How to Read a Natal Chart: An Extra-Chill Primer on Natal Astrology
“You and I are flesh and blood but we are also stardust.”
In this post, I’m gonna show you how to read and interpret your own natal chart!
But don’t you need some kind of astrological training for that? > Bruh. This is how you train. 👐🏻✨✨
But, ya, learning natal astrology is sort of rough ‘n tumble at first… just because there’s lots of ground to cover, and once covered, takes a minute to come into focus.
Here’s why it’s worth the effort, and will come in handy down the line: knowing your natal chart is like getting a Marauder’s Map of your psyche. 🤩🔎
Remember the Marauder’s Map in Harry Potter? (No? …crap, this might be a problem… 😳) > An enchanted map of the Hogwarts school and grounds, labelled by little moving glyphs of actual witches, wizards, and night-patrolling housecats moving in real-time through the castle, unaware they are being tracked via an enchanted map in the possession of a 12-year-old boy.
And through natal astrology, I want to help you become that 12-year-old boy. ✨
To get the most out of it, bookmark or Pin this post now, so you can come back whenever you’re about to wade back into your self-study.🌹
TWO QUICK THINGS BEFORE WE START >
FIRST, DO YOU HAVE A COPY OF YOUR NATAL CHART? > This post will take you to my three go-to sites for casting stars, all favorite for different reasons, with step-by-steps for through creating an account with Astro Dienst. 💫
TWO, DID YOU GET YOUR HANDY STATIONERY FOR FOLLOWING ALONG AT HOME? > Get a totally free printable worksheet for helping you delineate your natal chart by subscribing to my newsletter, which is not a strange request, but might get stranger afterwards. (HINT: I printed mine onto Astro Brights paper for fun and glory. ☺️✨)
Remember, this is totally extracurricular, and you’re gonna KICK ASS! 🙌🏻
But first, let’s dig into the nitty gritty, so you actually understand what’s up. 😎
What exactly is a natal chart? How does one read it? 🤔
“Natal” means “birth.” A natal chart is a picture of the planets’ positions in the sky at the time and location you were born. Those positions are segmented by Houses and overlaid by Signs. The “house” is the quadrant between the spokes, corresponding with a different area of life, while the “sign” is the style that area of life expresses itself through. The relationships amongst the planets are described by the Signs and Houses they land in, as well as by their aspects to other planets, represented by the lines criss-crossing the center of the chart.
SO, reading natal charts, or astrology charts in general, is about learning to interpret the symbols based on what they reference (the planets), the quadrant or area of life they show up in (the House), the way they express themselves (the Sign), as well as their relationship amongst each other (aspects).
Okay, and what exactly are we translating all that into?
Like—what does “Mars in Taurus in the Seventh House” mean? 🤔
Chart interpretation depends on the interpreter. Meaning, however you think of the chart—the “concept” of what it represents, whether that’s a “soul” or a “personality” or “time + matter + evolution”—that’s what it’ll translate into.
So, your interpretation of your own natal chart might come out like an epic poem, or as a dossier, or maybe even as a robust essay about your secret gifts—never before articulated until trying to compare/contrast your true-life experience with astrological symbolism! 🤩
Ways you can conceptualize, or think of, a natal chart >
I’m highlighting these perspectives, because they are the points of view EYE am reading from, and analyzing for—these were the perspectives I was studying astrology from before I knew there were perspectives in astrology. 😳
When interpreting a chart, you’re basically reading four layers of information (planet, sign, house, and aspects) all at once, then trying to collapse them into one cohesive idea, or aesthetic. You’re learning to read a language that, for our purposes, has codes for a certain kind of person—based on the quality and categories of experiences he or she will have, according to her trajectory through time and space, given this astrological disposition. ✨
So, ya, it’s kind of useful having a central theme or framework to hang all the little details that are about to start comin’ at you. 🙀
Consider each perspective as a lens that guides and filters all the finial particulars, like planets-in-’da, aspects, etc.
PSYCHOLOGICAL. Dr. Jennifer Freed (psychologist, Use Your Planets Wisely) calls an astrology chart a map of the psyche. Carl Jung wrote in Memories, Dreams, Reflections that he would consult the natal charts of acutely psychotic patients, just to help him better frame what was happening for the person. Basically, a psychological interpretation of a natal chart seeks to explain your psyche, or personal experience, across your life, given this astro disposition. 💫
METAPHYSICAL. An astrology chart as a map of time. Chart markers, and even the chart itself, describe a matrix (environment) where where energy collapses upon matter over time, producing my (or your) organism. In the metaphysical context, we wouldn’t translate the experiences described in the chart (that’s the psychological interpretation), but instead try to describe the lessons and everlasting truths represented in the chart. Steven Forrest, author of The Inner Sky, remarks that astrology is fundamentally metaphysical, and also, “a finger pointing at reality.” Basically, the astrological chart points to a metaphysical reality we might understand, though not very well, due to our psychological limitations.
EVOLUTIONARY. Jeffrey Wolf Green (occultist, Evolutionary Astrology) explained that an astrology chart illustrates the soul as a genome. Astrological markers describe potential, and foibles to that potential. Reading for those markers helps the user optimize environment, knowing what’s actually in there to be unlocked and used, and also understand the intuitive boundary-line between the ego-Self and the Soul. In effect, the interpretation rests on reading for the intention or motive of the psyche the chart represents, and the “soul’s strategy” for evolving experientially in this life.
ARCHETYPAL. Reading the natal chart as a symbolic journey. This might coalesce all interpretations, or at least in my nascent understanding. Richard Tarnas (philosopher, Cosmos and Psyche) also refers to the natal chart as a map, but an archetypal one: basically, a hero’s journey where the placements preclude certain experiences, karmic lessons, and the revelation and unlocking of one’s ultimate potential.
FOR ME, pour moi 💕 > I think of the insight I get from natal charts in the same way I think of insights gained from literature, movies, music… art in general.
Like—it’s all just a metaphor, and there is no right or wrong way to interpret it. As you learn more astrology (especially when you start layering on transits and progressions), you’ll start understanding
Also, must be said: you’re allowed to “veto” the astrologers. You’re allowed to say, But that doesn’t FEEL like what’s happening here, or even, But that’s not HOW THINGS WORK.*
With astrology, especially if you’re using it as a journaling tool, or as a guide for personal inventorying, you’ll have a literal chart, totally scientific, produced by software, in which to compare / contrast your own interpretation of your experience.
PRO TIP > Create space for documenting your chart study, so that you can revisit it whenever you need to. I outline all my own astro learning tools and process in this post about finding your chart ruler, but it’s pretty straight forward: designate a notebook, Pinterest board, and new desktop file to store your research, where you toss in quotes, images, URLs, and recommended reading, watch, or browsing.
You’ll definitely want all that material in one space where you can pull it out and really rut in (probably during your next break-up or unlucky streak 💔😫).
How To Read a Natal Chart in 4 Easy Steps, lol 😂
Yes, just FOUR STEPS ✨, but you’ll probably run jump back and forth and all around between them.
AND, OH, HAY—DON’T FORGET YOUR HYPER-CUTE, SUPER-HELPFUL NATAL CHART WORKSHEET ✅ >
FIRST, ID THE SIGN FOR EACH PLANET.
OKAY BISH, IN TOTAL, YOU HAVE TEN PLANETS TO READ FOR > Mercury (☿), Venus (♀︎), Mars (♂︎), Jupiter (♃), Saturn (♄), Uranus (♅), Neptune (♆), Pluto (♇), plus the Sun (☉) and Moon (☽).
We’ll also look at your Rising Sign, which isn’t really a planet, but an angle on your chart. Because it is the first angle, representing the hour through which you emerged from the womb into the light, the sign of this angle is your Rising, and the rest of your special planetary-zodiac seasoning filters through it.
So, you want the scratch on all ten planets plus your Rising Sign. 💫✨
GO THROUGH ALL TEN PLANETS ON THE LIST, AND FOR EACH PLANET, WRITE THE SIGN IT SHOWS UP IN > To find out the sign, look to the zodiac symbols on the outer rim of your chart. You might have multiple planets in one sign, and none at all in another.
So, for your first two columns, you should have written a planet, and its sign. Written out, it should read like: Mercury in PISCES, Venus in AQUARIUS, Mars in TAURUS… etc.
NEXT, ID THE HOUSE FOR EACH PLANET.
GO THROUGH THE LIST AGAIN, THIS TIME LISTING EACH PLANET’S HOUSE > The “house” is the segment of the chart that the planet shows up in, each segment corresponding to a different realm of human life and experience.
To find out the house, look to the numbers near the center of the chart, between the spokes. You might have multiple planets in a house, and zero planets in other houses. You might have houses split between two signs, called “interceptions.” Focus on the individual planets, not the clusters (a.k.a. stelliums), though note the houses where you have stelliums, or lots of planet-play. ✅
For our purposes, just write one sign and house to each planet.
