Astrology Lessons

Basic Chart Interpretation

by Tim Wilson
guest writer

Understanding how to do astrological interpretation offers everyone a chance to fully understand their own and other people's character. However, most methods of teaching astrology force people to memorize planetary placements, study the solar system, learn complex astrological and astronomical facts, etc. As a result, many people think learning astrology is "too complex" for them.

Actually, the basics of astrology are simple and easily learned. This website will guide a person through six easy steps (taken from the ideas of Stephen Arroyo and several other astrologers) which give the basic information needed to begin interpreting astrological charts.

First, either get out an astrological chart to interpret or create an astrological chart. Use an astrological website such as Astrodienst or a chart-making program to create the chart. If using Astrodienst, on the "free horoscope" page scroll down to the section marked "Chart drawing, Ascendant" and click on it.

Follow the instructions on Astrodienst to enter the person's birth information. If possible, use the birth time on a birth certificate. If a birth certificate is not available, ask those who were present at the birth. However, this time will tend to be less accurate than a birth certificate.

After the instructions on Astrodienst are completed, a birth chart will appear on the page.

Inner and Outer Focus in Chart Interpretation

Astrology Lesson 1 - Basic Chart Interpretation

The astrological chart is a big circle with a lot of lines running through it. Two of the lines are darker than the other lines and divide the chart into four sections. For right now, only look at the line which divides the chart into a top part and a bottom part. This top and bottom to the chart symbolizes an outer world focus (top part) and an inner world focus (bottom part).

Count the number of pictures in the circle (one looks like a circle with a dot inside it, one looks a little like a fork, etc.), but ignore the picture that looks like a key and the picture that looks like an upside down horseshoe. There are a total of 10 pictures.

Now count the number of pictures below the line and the number of pictures above the line. If there are more pictures below the line than above, the chart has an inner world focus (i.e., introverted). If there are more pictures above the line than below it, the chart has an outer world focus (i.e., extroverted). If there are the exact same number of pictures below the line as above it, then the chart has a balanced focus (neither introverted nor extroverted).

This chart has four pictures above the middle line and six pictures below. Since there are more pictures below than above, this chart has an inner world focus. A person who has such a chart, although they may be out in the outer world, will most likely tend to be focused on their own inner world of personal concerns.

This chart is exactly opposite: it has six pictures above the middle line and four pictures below. Since there are more pictures above than below, this chart has an outer world focus. A person who has such a chart, although they may be very concerned about their own innere world issues, will most likely find that these personal issues focus on the needs and concerns of the outer world.

Finally, this chart is exactly balanced: it has five pictures above the middle line and five pictures below. Since there are the same number of pictures above as below, this chart has a balanced focus. A person who has such a chart will most likely be both concerned about the issues of their own inner world along with the issues of the outer world.

After you have completed and reviewed the first lesson, click on "Second Lesson" at the bottom of the page when you are ready to go to the next lesson. Click on "Introductory Page" to restart the lessons.

Self and Other Focus in Chart Interpretation

Astrology Lesson 2 - Basic Chart Interpretation

After a person understands the basic inner/outer focus of the chart, the next step is to take a look at the dark line which divides the chart into a left-hand part and a right-hand part. The left and right sides to the chart indicate focus either on self (left part) or based on other (other people) (right part).

Again count the pictures in the circle, except now count how many pictures are left of the line and how many are right of the line. If there are more pictures on the left of the line than the right, this person is focused on their own efforts. If there are more pictures to the right of the line than to the left of it, this person is focused on help from other people. If there are the exact same number of pictures to the left of the line as to the right, then this person depends equally on themselves as well as on other people.

This chart has six pictures to the left of the dividing line and four pictures to the right. Since there are more pictures to the left than to the right, this person is focused on themselves. This person, although they may take other people into account, focuses on themself.

This chart above is exactly opposite: it has four pictures to the left of the middle line and six pictures to the right. Since there are more pictures to the right than to the left, this person tends to take focus on the efforts of others. This person, although they may have an interest in themself and their own interests, focuses on other people.

This chart is exactly balanced: it has five pictures to the left of the middle line and five pictures to the right. Since there are the same number of pictures to the left as to the right, this person has a balanced approach to theself and others. This person will take into consideration both themselves and other people.

After you have completed and reviewed the Second Lesson, click on "Third Lesson" at the bottom of the page when you are ready to go to the next lesson. Click on "First Lesson" to return to the previous lesson or on "Introductory Page" to restart the lessons.

Inner, Outer, Self, and Other Combined

Astrology Lesson 3 - Basic Chart Interpretation

After a person understands both the basic inner/outer focus of the chart and the self/other focuses of the chart, the next step is to combine this understanding to gain an understanding of the chart as a whole.

