Hey guild members!

I have been researching some new topics and prepping for a move so it has been a couple weeks since I continued our Astrology 101 posts BUT it is time to look at another part of the natal chart! If you haven’t been following along for the last couple installations, I have included a couple links at the bottom the page that can take you to previous posts or you can find them in the Spirituality portion of our blog.

Let’s get into the meat and potatoes of todays’ Astrology conversation: Organization and Terminology for Natal Charts

We have previously covered that the natal chart is:

• divided into 12 ‘pie’ pieces AND
• that the chart is a map of where different celestial bodies were in relation to YOU at exact time and location of your birth

Inner and Outer Parts of the Chart

The next thing we are going to do in looking at a natal chart is split our 12 pieces of ‘pie’ into an inner and outer circle.

The outer circle is our Zodiac and rotates according to our birth data and the location of the constellations around us as they appeared to be moving around earth.  It is fairly common knowledge that zodiacs are associated with different personalities, traits, elements, etc.

The inner circle is the astrological houses and that does not move. EVER. This circle is stationary. This is because this represents the earth and original astronomers thought we were the center of the universe. Each house is associated with different traits, elements, and parts of your life. I originally was going to go over these in this post but realized this would get too long very quickly. Going into detail on the 12 houses will be our next post.

Hemispheres and Quadrants

Imagine looking at the horizon facing either North or South. Which direction is determined by our ability to see the sun. If you are in the Northern hemisphere of earth, you are looking South and mapping what you see in the sky. If you are in the Southern Hemisphere, this is reversed, and you look to the North. This flips our North/South and East /West Hemispheres in the pictures I drew. There is some debate, that I will not dive into at this point, about whether such a north centric astrology practice is still accurate in the Southern Hemisphere, if sign meanings should be reversed, etc. etc. etc. But I digress once again.

Imagine you are in Washington… you are facing South, looking at the horizon. Now hold a blank natal chart up in front of you. The line bisecting the top and bottom of our circle is our horizon (both the -name of the line AND symbolically the one in front of you). The houses 7-12 sit above the horizon and any celestial bodies (this is planets, stars, meteors, etc) shown above the horizon at the time of your birth show up there. Think of the top of the chart as being directly overhead. Anything below that horizon line is not visible but we know where they are because of astronomy, and we still take them into account in houses 1-6.

This sounds a bit backwards BUT, we call the top half of the chart the Southern Hemisphere and the bottom half of the chart our Northern Hemisphere. The Southern hemisphere is associated with Ambition, being career oriented, wanting fame/recognition, being extroverted, and having material values/goals. The Northern hemisphere is associated with having a subjective view on life, a need for a private life, introversion, and an introspective outlook. Having clusters of planets in either the Southern or Northern Hemisphere can hint at whether you are more of a private or public person.

Now, because we are still facing the South, our left side is actually the East and to our right is the West. This is also seen in our natal chart; the left side is called our Eastern Hemisphere and the right side is called our Western Hemisphere. They are divided by a line called the meridian.  The Eastern Hemisphere is associated with being more independent, strong-willed, individualistic, a self-starter or leader. It is also associated with individuals who are self-motivated, self- employed, or risk-takers. In contrast, the Western Hemisphere is associated with being adaptable but dependent, passive, subtle, being a follower, and partnerships. Having clusters of planets in the Eastern or Western Hemispheres can hint at whether you are more of an individualist or a collaborator.

So as quick practice, here are a couple of examples of what someone means when they say something vs what you see on the chart vs where it actually is in the sky. Just a reminder. This is based on someone living in the North (think Washington) and they are looking south.

Chart Points

You may have noticed in the visuals I made above that there are points named in the four cardinal directions. We do not usually associate these with celestial bodies in this context because the chances of landing exactly on one is low. What you will hear though are zodiac associated with a point. Ever hear “I am a [insert zodiac] rising?”

The very top of our chart has a point called the Medium Coeli (AKA Midheaven, AKA M.C.).  This shows your aspirations, where you are aimed, and your legacy. At the very bottom point of the natal chart is your Imum Coeli (AKA I.C.). This is your root of home, memory, and soul.

Just like the Southernmost and Northernmost points on the chart are named (the M.C. and I.C.), so too are the Easternmost and Westernmost points. On the far left (furthest East) with have our Ascendant (often called our rising) and this our social mask and how we integrate into world around us. On the far right we have our Descendant, and this is what you wish you were like, what you admire, and areas of life you wish to grow in. It can also represent what you are looking for in a partner.