Each planet should now read like this: Mercury in PISCES in the FOURTH HOUSE. Venus in AQUARIUS in the FOURTH HOUSE. And so forth.
If you’re following along on your worksheet at home, you’re working with the first three columns: planet + sign + house.
And if you’re ready for some freaking answers, man, start Googling for (1) the planet in the SIGN, and then (2) the sign on the HOUSE.
How do I search for my natal chart placements, tho? > First search: “Mercury in PISCES” (or “mercury” + [the sign]). Then search, “Pisces on the FIFTH HOUSE” (or “pisces” + [the house].)
Obviously, this is already a bit all over the place, so go slow. Be methodical. Go planet by planet. Each planet’s sign says how that planet expresses itself, and each planet’s house shows where that energy gets expressed.
And make sure you’re saving quotes + links to your favorite hits of intel.
HINT > the AstroFix “brainstorms” are my favorite place to get insight about the planets, signs, and houses.
Omg, you’re doing it, you’re an astrology student! 🤩
AFTER THAT, LOOK UP ASPECTS.
“The planets in the signs represent the basic urges toward expression and needs for fulfillment, but the aspects reveal the actual state of energy flow and how much personal effort is needed to express a particular urge or to fulfill a particular need.”
The fourth and last column is for aspects, or the relationships between the planets. Aspects are those red and blue lines crisscrossing the center of your chart. It’s not just about where and how the planets show up, but how they work together.
(Psst, Cafe Astrology spits out a graphic explaining all your aspects, plus a summary, which you can enhance with a Google search! 🤩🥰)
Some types of aspects are more “desirable” than others, just like some planets are considered more “beneficial” than the rest. You might be more aware of your “hard” aspects, just because those might echo internal conflict or extra you’re working with.
Hard aspects: conjunctions, squares, and oppositions. Planets squaring off or in opposition throw static on each other, whereas conjunct planets can be too close for comfort.
Easy aspects: trines and sextiles. You don’t have to worry about planets with easy aspects. In fact, if it suddenly dawns on you that you have plenty of easy aspects working for you in your chart, permit yourself to lean more on that planetary harmony.
If you need more info than contained in the summaries provided by Cafe Astrology (or wherever you downloaded a copy of your chart), hit up Google. ✅
In case you don’t remember how to Google things: Just search for “[the planet] + [the aspect] + {the other planet].”
FINALLY, START SYNTHESIZING ✨ EACH PLANET IN ITS SIGN, HOUSE, AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER PLANETS.
Synthesis is critical to chart interpretation, and the reason why learning to read your own chart matters. Synthesis is the process of fusing disparate things together, like the concepts of a planet + a zodiac sign + the quadrant it showed up in on an astrology chart.
ALSO, you won’t find many articles about your planet in both the sign and the house, plus the aspects amongst everything. Once you gather up all the Internet astrologers’ brainstorms and summaries of all the little bits, you’ll have to do a little creative analysis, a bit of contemplative interpretation of all the details.
BASICALLY, you will not achieve synthesis in a single afternoon of astrology study.
(Psst—THIS is why you need a place to store quotes / links that you can come back to, and also where the worksheet might help, just sayin’. ✌🏻)
Here’s some guidance. 🌟
Your natal planets will show up in one of twelve signs and houses. The sign tells you something about the quality or style that planet is being expressed in, while the house tells you where in your life that planet is exhibited, in that style.
Here’s a pretty common analogy to help you take in the whole scene > imagine the planets as actors, the signs as their costumes, and the houses as the stage scenery. ✨
If scenes, vibes, and characters from a book or movie jump to mind, start writing it out: you’ll remember the placement better and make faster intuitions about what it means in the overall chart if you can synthesize the meaning of the placement with one of these little scenes you’re already familiar with, with all its splendid subtext you’re privy to.
Also, bear in mind that you are comparing and contrasting Internet astrologers’ descriptions to your own awareness. Pay attention to whether experts say a planet is strengthened or weakened, a.k.a. “exalted” or “debilitated” by the sign it’s in. Would you agree? Can you think of any ways this strength or weakness manifests in your life? How would you disagree? Have you actually proven otherwise?
This is when you can start an active comparison between what astrologers say your life is about, and what you feel your life is about. 🌀✨
I want to mention something about how the planets are grouped and interpreted.
Here’s the explanation:
PERSONALITY PROFILE. Your Sun, Moon, and “Rising” Signs make up the hard strokes of your personality. Your “Rising Sign” is calculated by your birth time, and is the sign that was rising in the sky at the time/location you were born. Rising Signs are also how you discover your chart ruler, hayyy… ✨
INNER PLANETS. Your Mercury, Venus, and Mars make up your preference-modes, almost like the moods of your chart.
