Astrology for beginners: your first chart reading

Start with one placement

Open a natal chart and find the Sun in its position table. Write down its sign, degree and house, then locate the same position on the wheel. This connects a written entry to an actual part of the diagram.

Astrology uses celestial positions as a language for symbolic interpretation. The calculation describes a position; a reading assigns meaning according to a particular tradition. Keep these two steps separate in your notes.

If you do not have a chart, enter your birth details. For approximate sign dates and help with a general forecast, see zodiac signs and horoscopes.

Planet, sign, house and aspect

“Mercury in Aries in the eleventh house” might prompt you to consider how you put ideas forward in a group. It does not establish that you always speak first. Look for situations that do not fit the initial interpretation, too.

How the twelve signs are grouped

The elements group signs into fire, earth, air and water. Qualities group them as cardinal, fixed or mutable. Each combination occurs once: Aries is cardinal fire, Leo fixed fire and Sagittarius mutable fire.

In this symbolic vocabulary, cardinal describes starting, fixed maintaining and mutable adapting. Find one planet’s sign and record its element and quality. Use that as a vocabulary exercise before attempting a reading of the whole chart.

Read one line between two planets

Aspects describe angular relationships. The main reference angles are conjunction 0°, sextile 60°, square 90°, trine 120° and opposition 180°. Line colours vary between chart providers, so check the legend.

In our constructed example, the Sun is at 10° Aries and the Moon at 12° Cancer. They are 92° apart along the zodiac: 2° away from an exact square. In the aspect lesson, you can change the angle and see this deviation.

After measuring, consider the two bodies, their signs and their houses. A red line does not predict a problem, and a blue line does not guarantee success.

Make your first set of notes

1. Record the source of your birth time and the chart settings.
2. Locate the Sun, Moon and ascendant. Mark any uncertain positions.
3. Choose one planet and write a sentence using the example above.
4. Add one aspect and record its orb.
5. Separate “position in the chart” from “my interpretation”.

If your birth time is unknown, begin with positions that can be established for the day. Do not automatically accept houses from a chart set to noon. The natal chart lesson explains how to record uncertainty.