Intro to Astrology for Beginners: Part 1
I’m just gonna cut to the chase, that’s what you’re here for anyway. Astrology is beautiful and blah blah blah anyway:
Please continue to reference this chart to help you break into how a Natal Chart looks. Not that other bullshit you see. This is how a chart is supposed to look:
Let’s start, we have signs. This is the Astrological order they fall in from youngest sign to oldest sign:
Aries
Taurus
Gemini
Cancer
Leo
Virgo
Libra
Scorpio
Sagittarius
Capricorn
Aquarius
Pisces
No, your Sun sign being older doesn’t mean wiser. We are all of the signs in our chart. If you don’t understand don’t worry because it leads me to:
Houses
Your Natal Chart has 12 Signs, all components of the Zodiac, you have, but not limited to:
1H/Ascendent (ASC): Self/How you look
1H Article Here (Advanced): https://www.taisoleil.com/articles/2021/8/19/6oneo41nnjit3qm5wqvsldwxjtd63u
2H: Money/Property
3H: Communication/Neighbors/Short Term Plans
4H/IC: Family/Ancestors
5H: Children/Creativity/Fun
6H: Work/Illness/Routines/Habits
6H and 12H article here (Advanced): https://www.taisoleil.com/articles/2021/3/9/10deso6kwkhyrybadnemk8vk47xbs6
7H/Descendant/DSC: Marriage/Business Partnerships/Contracts/Known Enemies
8H: Debt/Losses/Death
9H: Higher Learning/College/Long Term Plans/Higher Self
10H/Midheaven/MC: Career/Social Media Presence/Business
11H: Friends/Wishes/Hopes
12H: The Unknown/ Spiritual Reason why things happen
These houses either have planets in them or they’re empty. Empty houses doesn’t mean that they are inactive. It carries the sign and planetary rulership of that house. More about empty houses can be found here:
Also, there are House Systems. You’ll commonly see these 3:
Placidus: Where the ASC starts the 1H where the degree of your Ascendant is. This means you can have 12H energy in both parts of a sign. The 1H Is where your ASC starts unless your ASC is at 0°. I personally hate this system for beginners. You’ll can see duplicate houses here as well as houses that wont show up in the system regardless of how it looks in a chart. Also, you’ll notice how some houses are bigger than others. This house system is basically following the movement of the Sun. This is only, to me, great for advanced people trying to do Horary, which I cover here (advanced): https://www.taisoleil.com/articles/2021/2/18/067u7olqkfe8z6o7c0k4uk3fadq1es
Whole Signs: The 1H is where your ASC is, and covers the whole sign of your ASC. Each house will only have one sign as their domain. You’ll sometimes see the MC in the 9H or 11H, but consider the energy transposed there and combines with the energy of the 10H. Same with the IC being in the 3H and 4H. You’ll commonly see this with us Sidereal/Jyoyish folk.
More about Sidereal: https://www.taisoleil.com/articles/2021/4/10/uaofn0yg873ivd8cm9qbidl285rbu8?rq=Sidereal
How to pull up a Sidereal Chart: https://youtu.be/icHzc3AMqWE
You’ll rarely see Equal Houses, but the difference between this and Placidus is the rising the marker for what degree each house will be. So for example if the Rising starts at 3.29°, each house is 3.29° except for the MC and IC. Idk why people use it. This is just information for you.
You’ll also notice the movement of the planets and houses. The planets move counterclockwise, the angles move clockwise.
What’s the difference between the ASC/1H, DSC/7H, MC/10H, and IC/4H?
The difference is the ASC, DSC, MC, AND IC are all angles that are apart of the houses. They can be transposed in whole signs. The ASC represents the horizon where the sun rises, the DSC is the same, but represents the point where the sun sets. It’s like how the sun rises (ASC) in the east and sets in the west (DSC). The MC is the course of the sun in the day time at the highest point, the IC is the suns movement when it’s night time. This determines whether or not your chart is a day or night chart too. The Sun over the ASC is daytime. If it’s below the ASC, it’s night time. I talk more about Day/Night Charts here (warning, advanced): https://www.taisoleil.com/articles/2022/1/1/i2kju6vxvxw3fd8o4nui2a2ec8dudr
The 1H, 4H, 7H, and 10H are domains you won’t find transposed like angles in whole signs, unless it’s Placidus where you’ll see a house occupying two signs.
This leads me to:
Planets
There are 10 planets:
Sun
Moon
Mercury
Venus
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto
Each Planet rules a sign:
Inner Planets
Sun - Leo
Moon - Cancer
Mercury - Gemini/Virgo
Venus - Taurus/Libra
Mars - Aries/Scorpio
Jupiter - Sagittarius
Pisces (Traditional Astrology)
Saturn - Capricorn
Aquarius (Traditional Astrology)
Outer Planets
Uranus - Aquarius (Modern Astrology)
Neptune - Pisces (Modern Astrology)
Pluto - Scorpio (Modern Astrology)
The reason why there’s traditional and modern astrology is basically because Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto weren’t discovered until later in Astrology. People debate about which system is better. I…Don’t care. I use traditional astrology but I still use the outer planets. I just give the outer planets no rulership. As you improve you’ll find out what your preferences are, just keep this in mind. Note that only a planet can rule a sign, not the other way around.
