only place to get some human attention on a very delicate question you might have, or about a creeping, unsettling awareness you can’t articulate.

…at the same price point, anyway. 💁🏻‍♀️

Let me show you how to choose an astrologer and prepare for an astrology reading…

BUT FIRST—lemme give you the inside scoop on what I did with the intel received from mine! 🙌🏻💫

3 MIND-BLOWING THINGS I LEARNED DURING MY FIRST ASTROLOGY READING (+ WHAT I DID WITH THE INFO) 🤯👁💫

I cried during my astrology reading.

Not before letting the battery on my laptop drain, and pretending to lose my WiFi connection.

This is also how most coffee dates have ended lately. 🤔

I’ve DIY delineated most of my natal chart through blogs, books, podcasts, transit tracking apps, and online workshops. I can talk for daysss about my Pluto and wax poetic about my Chiron. I actually have an entire lecture-performance about my Black Moon Lilith that’s still looking for an audience.

But some other placements… 🤢 

Not feeling it. 

Actually, despite my totally awesome powers of perception (Mercury-Pluto trine in Scorpio-Pisces ♏️♓️, hollaaa ✨), I could not cogitate what the original source material was saying about some of my darker placements.

It was like being asked to visualize a color I have never seen, or describe a person I haven’t met…

But—like, I kinda-sorta might know who you’re talkin’ about…? 🤔😳😅

Does not compute. Does not apply.

I must be an exception. ✨

I needed an outsider, a bonafide astrologer 💫, to give me the full scratch and reveal the secret story in my stars…

Preferably someone not already inculcated into my own version of events on my own dark, weird life. 💁🏻‍♀️✨

MY FIRST, ACTUAL ASTROLOGY READING WITH RACHEL WAS A TOTALLY NEW THING… Instead of an orgy of literary details (which is where Googling your natal chart will take you)… 😵‍💫🌪

rachel led me by the hand around a dew-starry garden of my own weird unconscious, probed with curiosity, tact, and empathy, and contextualized with literary-poetic metaphors for my own special query. 🧚🏻‍♀️✨

Like—it was a deep, easy-to-internalize experience, despite happening over Zoom, in the back of my SUV, and basically in a strange parking lot (like all of my most meaningful relationship exchanges… jk jk ☺️).

And what Rachel had provided that I had critically missed in all my DIY study…

Integration and synthesis. 👐🏻✨

here’s what Rachel introduced and walked me through during my natal chart reading…

🌟 ONE. FOR THE LAST FOUR-FIVE YEARS, WHILE TRYING TO START A WRITING-BASED BUSINESS, SATURN HAD BEEN “ON THE DESCENT” THROUGH MY FIRST - THIRD HOUSES. 🪐✨

My Q submitted with my astrology booking was about being able to stick to a publishing schedule, and make something happen out of my blog(s), to which Rachel was super positive about.

Okay. If you’ve started dabbling in natal astrology, aka learning to read your own chart, then you understand: natal Saturn stays the same your whole life long, whereas transiting Saturn (in the “world’s” chart) is moving all the time.

So, natal Saturn describes your predisposition to Saturnine themes, while transiting Saturn might be interacting with other transiting planets and also interacting with natal planets.

Understanding your natal planets and the influence of transiting planets is how you can “predict” or get the rich, spooky insight into your own deep concerns about reality.

Here’s what Rachel told me about Saturn > “Saturn has been on the descent through your First through Third Houses—has it felt as though your thoughts have been heavy, warbled, hard to string together….?”

This is as close as I’ve ever come to those moments in psychic TV shows when the lonely-looking woman in grocery store puts her hand to her lips and tears flood her eyes, just after the psychic bludgeons her with random words about nostalgic household items…?

So, I can stop blaming the academy for losing my writing voice.

Here’s the 411 about having Saturn “on the descent” in your chart >>>> it means that Saturn is transiting through your First - Third Houses, as it has been through mine, since entering Scorpio. These are the baby-beginning Houses of your horoscope, and it’s like having your bedroom inspected by someone else’s Army-veteran dad. Impossible to relax, integrate, coagulate.

I have been thinking that my clunky thoughts were due to a Clockwork Orange type brainwashing procedure I forgot about during college? 🤔😅

So, I can basically stop emailing my ex-professors Unabomber-esque manifestos? Maybe? (They might hate that?)

Rachel was also able to dispense the insight that Saturn would be crossing over my chart’s nadir (very bottom angle), and that my thoughts would begin sparking faster and brighter. “It’s almost like they’re wiring together, re-weaving the basis for how you think and mentally process the world.”

Since Saturn has been retrograding over my nadir (the IC or most bottom angle of the chart), it has felt as though a closet has suddenly flooded the basement with secret thoughts, oozing into the musty carpet and through the exposed 2x4 wall paneling.

And as it all begins to air-dry, the discoloration and smell almost looks improved. 👍🏻

You can actually read more about Saturn cycles in Barbara Hand Clow’s Astrology and the Rising of Kundalini, though like me, knowing about Saturn transits and cycles might not actually do anything for you—not until another astrologer can explain your Saturn to you in empathic, reassuring tones.

🌟 TWO. PLUTO IN RETROGRADE, THE MABINOGION, + ME. 💀🌲

There’s another creepy fact about my life never spoken about, but always inferred. 

I was conceived as a trap. 🤭✨

You know—one of those situations.

I remember reading about this related to my Pluto placement in Donna Cunningham’s Healing Pluto Problems, and nearly barfed into my lap.

