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So first up, it’s very important to understand that your Sun sign, which is the sign you read for when you check your daily horoscope, really only represents part of your nature, even though popular culture puts so much emphasis on it. But there are actually eleven planets at play in any one birth chart (including the Sun, Moon, and North Node, which aren’t technically planets, but which astrologers treat as such), each of which has a bearing on said chart. As such, you also have a Venus sign, a Mercury sign, and so on.

And then there is your Rising sign, or Ascendant—the sign of the zodiac the Sun was rising in at the specific time of your birth—which also has a major role to play. Rising signs change every two hours, though, so it’s only possible to calculate your Rising sign if you happen to know, to the nearest two hours, what time you chose to come into the world. But if you don’t, never fear, it’s by no means essential for calculating your chart.

Which, thanks to the aforementioned wonders of the Internet, you can do for free online. In fact, if you haven’t already, go and do it now at www.astrostyle.com, the online home of the AstroTwins, where there’s a link on the homepage for you to “Do your chart for free.” If you don’t know your specific time of birth, you can just enter 12 P.M. (this won’t affect the other planetary aspects). It might also be a good idea to print it out, so you can take some notes.

Okay, got it? Good. And if you don’t have access to a computer right now, here’s what my chart looks like, to give you an idea:

Pretty technical looking, I know, and I’m not going to go into too much detail here. But there are four things to focus on for now.

First, see that circle in the middle? That’s you. Or, if you’re looking at my chart, that’s me. Hi! Yes, pretty egotistical, since IRL, the planets actually revolve around the Sun. But in our birth chart, we get to sit center stage.

Now, look at the outer ring of the chart. This is the Zodiac Wheel, and as you can see it’s divided into twelve sections, one for each SIGN of the zodiac, as denoted by the twelve different symbols or “glyphs” in the right-hand columns of the table opposite—which you may recognize from when you read your horoscope or see your Sun sign written about. My chart begins in Sagittarius on the left (or East) at “9 o’clock,” where it says “A.C.” (for Ascendant).

LEARNING NO. 1: The signs of the zodiac represent the different aspects of our personality, how we show up in the world and deal with situations.

Next up, you’ll see that the middle ring is also divided into twelve sections. These are the different HOUSES of the chart, and they’re numbered 1 to 12, beginning, again, at the nine o’clock position on the left. Each house is “ruled” by the sign it intersects—so my First house is ruled by Sagittarius, my Second house by Capricorn, my Third by Pisces (just), and so on. As such, each house will be colored by the personality of the sign it’s ruled by.

LEARNING NO. 2: The houses represent the different areas of life that we operate in—love, work, home and family, and so on.

Finally, check out the symbols floating in the different houses. These represent the PLANETS, and the chart is essentially like a screengrab of their position in the solar system at the time of our birth.

LEARNING NO. 3: The planets represent our motivation in life, the things that drive us to act.

Basic chart interpretation lies in learning how these three elements interact with one another—planet, house, and sign—as they show up in different combinations in each and every individual birth chart. Here are a couple of examples to help explain what I mean.

As you can see in my chart, Mercury is in Aries in the Fourth house. Since Mercury is the planet of communication, and Aries is the sign of passion and all things new, it makes sense that I’ve always felt compelled to write about the next big trends! In my Fourth house of home and family conditioning, this could speak to the fact I feel most productive writing in my home environment (in fact in every magazine job I had, I did all my actual writing at home), as well as the fact that I was always encouraged to read as a kid.

On a deeper level, the Fourth house also rules women’s issues, suggesting that my writing is destined to somehow impact the lives of women. Add my Moon (subconscious impulses and needs) being in Cancer (the sign ruling the feminine principle) in the deeply “mystical” Eighth house and, well, I bring you The Numinous. Um … confused yet?! As you are beginning to see, the “language” of astrology can get pretty complex, offering layers and layers of information to be interpreted. So, for now, let’s get back to basics.

Before I move on to an overview of the different areas covered by each planet, house, and sign, a quick word about the Rising sign and house positions if you don’t know your exact time of birth. Basically, it’s impossible to get an accurate read on these without a time—but you will still know which sign each planet is in, plenty to work with as you begin to get to know your chart.

So once again, the rule to remember is:

BASIC BIRTH CHART INTERPRETATION

Planet (motivation) + Sign (how you direct this) + House (the area of life where that motivation and effort will manifest).

As you’ll begin to see once I get into the traits of each planet, sign, and house of the zodiac below, there’s lots of crossover, all kinds of subtleties, and many, many different ways to interpret what the AstroTwins call this “three-part puzzle.” And besides bucket-loads of experience, I believe the most skilled astrologers employ a degree of intuition, tapping into the numinous nature of this mystical science, when interpreting a chart.

As Julia and Derek Parker write in their brilliant Parkers’ Astrology (a great beginner’s book for anybody serious about the study of astrology): “The art of interpreting a chart is to look much more deeply—to consider the many different aspects shown by planets and signs and their inter-relationships, and weigh them so that one mitigates or strengthens the effect of another. You can, in this way, discover an in-depth portrait of yourself that is astonishing in its light and shade, its subtlety and persuasiveness.”

And, well, if that’s the end goal, we all need to start somewhere—so here’s a cheat sheet for you to refer to as you begin to look at your own chart: