They say humans don’t come with an instruction manual. We beg to differ! Your astrology birth chart (also called a natal chart) reveals your personality and life path. Learn how to read a birth chart and become your own astrologer, right here, and with The AstroTwins if you choose to join their astrology certification program!
What Can My Birth Chart Tell Me?
A lot! Think of your birth chart as a “selfie” of the planets at the exact moment you were born. When you learn how to read an astrology chart and become your own astrologer, you’ll gain insights into your strengths and weaknesses, your opportunities for soul growth, career moves and love potential.
Anyone can learn how to read a birth chart. Anyone can essentially become their own astrologer. We explain how in this article. Then, consider going deeper to confidently learn how to read your birth chart and those of others in our Become Your Own Astrologer certification program.
With course tracks for every level learner, our program fosters a supportive community and live coaching from us, The AstroTwins, astrologers for more than 25 years. We’ve read for everyone from Beyoncé and Dua Lipa to Fortune 500 CEOs and hundreds of fans of our daily horoscopes on Astrostyle.com and in Elle magazine, where we’re the resident astrologers. Happy reading!
“I used to think astrology was just a fun thing, but astrology is a hard skill, a spiritual technology, your own AI system (astrological intelligence, if you will), that we all need in these uncertain times.”
~Ophi
What Is A Birth Chart and How Do You Read It?
An astrology birth chart is a map of where all the planets were in their journey around the Sun (from our vantage point on earth) at the exact moment you were born.
Here’s how to read a birth chart in four steps.
In this Article
Get Started: Create Your Birth Chart (Or Someone Else’s)
The first step to read an astrology birth chart is to actually cast the chart itself. Before the digital age, astrologers had to map these out meticulously by hand. Nowadays we are lucky to have computers do the heavy lifting for us. Do your free birth chart!
The information that you’ll need to complete a birth chart:
• Your date of birth (month, day, year)
• Your time of birth (if available*)
• Your location of birth
* If you don’t know your time of birth, you can try to track it down. Look for it on your birth certificate, if you have it. If you don’t, you can try writing to the Office of Vital Records in your birth state (if you were born in the U.S.) for a copy. If that doesn’t yield a birth time (not all certificates have time recorded!), resort to old-school tactics: Ask any relatives to get as close of an estimate as possible. If that doesn’t work, use 12:00 noon. Without the exact time, your birth chart won’t have an accurate rising sign or house configuration, but there is still plenty to discover by learning the planets in your chart!
Step 1: What the Planets in Your Astrology Birth Chart Mean
How to read a birth chart includes learning about the planets, the zodiac signs they’re in, their elements and modalities. It sounds like a lot, but we break it down for you here in digestible bits!
In astrology, the planets represent the parts of your nature. If your life was a movie, the planets would be the actors cast to play specific roles. Even though the Sun and the moon aren’t technically planets, we include them, along with a couple special points—your rising sign (ascendant) and the lunar nodes.
What each planet means in astrology
Sun Personality, how you shine
Moon Emotions, security needs
Rising/Ascendant Outward expression
Mercury Communication style
Venus Romance, aesthetic tastes
Mars Drive, lust
Jupiter Luck, risk profile
Saturn Where you need structure, restriction
Uranus Where you’re a rebel
Neptune Spirituality, what you fantasize about
Pluto Unconsciousness, shadow side
Lunar Nodes Karma and destiny
Step 2: Find Which Zodiac Sign Every Planet Is In
The planets were all visiting specific zodiac signs when you were born. Zodiac signs “modify” the planets, adding nuance to their characters.
In the movie of your life, the zodiac signs determine the roles the actors (planets) play, or the costumes they wear. For example, if you were born with romantic Venus in fiery, impulsive Aries, you may fall in and out of love quickly. Restrictive Saturn in Aries would wear this “costume” differently, perhaps making you hesitant to embrace the go-getter energy of this sign. Some people might have both Venus and Saturn in Aries. In cases like this, they would have to balance those competing characters.
Astrology, just like life, is nuanced. The more you learn how to read a birth chart, the more you realize how much information is available for interpretation!