Rachel actually recommended that book to me when I took her natal chart reading class hella years ago (2017), so, she already knew about this weird, not-totally-conscious psychodrama lurking in my distant past. 😳

Btw, how bizarre and awkward, trying to explain to a Plutonian the who, what, why of being a Plutonian without blurting out some really insane shit???

(Go here for the inside scoop on being Plutonian, a.k.a. having Pluto feature prominent and definitively in your natal chart. 👌🏻)

But Rachel came prepared. 💫

I’m certain she might credit her graduate work for why she is able to speak to such a grody, taboo terrain in my psyche without triggering shame, grief, or fear, because she did it through story-telling.

TO EXPLAIN PLUTO RETROGRADE IN MY BIRTH CHART… Rachel told me about the Mabonigen, a.k.a. the root system beneath the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life is a very esoteric symbol, but extra esoteric to me, because (unbeknownst to Rachel) the Tree of Life and I share a secret life. 

The Tree of Life motif is literally strewn around my house, and indirect confrontation to my dead mom’s obsession with weeping willows.

(My ex even had a vision of our love-child with a Tree of Life tapestry in the background, now hanging in the hallway leading to the love-child’s bedroom, still smelling as petro-chemical rank as the Santa Cruz head shop we bought it in. 🥰💞)

Rachel’s story about the Mabonigen threaded together what had felt like totally disparate significances in the recesses of my symbolic mind.

Rachel, the astrologer, helped me integrate all the potential, strengths, blind spots, and woo in my chart, and spin the interpretation into something useful and meaningful.

🌟 THREE. PLUTO SQUARES ARE REAL, AND COMING 💀🗓

I’m about to get weird and aggressive.

But I want to intimate the breadth and clarity of the reading.

OUR LIFE UNFOLDS ACCORDING TO CYCLES 🌀… Physical, organic cycles (like, puberty ✨), and also time-based, transit-based ones, where events seem to “happen” to us.

…and you’re not in charge of that.

I mean—you might re-frame, obfuscate, or skew descriptions of your life (including consequences 😳😬) in way that positions yourself as captain, engineer, or architect of reality, of your circumstances…

…but only through story-telling, and conversation, probably at your coworkers over Slack, your most codependent friends, or in your family newsletters. 💁🏻‍♀️

Our coworkers and family members might even LOL, commiserate, or totally identify with our story-telling, thus validating our version of events…

…and helping us further dissociate from our teachable moments.

This is called manipulating the narrative. 👐🏻✨

Like—we don’t actually get to PICK our awakenings.

You get to pick your preferences and attitude, and you even get to pick the people surrounding you, but you don’t get to decide whether or not your body becomes diseased, your beloved falls out of love, or if the law is unfair, though it might be.

All I’m suggesting is, most of our life circumstances and events are not choices. You weren’t born a tabula rasa, but with family and historical karma, much of your fate threaded into your mitochondria and writ upon your amygdala for hella days before your very first eureka moment.

And natal Pluto says a lot about that.

Astrology is helping me cope. 👍🏻

THE POINT IS… 💫 My midlife transits are approaching, including my Pluto Square 🙀, and a lot of the narrative I’ve been trying to origami into how I want it to be... is about. to fall apart.

WAIT, WHAT ARE “MIDLIFE TRANSITS”…? Pluto Square (ages 36-38*), Neptune Square (ages 40-42), Uranus Opposition (ages 42-44). 💫

When Pluto and Neptune “square” themselves, it means that the Pluto and Neptune transiting in the sky right now are forming a 90° angle with Pluto and Neptune in your natal chart.

That’s what’s technically occurring (on your chart), but even if you don’t know anything about astrology (and are not tracking your transits), you would notice around these ages that external events seem to conspire against us, forcing us to detox on personality strategies and feel into a “meta” awareness about our true place in the grand scheme of things—not decided by our 18 year old selves, or the media-culture, or whatever “personality cult” we belong to…

…but according to our actual potential, talents, and purpose.

Also, what the world actually wants / needs from us.

Knowing about these midlife astro transits isn’t about “leveraging” them, or spinning life’s little expected tragedies into opportunities, or minimizing the riotous evolution of your eternal soul for others’ comfort and convenience.

And, like—I knew about these transits coming, but forgot that… Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus are also prominent in my chart.

Or basically, I’m an Outer Planet person 💫, having an Outer Planet (Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) close-aspecting my angles or one of my personal planets.

Suggesting that… midlife is gonna get buckwild. 🎉

Because Saturn has will soon (finally) pass over my nadir (bottom-most angle of my chart) and begin to re-ascend around my chart, and also because these midlife transits are coming due…

…the obstacles that have been in my way are about to become the direction I’m going in.

“The obstacle is the way.”

— MARCUS AURELIUS, BITCH 🤘🏻💫

Thus, Rachel’s sweet, upbeat warning to me…

Relax, most of your deepest and most profound personal growth is determined by transits! ☺️💫

HOW TO CHOOSE AN ASTROLOGER 🌟

I KNOW, DUDE… Etsy, CraigsList, and other online marketplaces are teaming with astrologers-in-training willing to read your stars for cheap.

Here’s what I want to say about that. 🤨

Your astrologer doesn’t need to be a full-time, matriarchal-aged maven of the stars, but you do want someone invested. You want your astrologer to be as nerd-curious about your stars as your gynecologist about your post-sex hygiene.

Basically, you want someone who is using astrology, not just advertising services (and not just fishing for attention).

You want an astrologer who takes responsibility for your experience in the session, and takes their reputation as an astrologer seriously.

Start feeling out different astrologers through the material they’ve made available online, or in the community, if you want to stay local. Subscribe to astrology newsletters, binge on a few articles or videos, and you might as well check out any free or low-price DIY-astrology products to give you more of an idea of how they deliver.