Notice that by combining all the information, there are four points on the chart where the behaviors mentioned previously are most evident in a chart. The point marked Nadir (sometimes called the IC) is the farthest from the outer (upper) portion of the chart while still remaining evenly balanced between the self (left-hand side) and other (right-hand side) portions of the chart, and the point marked Midheaven (sometimes referred to as MH or MC in a chart) is the farthest from the inner (lower) portion of the chart while still remaining evenly balanced between the self (left-hand side) and other (right-hand side)portions of the chart.

Similarly the point marked Ascendant (sometimes referred to as ASC or AC in a chart) is the farthest from the other (right-hand side) portion of the chart while still remaining evenly balanced between the inner (lower) and outer (upper) portions of the chart, and the point marked Descendant (sometimes called DC in a chart) is the farthest from the self (left-hand side) portion of the chart while still remaining evenly balanced between the inner (lower) and outer (upper) portions of the chart.

As a result the Nadir indicates the inner (world), the Midheaven indictates the outer (world), the Ascendant is an indicator of the self, and the Descendant is an indicator of other (people) in an astrological chart.

Following these four points around the chart, beginning from the part on the above chart marked "Ascendant," there is a movement from "self" to "inner" to "other" to "outer" and back to "self." This movement from a self focus to an outer world focus and back again to a self is symbolic of a person's developmental stages.

The first stage is the "Beginnings" stage, when a new-born person begins to move from a "self" focus to a "inner" focus. This stage is when a person is just born and beginning to discover themselves and their own effect on the world (through crying, laughing, staring, etc.) As they try to learn about themselves they develop an intense focus about finding out about their own inner feelings.

After these inner feelings are understood, they begin to examine how the outside world affects them personally. This is indicated by a movement from an "inner" focus to an "other" focus. During this "Development" stage they are developing who they will be and trying out their interactions with others to see what actions gets them what they want and what actions need to be changed so they will get them what they want.

After the inner world has been fully explored in this way, it is time to begin the next stage of life, when the person takes their new-found knowledge of how to interact with others and begins to apply them to meet others needs. This "Achievement" stage marks the beginning of an awareness in the importance of a person's helping others to get what they want. It is indicated by a movement from an "other" focus to an "outer" focus as the person uses their personal understanding of other people to better understand the needs and motivations from the other person's point of view. As these other-focused skills are learned the person moves farther away from simply satisfying their own needs and increasingly focuses on helping other people solve their problems.

Finally, the person has achieved the goals of the others in their life and begins to look for ways to combine their knowledge of how to help others with their own need to help themselves. This begins the final stage, the "Maturity" stage, in which the lessons learned in life are finally used and applied to help both other people and the person themselves. This is indicated by a movement from an "outer" focus to a return to a "self" focus.

If a majority of a person's pictures are located in one of these four sections Beginnings, Development, Achievement, or Maturity, it indicates that the person is focused on one of these four developmental stages. For example, in the chart above, more of the pictures are focused in the first section, "Beginnings" than in the other three sections. This person focuses most on developing themself personally, without depending on others to assist.

In this chart, more of the pictures are focused in the second section, "Development" than in the other three sections. This person focuses most on developing their personal relations with others, and are dependent on others to assist them achieve the chart owner's goals.

In this chart, more of the pictures are focused in the third section, "Achievement" than in the other three sections. This person focuses most on developing an awareness of interrelating with other people based on what the other person wants from them, and tries to help others get what they want.

In this chart, more of the pictures are focused in the fourth section, "Maturity" than in the other three sections. This person focuses most on using their understanding of the needs of others to help them achieve goals which help themselves.

After you have completed and reviewed the Third Lesson, click on "Fourth Lesson" when you are ready to go to the next lesson, click on "Second Lesson" if you wish to return to the previous lesson. Click on "Introductory Page" to restart the lessons.

The Chart as a Whole

Astrology Lesson 4 - Basic Chart Interpretation

After a person understands how the four quadrants of the chart fit together, it is time to look at the chart as a whole. Instead of looking at the chart as if it were made up of only four sections, it is now time to look at all twelve sections of the chart.

The first step in understanding the chart as a whole is to understand that each of the four sections of the chart (Beginnings, Development, Achievement, and Maturity) are each divided into three sections (Action, Security, and Learning). This pattern of Action, Security, and Learning repeats itself for each of the four sections.

Any pictures in a chart which are located in one of these three sections will indicate either Action, Security, or Learning issues, depending on which section the pictures are in. If the pictures in the chart are in the Action section they indicate taking action, if in the Security section they indicate achieving security, and if in the Learning section they indicate continuous learning.

The next step to understanding the chart as a whole is to understand that every section in a chart has two layers: in addition to the Action, Security, and Learning layer mentioned above, there is also a layer about Identity, Material, Social, and Emotional issues.

