How to read a birth chart - the beginning

First of all you must know the time and location of your birth (or of the person you are interested in) That means the YEAR, MONTH, DAY and the HOUR and the COUNTRY and CITY where you were born.

Example: Jane Smith was born 12th of September 1989 at 9:00 p.m. in Paris, France

Then go to a website that compiles your astrological wheel/table. I usually use astroseek.com. (https://horoscopes.astro-seek.com/birth-chart-horoscope-online) and type in the information mentioned above. If you don't know the hour of birth you can use 12:00 or tick the box ”unknown time”. Remember you will not be able to know for sure the Ascendant or even the Moon, especially if this point and luminary are in the first or last degrees of a sign.

The birth chart can be represented by an astrological wheel or an astrological table like in the picture below.

Let's take the astro wheel. We first notice that this circle has the symbols of the12 signs (from Aries to Pisces). Also there are 2 major axis. The horizontal one is the Ascendant (AC) - Descendant (DC) axis and the vertical one is the Midheaven (MC) - Imum coeli (IC) axis. These axes are very important. The Ascendant (also known as the rising) is the cusp of the first house and is the mouthpiece of the chart symbolizing THE SELF. The Descendant is the cusp of the seventh house and represents THE OTHER. The Midheaven is the highest point of the chart and is the cusp of the 10th house and symbolizes our projection into the world (THE OUTER SELF). And the Imum coeli, the lowest point in the chart is the cusp of the 4th house representing THE INNER SELF.

Beside these major axes which are more emphasized, we can see other thinner black lines on the circle. These lines are the cusps of the other houses.

In this chart we can see in what zodiac sign the cusps of the houses land

• the first house cusp (Ascendant) is in Aries

• the second house cusp is in Taurus

• the third house cusp is in Gemini

• the fourth house cusp is in Cancer

• the fifth house cusp is in Cancer

• the sixth house cusp is in Leo

• the seventh house cusp is in Libra

• the eighth house cusp is in Scorpio

• the ninth house cusp is in Sagittarius

• the tenth house cusp is in Capricorn

• the eleventh house cusp is in Aquarius

• the twelfth house cusp is in Aquarius

Each house (1st - 12th) represent different areas of life.

Now let's observe the planets - the symbols situated in different degrees

• For example we can see that the planet Venus is in 0 degrees of Scorpio.

  

Planets have their own symbolism and represent different concepts, things and people. For example the planet Venus represents partnerships like marriage, beauty, finances, art, etc. The sign in which the planet is located characterizes how the planet will manifest and the house in which the planet is located shows the areas of life were this planet manifests .

For example here Venus is in Scorpio in the 7th house. The Scorpio sign Venus means relationships for this person are intense and obsessive. Money can be made through joint finances and inheritance  (Scorpio rules both of these things). This being located in the 7th house of partnerships shows me more and more that this person values relationships very much and prosperity and happiness will definitely come after marriage. Scorpio also rules divorce and Venus represents money. If this person decides to separate from their partner they will not suffer financially, or better yet they will gain from this. Scorpio also can signify separation through death and being in the 7th house, the person could also be widowed. This is just a brief interpretation of the planet Venus in this particular birth chart without taking into consideration the aspects that other planets make to Venus and the ruler of Venus.

Aspects are angles made between different planets. They show the relationship between planets. Some angles show an easy relationship between planets and some show a difficult relationship between planets. On the Astro wheel aspects are drawn by BLUE (easy) lines and RED (difficult) lines.

In this image we can see 4 BLUE lines (easy aspects) are formed between

• Mercury in Libra and Moon in Aquarius

• Pluto in Scorpio and Jupiter in Cancer

• Pluto in Scorpio and Neptune in Capricorn

• Venus in Scorpio and Uranus in Capricorn

  
  

  We also se 6 RED lines (hard aspects) forming between

• Pluto in Scorpio and Moon in Aquarius

• Mercury in Libra and Saturn in Capricorn

• Mars in Virgo and Uranus in Capricorn

• Mercury in Libra and Jupiter in Cancer

• Saturn/ Neptune in Capricorn and Jupiter in Cancer

• Uranus in Capricorn and Jupiter in Cancer

To understand more about Aspects between planets please read this https://www.astrobytes.tech/explaining-aspects