Also, try hitting up the bulletin boards of metaphysical bookshops, the vegan market, and ask around your yoga studio. When you hear about someone who “does” astrology, find out where can you get acquainted. Do they have an IG, or facilitate workshops or community meet-ups? Can you call them on the phone, or meet for coffee?

Here’s the thing, if he / she / they is willing to submit to a pre-interview (prior to you handing out any birth data), or has done the labor of setting up a workshop, blog, or authoring a weekly column in the weekly news rag, they care.

All of this effort is an investment in avoiding a situation where you have to listen to an unlearned weirdo tread on your secrets, or make a judgment call about a future that’s actually rather secret-precious to you. ❌

some questions and considerations when you’re “pre-interviewing” your astrologer… 🌟

• WHO ARE THEY? How do you relate? Is this someone you can build rapport with (because they live in / don’t live in _____, you both have _____, you’re both _____, etc., whatever your deal is)? Is rapport and relatability important, or do you want someone who can hold a certain kind of space—whatever space you need for detangling the intricacies at the heart of your question(s)?

• WHAT’S THEIR P.O.V.? What area of life, spiritual lens, or worldview do they interpret astrology through? What demographics (age, sex, location, etc.) play into that view? What traditions do they study or have they trained in? How do they organize their sessions and materials? Do you recognize their jokes or references? If not, have the references they made sparked your curiosity, and led you into exciting new territories?

• WHAT KIND OF ASTROLOGY DO THEY PRACTICE? Some astrologers only perform specific types of readings, while otherwise specialize in hyper-esoteric interpretations. You’ll have to enquire or get to know them to find out, and remember, your reading and the information dispensed depends on your question.

• WHY DO THEY DO ASTROLOGY? What result, effect, or transformation have they used astrology for? What questions or topics excite them? What ends to they put astrology towards in their own life? Do they also teach astrology, through books, classes, or mentorship?

• ALSO, HOW DO THEY DELIVER THEIR READINGS? Is it within a format or timeframe that works for your learning style and attention span? What kind of support will you need to actually enjoy the session? Select an astrologer who will be able to record the reading or provide a PDF handout for future reference, or who otherwise makes it easy for you to feel like you get “something” out of it (aside from personal enlightenment).

how i chose my astrologer… ☺️

I learned about Rachel Capurso through WITCH Magazine, and we officially connected through Carolyn Elliott’s workshop-community INFLUENCE. I’ve also taken sev-vur-al of Rachel’s workshops, and have been subscribed to her newsletter, via two email accounts, for probably 5+ years. ✨

So, I know Rachel’s writing voice. Our actual conversation was distracting—my inner-ear kept hooking to the “music” between her spoken and written voice. I found that truly delightful, and part of the pleasure of front-loading a virtual acquaintanceship. 

If you know that studying astrology will be a lifelong extracurricular (🙋🏻‍♀️), it’s cool linking up with astrology teachers, because they usually teach it the way they do it. Start building your own astro resource library to store all your references that you can easy-access when all your major cycles come to pass….

…and hit up your astrologer friends when you feel the grind. 🤙🏻

couple places to start shopping for astrologers, if bookstores or yoga studios don’t dominate the region (hi, i’m in california 🧘🏻‍♀️🌊)…

🌟 I also wrote an article about all my other favorite online astrologers, where you can read, watch, and listen to their take on astrology, subscribe to their channels, and start building your own relationship with their perspective of the cosmos. 

🌟 Also, check out this Refinery29 article where Sara describes and compares natal chart readings from three different astrologers, which includes some of the questions she asked during her readings. 💫

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WHAT KINDS OF QUESTIONS CAN I ASK AN ASTROLOGER?

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Anything. Literally. Lost socks. (Horary astrology.) Goal-setting, starting a business, fertility, and investing (electional astrology), picking careers, spouses, or vacation destinations (career astrology, synastry, astrocartography). 

People ask astrology questions about past lives and the after life, about extraterrestrial lineages, the Akashic records…

Like—visit the Astrology Sub-Reddit thread, it’s like my favorite thing. 🤩🎉

WHAT EYE THINK YOU SHOULD ASK YOUR ASTROLOGER… 🌟 Ask about your current astro cycles and major upcoming transits.✨

Find an astrologer who can go further than inventorying your natal chart, though that’s exciting and helpful, too. 👍🏻

I mean—it’s cool actually showing up to the session already knowing a lil’ sumpin’ sumpin’ about your stars. This post shows you where to get your natal chart (+ includes a free printable worksheet, hay now 📝🎉), while this post shows you how to really memorize and understand your own.

But if you want to validate astrology (even if no one else but you and your astrologer know for sure… because… it’s too spooky and private 🙈), you need someone who can not just explain the natal chart potential they see, but also map out your super-personal (and totally scheduled 😳) transits, such as Saturn Return, Jupiter Joy-Luck Cycles, Chiron Return, Pluto Square (ages 36-38ish), Uranus Opposition (42-44ish), all the transits. 👐🏻🤩💫 

🌟 HINT > You can read a little about astrological cycles via Barbara Hand Clow’s Astrology and the Rising of Kundalini, though a pro- (or even semi-pro) astrologer might help you better synthesize the themes, and also bounce ideas off of about some current, true-life experiences or events that might be playing into your cycles.

WHAT ABOUT QUESTIONS CONCERNING A PARTICULAR TIMEFRAME, OR FOR TIMING A SPECIFIC OUTCOME…? LOTS and MOST astrologers offer electional readings, or teach you how to “leverage” transits, and otherwise assist you in becoming super pragmatic with transits (start a business, have a baby, make new friends).

