“Anyone can be a millionaire, but to become a billionaire you need an astrologer.” —J. P. Morgan
From my youngest memory, there has always been Astrology in my life. I am often surprised when someone will ask me, “What is Astrology?”
There are many types of Astrology, but the three main ones are: Vedic Astrology, also known as Hindu or Indian Astrology, originating about 5,000-8,000 years ago; Chinese Astrology, whose origin goes back to 2nd century BC to 2nd century AD; and Western Tropical Astrology that originated in 2nd century AD and is derived from Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos (Alexandrian scholar Claudius Ptolemy’s four books/texts). We will be focusing on Western Astrology, for the sake of this post.
Merriam-Webster defines Astrology as: the divination of the supposed influences of the stars and planets on human affairs and terrestrial events by their positions and aspects. The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as: the study of the movements and positions of the sun, moon, planets and stars in the belief that they affect the character and lives of people.
Astrology literally translates as “the study of the stars.”
Carl Jung probably best described it as:
“We are born at a given moment, in a given place and, like vintage years of wine, we have the qualities of the year and of the season of which we are born. Astrology does not lay claim to anything more.”
Most people are aware of their Sun sign because someone just needs to know their birthday.
But to create an accurate natal chart, the birth time and the place of birth is also needed. (If the time of birth is unknown, then 12:00 noon is used to calculate).
A natal chart is a blue print completely specific to each person at the exact time they were born. Think of this blueprint, as a map of the Universe and the placement of the planets around the sun at that time.
The natal chart determines the sun sign, rising sign-or ascendant, moon sign and where the planets of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto were all located at the time of birth. It also determines many other details, but for this post we will start by focusing on just those aspects for the time being, avoiding getting too complex.
In Astronomy, there are constellations of stars that are associated with each Zodiac sign. And each planet is also associated with Zodiac signs. When someone is born, it’s where all of these were arranged in the sky that becomes their map or blueprint.
The 12 zodiac sign have 4 elements assigned to them: Fire, Earth, Air and Water. Each element has three signs. Each sign is ruled by characteristic traits of that element.
Water: Intuitive, emotional and ultra-sensitive.
Earth: Slow, stable and grounded.
Fire: Passionate, dynamic, and temperamental.
Air: Action, ideas, and motion.
So let’s now get into some details.
Using myself as an example, I was born on November 24th, 1967 at 6:10am in Loma Linda, California. When this event happened on that date, at that time, at that place, my map was created. And this is what it looked like.
| Sun ASC | Sagittarius Scorpio | 1°37′ 26°38′ | |||
| Moon | Leo | 26°18′ | |||
| Mercury | Scorpio | 13°45′ | |||
| Venus | Libra | 15°42′ | |||
| Mars | Capricorn | 24°27′ | |||
| Jupiter | Virgo | 4°38′ | |||
| Saturn | Aries | 5°51′ | R | ||
| Uranus | Virgo | 28°27′ | |||
| Neptune | Scorpio | 24°22′ | |||
| Pluto | Virgo | 22°36′ |
As we can see, I am a Sagittarius sun, Scorpio rising (ascendant), and a Leo moon (double fire, single water) as my Trinity effect. It shows that my Mercury is also in Scorpio, my Venus is in Libra, my Mars is in Capricorn, my Jupiter is in Virgo, my Saturn is in Aries, my Uranus is also in Virgo, my Neptune is in Scorpio-again, and my Pluto is in Virgo-again. Each one of these placements is a snapshot of my characteristics in relation to what that planet stands for.
Each planet stands for a different part of a person’s life. Whatever sign is in that planet reflects on how each person deals with that part of their lives.
| Sun | Self, Characteristics | Who I am |
| Moon | Emotions, Instincts | How I feel |
| Rising | Appearances, Traits | How I look to others |
| Mercury | Communicate, Intellect | How I think and communicate |
| Venus | Love, Beauty | How I love and appreciate |
| Mars | Action, Desire | How I respond to life |
| Jupiter | Expansion, Abundance | How I attract luck |
| Saturn | Restrictions, Limitations | How I self-discipline |
| Uranus | Rebellion, Upheavel | How I deal with chaos |
| Neptune | Dreams, Imagination | How I dream and imagine |
| Pluto | Power, Obession | How I transform |
So what does this all mean?
For me it means this.
Who I am generally speaking is ruled by Sagittarius, how I feel inside is ruled by Leo, how I look to others is ruled by Scorpio, how I think and communicate are also ruled by Scorpio, how I love (and want to be loved) and appreciate are ruled by Libra, how I respond to life is ruled by Capricorn, how I attract luck is ruled by Virgo, how I self-discipline is ruled by Aries, how I deal with chaos is also ruled by Virgo, how I dream and imagine are again ruled by Scorpio, and how I transform is ruled Virgo, again.
Each sign has positive traits and negative traits. I call this evolved and unevolved.
So how does this make me as a person?
When I was younger, I exhibited many of the unevolved traits of my signs. And easily still do so, if I am not conscience of my thoughts and actions. With age and transformation, I have seen more of the evolved traits emerge within me fairly regularly, and so I will use the evolved, more powerful side of me as an example.
My main traits and characteristics are that I am optimistic, freedom loving, honest, straight forward, and philosophical and I love intellectual stimulation (Sagittarius).
What I feel and need inside are generosity, loyalty, creative and enthusiastic (Leo).
How other people see me, how I communicate and how I dream are determined, passionate, emotional, and magnetic (Scorpio x 3). Notice that how I dream and communicate are directly linked to how others view me, with these three planets being tied to one sign. Then tie that into being honest and straightforward from my sun sign (Sagittarius), and what does that mean about me? What you see is exactly what you get.
How I love and want to be loved is based on romance, charm, peace and balance (Libra). Libra is the sign of equality, so my relationships must have a balance.
My actions and how I deal with life are practical, ambitious, disciplined and careful (Capricorn).
My restrictions and self-discipline are courageous, adventurous and confident (Aries). Aries in this planet always goes after what they want, sometimes too quickly. I have disciplined and careful Capricorn, thank god, to balance my quick actions (Aries).
My luck and abundance, the way I react to upheaval (uniqueness), and my power and transformations are meticulous, diligent and analytical (Virgo x 3). Again, notice that with this combo of three planets ruled by one sign, means that upheaval, power and transformations are all directly tied to luck and abundance for me. Every challenging, chaotic and transformational event in my life has always made me more powerful and abundant or lucky, because they are ruled by the meticulous, diligent and analytical sign of Virgo.
So this my friends, is a snapshot of who I am. I say snapshot because this is only touching the tip if the iceberg. The natal chart is like a web of intricacies that just keep looping around and connecting back to each other.
Stay tuned while we dig deeper into the natal chart and how it defines us.
If you would like to see what lies in the stars and planets for you, click here and go to chart drawing for a free astrology chart.
Thank you for reading. xoxo