Some facts about the zodiac as you learn how to read a birth chart:
• The zodiac begins in the spring with Aries, which is the first sign, and travels through to Pisces, the last sign, in the winter.
• The zodiac signs are broken into four elements: fire, earth, air and water.
• Additionally, the zodiac signs are grouped into three modalities: cardinal (leaders), fixed (experts) and mutables (ambassadors).
The 12 zodiac signs and their element and modality:
Aries Cardinal fire
Taurus Fixed earth
Gemini Mutable air
Cancer Cardinal water
Leo Fixed fire
Virgo Mutable earth
Libra Cardinal air
Scorpio Fixed water
Sagittarius Mutable fire
Capricorn Cardinal earth
Aquarius Fixed air
Pisces Mutable water
Step 3: Find Which House Every Planet Is In
The 12 houses of the zodiac all represent different parts of your life, from work to home to relationships to career. The houses follow the progression of the zodiac signs—for example, the first house is associated with Aries, the zodiac’s first sign; the seventh house is associated with Libra, the zodiac’s seventh sign, and so on. The planets are the “residents” of the houses, traveling through each house in their journey around the Sun.
In the movie of you, the houses are the “sets” where the scenes of your life take place.
In solar astrology (like our daily horoscopes), we place your Sun sign in the first house and count around from there (counter-clockwise from 9 o’clock). This is a broad-stroke interpretation of your life when you learn how to read a birth chart, and very useful!
What the 12 houses in astrology mean:
1st House Self exploration, beginnings
2nd House Values, work
3rd House Friendship, communication
4th House Home, family
5th House Creativity, romance
6th House Work, wellness
7th House Relationships, contracts
8th House Investments, sex
9th House Travel, study
10th House Career, leadership
11th House Community, innovation
12th House Spirituality, healing, endings
When you cast your free natal chart, the houses are different, as they are based specifically on your time of birth. There are endless configurations of houses, and your chart is totally unique! As twins, we have slightly different birth chart because we were born four minutes apart.
Step 4: Explore the Aspects in Your Birth Chart
Once you understand the planets, signs and houses, you can add another piece to learning how to read a birth chart: aspects.
Aspects in astrology describe the distance between any two planets and zodiac signs in your chart. Aspects are also referred to as angles.
Here’s a metaphor to understand an aspect: The planets are like actors in the movie of your life, trying on different roles and costumes as they move through the zodiac. Often, these actors will have a scene together. Will it be a shoot-’em-up action plot, a romantic tearjerker or a bromantic comedy? That depends on the TYPE of aspect these two (or more) planets are forming.
Aspects are measured by mathematical angles—but we’ll skip the geometry lesson for now and introduce you to them all. There are seven major aspects that astrologers look at—and we reference them all the time in our horoscopes. If the planets in your chart form any of these, they are blending their energies in a specific way.
The seven major aspects in astrology
Conjunct Same sign, intense
Semisextile 1 sign apart, awkward
Sextile 2 signs apart, friendly
Square 3 signs apart, challenging
Trine 4 signs apart, harmonious
Quincunx 5 signs apart, karmic
Opposite 6 signs apart, dynamic
Remember Free Will When Reading Your Birth Chart
Never forget that you have free will. Your astrology birth chart is a profound guide to your personality and an incredible way to track opportunities and challenges in your life. But at the end of the day, it’s your choice whether to act upon these cosmic offerings or not. Life greets astrology just as astrology greets life. What you might find, however, is that you’ve been in tune with the cosmos all along!
The more you learn how to read a birth chart, the more you’ll gain confidence, too!
There is much more to learn about reading birth charts, including transiting planets at the time of your birth, and if you cast charts for important moments in your life, such as getting married, giving birth, moving or where you spend your birthday. You can learn about these topics and dive deeper into the 4 steps you read about in this article (that we call the 4-part puzzle) in our certification program.
Learn more about the Become Your Own Astrologer certification program with The AstroTwins!
We’re offering three FREE webinars during Valentine’s Day week; go to our Events page to learn about and register for:
• February 12: The 7 Secrets of Cosmic Compatibility
• February 13: Supercouple Secrets: The Astrology of “Us”
• February 14: Valentine’s Astrology: Activate Your Love Planets