BUT I’M HERE TO SAY… After 3 years of trying to launch a business while Mercury was in Gemini or Mars in Virgo (or sundry other “opportune” transits), understanding the opportunity in the current transits wasn’t helpful. 😳💫

Even if the transits were opportune in general, they weren’t for me.

Actually—a NATAL chart reading was where I learned that, while those transits are generally ripe for what I was seeking, my personal timing wasn’t (see above 💫).

so, be advised, no matter how chill or opportune the current planet transits, it all falls back to your natal chart and scheduled cycles (saturn, chiron, etc.). 🤷🏻‍♀️

All the same, learn more about electional astrology over here. ✨

Astrology readings are about digging into our personal nougat. Yes, any such activity can be spiritually and psychologically satisfying, but if you haven’t got the resource to spend, it’s definitely not something you need to go bargain hunting for, or to delay all higher priority tasks (and problems) until you get one.

these are the types of charts astrologers can calculate…

🌟 NATAL CHART READINGS > Your natal chart is basically a vision communiqué of your source and ultimate potential. Types of info you can get from a natal chart reading > relationship potential, star-charted talents and luck, learning style and philosophical preferences, adventure or crisis potential, character challenges or vulnerabilities (potential inner conflicts, self-other power struggles, etc). Questions for a natal chart reading > who am I? What am I? Why this, why that? What’s my potential? What might I surrender to fate?Most beginners start with a natal chart reading, which gives the whole story, top to bottom, front to back. You can ask for a report or run-down on major astrological cycles (like Saturn or Chiron), or to hear the “story of my life” acted out through the planets. Who am I? WHY am I? Why do I always, never, sometimes…? Will I ever or am I gonna be…?

🌟 HOROSCOPES, OR TRANSIT CHART READINGS > An astrologer looks at your natal chart combined with a transit chart, showing where planets currently influence you, or looking at how transits affected (or will affect) you based on a past or future date. This might give you a heads up about any impacts within a certain span of time, or can help affirm any recent weirdness or changes. Why have I been feeling…? What’s going on with…? (Learn how to read + track your own transits here. 🪐💫)

🌟 LUNAR AND SOLAR RETURN CHART READINGS > Most people get readings for their solar return chart, which is literally just your “birthday”’chart, hinting at your major development and themes for the coming year. Learn more about Solar Return chart readings over here. 🎉

Also, this article walks you through doing your own Solar Returns, Mystic Medusa sells automated Power Moon reports 🌙✨, and this astrologer blogger has all the intel on Lunar Returns (which happen every month 🙀), including merging your Moon-life and herbalism with self-care. 🌙🌿

(If you want to DIY your Solar and Lunar Return charts first, because… you are Plutonian—obviously 😉—then check out this article, which will walk you through the process of using both charts in your forecasting!)

🌟 ASTRO-CARTOGRAPHY READINGS > You can also look up transits dates in new locations, called Astro-Cartography 👐🏻🧭✨ , so if you know FOR SURE you’re spending the whole summer of your 28th birthday in a Tuscan village, cast that chart. 🌎💫

🌟 SYNASTRY, OR RELATIONSHIP CHART READINGS > This reading combines your chart with another person’s to examine your relationship dynamic, and maybe get insight into your partnership’s strengths and challenges. Can be done for flings, best friends, business partners, parents, siblings, cousins, cherished aunties. What are the underpinnings of this dynamic that I can’t see, and how could this pan out? Why do I feel like we’ve met before? What has sustained our friendship this long? What’s going on in our relationship—is it just me? (Read my own janky synastry tutorial over here. ☺️💕)

🌟 ELECTIONAL CHART READINGS > These readings predict or advise your next-steps according to a goal, expectations, or a scheme you’ve got goin’ on. What are my best next steps at a time like this, or for when I want to…? Learn more about electional astrology over here. ✨

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ALL THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF ASTROLOGERS + ASTROLOGY READINGS…? Check out this post in Nic’s “So You Want To Be An Astrologer” series, because it lists all the astrological specialities for you to Google to your heart’s content.

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how should i prepare for my astrology reading?

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This totally depends on your own comfort metrics, but if you’re feeling super-anxious, it might be related to expectations.

Being a secretive Plutonian 💀, scheduling a natal chart reading alone put me in defensive mode, and literally why I avoided it for so long (though wanted it so bad).

Like—What is she gonna find out about me that EYE don’t already know? Can she use it to emotionally manipulate me? Of course she can, because she and all women are my mother, obviously… 🐍❌

so an hour or so before my zoom meeting with rachel, i scribbled a few pages in my diary finishing the sentence: “what i’m hoping to get out of this…” ✏️🌟

This gave me a chance to organize my thoughts, ease down my defenses, and nibble on chocolate as a self-soothing activity. I also popped two Lions Mane capsules from the health food store located in the shopping center where I’d parked my SUV and had planned to pirate WiFi from the nail salon for our Zoom astrology consult…

…and my nerves became the essence of smooth gravity.

some questions i vaguely answered in my diary* before our live consult 📖✨…

• What do I need an astrology reading for? What are my questions? What answers am I looking for? Why?

• What am I expecting? How do I believe the reading will affect (or not) the outcome? What am I hoping to feel or be able to do after getting the reading?

• What’s at stake? Am I holding off important decision-making, action-taking, or in any other way avoiding an urgent matter?

• Where else can I find information I seek? Can I arrange other appointments (with a financial advisor, mental health counselor, a wise older relative, etc.) alongside my astrology reading?