Putting the Inner and Outer Circles Together

Remember that outer circle of zodiacs? Remember that it actually moves? The position of that outer ring of zodiacs is based on your birth data (where in the world you are born).  

The next visual is not of my own making but hopefully seeing it 3D will help illustrate how they fit together. The inner circle is lined up on the horizon, not rotating. The outer circle of zodiacs could twist any way depending on where the constellations line up.

This visual is not of my own making but hopefully seeing it in 3D will help illustrate how they fit together. The inner circle is lined up on the horizon, not rotating. The outer circle of zodiacs could twist any way depending on where the constellations line up.

That being said… a planet can be in any number of combinations of house/hemisphere and zodiac. And a zodiac can be in a house. And a chart point can be in a zodiac. And… Have I started to lose you again?

I am going to stop for now before I start to really lose you all which would be counterproductive. These are just basics but hopefully it will help untangle what you are looking at when you see a natal chart. Next, we will be talking about the 12 houses and I will be working on getting a post up that is just reference for associations, symbols etc. Let me know if you want me to add the visuals I made!

Happy Charting!

Taylor

CHECK OUT THE FULL ASTROLOGY 101 SERIES:

• What is Astrology? Where Does One Start?
• Astrology Symbol Reference Chart
• Astrology 101: What Is In Your Natal Chart?
• Astrology 101: Natal Chart Organization and Terminology
• Astrology 101: The 12 houses & Their Symbolism
• Astrology 101: The Energy of Planets and Other Celestial Bodies

This learning experience was so fun for me. It was easy to lose myself in a rabbit trail of information and compare different things from different places. I have always been interested in Astrology but have never made it past the superficial layer before. Taylor is much more knowledgeable in this particular area, so it was fun to finally delve a little deeper and then compare what I learned to my own birthdate as practice and compare my findings with how I see myself. 

So today, in what I am counting as my small act of bravery for the week, I am going to be transparent with you and use my own personality as a teaching tool to break down some of the things/ terms I learned and help provide some hands- on context to what Taylor shared in our last post.  

As a base line: I was born on Tuesday, January 17^th, 1995, at 2:13 AM in Phoenix, AZ.  

To get a more accurate in depth look at your Astrological relationship with the world you need: date, time, and general location (the day of the week is irrelevant, I just happen to know it was a Tuesday thanks to my mother’s dedicated ‘baby book record keeping’). 

Let’s go over my Sun Sign first:

This is the one most people know. The stereotypical ‘what’s your sign?’. As discussed previously, your sun sign represents the core of who you are. It showcases your strengths and understanding of the world. I am a Capricorn. We tend to be hard working, loyal, & pragmatic. We are the ‘keep your head down and just keep chugging’ group of people. It is an earth sign. This was interesting to me because on a nerdy surface level: I am a Hufflepuff (5 points to Gryffindor for J.K. Rowling’s intuitive sorting test). On a deeper level, I find this fascinating for several reasons: between the business team that is Taylor and I- I tend to be the more grounded of the two of us, not to say that I don’t have a deeply creative side, but Taylor is the visionary, I’m the auger. I have a strange ability to put the blinders on when things get stressful; I have a ‘deal with it now, melt down afterwards’ approach (and I do have my meltdowns- we’ll get to that). I take it as a strange point of pride that several of my best friends have told me that part of the reason, I’m so close with them or still in their lives is because ‘I just don’t go away’ or ‘you kept checking in even when I stopped answering everyone, and it made me realize you really cared’. I don’t mean that to sound braggy- because it’s not always a great thing. I am stubbornly loyal, and I accept that. Can that come off as pushy? I’m sure it probably can- but I am a persistent person if nothing else. 

