How To Understand Your Birth Chart

November 17, 2021

We’re all familiar with the astrology signs associated with our birthdays that we use to read our horoscope at the back of the newspaper. This usually tells you a little bit about your personality traits and what to expect in life. What a lot of people don’t realize is that astrology gets so much deeper than that. But with some basic concepts, you can understand important information about your birth chart.

Everyone has an astrological birth chart that depicts the zodiac positioning of the sun, moon, planets, and stars when they were born. Each planet represents energy and how it affects our lives. This provides us with deeper information on the levels of our personality, who we are compatible with, jobs that are good for us, and even what cities are best suited to live in.

understand birth chart

What You Need

To calculate your birth chart you only need three simple things. Date of birth, time, and location.

You will enter your date of birth including day, month, and year followed by the time of birth. Time of birth is important to be as accurate as possible because this determines your ascendant placement, one of your big 3. Finally, you will need your location of birth – enter your city because again, the more specific the better.

There are many sources online that can produce (and help you understand) your birth chart. These will give you the list of planets and their astrological placement at your time of birth. The chart, which is a circle with many colored lines, is a little complicated to look at. Thankfully, you don’t have to know how to read it. Indeed, most websites will give you a breakdown below to provide some basic information on the placements and their meaning.

Your Big Three

In your chart, the biggest determining factors that directly relate to who you are as a person are known as your big three. This is your placement for the sun, moon, and ascendant (also known as rising). 

Sun

Your sun sign is determined by your date of birth. Each sign has a set amount of days in a month that it rules over. For example, Aquarius placements are from January 20 to February 18.

You can look at your sun sign as your personality or your identity in its truest form. This placement defines the traits that you would use to complete the statement “I am” to express your character.

Moon

One reason to provide as accurate information as you can for your birth chart is to determine your true moon sign. The moon moves quickly through the placements (every 2 days) and can change its position from the morning to the evening on the same day.

The sign for your moon placement rules over your emotions. Hence, this means traits that pinpoint how you feel or perceive certain emotions, giving you insight into your needs. Therefore, being aware of this can help you understand and navigate your responses in situations.

Ascendant

The ascendant sign placement is particular to our time of birth. This changes every two hours a day, so it is important for accurate placement. 

Traits associated with your ascendant sign are what other people see upon first meeting you. In other words, it is like your mask in social settings. As relationships form and deepen, these start to break away and the other aspects of your chart start to become notable.

Other Placements To Look At

The big three only cover your sun, moon, and ascendant placement. However, we can also look at where the planets were in the sky at your moment of birth and how they play their part.

Mercury

The planet Mercury represents communication, including our internal thoughts, how we write or type, and verbal exchanges with others. That’s why we hear about it being a big deal whenever mercury is in retrograde – communication goes all wrong!

Use this information to identify your speech style and your thought process and patterns. Knowing this will help you be aware of your strengths and weaknesses when conversing.

Venus

Venus is the planet all about love. This placement will reveal aspects of what you value in a relationship, materialistic items, and pleasure. Based on your venus sign, gain insight into your love language, how you can express love, and appreciation for possessions or places.

Have better relationships as you use this knowledge to give and receive with a greater appreciation for the beauty in your life. Or uplift your own senses by learning what brings you pleasure, whether it be items, art, or places.

Mars

Mars shows us the way into action for our desires. We are able to meet deadlines, chase adventure, and acknowledge our sexual desires with Mars energy. This sometimes comes off as impulsive or aggressive, which can be good or bad.

Understanding our mars placement can shed light on our triggers, how we express that anger, as well as the areas of our lives that we tend to apply this action-taking energy. Learn how to handle stressful situations or identify advantageous experiences.

What It All Means

With your specific birth information including date, time, and location you can view a chart revealing your sun, moon, ascendant, and planetary placements. There are many additional details that you can learn over time about astrology. However, these are the basics that can get you started in how to understand your birth chart.

Understanding your placements and the traits that are associated can help you in a multitude of ways. In fact, your birth chart will provide views on how you will navigate careers, relationships, and your personal feelings throughout life.

Leave a Reply