*Actually, it’s the astrological grimoire I started in Rachel’s virtual natal chart reading class, DISCOVERY. 👍🏻✨

if your question for the stars relates to a situation that makes you feel yucky or puts you on the defense (or you’re hella plutonian and secretive and any kind of info exchange makes you salty 💀), find a way to purge that juju before your session…

Schedule your reading on a day when you’ll be able to do something breezy before and after to help settle your nerves.

Like—maybe afterwards, you need to hit up a virtual dance class and shake your ass, or maybe spend an hour in the company of a true friend, or schedule a rendezvous with someone new and completely different, so you have somewhere to escape into after the reading, if you’re the type who needs to feel like you’re on the move after making big internal leaps. 😳😅

Again, this totally depends on your comfort metrics, and should probably be determined before you set out for your reading.

(Says your mom. 😘)

then, after the reading….

• FIRST THING! Eat chocolate. 🍫✨ Because that’s what Professor Lupin suggests to Harry after the Dementors swarmed the Hogwarts Express in Book III of the Harry Potter Series. So, do that, of course. ✅

• SECOND, ugly-cry in the back of your SUV, hit the “record” button in your Voice Memo app, and shriek, AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO THINKS ANYTHING IS SECRET??

FOR ME, POUR MOI… 💕 during the actual reading, I was totally hooked into what Rachel was saying. I opted not to record the conversation. Why not? Because having the recording would’ve turned into a fetish. Any challenging experience or insight from the convo would’ve been psychically tucked away as soon as I’d archived the recording. 

That might not be your deal. You might need to immediately review your recordings or PDFs, or know that you’ll have to come back to it 1-2x before it’s fully downloaded into your brain.

YOU KNOW YOURSELF BEST, HERE… if you have the propensity to fetishize, or you suspect the recording won’t do as much service as the live experience, skip it. Plug in.

CONCLUSION: REALITY-CHECK YOUR ASTROLOGY QUESTIONS (HINT: DON’T GO LOOKING FOR ANSWERS)✌🏻

1. FIRST RULE OF ASTROLOGY… It’s totally extracurricular. 👍🏻 

2. SECOND RULE OF ASTROLOGY… It’s basically like a fan dance, full of hints and innuendos, not answers.

Astrology is just an insight, a god’s eye view on the scope, breadth, and depth of your astrological cycles.

Astrology… is integrative. 👐🏻✨

Like—I can’t imagine what someone gets from sitting with a priest that varies from what an astrology reading provides. 🤔

Even if the question pertains to lost socks or brass tacks, all an astrologer is doing is looking for where your question “fits in” with the Big Picture, getting a wider scope of what’s at play, and also, the role you might take up in it. ✌🏻

We can use an astrology reading to investigate our own questions, rinse down our expectations, and perhaps unveil more of the why behind our wonderings and yearnings, in general.

And, as I’ve been alluding to throughout this post, sometimes it’s the question(s) you aren’t asking, the perspective you’re unable to take on your problems and foibles, that gets revealed by your astrologer. 😳🤯

and there’s also what ursula le guin said about attempts to reduce the human experience to identifiable cultural tropes…

“Jungians such as Joseph Campbell have generalized such journeys into a set of archetypal events and images.

Though these generalities can be useful in criticism, I mistrust them as fatally reductive. ‘Ah, the Night Sea Voyage!’ we cry, feeling we have understood something important—but we’ve merely recognized it.

Until we are actually on that voyage, we have understood nothing.”

ALSO, REMEMBER, FAIR WARNING > Whatever energy you bring into your astrology reading, that’s what your astrologer will feed into (or off of).

THUS…

• Find an astrologer to invest into,

• Confront your own expectations, and

• Groom your energy. ✅

READY TO BOOK A READING? > These are all my favorite astrologers, each with online material where you can read their mind, subscribe, and learn more about yourself (+ astrology) while deciding if they’re the right match for you. 💖

ANY OTHER NEED-TO-KNOW’S YOU THINK SHOULD BE ON THIS LIST? > Drop me an email, and let me know! 😘

One Planet To Rule Them All: How To Find + Tribute the Planetary Ruler of Your Stars

In this post, I’m going to share a few breezy ways to combine astrology & ritual, starting with the very entry point of the natal chart: your chart ruler! 🤩

Your chart’s ruler gives you the snap-crackle-pop of clarity about your original self; the vibe you naturally thrum at. This info can reveal who we really are, in this present cycle, & who we want to become, if we’re able to keep up our energy & focus. Meditating on the mythos of our natal chart can also help us better read the symbolism & relationships in our lives.

And by making yourself more conscious of it you’ll build quiet confidence about who you are & how you vibe. 👍🏻

If you’re witch-curious, or just yearning to get hands-on with astrology, tributing (or “paying charity to”) the planetary ruler of your stars is the perfect baby step into astrological magic: a spirit craft that pays careful attention to planetary transits, while honoring your unique potential! 💫

All of this is based on a little of what Rachel Capurso (Aeolian Heart Astrology) taught during the last round of course about natal astrology, DISCOVERY! (Read more about DISCOVERY here, which re-opens for enrollment very soon!)

Obviously, you have to dig up some scratch on what that ruler is, so you can feel out where & how that ruling planet’s energy manifests in your life, so that’s where we’ll start. ✨

Discover Your Chart Ruler: How to Find the Planetary Ruler of Your Birth Chart

The ruler of your whole natal chart is the ruling planet of your Rising Sign, which is the sign of the first angle of the natal chart (in most house systems): the Ascendent. ✨

Why would the Ascendent determine your chart ruler, & not, like, the planetary ruler of your Sun, or Moon, or even your North Node…? 🤔

Because all other planetary energies in your chart enter through your Rising Sign. The Ascendent is the doorway of your consciousness. It’s the most sublime energy in your life, the germ and foundation of your primordial psyche.

