The Basics of Astrology
It’s the biggest modern craze, but astrology has been known across the world for a little over two millennia! While it is considered a pseudoscience, I believe there is some truth to the stars and planets influence. The placement of these celestial beings really can affect our psyche and our personality just as much as they affect planetary functions like the tides.
One thing to keep in mind during this read is that birth charts and star signs are the topic in this post. Astrology is a very vast topic, with planetary retrogrades and lunar eclipses and such other cosmic happenings that I will eventually be covering in later posts, but not this one.
So, a zodiac sign can be defined as the specific segment of space during a person’s birth. Astrology, however, is the full study of heavenly bodies and their various alignments with respect to the happenings in a person’s life and events in the cosmos.
Long story short, astrology is the science whereas the zodiac signs is just a piece of that puzzle. That piece is what we’re discussing today. Think of this as an introduction, a sort of crash course in the zodiac and birth charts.
The first thing to know is what the zodiac is. There are twelve constellations in our sky each occupying 30° of celestial longitude that determine your star sign in the zodiac. Each one is unique and special in their own ways and have their own important factor into making up your whole personality and attributes.
In astrology, each of the twelve zodiac signs is associated with one of the four elements: fire, earth, water, and air. These groups have a similar theme about them, although each sign has its own individual attributes. Whenever we think about our signs, it’s important to take the elements into consideration too, as the qualities of the elements directly relate to the qualities of the signs.
Finding out your sign and what it means for you is only the first step, though. There are so many other planets and placements at play! Your entire birth chart is just waiting for you to discover it. At any given moment, every plant, along with the sun and the moon, are moving within one of the twelve Zodiac sign constellations from the vantage point of our planet Earth. The cosmic clock is always ticking, so this means not only the day, but time and place of your birth are very important for that birth chart.
The day of your birth is what is called your sun sign, which is important in reading your core identity. It’s the sign you’d reference when reading your horoscope or looking up the cosmic compatibility between you and your crush, and usually it’s the only sign of theirs people know. However, to read your full birth chart, it’s important to also know your moon and rising signs.
Your moon sign relates to the more private and emotional parts of yourself. It is determined by the position of the moon in correlation to your birth, so the day, time, and location of your birth is important for figuring this one out. The moon in astrology rules over your intimate side. It’s about the more shadowed parts of your personality that only the people closest to you get to see.
Your rising sign is determined by the time of your birth. Depending on the time of day, your rising sign could be completely different from your sun sign, as rising signs change approximately every two hours. It’s always the sign that rules the first house of your zodiac chart, which is where your chart begins. While you may think your sun sign is the most obvious in your personality, the version of you that people see at first glance is more likely to be explained by your rising sign.
Now, these are the big three of your birth chart, so to speak, but it doesn’t stop there. There’s 12 segments of your zodiac chart. The 12 houses, which represent different areas of life, interact with one another to create your personal birth chart. They are essentially maps that show where each planet was in the zodiac at the time and place you were born and how they affect you.
Now, I totally understand if you’re overwhelmed. I used to think trying to read my birth chart was way too complicated. I mean, if I have to pull out my birth certificate in order to get an accurate reading, it seems stressful. Not only that, but trying to read an actual birth chart? Unless you actually are an astrologer, which I definitely am not, it just looks like gibberish. For example, here is my actual birth chart. (my info is censored out)
So, yeah, definitely complicated.
That’s why I recommend using an app, a website, or, if you can afford it, an actual astrologer to read your birth chart and relay the info on it to you in a simple and accurate way. There are so many resources to find out what your personal map entails, but my favorite is Co-Star, a mobile app powered by AI that merges NASA data with the insight of human astrologers. You can not only read your personalized birth chart and the meaning behind each segment, but you can compare yours with your friend’s. You can also receive your horoscope to find out what not only your day could entail, but your month, too. It’s less about telling the future and more about giving you cosmic advice, which is why I love it so much!
Each individual birth chart shows who we are at our core. Overall, it calculates the astrological aspects and sensitive angles of the magical moment that is birth. Astrology puts our temporary bodies in context with our universe’s majesty. Each star in the sky and planet in rotation has its own immense power in the cosmic reality we live in, so how could it not affect you?