How to Read Your Birth Chart: A Beginner’s Guide

A Map Back to Yourself

I remember when I first started hearing about this whole “birth chart” thing. I looked mine up on Cafe Astrology and would read and read and reread the interpretations of my placements and what they meant for myself and my personality. What I was really doing was seeking answers. I wanted to know why certain things had happened, or kept happening, and what the heck I could do about it. 

But back then, I still didn’t really know what a birth chart really was. I didn’t understand what aspects were or what they meant. I didn’t understand degrees, and I had no idea what all the symbols were, and I had no idea what the numbers after the degrees even meant (they’re called minutes). There was so much that I didn’t know, so much that needed to be unpacked, and for me personally, that happened in layers. Each year I’d learn new things, and slowly, over time, it became this deeper understanding that led to more wisdom…more understanding…more knowing. I started discovering the why behind it all. 

And that, for me, is the power of astrology. It’s not about predicting when I’m going to fall in love or make tons of money, or finally have that career or life that I’ve been dreaming of….it’s the why. Because for me, it felt like for so long I was trapped in the cycle of what was happening that I couldn’t even breathe. The why set me free. Once you know your why, then you can stop being stuck…then you know the pattern. And once you deeply understand your patterns, then you can change them – or learn how to work with them instead of fighting them. 

What Is a Birth Chart in Astrology?

Seeing Your Life as a Tapestry of Symbols

When you first look at your birth chart, you might feel overwhelmed – and that’s totally okay! There are a lot of symbols, and some (or most) of them might be new to you. But what exactly is a birth chart in astrology, and why is it so important? Some people also call it an astrology chart or zodiac chart, but it all refers to the same snapshot of the sky when you were born.

In astrology, your birth chart is like a snapshot of the sky at the moment you were born. That’s why having an accurate time is so important! Your time determines what planets are in which houses, which further impacts your personality and energies that are inherent to you, as well as what energies are present in which areas of your life. 

Astrologers use your birth chart to help you discover key parts of your personality, different patterns that you’ll encounter because of your unique astrological chart, what parts of your life will be affected, and to then (hopefully) give you tips on how to work with those energies. 

How to Find Your Birth Chart

Opening the Door to Your Celestial Blueprint

The easiest way to find your birth chart, the easiest way is to run your own free natal birth chart using a birth chart calculator. It is a completely free tool that will tell you your placements. If you do decide to purchase their full report, I will receive a small commission from it (so thank you!).. It is a great report, but all that being said, it’s not the same thing as a customized interpretation that takes into account your own lived experience. So, it’ll show you your placements, but if you’re craving more depth, then I encourage you to book a private reading. 

Key Elements of Your Chart 

Houses, Signs, and the Story They Tell

When you first look at your natal birth chart, you’ll see that it’s made up of planets, houses, and zodiac signs—each offering insights into your unique patterns and experiences They each tell a story of your own unique personality, experiences, what you’re here to do in this world, and how you can live your best life. At least, that’s my interpretation of it all. 

Let’s start with the basics. You’ve probably heard of the signs before (i.e. your bestie being a Taurus, wink wink). There are 12 signs: Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius. Each of the signs are divided into different groups based on element and modality. The elements are earth, air, fire, and water. The modalities are cardinal, fixed, and mutable. So, for instance, Taurus is a fixed earth sign. Pisces is a mutable water sign, so on and so forth. The modalities represent different phases in the seasonal cycle, whereas the elements describe the different characteristics and behaviors of each sign. 

The birth chart houses is another topic you’ll hear about from astrologers. There are 12 houses of astrology as well, and each house represents a different area of your life. Here’s a quick snippet of what each house represents:

• 1st house: public image, ego, and identity

• 2nd house: money, possessions, values, and skills

• 3rd house: house of siblings, learning, and mental activity

• 4th house: your home, roots, parents, and inner security

• 5th house: creativity, romance, children, fun activities

• 6th house: health, work and work habits, house of service and self-improvement

• 7th house: marriage and partnerships

• 8th house: shared resources, sex, death, letting go

• 9th house: travel, philosophy, higher education

• 10th house: career, reputation, status, purpose

• 11th house: social groups, friends, goals, aspirations

• 12th house: spirituality, subconscious, dreams, self-sabotage, solitude 

  
  

What is a Birth Chart Rising Sign?

