Reading an Astrological Chart: Tutorial 2

Above is a horoscope for Thursday, 8th January, 2009. It was cast for the location of Byron Bay, NSW, Australia at 5.32PM.

 I am using the Example CHART above to explain some simple ASTROLOGY.

 Signs, house and planets relating to FIRE and WATER are highlighted in this tutorial.

In Tutorial 1, we have seen that the chart is a picture of the sky at a particular time. The Twelve HOUSES are numbered 1 to 12,  anti-clockwise about the circle. Therefore, the 1st house is RISING, the 2nd house will rise about two hours later then the third house about two hours  again and so on , as the earth turns east to west.  You can see for the Example Chart above, that at this time of 5.32PM, the earth still has to turn another 30 degrees (or another two hours) before the SUN sets below the western horizon.

WHAT DO the HOUSES MEAN?

Each House stands for a different part/category of life. Each house has been given a TRADITIONAL corresponding Sun Sign that fits with that house.  

The first six houses and signs show us the personal side of life, the parts of life kept most closely to us:

1 your environment and character ARIES  ................

.............I AM...fire...+ve...cardinal

2 your belongings and self esteem TAURUS..............

...............I HAVE...earth...-ve...fixed

3 your communications and ideas GEMINI ..............

...............I THINK...air...+ve...air...mutable

4 your "hearth" and your care CANCER ..................

.................I FEEL...water...-ve...cardinal

5 your spirit and creations LEO .................................

.............I CREATE...fire...+ve...fixed

6 your daily body and health VIRGO .......................

..............I SERVE...earth...-ve...mutable

The more "out there" Houses are the 7th to 12th Houses.  These are the signs and houses that show us our more public interactions, perceptions and experiences:

7 partnerships and co-operations LIBRA................

..............................I BALANCE...air...+ve...cardinal

8 deeper understandings and transformations SCORPIO ........

.............................I CHANGE...water...-ve...fixed

9 higher mind knowledge and your philosophies SAGITTARIUS .

.............................I KNOW...fire...+ve...mutable

10 social obligations and your social position CAPRICORN ......

.............................I BUILD...earth...-ve...cardinal

11 your community subculture, friends and hopes AQUARIUS ....

...........................I HOPE...air...+ve...fixed

12 subconscious,dreams, "other sides"  and faith PISCES.............

............................I HAVE FAITH...water...-ve...mutable

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In the Example Chart  above,  the FILTERS or SIGNS that are moving through the HOUSES are:

1 Gemini (thinking) .... thus the "I am " part is "thinking"

2 Cancer (nurturing)  .....thus the "I have" part is "nurturing"

3 Leo (creating)       .....thus the "I think" part is creating

4 Virgo (serving)   .......work the following ones out for yourself!!!!!!!

5 Libra (balancing)

6 Scorpio (changing)

7 Sagittarius (knowing)

8 Capricorn (building)

9 Aquarius (hoping)

10 Pisces (having faith)

11 Aries (being)

12 Taurus (having)

I have highlighted the FIRE signs and houses in RED, and the WATER signs and houses in BLUE . This maye help with seeing the "filtering" effect of a sign passing over a particular house. For example, in the 7th house ( that of traditional AIR sign LIBRA), the  FIRE sign of SAGITTARIUS is passing. This could bring with it FIRE, passion, knowing, knowledge, one's philosophical circumstances to the relationship area of life.

At the time of the Example Chart , some signs, although on the cusp of the house, are at the end of the sign, and  it is the next sign that is mostly dominant throughout the house. This highlights just how flexible and moveable astrology is.  Nothing is ever rigidly "text book".

These signs, as they move throught the HOUSES,  are like filters or panes of colored glass filtering  how we perceive the "HOUSE". 

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The SYMBOLS:

The SUN rules LEO and the Fifth House, and brings with it SPIRIT and CREATION. Leo is a fixed, supportive, passionate, "from the heart" area of life. 

SUN SYMBOL: circle is the whole, the dot in the middle is spirit eminating into form.

The MOON rules CANCER and the Fourth House.   The emotional component, the "yin", the feminine, the mother -   all these things are the MOON.  The Fourth House is the Domain of  beginnings and endings, the early home life, our homes, where we begin and end journeys.  