Pictures which are located in these four sections in the chart indicate Identity, Material, Social, and Emotional issues, depending on which section the pictures are in. If the pictures in the chart are in the Identity section; issues focus on who a person is and why; if a picture is in a Material section, issues focus on finding a way of understanding things directly using the five senses (touch, smell, taste, feel, and sight); if a picture is in a Social section, issues focus on the interrelation of one person with another; and if the pictures are in an Emotional section, issues focus on how a person feels about another person or situation.

Laying these sections on top of each other forms a complete area. The first area in the "Beginnings" section is focused both on "Identity" and "Action." The second area in the "Beginnings" section is focused on both "Material" and "Security." The third area in the "Beginnings" section is focused on both "Social" and "Learning."

The first area in the "Development" section is focused on both "Emotional" and "Action." The second area in the "Development" section is focused on both "Identity" and "Security." The third area in the "Development" section is focused on both "Material" and "Learning."

The first area in the "Achievement" section is focused on both "Social" and "Action." The second area in the "Achievement" section is focused on both "Emotional" and "Security." The third area in the "Achievement" section is focused on both "Identity" and "Learning."

The first area in the "Maturity" section is focused on both "Material" and "Action." The second area in the "Maturity" section is focused on both "Social" and "Security." The third area in the "Maturity" section is focused on both "Emotional" and "Learning."

Finally, to simplify the understanding of each area, combine these "double meanings" into one "keyword" to use when describing what that area focuses on. "Identity Action" becomes "Being," "Material Security" becomes "Physical," "Social Learning" becomes "Thinking," "Emotional Action" becomes "Home," "Identity Security" becomes "Self-expression," "Material Learning" becomes "Daily Work," "Social Action" becomes "Relationships," "Emotional Security" becomes "Transformation," "Identity Learning," becomes "Expansion," "Material Action" becomes "Duty," "Social Security" becomes "Friends," and "Emotional Learning" becomes "Spiritual" (the graphic above shows how the "keywords" relate to the areas of the chart).

These "keywords" are only suggestions and each person can create their own "keywords" which are particularly meaningful to them. However, the list above is the list of "keywords" which will be used in the next steps of this lesson.

After you have completed and reviewed the Fourth Lesson, click on "Fifth Lesson" when you are ready to go to the next lesson, click on "Third Lesson" if you wish to return to the previous lesson. Click on "Introductory Page" to restart the lessons.

Adding in the Pictures

Astrology Lesson 5 - Basic Chart Interpretation

This completes the explanation of the areas in the chart. It is now time to revisit the pictures in the chart. In order to understand how these pictures work in a chart interpretation it is important to understand that each picture gets its "keyword" from an area of the chart. There are only two cases in which one picture gets its "keyword" from two different chart areas. Picture 1 gets its "keywords" from both the "Physical" and "Relationships" chart areas. And Picture 2 gets its "keywords" from both the "Thinking" and "Daily Work" chart areas. (The graphic above shows how the "keywords" relate to the pictures and areas of the chart).

A few astrological terms now need to be learned because another type of pictures needs to be understood. The pictures which have been mentioned up to now are called "planets" (planets are the pictures on the inside of the circle in the above graphic). The new pictures which need to be understood are called "signs" (signs are the pictures on the outside of the circle in the above graphic). Each sign also gets its "keyword" from an area of the chart.

The final piece of astrological information to learn is that the "areas" of the chart are called "houses." The graphic above shows how the 12 "keywords" relate to each of the signs, planets, and houses: there is one "keyword" for each sign/planet/house combination. In the above graphic the signs are listed on the outside of the circle, the planets are listed on the inside of the circle, and the meanings are listed between the sign and planet, and in the house where the sign/planet/house "keyword" applies. In interpreting a chart it helps to learn the "astro-sentence:" the "sign" modifies the "planet" and is focused on the "house" (if there is no sign next to the planet in the chart, more help is needed to read the signs of the chart).

To read the chart in this example use the "astro-sentence" just mentioned: the sign modifies the planet and is focused on the house. So in this example the person this chart refers to has a home (sign) modifying a transformation (planet) focused on the physical (house).

There are many ways this energy could actually appear in a person's life: perhaps this person is continually rebuilding their home to make it bigger and more secure, maybe this person continually adds to their home to make sure it is always increasing in value, or another possibility is this person has had domestic abuse (a negative form of transformation) and now is trying to regain a sense of physical safety. The emphasis on safety in these interpretations refers to a previous lesson: this is the house of "material security."

One more example of the same idea. To read the chart in this example again use the "astro-sentence:" the sign modifies the planet and is focused on the house. So in this example the person this chart refers to is does thinking (sign) which modifies their being (planet) focused on expansion (house).

