The Meaning and Anatomy of a Birth/Natal Chart.

 

What Is Thaaat???

If you was to go to any astrology website to calculate your birth chart, it’d look a lot like the mess above. (Note: this random birth chart was calculated at http://www.astro.com). I know, I know, what in the actual heck is thaaat???

Well, it’s a birth chart, and like I said, yours would look a lot like it, with all the lines and the circles and the weird glyphs splashed all over it. However, all those “weird” lines, circles, and glyphs all mean something that tells a story about you. It tells you, well, about you.

Like I said in my previous post, “Astrology for Dummies: What Is Astrology?”, I explained what astrology and birth charts meant. Everybody has a birth chart, and everybody’s birth chart is different. Sure, they look similar due do all the craziness going on, but it means different things depending on where the craziness is placed in the chart.

To start off, a birth chart is calculated by taking the exact time you was born, the date you was born, and the place you were born at. According to those top 3 facts, the planets and zodiac constellations were lined up in a specific order facing towards the Earth. In this case, the Earth is you.

 

You and the Houses:

I want you to look in the center of the chart I created, the smallest circle with the x in the center of it. That smallest circle is Earth, and the x is you. All of that “craziness” happening around Earth, or “yourself”, is the planets, houses, and aspects that was lined up at the exact moment you came into this world. And those planets, houses, and aspects tells you about, well, you.

If you look to the outside of the smallest circle, or, Earth, you will see numbers 1-12. These are the houses I mentioned in my previous post. The houses are where the areas of your life are being played out in, and like I said in my last post, the houses are basically the zodiac signs themselves, there being 12 zodiac signs. The basic meaning of the houses are the same thing as their zodiac sign (ex. Scorpio’s basic meaning is death, rebirth, sex, and very meaningful but dark themes. Scorpio’s ruling house, the 8th house, means very similar things. Scorpio is the 8th sign in the zodiac, so its house will be the 8th).

 

Aspects, Zodiac Signs, and Planets:

Now for the aspects, zodiac signs, and the planets. Look at the lines going everywhere and the glyphs in the section above the lines. To start off, the glyphs are the planets (ex. the Sun is the glyph with the circle with the dot in the middle, which, in my perverted opinion, looks like a boob). (Note: I will discuss each planet’s glyph in another post). Each planet represents an area of your personality, and each planet is also ruled by a zodiac sign, like the houses (ex. Neptune is ruled by Pisces, the sign of illusions, addictions, and fantasy. Neptune is where your addictions, along with possible creativity can be found).

Now that you know those strange glyphs are the planets, look to the outermost section of the chart. Those are the zodiac sign glyphs (ex. the one that looks like an arrow is Sagittarius), and if you look carefully, you can read where the planets fall into these zodiac signs. Remember where I said Sagittarius was? You can tell that this random chart’s Moon is in Sagittarius, because the Moon glyph is right beside of it, in that section (Note: the Moon glyph is literally a crescent moon).

So now you should know where the planet and zodiac sign glyphs are, but what about all those lines again? Those are the aspects. Aspects are how certain planets in your chart, or personality, react to each other. For example, Mercury (the glyph that looks like a stick figure with horns on it) is conjunct Venus (the glyph for a female, or another stick figure). Mercury is the planet of communication, and Venus is the planet of love. When a person has Mercury conjunct Venus, they are very charming and loving with their speech, and seem to have a very beautiful way to how they communicate. (Note: this can change depending on the signs Mercury and Venus are in, along with other aspects).

So, to conclude this, that is the basic anatomy and meaning of a birth/natal chart. From the outermost point to the innermost point, it goes: zodiac signs, planets in the zodiac signs, aspects to the planets, houses in the planets, Earth, and then finally, you.

I hope this was a somewhat helpful explanation to the innermost workings of a birth chart.

That’s all for now, folks!