Next step is our Lunar sign:

Your moon sign is the soul side of your identity, the inside of your sun sign, your subconscious- it makes up a lot of your emotional side. My moon sign is Cancer. This is as close to opposite from Capricorn as possible and makes an interesting pairing if not a sometimes difficult one.  Cancer is associated with strong empathy, being intuitive to others, a strong need for alone time and recharge time, & quality over quantity with friends. It is a water sign, and they frequently need to find a way to ground themselves. While Cancers are not known for being lazy, they are much moodier than Capricorns. A Cancer’s tendency towards strong emotions and a need to communicate with others through emotions can frequently catch the Capricorn side off guard. When I was reading about this particular relationship it caught me right in the solar plexus. Both Taylor and Thomas can vouch for the fact that if I do not get my ‘alone time’ or my ‘recharge time’- I turn into a mess. I get moody, emotionally distant, and drained. Little things start to irritate me, and I get overwhelmed easily; My stress level goes up, I begin having flare ups and inevitably get sick. I love doing things with others and being with people, I NEED that connection- but I have a limit and I know exactly what that limit is. The alone time balance is an absolute necessity for me, and it took a long time to learn that you can’t pour from an empty cup. I am emotionally intuitive and connect with the people and world around me emotionally before anything else, and that requires setting certain levels of boundaries or it can bowl me over. This can lead to bouts of depression and anxiety if I’m not careful. I have a small collection of very close and private friends that I hold near and dear to my heart and I protect them with badger-like loyal fierceness (see what I did there?). There are definite upsides to the pairing of Capricorn and Cancer, It’s not all ‘clash of the personalities’- I am not quite Golem. The water aspect of Cancer adds some fluidity and adaptability to my Capricorn side; and the Earth nature of a Capricorn helps me ground my emotions and gain perspective in moments of importance instead of letting them run away with me (I still have my meltdowns- but Capricorn says ‘lemon juice in your eyes? You don’t need your eyes to make lemonade, just keep juicing and rinse your eyeballs later.’). In some ways, my own internal conflict balances me out. 

Let’s move on to my Ascendant:

This is how the world sees you, your outward expression of yourself. The personality you present to the world.  For me, my ascendant is Scorpio. On one hand, this can be a difficult ascendant according to many; Scorpios can be abrupt, abrasive, and moody, and frequently struggle with negative, toxic, and emotionally obsessive states. On the other hand, Scorpio Ascendant can offer you magnetism and charisma as well as make you deeply perceptive. Let’s pick this one apart, shall we? I have always had best friends or worst enemies. I know I can be abrasive, and I suppose a lot of people probably consider my rapid-fire way of talking to be abrupt. Negative and emotionally obsessive states? Here’s the funny thing about that: I am probably one of the most upbeat, high energy, bubbly people I know, BUT the minute that ‘alone time’ tank dips too low- all of me dips. I go in waves. I always have. My brain gets in a ‘place’ and it frequently stays there for several weeks at a time until it works out a way to get out of it. I’m great at grounding other people (see Capricorn). I get in ‘I’m not enough’, ‘I can’t do this’, ‘the world is overwhelming and falling apart’ moods. I don’t know if I would call myself Magnetic or Charismatic necessarily, but my kindergarten teacher did tell my parents I was precocious (technically I don’t think it was meant a compliment). The fact of the matter is I tend to put myself out there, organize people, and take control of situations. I used to think it was a problem, especially as a little girl being labeled ‘bossy’ or ‘overbearing’ hurt. But the older I get and the more I learn about myself and other people the more I’m okay with it. I have had some luck in leadership and management roles, and I would like to think that the bit of leadership I have can be attributed to a combination of Charisma/ Magnetism, decisiveness, an emotionally perceptive understanding of others and a little bit of a mother hen caretaker habit.  

There is still so much more that I need a better understanding of and want to know more about because reflecting on what I already learned has led to some interesting insight and self-awareness. Things that you know about yourself but don’t always admit. Reading the explanations of things allowed me to pause and look at myself in a more pragmatic way. I had a few ‘oh my god, I DO that moments’ (some in excitement and some with a grimace). My next steps will be exploring my Mercury, Venus, and Mars and I hope you will join me for that.  

If you are interested in learning more but aren’t sure where to start, a fun exercise/ tool to help you find out your own is: Free Chart – Astrodienst 

From there you can go through the process of looking up and learning about the connotations behind your own Astrological relationships. Remember that this is a guide and intended to give you insight into your predispositions, but it does not dictate or limit who you are. If anything, this can be a tool to expose areas of your life that you may need to work on or stay on top of.  

All the best, Always, 

Mikaela 

What are the parts of a natal chart and what does each one represent? 

We talked about what astrology is a bit in a previous post. Feel free to reference our What is Astrology? post if you do not remember. But more than likely, if you are here, you have a basic idea of what astrology is and want to dig into its meat and potatoes. Brief recap though… 

Astrology looks at a snapshot of the celestial bodies in the sky at your birth and how that affects who you are and how you interact with/view the world around you. This snapshot is called your natal chart. 