There are many ways this energy could actually appear in a person's life: perhaps the person is continually thinking of new ways to exist that make them more powerful, maybe this person plans parties all the time (expansive being), or another possibility is this person thinks about nasty things to do (thinking being plus this planet focuses on "identity action") to everyone (expansion).

Whether some or any of these interpretations apply to the person is only known to the person. An astrologer can only learn from a chart is the type of energy a person has: what the person does with their energy depends on their choices.

After you have completed and reviewed the Fifth Lesson, click on "Sixth Lesson" when you are ready to go to the next lesson, click on "Fourth Lesson" if you wish to return to the previous lesson. Click on "Introductory Page" to restart the lessons.

How Sign/Planet/House Meanings Interact with Each Other

Astrology Lesson 6 - Basic Chart Interpretation

As was mentioned in another part of this lesson, astrology works in layers. One layer is the signs, another is the houses, and another is the planets. These layers combine to form a sign/planet/house meaning. This would be all a person needed to know if these sign/planet/house meanings acted by themselves: there would be a total of 10 different meanings for a chart (since there are 10 planets in the chart) and a person who understood all 10 meanings would fully understand themselves. But in addition to their own meanings, sign/planet/house meanings interact with each other.

All the charts used in these steps have had houses of different sizes. To understand how sign/planet/house meanings interact with each other, it is important to look at how the chart would look if it had equal houses. A little basic math is needed to describe this. The chart is a circle. The distance around any circle is 360 degrees. To divide 12 houses evenly around a circle, the total number of degrees is divided by the number of houses. 360 divided by 12 equals 30 and so each house is 30 degrees (30o) in size. Sign/planet/house interactions in a chart are based on the idea of 30 degree houses.

The interactions between planets are based on the angles created by drawing a line between the beginning of one house and the beginning of a different house. As indicated above, sign/planet/house meanings combine with each other when they are 0 degrees apart, work easily with each other when they are 60 degrees apart (30 + 30), need to be combined with each other when they are 90 degrees apart (30 + 30 + 30), work very easily with each other when they are 120 degrees apart (30 + 30 + 30 + 30), need to be corrected in how they interact when they are 150 degrees apart (30 + 30 + 30 + 30 + 30), and are over-excited with each other when they are 180 degrees apart (30 + 30 + 30 + 30 + 30 + 30). In the drawing above the pictures for these interactions are placed on top of the lines. Each pictures is different from each other: one looks like a triangle, one like a square, one like a star, etc.

If the chart used was created from the Astrodienst site or if there are no squares, triangles, stars, etc. drawn on top of the lines connecting the sign/planet/house energies in the chart, there is an additional step to do before interpreting the energies between sign/planet/house energies.

To read this chart, first use the "astro-sentence" to describe each energy. One energy is expansion (sign) home (planet) focused on being (house). The other energy is spiritual (sign) duty (planet) focused on home (house). Now add in the interactions between the two energies. The person this chart refers to has expansion of the home focused on being which needs to be combined with (interaction) spiritual duty focused on the home.

There are many ways these energies could actually appear in a person's life: perhaps the person wants to have a nicer home for themselves but also wants to make sure that the new home fits in with their religious lifestyle, maybe this person is happiest personally building homes and insists that the people who use the homes they build have a certain spiritual lifestyle, or another possibility is that this person uses their own home-made ways of believing (since the sign focuses on identity learning) and comes over to other people's homes to emotionally (since the house focuses on emotional action) force these ideas on them.

As a final example, look at the chart above. To read this chart, first use the "astro-sentence" to describe each energy. One energy is being (sign) friends (planet) focused on thinking (house). The other energy is self-expression (sign) physical/relationships (planet) focused on relationships (house). Now combine the interactions between the two energies. The person this chart refers to is (being) friendly and is focused on thinking and this energy goes very easily with (interaction) self-expressive physical issues/relationships focused on relationships.

There are many ways these energies could actually appear in a person's life: perhaps the person thinks of themselves as a great friend and very easily forms relationships with others as a way to express themselves, maybe this person is talks (expressive thinking) about themselves to everyone (they believe everyone is their friend) and this impresses (positive reception of their self-expression) others who then want to form a relationship with the person, or another possibility is that this person uses their friends to find out facts (since the house focuses on social learning) which they use to introduce themselves to other people (self-expression combined with relationships) to form relationships.

The basic astrological interpretation lesson is now complete.

Final Thoughts

Understanding the Astrological Chart

Using "keywords" makes it is easy to interpret a person's astrological chart. However, understanding what the chart actually means begins with finding out how the sign/planet/house interactions work in a person's life. Create the "astro-sentence" for each planetary energy in the person's astrological chart. Find out when this energy has been helpful to the person and when this energy has not been that helpful. Help the person strengthen the helpful interactions and rethink the not-so-helpful interactions. Using astrological knowledge, help the person grow and develop to their full potential.

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