Basically, the Ascendent is the starting line for your life journey, & your Rising Sign sums up the mood & tone!

Whatever planets are transiting you & whatever else is going on in your natal chart, it all smacks of that one planet ruling your Rising Sign. One Planet to Rule Them All. 💫 (I’m funny.)

To get started, we have to dig in & find out everything we can about the ruler of your Rising Sign. You might want to grab a diary or designate a new notebook, just so you have a place to record your initial discovery.

Later, you’ll need space (analog and digital) to collect quotes, images, & your own impressions.

Remember: what you collect will inform your tribute!

🌟 first, score a copy of your natal chart …

…go here to find out where + how to get one. ✨✨✨

For the chart to produce an accurate Rising Sign, you’ll need the exact time, location, & date of your birth.

why do you need the exact time…?

Rising Signs change every two hours, so the precise time is key, & can be found on your birth certificate. If you don’t have one, get in touch with the county or province where you were born & ask for a copy to be mailed to you, which is totally doable, for a fee.

When you get your chart, look to angle on the left-hand side of the inner circle, OR for the letters ASC, which stand for Ascendent.

Remember, your Rising Sign is one of the same as the sign of your Ascendent, which is the first angle. ☝🏻

• Okay, once located, answer this question:  What is your Rising Sign?

• Now, answer this question: Which planet(s) rule(s) that Sign?  (If you don’t know off the top of your head, Google is here to help. ☮️)

• Now, this question: Where on your chart is that planet hanging out? Which Sign, which House? (This is special to you.)

When you locate your chart ruler, note the SIGN and HOUSE it’s hanging out in, which might be totally different from the First House and Sign you started off with, and get ready to run recon on what it means having this planet in this space.

Special notes…

• It’s worth noting any planets lounging close by your Ascendent (within 5 degrees of the Ascendent in either the First or Twelfth Houses), because they’re definitely throwing their energy into the mix. You may even realize that you closely identify with that planet more than the ruler of your Rising Sign!

• You might have two potential rulers (or more if there are any conjunct planets), especially if your Rising Sign is Scorpio ♏️, Aquarius ♒️, or Pisces ♓️. These signs have co-rulers: one Personal Planet (Mercury, Venus, or Mars, but also Jupiter or Saturn) & one Outer Planet (Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto).

Outer Planets are higher octaves of the Personal Planets… & they’re wild cards. I have a special caution on tributing Outer Planets, which you’ll find at the end of the post. ☢️

For now, just note any & all potential rulers, so you can start keying up your intuition for the research phase.

🌟 next, run recon on your ruler(s).

At this point, to complement your notebook, you might want to create a fresh .doc for collecting quotes, as well as dedicate a new Pinterest board for storing images. 

Do a general Google search for myths & deities attributed to your ruling planet. What themes, experiences, & archetypes were related to your ruler? In what era? For which culture(s)?

What are the most popular myths? How many different versions of that myth exist?

Next, look into icons. What imagery of the planet & associated deities are available? How was your ruler envisaged? In what kind of medium were they represented: sculpture, painted on pottery or canvas?

What superpowers or capabilities were attributed to your ruler? (By this point, you might be investigating specific deities.) Could your ruler shape shift into an animal or be found in a specific kind of scenery?

You’ll probably find several different attributions. Write down the ones that immediately appeal, or that you’re curious to learn more about.

Look into specific rituals & worship practices. What kind of ceremonies were practiced? How were they accomplished, with what materials, at what times of year?

Are there any cultures still practicing these ceremonies? Can you find any modern derivatives?

For what purposes was your deity invoked: marriage rites, funeral rites, consecration? For bountiful harvests, for prophetic dreams, for successful battle?

What kind of influence did this deity confer onto worshippers?

Go wider than just the mainstream Greco-Roman myths. Defer to your actual ancestry, if colonization hasn’t obliterated the information. What stories & deities did your people attribute to this planet? How does the themes & symbolism differ?

Most critically: do you vibe with that? Any prickling of recognition?

REMEMBER, this is extracurricular. You don’t lose points for going down any rabbit holes, or for vibing with the most dubious, hokey information out there. Follow your curiosity & make your own inferences!

🌟 finally, plan your tribute. 🎉

A tribute can be a full-tilt, one-and-done ritual you plan months in advance, or a daily habit you pick up. You can build a space (literally) in your home for monthly tributes, or coordinate an annual group event according to your ruler’s celestial schedule.

The basic outcome: creating time & space for a little custom-fit sacred simmering with the divine. ✨

But before you can really plan your tribute, you have to personalize your ruler.

By which I mean: giving your chart ruler a “personality” you can imagine interacting with.

Start with all your favorites from the research. What was your favorite deity? Favorite story? Favorite image?

Why? Draw, write, or even talk out loud into your Voice Memo app: why does this deity resonate with you? What attributed power or quality do you feel naturally blessed with? Can you relate with a story or adventure regarding the deity?

Btw, not that you’re asking my permission, but it’s totally fine changing the gender of your planetary ruler.

For example, if Mercury rules your chart, but you’re not really vibing with Hermes or Thoth, look into Seshat, Goddess of Libraries. Still hella Mercurial, but a different kind of operator.

If deifying a planet feels like a huge stretch (but you’re obviously still curious enough to try making the leap), I outline tons of activities you can do to personalize & vivify archetypes in my post about Patron Goddesses. (Just FYI: I used Life Path Numerology in that one, not astrology.)

