Well, Steven Forrest famously quoted another astrologer, who once said… 

“Astrology is the poetry of astronomy.”

Astrology can be infotainment, food for thought, a hit of inspo. 

And astrology can also be studied, learned, in order to re-evaluate the meaning you’ve attributed to your own narrative, or to re-investigate the significance you’ve projected onto certain events or relationships.

In any case, studying astrology can produce spine-tingly discovery moments, revealing the topography of your life path, like a secret decoder ring of your own weird soul as it evolves through time and space, and a uncanny tool for tracking synchronicity. 

At a minimum, astrology is a form of infotainment, that enhances personal reflection, meaning making, and rhythm-keeping.

A birth chart (a.k.a. a natal chart) is a picture of the sky on the day you were born, based on time and location. The actual chart is a circle (360° total), divided into 12 sections. 

This chart reveals which constellation (or zodiac sign) a planet was in. Planets represent different energies, drives, and influences (see next question), and the sign they’re in represents the qualities, themes, and motifs that the planets will express themselves. Which signs the planets show up in are determined by cycles: seasonal cycles, annual cycles, and even cycles based on decades, or thousands of years!

Each planet in your chart unfolds according to a cycle.

A birth chart also reveals how much space has been allotted to all 12 life categories represented by the 12 divided sections. The four angles of the birth chart (the Ascendant, Nadir, Descendent, and Midheaven) are specifically determined by your birth location and birth time. The angles represent the direction you’re facing (Ascendant) and the zenith you’re capable of rising to (Midheaven). 

Symbolically, a birth chart is like a topographical map. That’s a map that uses color and shading to show the terrain of the mapped area. Many astrologers and schools of astrology have different ways of describing a birth chart, but in the way I use it, I’m looking for insight into the terrain, as well as the directionality. To move in that direction, the chart holder will have to move through those kinds of conditions.

ALL OF THIS… visually, and aesthetically, represents a template for your psyche, and its unfolding, as you move through space and time.

In your chart, each planet represents a different drive or energy: 

(☉) Sun: core self, vitality, and life role
(☽) Moon: mood, soma, temperament
(☿) Mercury: perception, communication
(♀) Venus: preferences, values, how and what you self-indulge
(♂) Mars: libido, the take-down urge
(♃ ) Jupiter: growth, expansion, progress, and philosophy
(♄) Saturn: responsibility, restrictions, limits, boundaries, fears, and self-discipline
(♅) Uranus: innovation, progression, rebellion, and change
(♆) Neptune: dreams, imagination, and the unconscious
(♇) Pluto: power, intensity, obsession, control, and transformation

Basically, every planet in your chart represents a different type of influencer in your morphic field and psyche. 🌐👁

All the planets are performing a specific function in. your chart, according to its sign and house placement, and the aspects formed to other planets (see aspects below).

BEAR IN MIND… horoscopes are mostly written for your Sun sign…

…or basically, one  planet out of the whole chart.

TYPICALLY, when studying your horoscope, you want to read for both your Sun AND your Rising Sign. 

Your Sun sign is determined by the time of year you were born, while the Rising Sign is determined by the sign of your First House (on your birth chart).

Which zodiac sign happens to align with your First House is determined by where the first angle of your chart, the Ascendant, lands on your chart…

…and where the Ascendant lands is 100% determined by birth time. 

Like—the degree° of the sign that your Ascendant lands changes every 4 minutes. 

So, if your birth time is inaccurate by about 2 hours, it would place your Ascendant in the sign before or after (or in the opposite sign, if you don’t know whether your birth time is AM or PM).

Typically, astrologers select 12PM / Noon, if accurate birth time is unknown.

And some astrologers offer reification services, where they “reverse-engineer” or figure out your birth time by interviewing you about certain life events, where they originated, and where they left an impact.

“Signs” refer to constellations. These constellations represent the zodiac belt. 

Your Sun, Moon, and Rising signs are determined by the zodiac sign where your Sun, Moon, and Ascendant (the first angle of your chart) land in.

Each sign represents one of the four elements (🔥💧🌿🪶), and one of three qualities that element might express itself (cardinal, fixed, or mutable). Cardinal is the most assertive quality of that element, Fixed is the most stable, and Mutable is the most changeable.

Or basically, your “personality” depends on which sign your planets land in, and the quality of your life’s direction, depends on the signs that your chart angles land in. 

There are 12 zodiac signs, each ruled by 1-2 planets, each one signifiying a season or phase of time on earth….

♈️ Aries – Mars (♂)
♉️ Taurus – Venus (♀)
♊️ Gemini – Mercury II (☿)
♋️ Cancer – the Moon (☽)
♌️ Leo – the Sun (☉)
♍️ Virgo — Mercury II (☿)
♎️ Libra — Venus II (♀)
♏️ Scorpio – Mars II and Pluto (modern) (♇)
♐️ Sagittarius – Jupiter (♃ )
♑️ Capricorn – Saturn (♄)
♒️ Aquarius – Saturn II and Uranus (modern) (♅)
♓️ Pisces – Jupiter II and Neptune (modern) (♆)

Every planet, angle, or point is expressed according to the zodiac sign it lands in, and that expression concentrates in the field of experience described by the house placement. 

Where it tends to get more complicated is interpreting the qualities and experiences of the planets in the signs, the mitigating influence of aspects formed from other planets in the chart, and also, depending on where the planetary rulers of the signs are placed on the chart.