MOON SYMBOL: a crescent moon (one quarter of the whole circle),the body reflecting the light of the spirit

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And so, in the above chart , the MOON has just risen, and is in the 12th House. The SUN is on the cusp of the 7th/8th house, Libra is passing through the FOURTH HOUSE, and Scorpio is passing through the FIFTH house.

The Sun and the Moon in any chart show us where the Spirit and the Emotional centres are. In the above Example Chart the SUN and Spirit have a strong 8th and 7th house focus (colored by the signs of SAGITTARIUS, CAPRICORN and AQUARIUS). And so, putting it all together:

If someone was born at this time of the Example Chart, they would have a spirit journey strongly focused on partnerships, relationships, deeper understanding and transformations. These areas of life would be colored or tempered (filtered) by the overlaying signs of Sagittarius, Capricorn and Aquarius, bringing strong a philosophical stance and social obligation to relationships, whilst fellowship, hopes and wishes overlay the deeper knowledge and transformation processes.

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And so, wherever the SUN and MOON are in a chart:

Look at firstly the house(s) they are in, to see what areas of interest the spirit and emotional centres have as their focus.

Then look at  their position within the house(s) - are they near the cusp of a house or sign, are they near any other planets or fixed stars. 

Then look at the sign that it they are  in and what signs cover the houses that they are in.  

Reading an Astrological Chart: Tutorial 1

Above is a horoscope for Thursday, 8th January, 2009. It was cast for the location of Byron Bay, NSW, Australia. I shall use the CHART above, as an example, to explain some simple ASTROLOGY.

The CHART as a WHOLE:

It is a picture of the sky, in particular, the belt of sky that travels overhead, and includes the movement of the SUN, MOON, PLANETS and ZODIAC CONSTELLATIONS as the EARTH turns throughtout the day. The above chart is a picture of this belt of sky for 5.32pm, near Byron Bay, Australia.  

The chart is divided into 12 sections - a bit like a cake, cut up into 12 pieces. The horizontal line, that travels left to right, is like an  HORIZON line. All the planets that are above the horizon when the chart was cast are above this line. All the planets that are below the horizon when the chart was cast, are below this line. 

As the earth turns daily, so the planets and signs move clockwise about the circle, daily. 

The planets RISE in the EAST (the LHS of the chart) and they set in the WEST (the RHS of the chart). 

The RISING LINE (ASCENDANT) is that point that is just RISING, in the EAST, when the chart is cast.  In this case, the RISING LINE or ASCENDANT (AC) is 17 degrees 32 minutes GEMINI.

The SYMBOLS:

In this first TUTORIAL, I shall begin with the SUN.

The SUN is a circle, with a dot inside it. This is a symbol showing the existence of everthing - the whole(circle) - with the spirit - the DOT inside - coming out from the total, as individual expression. The SUN represents that part of us that is our SPIRIT JOURNEY. It show us what our SPIRIT is on a mission for, in this lifetime. If you look at where the SUN is, in the chart above, you will see that it is on one of the lines, dividing the chart into its "pieces of cake".  These "pieces of cake" are called HOUSES. 

The lines that divide the HOUSES are called CUSPS. 

The SUN, in the chart above, is on the CUSP of the 8th HOUSE. 

There are also PLANETS  that are in the 8th HOUSE of this chart. 

They are: Jupiter, Mercury and Neptune. The planetoid CHIRON is also in the 8th house, as is the DRAGON'S HEAD or TRUE NODE.

And so, a chart has 12 HOUSES. A house is an area of life that contains similar energies and symbolic features. Each HOUSE is ruled by a "SUN SIGN" and a "PLANET".

A "SUN SIGN" is that part of the 12 ZODIAC CONSTELLATIONS that the SUN appears infront of, at any particular time of the year. (Now it gets a little complex here, as the Greeks standardised the Zodiac Constellations back about 2,000years ago, making the very first point to come over the horizon, at the VERNAL EQUINOX, to be 0 degrees ARIES. Due to the wobbling of the EARTH (what is called the precession of the EQUINOXES) this point that appears to come over the horizon, at the vernal equinox has changed, and instead of it being 0 degrees ARIES, is now about 5 degrees PISCES. 

I think that this is enough for Tutorial 1.

Over the following weeks, I shall try to add to these tutorials.