Here are the kinds of logistical Q’s you also want to ask yourself…

• What kind of materials do you want to work with in your tribute? Flowers, herbs, stones? The Tarot? Pen & paper? Colored light?

• What kind of activities do you want to do? Instead of buying a bunch of clutter, would you rather plan a dance, recitation, or song?

• What kind of setting do you want to tribute in? Indoors or outdoors? Big enough to fit a group, or small & private enough to fit just you, naked & alone?

When you start getting excited & ready to start walking it out, I have 5 ways to help you tribute your ruler, to be redressed however you desire!

5 SIMPLE WAYS TO TRIBUTE YOUR CHART RULER 💫

These 5 tips are super basic, but will help you find ways for personalizing astrology & experimenting with magic ritual, without totally upending your life. 

Before I close out this post, I have a special disclaimer for working with the so-called “malefics,” Mars & Saturn, & the Outer Planets, which you might have encountered if your Rising Sign is Scorpio, Aquarius, or Pisces. 

Also, during your research phase, you may have found that you vibe best not with the ruling planet of your Rising Sign, but with a planet conjunct your Ascendent. 

If that’s true, follow your weird heart, & design a tribute to the conjunctive planet instead!

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tribute #1:
leave offerings on an altar.

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For a lot of people, altars serve as workstations or like islands of sanity. Once a day or once a week they spiff up their altar digs, change out the display with the changing seasons, or keep it tidy until the new / full moon when they need a space to leave tokens to the god/dess their praising.

🌟 This post has my best tips for building a Goddess altar, which talks about arranging your altar with “official” correspondences, though it’s cool to just decorate your altar with super cute rigamarole you just want to see all the time.

(HINT: Visit my ALTAR-A-GO-GO board for more inspo for doing up your altar!)

Depending on what you want to tribute, & how often, you might not want to build an indoor altar at home, but instead find an outdoor space to tribute your ruler.

If you’re in love with the lush meadow depicted in The Empress card of the Tarot (ruled by Venus), go to one. Plan a day trip. Bring your kids along for an outdoor picnic, or go alone. Bring an instrument or a bluetooth speaker to play a song as tribute, or meditate while wearing a flower crown & clutching a hunk of rose quartz in each hand.

OR if tributing Seshat, a femme counterpart to Thoth, you might leave an offering at the library: a love letter tucked into your favorite YA novel, or a post-it with an encouraging message in the Quiet Study pavilion. 

Outdoor altar spaces are also perfect for reenactment ceremonies: performing a myth as though it were a play. Just find a story or legend attributed to your ruler (or a deity attributed to your ruler), then plan an outfit, select a location, & go be weird. Invite your friends & make it a party!

If you do decide to tribute your ruler at an outdoor area, scout the location ahead of time (if possible), to feel it out. Do you feel connected, grounded, & centered in that place? Does its vibe befit the vibe you’re trying to channel into your life?  

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tribute #2:
plan a ritual for the new & full moon in your rising sign

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Moon magic is the perfect baby step into ritualism. The Moon rules our unconscious mind & shadow self. Tributing your chart ruler in a moon ritual feels like anointing a new bond, or a coming out party.  

What’s the difference between a new & full moon ritual? Basically, the difference between sharing a first kiss & a simultaneous orgasm. But with a deification of your stars.

A new moon ritual represents a turning point. The ritual helps you bury an intention into your subconscious, so you start acting towards it, more easily sidestepping the conscious mind. 

With your Rising Sign, you know this intention would have to do with appearances & self-perception, so a new moon ritual in your Rising Sign is a good occasion for committing to a brand new outlook, or practicing new behaviors that feel more aligned with who you really are / are destined to be.

A full moon ritual is way more cathartic. A full moon ritual in your Rising Sign purges old hang-ups about your identity & what you think it means. This is a perfect occasion for invoking a deity who empowers you to feel more comfortable in your skin.

The new moon in your Rising Sign happens only once a year (usually when the Sun is in that same sign), but the full moon in your Rising Sign could maybe happen twice. (Usually when the Sun is in the opposite sign on the zodiac wheel.)

In either case, you can perform a new / full moon ritual around the actual day the moon was in your Rising Sign, & still hit the mark. 👌🏻

• To find out the NEW moon in your Rising Sign: Google “new moon in [your Rising Sign] + “the year”, or look up when the Sun moves into that Sign. 

• To find out the FULL moon in your Rising Sign: Google for the exact date: “full moon in [your Rising Sign]” + “the year.”

So, what do you do for a new &/or full moon ritual? I have a post on creating a new moon ritual (with optional step-by-step instructions), as well as guidelines for creating a full moon ceremony. 

Don’t forget, paying tribute doesn’t have to mean performing purely symbolic activities. If plotting moon ceremonies sound like a racket, use the moon’s stationing in your Rising Sign to jumpstart the future or begin dissolving the past!

Let a new moon ritual instigate a phase in your life where you take inspired action, like volunteering on behalf of a underprivileged group you identify with or signing up for a certification class that will bring you into closer alignment with what you dream about doing.

For a full moon ritual, host a big party. Let your ruling planet’s correspondences inspire the theme & decor. Be as light- or heavy-handed with the astrological aspect as you wanna be.

Use the meaning you’ve conferred onto your ruler to guide your activities.Follow your own weird heart, that’s the point!

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tribute #3:
plan a resurrection day retreat.

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Your Resurrection Day happens one day a year, like a birthday, when the Sun enters your Rising Sign at the exact degree of your Ascendent.

I first heard about Resurrection Days on the SoulShine Astrology podcast, based on Robert Cole’s The Book of Houses.