Maybe you’ve heard of this thing called a rising sign in astrology. And maybe you haven’t. Sometimes it’s referred to as your ascendant in astrology. They mean the same thing. Your birth chart rising sign is the sign that was coming just over the horizon at the exact moment that you were born. This sign is the ruler of your first house, the house of your personal identity. In order to know your birth chart rising sign, you need to know your exact time of birth because that’s what determines your rising sign, and consequentially, the signs that make up the rest of your houses. 

If you don’t know your rising sign, then you’ll still be able to know which planets are in what sign, but you won’t be able to know what house they’re in because the ascendant determines the houses of your chart. Even a slightly incorrect birth time can affect your rising sign. Each zodiac sign takes up approximately two hours of the 24 hour cycle. So let’s say that you’re guessing that you were born at 11am, but you were actually born at 10:42am. That could be the difference between having a Libra rising sign and a Scorpio rising sign–big difference and you know what I mean if you’ve ever had a Libra and a Scorpio as a friend. If you’ve ever known a Scorpio, and in contrast, a Libra, then you know what I mean. This is why you need to know your exact birth time to have the best possible interpretation of your chart. Your rising sign is also used with your sun and moon sign. Together, your Sun, Moon, and Rising—sometimes called your ‘Sun Moon Rising’—create a fuller picture of your personality.

The Significance of Birth Chart Degrees

Birth chart degrees is another initially confusing but very telling part of astrology. The degrees in astrology essentially determine how far along you are in your understanding of the lessons you’re meant to learn in that sign and of the house (place) where you’re meant to learn them. The zodiac wheel makes up 360 degrees, and each zodiac takes up 30 degrees of the wheel. 

So what actually is the significance of birth chart degrees? Essentially, they add nuance to how that energy is actually expressed within a person’s personality and life. Not only that, they also are an important factor in determining the aspects in a persons chart. For instance, you’d need to be able to know what degree a planet is at within a sign to be able to know if it’s squaring, conjunct, opposing, making a trine, or a sextile to another planet in the chart. 

There are also certain degrees considered to be “critical degrees,” which can also be important. In my astrology readings, I always look for critical degrees because I think of them as important flavors of our life. Here are the critical degrees:

0° : I look at this as the beginning. When a planet is at zero degrees in your chart, it’s at its purest energy. And, depending on the planet, this can be a really fun lesson, or potentially challenging. It also depends on your general disposition. This can create a lot of enthusiasm in someone. It’s like, when you first pick up a hobby and are super into it and you work at it all the time and are super pumped about it. 

29° : This is the degree of endings, culminations. You’ve learned everything that this planet had to teach you, and your soul is closing this chapter. That being said, sometimes when planets are in the higher degrees 24-29, this can also create arrogance and a know-it-all demeanor. Others just can’t do it the way that you can. 

13-16° : For me, when I see planets in these degrees, I personally see this as the inbetween phase. It’s like…It’s like a 13-year-old who’s sure they already know everything. They’re determined to figure it out on their own, even if you’re gently saying, ‘You’re not quite ready yet.’ That push and pull is part of the journey to mastery.

Birth Chart Aspects & Transits

Moments of Change and Growth

Birth chart aspects and natal birth chart transits are another thing you just have to know about when it comes to interpreting your birth chart. Birth chart analysis involves looking at these aspects together to understand the larger story of your chart. Aspects in astrology occur when one planet forms a special relationship with another planet in your chart. There are five major aspects in astrology (trine, sextile, conjunction, opposition, square), and several minor aspects (semi-sextile, inconjunct, quintile, semi-square, and sesquiquadrate. 

Depending on the reading, I’ll focus on either of the aspects - major or minor. The minor aspects give slightly more detail, however many astrologers primarily focus on the major aspects because those are the ones that many astrologers believe determine the more important patterns of our lives. For instance, when Pluto is square to your natal Sun, it’s seen as more important (or has a greater effect) than if Pluto is making a semi-square to your natal Sun, which would be seen as more of a minor challenge. Although personally for me, I think Pluto making any sort of more challenging aspect to any of the planets is intense, but that’s just me. I have a love-hate relationship with Pluto.

