The Mechanics of The Chart.
Your birth chart is a map of the heaven’s relative to the time and place that you were born. It is a unique,2-dimensional map of where you were at the time of your birth, relative to the planets and bodies of our solar system.
The wheel that runs around the outside (usually) of your chart represents the wheel of The Zodiac. This wheel allows us to position exactly in the sky where each planet was at the time you were born. Astrologers take this snapshot, and map it back down to earth to make it exactly relative to you. This then becomes your unique chart, or blueprint, describing the moment of your birth. The position of the Sun, the Moon and sign that was rising on the eastern horizon at the time that you were born (also called Ascendant) become the most significant pieces of information within this chart. The sign and house your Sun and Moon were found in will say a lot about your conscious motives and needs, as well as unconscious feelings or desires.
You will see symbols for a number of planets within the circle, and lots of lines connecting them to each other. These lines show what are called the ‘aspects’ between the planets, and show us which planets were in a significant relationship to each other at the time that you were born. Some people have lots of lines, and some relatively few. This doesn’t mean anything especially significant, so don’t worry if your looks “all over the place”! Aspects tell us how different planetary ‘voices’ will interact with eachother.
You might also note that the numbers 1-12 run around the inner circle of the chart. These show the houses of the chart. The houses talk about the area of life experience that a particular planetary energy is seeking to express itself through.
Imagine that the planets are like players or actors in a great cosmic play, constantly circling round and round within an amazing, celestial stage. At a precise moment, someone yells stop, and the planets appear to freeze. The person yelling stop is You, and you do this at the very moment that you are born. Wherever a player freezes,on whatever part of the stage floor they are found at, they will find a particular script that must then be played out. This script is made up of the qualities of the sign of The Zodiac, and house of the chart in which that planet is placed. This role is the part that that planet must then “play out” for you in your life drama.
So each player has a part, decided by the moment you are born. But they must also interact with the other players on the stage. Those players who are near to or facing each other at the moment that they freeze must also interact with each other, and this is shown by the ‘aspects’. The planets then “dialogue”, back and forth across the stage of your life story, taking cues, acting parts, making negotiations, and taking their turn in the spotlight, at different moments of your life. In essence, the planets describe “who”, the signs describe “what” and the houses describe “where” these energies will be affecting you in the unfolding drama of your life.
Learning to read this chart, and understand how all of these component parts work together becomes the art/science of unlocking the natal chart. A skilled astrologer combines raw data with a highly developed intuition to help you finesse the unique qualities of your own personal situation or potential, and how that is likely to unfold.
For more information or to have your chart read, please contact Damian Rocks here at http://www.starslikeyou.com.au/contact.php