To find your natal chart you need: 

1. Your time of birth (because every couple of minutes everything is shifting as the earth turns) 

2. Location of birth (because the sky looks different depending on where you are on the planet) 

3. Patience and research (or a free website- see a couple good ones listed in our What is Astrology? post)

Basic astrology takes into consideration 4 main things to give you your natal chart: 

• The planets (including the sun, moon, and Pluto) 
• The Zodiac signs which the plants are located in  
• The Houses 
• Aspects 

So back in the day (note I am saying this in an exaggerated old timer voice), astrologers would divide the heavens around us into 12 sections or archetypes. These are the 12 signs of the zodiac. Now we know (hopefully) that we are traveling around the sun, but from our perspective on Earth, it appears that the sun, moon, planets etc travel through the sky around us and as our observant ancestors noticed, it takes a certain amount of time for them to travel in set patterns “around” us. As astrologists tracked the path and patterns of celestial objects around the zodiac, they started noticing things like the fact that it takes the sun a year to make it through all 12 zodiacs and the moon a single month.  

Because the planets visual path across the sky is basically straight and “flat”, we can draw a 2D drawing to represent where everything is at a given time in the sky from our perspective at any given moment. We draw this as a circle and split that into 12 pieces like the ancient astronomers. Now imagine you lay down on the ground, look up at the sky and mark off exactly where all the planets are on that circle at the exact moment and location of your birth. Each one of those planets is in one of the 12 houses (will get into that in a later post). Because all the planets are in a circle, we can also look at the degrees of separation and the relationships between the planets on the chart (which is what we call aspects). Now if I look at the sky and chart this at 10pm in Seattle vs 10pm in Tokyo vs 4am in Tokyo, what I will see in the sky will be different each time which is why the time and location is key.  

Once all of this is drawn out, I now present to you…. your natal chart. 

It is still most likely a bit confusing which is I will be further diving into how that chart looks, the symbols, the houses, the aspects, elements, how to read the chart, etc in upcoming posts but for now let’s just talk about the 3 big pillars of the chart. The 3 big kahuna’s that most people have at least heard of even if they aren’t particularly interested in astrology or horoscopes.  

What is our sun, moon, and ascendant signs? What do they mean?  

Sun Sign 

When someone asks what your sign is, this is usually what they are referencing. Your sun sign is your core self, your basic identity, and who you are to the outside world. It can show us how we see ourselves. It is a very generic overview of ourselves, our path, purpose, personality, and ego. This is also the easiest sign for anyone to know since it can be determined just by knowing your date of birth. It takes the sun 12 months to move through all the astrological signs and so it is in each sign for a month.  

Moon Sign 

Your moon sign gives a much more in-depth look at your inner self and hidden potential. It is who we are in private and indicates what your comfort zones are. It will tell you about your subconscious side, your emotions, and your instinctive responses. To get your moon sign you need your birth date, birth time, and birthplace. Because the moon goes through a cycle much quicker than the sun, it only stays in a sign for 2 and a half days at a time making it a much more accurate sign.  

Ascendant/Rising Sign 

Even more narrowed down is your ascendant. Determined by your time of birth, it changes much more frequently than even your moon sign (think 30minutes to a couple of hours depending on how far away from the equator you are- remember the stars are different in Arizona vs Alaska!!!). This sign shows how we adapt to the environment around us, true inner nature, our outermost layers (like how we look which cracks me up still), and what first impression we leave on people. 

I can tell you that my sun sign is Pisces, my moon sign is Gemini, and I am an ascendant Leo. I am not going to get into my interpretation of what those mean to me yet BUT I will in the next couple posts as I further break out the zodiacs, planets, and houses and what their meanings are. I can tell you that astro café though does a FANTASTIC job of breaking out the meaning of your chart. I honestly felt a bit attacked with how accurate it was about parts of my personality, what makes me tick, and even how I act at my day job.  

Until next time,  

Taylor 

CHECK OUT THE FULL ASTROLOGY 101 SERIES:

• What is Astrology? Where Does One Start?
• Astrology Symbol Reference Page
• Astrology 101: What Is In Your Natal Chart?
• Astrology 101: Natal Chart Organization and Terminology
• Astrology 101: The 12 houses & Their Symbolism
• Astrology 101: The Energy of Planets and Other Celestial Bodies