Transits are another huge topic in astrology. Now, your birth chart is a snapshot of the planets at the time of your birth. But transits are the ongoing process of the movement of the planets and how they interact with your natal chart. These planets can also form aspects with the planets in your natal chart, which can create special energies. As a real life example, we have this huge year of astrology. So many outer planets have changed signs in 2025. Uranus is the most recent one. It changed signs from Taurus into Gemini. It changes signs roughly every 7 years, so with there being 12 signs, it takes 84 years for it to return to a sign it’s already been in. The last time Uranus was in Gemini was in 1941, the start of World War II. 

But…enough history for now. For this, you want to look at not only where Uranus falls in your chart, but also Gemini. During the time that Uranus is in Gemini, it will make aspects to other planets you have in your chart. Uranus is the planet of change and revolution, so this might cause some shake-ups in your life. For instance, if Gemini is in your 10th house, house of career, then you might start to change how you work. Maybe you’ll change jobs, pivot your role, or have something else happen. You’ll want to know if it’s making squares versus trines because that will tell you whether this will feel more positive or if it’ll feel challenging. 

Should You Run Your Birth Chart Through ChatGPT?

Technology Meets Tradition

Okay, so this is something that I am really excited to talk about because I haven’t really heard a ton of other astrologers talk about it. Should you run your birth chart info through AI, like ChatGPT? This is a HUGE topic because what we’re actually addressing here is multifold.

For me, the biggest thing is security. ChatGPT and other AI platforms are open source. So, anything that you put in there is public information and can get hacked. Your birth chart is extremely personal. And I don’t mean this from an “oh no, now they know your rising sign and will know how to manipulate you” sort of way. I mean this as, you are inputting your date of birth, place of birth, and time of birth into it. That is extremely valuable information for someone to have in order to steal your information - identity, finances, etc. Please don’t put your personal info like that in ChatGPT or other AI platforms. It’s just not safe.

To show you just how much information is out there in these platforms, there’s a profession called OSINT, and it stands for Open Source Intelligence. These pros are paid to go out and collect information through publicly available channels, now definitely including ChatGPT, about criminals and people they’re building cases on. On the other hand, many reputable astrology websites and professional software programs store your data securely, so if you’re concerned about privacy, be sure to use trusted platforms.

That all being said, once you get your placements, you can definitely put them in ChatGPT or other platforms, but you’ll always want to double check for accuracy. What I’ve personally noticed is that ChatGPT and other platforms tend to get things wrong. So, you’ll upload screenshots of your placements or type them in, they’ll repeat it back, and then you’ll have to correct them. And it happens often. It’s really time consuming (and frustrating). Even with a super strong prompt I’ve had this happen. I love AI, I use it often, and I’ve taken classes on how to use it effectively, and it’s still not super accurate. 

Tips for Accurate Birth Chart Reading

Your Birth Chart as an Invitation to Evolve

An accurate birth chart reading really depends on whether you know your exact time, date, and place of birth. I personally don’t believe in predictive astrology. I do believe in what I call hindsight astrology. So sometimes, what I’ve noticed is that when I’m going through a specific transit or pattern, I have this resistance to it. But when I look back on things, I can see that the energy and lesson of that aspect or transit was there…I just didn’t want to see or accept it. 

I see the birth chart, transits, and astrology in general as an invitation to evolve. It’s like therapy. It helps you get to know yourself better, and that just can’t be a bad thing in my opinion. Once you know your patterns, how you operate, the things you’re meant to learn and do in the world, along with your inherent strengths and weaknesses, it can help things in your life run a bit more smoothly. That’s especially important when you are having more challenging aspects. And who wouldn’t want that!? 

If you’d like to explore your chart in more depth, you can book a private reading or sign up for my free guide to start your journey. Your birth chart isn’t a prescription—it’s an invitation. You get to decide what feels true for you. As you explore, remember: clarity is the first step toward liberation.