SOCIAL PLANETS: Your Jupiter and Saturn correspond with lucky streaks and hard knocks. Usually personified as the Good Cop and Bad Cop of reality. (Psst—most people know about their Saturn’s Return, but not about Jupiter’s Return: when good tidings come our way.)
OUTER PLANETS: Your Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. These are the “meta” planets, the slow-moving titans shaping our big picture, higher self concepts. Often your Outer Planet signs are the same as your peers and siblings, though the house will be particular. Outer Planets are big energy, the kind humans tend to weaponize against themselves, but also important, representing evolutionary impulses in our shared psyche (wow astrology is so cool).
In your notes, try to create as clear a scene as possible for each of your natal planets. You can invent whole scenes, or borrow from books, movies, or Netflix. What scenarios best represent your placements? What mood does the information evoke? What aesthetic?
(I will never stop asking you about the aesthetic, and if that’s gonna be a problem, get off the blog. ☠️)
What true-life incidences can you think of where these aspects came into play? Planetary aspects are basically like unconscious patterns, and studying them now brings them into light. You can get mindful, even strategic, about them.
Do a little Googling for some ideas about making your aspects work for you, and see what insights happen. 😘
DEEPER ASTRO LEARNING: Find the Rulers FOR YOUR PLACEMENTS 👑
I like how Miriam explains the astrological learning process. ♥️ I’m going to highlight what she mentions here, and point you to where else you can go to continue your chart learnin’.
For Miriam (and most bonafide astrologers), synthesis isn’t just about understanding the planets in the signs, in the houses, and the aspects amongst them. That’s the cookbook approach to astro interpretation, or basically a “placement by placement” research process.
(And basically what I’ve outlined for you here. You’re welcome. ☺️)
But to get a spooky-insightful understanding of your natal chart, as Miriam indicates, you have to understand how each placement works in relationship with the other placements… which you can’t Google. 🙈
Thus, dispositors. ✨
“The dispositor of any given planet is the planet ruling the sign in which the given planet is found. A planet placed in the sign of its rulership—for instance, Mars in Aries—has no dispositor or disposits itself.
A dispositing planet will have some effect upon the affairs governed by the sign and house in which the disposited planet is placed. In other words, there is a sublte influence on a planet and sign and the house it is in by the planet it is disposted by. The house placements and sign placements of the disposited and dispositing planets are also subtly linked.”
Okay, so, a tiny bit complex, but only until you dive in and start feeling it out.
I’d prefer you’d just do what I say (in general) and write out your placements, just to see them, and have them in one place. ✨
After that, when you’re ready to start reading for depth and accuracy, do what Miriam says, and go around the chart, looking for the proper “rulers” of your planets, so that you can see glimpses into the spooky-creepy psychic mojo lurking within.
Start by going around the zodiac looking for the rulers for your Ascendent, Sun, and Moon signs > Start with your Ascendent, the left-hand angle of your chart, which represents the “entry point” of your chart. The sign of your Ascendent is your Rising Sign. Which planet rules that sign? (Ask Google.) In which sign (and house) is that planet hanging out in your chart? …Where is the ruler of that sign hangin’ out?
You basically keep going until the dispositor you’re looking for happens to be in the sign it rules, OR you keep cycling between the same couple of planets. (Indicating that this particular planet has a vibe that toggles.)
(You might want to write dispositors down on a piece of scratch paper to help you keep track.)
(Also, this blog post goes into detail about chart rulers and finding the Ascendent. ✌🏻)
Now, do the same for the Sun and Moon! 😁
Make sure to throw keywords you find in astrology articles next to the placements, especially if they speak to and unlock unarticulated truths in your secret heart of hearts.
How do the articles about the ruler compare to the articles about the literal placement?
What are the Internet mages telling you about yourself?
Although going by dispositors is super-chilling and noticeably elevates your astro sagacity, it’s stranger, slower-going terrain to learn astrology through, especially if you’re just learning the lingo and still trying to “see” astrological relationships in your “inner eye.”
SO, BEFORE WE CLIMB OFF THE MERRY-GO-ROUND > If you’re just now learning to read and interpret your natal chart, start with writing out your placements, hitting up Google for the full scoop, antagonizing your friends by offering to look up their astro placements, and otherwise procrastinating on your grad school application. ✨
Then… once you’ve been at grad school for awhile (or chillin’ back at home), pull out your chart, and start going around the zodiac, looking for the dispositors, or rulers, of your placements.
