Astrology 101: learning to read charts
You can learn to read some of the basic information on an astrology natal chart fairly quickly. However, to do as expert astrologers like Norah and her associates can, to look at a chart and quickly translate the symbols there into information about someone’s personality and life events takes years of studying as well as practice.
1. Learn the layout of an astrology chart
If you have never seen an astrology chart before, at first glance it will simply resemble a circle intersected by several lines with symbols placed at various points. If you think of this circle as a pie divided into twelve slices, each slice represents a house of the natal chart. Two lines are usually drawn more boldly than the other, one dividing the circle roughly in half horizontally, the other approximately halving the circle vertically. If you look to the left of the circle, the pie slice just below the boldfaced horizontal line is known as the first house. Continuing around the circle counterclockwise are the second through twelfth houses of the chart.
2. Learn the symbols
Each zodiac sign and planet has a symbol or glyph. These glyphs appear on a natal chart rather than the written out names of signs and planets. As you begin to learn astrology, you will want to recognize these symbols. There are twelve zodiac signs, as well as twelve commonly used symbols for objects in the sky (the planets in our solar system, as well as the sun itself, the moon, Pluto (demoted from planetary status by astronomers but still used by most astrologers) as well Chiron, an asteroid used by many astrologers, as two “shadow planets” known as the nodes of the moon.
3. Learn the basic planetary and zodiac sign associations
Learn the element and modality of each planet and read something about the meaning of the planets. If you have some familiarity with Greek and Roman mythology, this knowledge will help you since the names used for the planets are derived from those tales. There are many books and websites you can use to study on your own, or you can take an introductory class in astrology.
4. Learn the meaning of the twelve houses of the chart
There are many books and articles on this subject. We have posted some useful information on this topic here: houses.
5. Learn to recognize and interpret planetary aspects
If you use some basic geometry, you can learn this part of astrology relatively quickly. The planets are placed at various points around the circular chart based on where they appeared in the sky at the time of the chart. They may be at 180 degrees to each other (an opposition), they may be 120 degrees apart (a trine) or 90 degrees apart (a square). Some aspects indicate a flowing, harmonious relationship between the planets. Other aspects reveal a tense relationship between planets—the needs they represent will be at odds with each other.
Two planets placed very close together are considered to be conjunct. Multiple planets situated near each other are called a stellium (you can read more about this planetary placement here: stelliums). There are also compound planetary relationships. For example, if one planet is opposite another and is also squared by two other planets, this is a T-square, representing a particularly challenging energy. Three planets all in a trine (120 degree aspect) to each other form a Grand Trine. As a student of astrology, you will want to learn to recognize these aspects when you look at a natal chart. You will also want to learn the different nuances implied by different aspects.
6. Bring it all together
An expert astrologer can discuss a chart one of two ways: either using some astrological terms to talk with others who understand this language, or synthesizing the information and reading its meaning without making reference to planets, houses or aspects. Since only a few people speak the language of astrology, saying something like “Your Sun has a tense relationship to your Uranus” will not provide most people with meaningful information. Instead, you might say “you often have conflicts with authority figures.”
The ability to synthesize the wealth of information provided by a natal chart is a talent. Like other talents, for instance learning a musical instrument, it helps if you have something of a natural gift and enthusiasm in this area, but you will also have to practice and study to develop this talent. We will continue to post more articles each week helping those who are interested in increasing their knowledge of astrology. We also offer readings by Norah and her associates, all of whom have studied and practiced astrology for years.