“Resurrection Day is like your birthday. It’s the moment when the seedling bursts out of the warm, dark soil into the light of the sun. Quite literally, it is your re-birth day. This is the moment each year when we feel ourselves brought back to life.”

— Robert Cole

I actually bought the book on Amazon, but Natalie tells you how to find out your Resurrection Day in that podcast episode, so check it out!

Here’s an example: my Ascendent is at 6 degrees Scorpio, so if I’m planning a Resurrection Day retreat for 2019, I’d start monitoring my TimePassages app in the last days the Sun is in Virgo. ♍️ (Towards the end of September, early October.)

When the Sun is finally at 6 degrees Scorpio ♏️, it’s my Resurrection Day. ✨

Robert Cole advises spending your Resurrection Day in solace, reconnecting with your inner self & deepest dreams. You could combine a moon magical-type of ritual with a hardcore goal-setting session, or build a seasonally-focused altar space that visually speaks to your ruler / most soulful self, like I talk about below!

Remember, paying tribute doesn’t need a ton of brouhaha or expert execution. It’s not what you’re doing or leaving behind, but the meaning you’ve attached to it.

The research you did was supposed to help you understand (& really think about) the hidden symbolism in your chart, & your tribute is born from the details you found to be really meaningful all on their own.

TIPS FOR IF YOUR CHART RULER IS A MALEFIC OR OUTER PLANET 👹

One of the mesmerizing things about natal astrology is realizing when true-life events actually coincide with the little glyphs in your chart. The broader your study of the chart, the more humbled you feel about the crises & blessings you’ve experienced. 

In might even convince you there’s something metaphysical afoot. ✨

but what if your chart is ruled by some iffy planetary ju-ju…?

My Rising Sign is Scorpio ♏️: co-ruled by Mars, a malefic, & Pluto, an Outer Planet. 

My natal Pluto also lurks in my First House, within 3 degrees of my Ascendent. 😳

that makes me Plutonian… 💀

…someone with heavy Pluto-play in their birth chart, celestially fated to be a strange, dark person with a mega-transformer affect on situations and relationships. (Super. ✨)

Natal astrology has def helped me reframe the true-life events that coincide with the glyphs in my chart, but even so, I don’t necessarily want to toast the Gods of War or Death. 💀🧃

if you’re in a similar sitch, and feeling iffy about what’s turned out to be your planetary ruler, you have 3 options…

• Tribute your Rising Sign’s co-ruler instead. In my case, Mars, which is not a sketchy Outer Planet, but is considered a “malefic,” as in, a harbinger of challenges & drama. Malefics aren’t bad, just associated with the types of events we don’t welcome with open arms. (Saturn is the other malefic.)

• Tribute a more desirable planet hanging out in your First House or conjunct your Ascendent. This might be very cool, especially if you’ve got a “benefic” close by, such as Jupiter or Venus. Benefics are associated with good tidings & easy luck. Google the conjunct planet + the Sign of your First House, and decide if that’s more favorable!

• OR, if you’re similar to me, where the ruler of your Rising Sign and any conjunct planets are both iffy, you can pay tribute to the general spirit of your ruler, without naming any names or glorifying any of the particulars. 💫

If you choose the third option, begin with inspiration: what do you appreciate about your life, so far, that fits your ruler’s theme?

Then, ask yourself: what can I do to sweeten that vibe?

suggestions… ☝🏻

⭐️ If Saturn rules your Rising Sign (♑️), consider building an altar to commemorate the lessons learned during your Saturn Return! You don’t have to dedicate living space to Saturn, but you could devote a brand-new planner with a section for tracking bills & other important adult paperwork. (I talk about building a planner-grimoire in this post to help you get started!) 

Or, if you’re fine with Mars as a ruler, plan ahead for an epic goal-setting session for the Aries new moon ♈️, which happens in the spring. Magically set an intention for something (like securing a promotion or buying a 3-month pass to the hot yoga-pilates studio that just opened up), then pound out a complete action-plan while in your new moon ritual space!

Because you have time to plan, show up to the sacred space ready to jam. Consider it an interview session with your Highest Self (or deepest self), who will totally endow you with the mojo to see your intention through, so long as you come prepared and focused.

⭐️ For an Aries full moon (when the Sun is in Libra ♎️), revel in the spoils of a recent conquest by booking a girls’ weekend getaway, or by signing up for an online workshop that will help you get assertive about your sex life. Full moons are about purges and Dionysian de-stressing, so your activity should feel like a guilty pleasure, but also prompt you to come away from it feeling renewed and empowered, vibing with Mars. 🔥✅

⭐️ If Scorpio is your Rising Sign ♏️, build an ancestor altar in the fall to commemorate all who have come before. (I have a post on that coming soon, stay tuned.✨) Or wait until the moon is full or waning in Scorpio ♏️ (get the Deluxe Moon app to start tracking), then perform a private ceremony for purging all the dead things in your life, then following up activity to purify the mental, emotional, even physical space left behind. You don’t have to address any particular deity or image in order to pay tribute: the activity itself aligns with what your chart is all about.

Ya so, you don’t have to invent or track down any crazy preamble for connecting with your chart ruler!

Tributes are really about affirming your personal evolution and weird vibe. Your natal chart, after all, is a horoscope: you’re on a spiraling, energetic path, with every planet—from your First House to the Twelfth—shading your life experience in a different way.

That’s what’s up. ✨

btw—have you ever paid tribute to your ruler…?

…what feels like it works, what turned out to be nonsense, and what do you think’s important for noobs to know about astrological magic?

Tell me in an email!

Thankee. 💖

All images via Pinterest. Help me credit the creators here.