How to read a Birth Chart in 3 steps
In this article we’ll provide you with a simple guide that will help you interpret your birth chart in a matter of minutes. The point of this article is to give you a more condensed birth chart reading. We’ll be talking about the influence of the planets, the Signs and The Houses. All of these subparts in your birth chart influence a different part of your personality, your emotions or how the world sees you. This guide will enable you to interpret your own birth chart, so don’t feel overwhelmed by not being able to do so. After all astrology is all about interpretation: what do think of when reading your birth chart? Without further ado, let’s jump in.
What's a birth chart?
Your birth chart is a snapshot of the sky on the day you were born. Your birth chart basically depicts all of the planets, meteorites & asteroids their position, relative to your place and time of birth. The position of these celestial bodies is important because, this will influence the type of personality that you have as well as certain events that might take place in your life. Therefore, your birth chart is a great guide to understanding what your comprised of (personality) and your past, present & future.
For as long as Astrology has been studied it is believed that the Planets in the Universe have an impact on who we are as humans. The planets depict our needs, our emotions, our drives and the subconscious part of our persona.
Why you should read your birth chart
The Planets are positioned in the Signs and Houses in your birth chart. Therefore, each planet in your birth chart can be interpreted as a part of Sign and as a part of a House. Both of these interpretations will mean different things and help you discover more about yourself. These interpretations reveal your different personalities, as well as your past, present and future self.
The Signs (Aries, Taurus etc.) in your birth chart depict the type of personality that you have. Based on your birthdate, birthtime and birthplace there was a Sign Rising in your birth chart (so left of you). This is Sign is called your Rising Sign, and dictates the position of the other Signs. For example, the Signs Aries is known to be bold, brave and risk-taking. Your planets (Sun, Venus etc.) can now fall into Aries. If your Sun is in Aries, your Sun Sign is Aries meaning: you are bold and brave (The Sun is the planet of true-self and Aries is the Sign of boldness). If your Venus falls into Aries, your Venus Sign is Aries meaning: you like to take initiative in relationships (Venus is the planet of Love & Aries is the Sign of boldness). See how it ties together 😉
The Houses (1st, 2nd House etc.) represent the major stages of your life. This is important for understanding your past, present and future. The Houses are also concerned with depicting how previous stages of your life have shaped who you are today. The planets in your birth chart, also fall within these Houses. For example, your Sun falls into the 1st House meaning: you are you own person and a strong leader (The Sun is the planet of true-self and the 1st House represents who you are from day 1). Or if your Venus falls into the 1st House meaning: you are very concerned with making people like who you are (Venus is the planet of Love & the 1st House is the House of true-self).
Before we get into all the meanings of the Planets, Signs and Houses fetch your birth chart: cafeastrology.com or astro.com
The meaning of the Planets
The planets represent our basic human tendencies, our sub-conscious activities and the type of energies and emotions that you have.
Sun (☉), your Sun tells you who you are therefore, guiding you through life with its light. It gives you the ability to stay true to yourself so, you can prioritize your own emotions and interests first.
Moon (☽), your Moon dives into your deeper subconscious mind and influences your instinct as well as your intuition. These parts of you are also important, in your day-to-day life, your Moon helps you to understand and deal with the world in a much better way.
Venus (♀), your Venus governs your love life and the need you have to be liked by others. Your Venus is concerned with finding you the right people to be in relationships and friendships with.
Mercury (☿), your Mercury governs your desire for knowledge, it gives you your intelligence as well as your rationality and logic. Mercury is concerned with bettering you intellectually so you can be a good communicator or academic.
Mars (♂), your Mars rules your physical energy and gives you your strength and composure. It also governs your competitiveness and your need for achievement.
Jupiter (♃), Jupiter governs your optimism and good fortune. It gives you the ability to look forward to certain moments or events in your life, with a renewed spirit.
Saturn (♄), Saturn gives your ability to apply structure and discipline in your life. It enables you to adhere to deadline, rules and the law. Your discipline and ability to structure your life, helps you fulfill your goals.
Uranus (⛢), Uranus governs your ability to be innovative and progressive. This means that you always like to make improvements to the status quo, if its current form is no longer suitable.
Neptune (♆), Neptune governs the most subjective part of your personality: your imagination, illusions and creativity. This aspect of who you are, is completely yours and your Neptune helps you navigate it.
Pluto (⯔), Pluto rules over your ability to transform into a much better version of yourself. It gives you the ability to renew who you are, and how the world sees you.
Chiron (⚷), Chiron governs the way you go through healing processes and how you deal with them. It’s concerned with taking action, so you can heal from the wounds in your life.
The meaning of the Astrological Signs
The Astrological Signs give insight into who you are at your core: the layer you’re comprised of. Most people are accustomed to knowing their Sun Sign, this is the position of the Sun in one of the Astrological Signs. Your Sun Sign gives insight into your real personality. Another example would be your Venus Sign, which gives indications about your personality when you’re in love. Below we’ll list the traits that come with each of the Signs.
Aries (♈︎), you are full of ambition & driving, which is why you always want to come out on top. You’re also not scared of taking initiative and risks.
Taurus (♉︎), you have a relaxed demeanor because, you prioritize your emotions and well-being. You’ve also got a luxurious taste and don’t mind splurging every now and then.
Gemini (♊︎), you are spontaneous and don’t like to take life that serious, this opens you up for new experiences. You have no problem with being thrown into the abyss because, you like exploring the unknown.
Cancer (♋︎), you are special because, you live in both a materialistic and emotional world. This allows you to attach emotions to people and objects making, allowing you to exist in another dimension. Cancer also gives insight into how protective you are of your emotions because, of your heightened emotional awareness.
Leo (♌︎), you are passionate about everything you, which is why you want to demonstrate in to the world. Leo also gives insight into the strength of your loyalty and how dramatic you might be at times.
Virgo (♍︎), you are very rational and calculated, these traits are given to you by your intelligence. A Virgo likes be meticulous in their pursue of life, making them think of everything in their life.
Libra (♎︎), you have a genuine passion for a balance in your life. You want the best of the fun things and the serious activities in life. This enables you to enjoy life from different perspectives.
Scorpio (♏︎), you have layer of mystery that continuously surrounds you. People have a difficulty unraveling you, to see what you’re comprised of emotionally or what your real personality is like.
Sagittarius (♐︎), you are on a forever-going quest for more knowledge so you can understand the world better. You are also keen on understanding who you are, and what makes you the best version of yourself.
Capricorn (♑︎), you are serious about reach your life’s goals which is why you persevere through tough times. You can always find it within you to remain driven and patient when it comes to reaching your goals.
Aquarius (♒︎), you have a keen eye on improving everything around you. You do this because, you are full of optimism and creativity, which allows you to come up with better solutions for old problems.
Pisces (♓︎), you have a very strong emotional mind, making you very empathetic for the troubles of others.
The meaning of the Houses
All of the 12 Houses together form your life path. A House is a depiction of a major life stage of yours. For example, the 10th House represents your career. Look at which planet is positioned in this House, or what you can find out about your career through the Aspects. Read our full article on the Houses here.
The 1st House (I) is The House of self, and governs everything that makes you, you. All of your emotions, standards and interests are originated from your 1st House.
The 2nd House (II) is The House of Money & Possessions, and governs your future income as well as your financial stability. It also governs your intangible possessions like your talent and knowledge.
The 3rd House (III) is The House of Communication, and governs the way you interact with close relatives or within relationships. It gives insight into how good you are at expressing your feelings and concerns.
The 4th House (IV) is The House Home, and governs over our concept of Home (in the past, present and future). The things and the people we need around us, to feel like we are at home.
The 5th House (V) is The House of Creativity & Sex, and governs over our sexuality and the way we express it. It also gives insight into the things that make us joyful.
The 6th House (VI) is The House of Service & Health, and governs our ability to work as well as our health.
The 7th House (VII) is The House of Marriage & Public service, and governs over all of professional and personal relationships. Your 7th House gives you the ability to have different dimensions to your persona. Think of your persona at work and the one you have with your BFF.
The 8th House (VIII) is The House of Death & Regeneration, and governs the new beginnings and bad periods in our life. When bad times come, it makes creates a good opportunity for a fresh start.
The 9th House (IX) is The House of Mental Exploration & Long Distance, and governs the way we seek for more knowledge about the world around us.
The 10th House (X) is The House of Career & Public standing, and governs over our ability to be successful in our career. It also gives insight into what the people around you think of you.
The 11th House (XI) is The House of Friends, Hopes, Communal standing & Wishes, and governs over the way we are willing to work with others to make the world a better place. They key here is: setting aside difference to reach the common goal.
The 12th House (XII) is The House of Secrets, Sorrow and our Self-undoing, and governs our karma. It also gives insight into what we make of our life, through our life’s purpose.
interpreting Planets in Astrological Signs
Now that we’ve covered the most important parts of your birth chart namely your Planets, Astrological Signs and Houses it’s time to interpret them.
Step 1. Start with the Astrological Signs, and locate which Planets are positioned within them.
Step 2. Remember the Astrological Signs tell stories about the different personalities someone could have (introvert, adventurous etc.). And the Planets talk about what aspect of you, is influenced by that Planet (your emotional-self, love-self or intelligent-self).
Step 3. Ask yourself: What does Planet X in Astrological Sign Y tell about me?
For example, what does Planet Venus in Aries tell about me? Venus is the Planet of Love, and Aries is the Astrological Sign of boldness and initiative. This means that your love persona may be full of making first moves, to get your crush’s attention.
Read my story about every meaning of the Planets in Astrological Signs here.
Here are some additional questions you can ask:
1. How does Planet X’s position in Astrological Sign Y affect the way the world sees me? (*Hint: does the public notice this side of your persona?)
2. When does Planet X in Astrological Sign Y, take a toll on me the most? (*hint: is this part of your persona prevalent throughout the entire day?)
3. Do I experience Planet X’s position in Astrological Sign Y every day? (*hint: how much do you see these aspects of your personality in your day-to-day life?)
4. Why does Planet X in Astrological Sign y, make me feel Z type of way? (*hint: what feelings come up in you, when you read this question; can you think of something?)
Interpreting Planets in Houses
Step 1. Start by locating in what Houses your planets are located (the Houses are depicted by numbers or roman numeral (e.g., II, II, III, IV)
Step 2. Remember that the Houses talk about the different stages of your life. The Planets show different aspects of you (e.g., your emotional-self, rational-self etc.).
Step 3. Ask yourself: What influence does Planet X’s position in House Y have on me?
For example, your Moon is located in your 3rd House. The Moon reveals our emotional-self and the way we use our emotions and intuition to make decisions. The 3rd House is the House of Communication. Your Moon in the 3rd House might point out, your ability to use your emotional façade to communicate your feelings and thoughts.
Some additional questions you can ask:
1. Which need of yours does Planet X’s position in House Y indicate?
2. When does Planet X’s position in House Y affect you?
3. What does Planet X in House Y tell about my past?
I hope that this simple guide to reading birth charts has helped you gather your thoughts. I also hope that you can succeed in your journey of self-discovery after reading this article. Feel free to let me know in the comment section, of you found this article useful.