Each sign has an opposite:
Aries/Libra
Taurus/Scorpio
Gemini/Sagittarius
Cancer/Capricorn
Leo/Aquarius
Virgo/Pisces
Planet Opposites
Mercury/Jupiter
Sun/Saturn
Moon/Saturn
Venus/Mars
Planetary conditions is how well a planet is doing. There’s levels to this shit. This is from most to least powerful:
Domicile
Exaltation
Fall
Detriment
Domicile: Natural Rulerships
Sun - Leo
Moon - Cancer
Mercury - Gemini/Virgo
Venus - Taurus/Libra
Mars - Aries/Scorpio
Jupiter - Sagittarius
Pisces (Traditional Astrology)
Saturn - Capricorn
Aquarius (Traditional Astrology)
Exaltation
This is where a planet does well, not as good as domicile, but still pretty well. Think of this as second best energy. Good enough. A planet will be okay and familiar with this planet. This only works with traditional planets:
Sun - Aries
Moon - Taurus
Mercury - Virgo
Venus - Pisces
Jupiter- Cancer
Saturn - Libra
Article about Saturn in Libra here (Warning, advanced: https://www.taisoleil.com/articles/2020/1/18/ksj49d0jje9z98bnl13avfr7okjxd8?rq=Libra%20)
Fall
Fall placements are the signs exaltation opposite sign. This is 3 star motel placements. Good, but can be better:
Sun - Libra
Moon - Scorpio
Mercury - Pisces
Venus - Virgo
Jupiter - Capricorn
Saturn - Aries
Detriment
This is the “Why the fuck am I in this shit” placement. Planet hates it here but that doesn’t mean that you’re bad or whatever so don’t think that. It’s just you have to work extra hard to live your best life! Think of it as high maintenance energy. The planets conflict here because it’s the domiciles opposite of that planetary ruler and sign:
Sun - Aquarius
Moon - Capricorn
Mercury - Pisces
Venus - Aries/Scorpio
Jupiter - Gemini/Virgo
Saturn - Leo/Cancer
Planets also do well in certain houses, called planetary joys:
Sun: 9H
Moon: 3H
Mercury: 1H
Venus: 5H
Mars: 6H
Jupiter: 11H
Saturn: 12H
Now you’re starting to see the limitations modern astrology has. None of the outer planets have rulerships. Doesn’t make it less valid tho! I talk about planetary joys but I’ll be sure to make an article and link it here when I’m done.
Now, let’s get into aspects. Aspects are now two planets interact.
Major aspects:
Conj - adds characteristics to whatever other planet it is in contact with! Conj are found with planets of the same sign or different signs depending on the degrees.
Opposition - bringing two things together because in some way, they understand each other, they just go about it differently. Basically the planetary opposites I was telling you about.
Trine - Natural talents/ability. Trines usually happen when they with the same element (Aries, Leo, Sag) (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) and etc
Sextile - Traits you’re more than likely to work on based on aspect
Sextiles compliment each other (Air/Signs) and (Water/Earth)
Square - Tension
Squares happen with planets of the same modality;
Fixed Sign (Pragmatic): Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius
Mutable (Movement): Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces
Cardinal (People who start things): Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn
These aspects determine how plants interact and etc. I cover more about before in my articles and will be comprehensively posted later on. I cover how these aspects interact with houses, which is more advanced.
I talk about aspects here too: https://www.taisoleil.com/articles/2021/9/1/tjvliwt37fwgyp0vioce120hvmtp9v?rq=Aspects
Where to pull up your natal chart. If I didn’t list it it’s because I think it’s fucking trash:
Browser Charts
Astro.com - Go to Free Horoscopes, then the drop down to Horoscopes, Drawings, and Data, then click on Extended Chart Selection to get your circle chart!
Cafe Astrology - Good for information, but eh with chart info. Potential to be inaccurate, even with their circular chart that is often underwhelming. Also, if you don’t care about how I feel about it and use it later, know you’re going to eventually need to learn how to read a circular chart
Apps
The Pattern doesn’t have astrology blatantly in the app but I love it 😂💚
I heard good things about Time Passages too!
The app I use is called Astro Gold. It’s $40 so 😂
Now you’ll see extra shit on the internet like asteroids and etc. I cover that on my site and what some of them mean. For now, don’t worry about that until you’re ready. This is the basics and I just got you through life like this. I hope you enjoyed! Part 2 will get more technical. Make sure you have this down before you read.
Sources:
http://theastrologydictionary.com/
Christian Astrology by William Lily