You must do this if you want to know your chart with the spooky-zen accuracy that a pro astrologer might know it, although (as I appreciate Miriam also pointing out), chart interpretation always depends on the astrologer.
Miriam walks you through a chart example in this post. Fix some tea, grab your notebook, and enjoy!
Remember—this is all extracurricular, and so far, you’re doing fantastic. 😉👌🏻
Resources for deep-studying your stars:
I was totally serious, what I said about helping you go varsity with natal chart reading, so here are the links I think you need to really get going!
Have a question that isn’t answered by any of these? Drop your Q in an email, and I’ll try pointing you in a new direction. ✌🏻
This post by Miriam @ Fugitive Umbrellas about learning to read a chart: start at your Rising Sign (then Sun, and Moon), and go around the zodiac, looking for the Rulers of their signs, and where those planets are hanging out on your chart.
All about planets, the signs, and the houses! Looking for intel about which signs a planet is “strengthened” or “debilitated”? Cafe Astrology has great graphics illustrating the signs and houses each planet vibes with best.
What exactly are 'aspects' in astrology? 🤔 Aspects are illustrated by those red and blue lines criss-crossing the center of your chart, and they explain the relationships between your natal planets. If you score a natal chart report from Cafe Astrology (see option #2), you’ll get a graphic AND summary of your planetary aspects!
What are the House Systems, and why do they change the chart’s layout? Each house system is a different way of distributing the zodiac in the chart. If you want to compare your chart in all the different house Systems, use this generator.
Need a visual aid for your natal chart? Employ the tarot. Corrine Kenner’s book Tarot and Astrology was my introduction to astrological tarot, and has lots of exercises that can show you how to map out your natal chart with the cards! 🤩
Personal vs. Social vs. Transpersonal Planets: what you need to know. Hint: your ♅, ♆, and ♇ signs don’t much affect you as an individual. They actually reveal how similar you are with other people in your age group! But the house they show up in? Ya, that’s personal, and can tell you the realm of life / activities that plug you into the zeitgeist!
Too much to do on your own? Aeolian Heart Astrology has a free eBook, HEARTBEAT, that walks you through all of your stars! (Psst—she’s also re-opening her class on natal chart reading, DISCOVERY, very soon! Get on her email list to find out when!)
Want to continue your education? This post compiles all my fav astrologers, most of whom have books, programs, or resource pages about all things astrology. (Is there an astro-mage you luv who’s not on my list? Email me a link so I can check them out! ✌🏻)
When you make it through all 10 planets’ placements and aspects, think of a way to encapsulate the info > an art or literary project, or maybe a presentation you upload to your YouTube channel. Write poems about your stars, or vision boards. Readers have shared that they attributed celebrities or literary characters to their personal planets, or that learning their chart inspired them to write whole memoirs out in Mead notebooks, each chapter representing one of their planets. 🥰🥰🥰
The more you study and work with your chart, the quicker and more common the a-ha moments. Print off one or all three versions of your chart for your planner-grimoire, bulletin board, fridge, and bathroom mirror. Print your natal chart onto Astro Brite paper for coolness, or--if you're a savage with your printer settings--miniaturize and print your natal chart onto cardstock to make into a hella sick bookmark, which FedEx Office can laminate for you. ✨✨✨
(And if you've made something off-the-wall with your natal chart, you should definitely let me know.)
This is the fastest way to internalize what you’ve studied! The faster it’s internalized, the sooner you’ll find yourself drawing on the insight from your chart, using it to delineate matters of preference from purpose, to forecast your hopes and ambitions, and overall, learning to spot omens all around us, everywhere.
And just before we end, this final word from Stephen Forrest (Inner Sky) about your natal chart ✨>
“Your chart is perfect.
You yourself aren’t perfect. Me either.
But your chart itself perfectly reflects your karmic predicament and your optimal path forward from that starting point. Your chart is perfect; your personal imperfections can be best understood as your imperfect response to the challenges and evolutionary opportunities your chart represents. It models ‘your best life.’
That is the gold standard – and like most gold standards, we can only approach it, never fully achieve it.”
OKAY, IN MY NEXT POST > I’ll show you how I’ve loved-up on mah chart with music playlists, movie scenes, quotes, and various media, to help vivify and tighten up the aesthetic of my astrological soul. ❤️🔥🌟
Want to find out when it’s posted? Subscribe below! ✌🏻
Cover photo via Pinterest (help me credit the creator here) + natal chart overlay via moi, bc I rock ass. 🤘🏻