A guide for beginners

Astrology
Language of the sky

Astrology is a symbolic language — a map of the sky at the moment you were born, and a way of understanding yourself and the cycles of your life. Work through the three sections: learn the language, build your chart, then learn to live with it month by month.

✦ 101 — The language ✦ 102 — Know yourself ✦ 103 — Living with it
Part one

The components

Before you can read a chart, you need to understand its building blocks — the planets, houses, signs, and elements that together create the full picture.

The players

The planets

Each planet represents a dimension of your inner life — a drive, a function, a part of your psyche. The sign a planet is in describes how that energy expresses. The house it sits in shows where in your life it plays out.

☉
Sun
Core self & identity
Your conscious self — the narrative of who you are and what you're here to express. The Sun animates you. Its sign shows your essential character; its house shows where your vitality is most alive. It takes approximately one year to travel through all 12 signs.
☽
Moon
Emotions & inner needs
Your emotional body — instincts, needs, and the patterns you inherited. The Moon governs how you feel safe, how you nurture and need to be nurtured, and the inner world you don't always show. It changes signs every 2–3 days, making it the most personal and variable planet.
☿
Mercury
Mind & communication
The way you think, speak, write, and make sense of the world. Mercury governs your communication style, learning patterns, and how you process information. Never more than one sign away from the Sun, it shapes how you express your core identity in language and thought.
♀
Venus
Love, beauty & values
What you desire, find beautiful, and move toward. Venus governs romantic love, aesthetics, pleasure, money, and self-worth. It shows how you attract and what you value deeply — both in relationships and in the material world.
♂
Mars
Drive, desire & action
Your raw energy and will to act. Mars shows how you pursue what you want, assert yourself, handle conflict, and where your drive is strongest. It governs anger, ambition, physical energy, and the force that gets things moving.
♃
Jupiter
Expansion & meaning
The planet of abundance, faith, and big-picture thinking. Jupiter expands whatever it touches. It governs philosophy, higher learning, long-distance travel, and the search for meaning. Its house shows where you tend to be lucky and where life invites you to grow.
♄
Saturn
Structure & mastery
The planet of time, discipline, and hard-won authority. Saturn rules where you face tests, encounter limitation, and ultimately build real, lasting strength. It takes about 29 years to complete one orbit — its return to your natal position is a major life milestone.
♅
Uranus
Revolution & liberation
The planet of sudden change, originality, and collective awakening. Uranus disrupts in order to liberate. It spends about 7 years in each sign, so its house placement is more personal than its sign. Where Uranus sits, you cannot be conventional — your individuality insists on expression.
♆
Neptune
Dreams & dissolution
The planet of spirituality, imagination, and the dissolution of boundaries. Neptune governs mysticism, creative vision, and illusion. It blurs edges — sometimes toward transcendence, sometimes toward confusion. Its house shows where you seek the infinite and must discern vision from escapism.
♇
Pluto
Transformation & power
The planet of deep transformation, power, and regeneration. Pluto governs death and rebirth — not always literally, but the endings that make way for entirely new chapters. It operates slowly and profoundly, spending 12–30 years in each sign, shaping generational themes.
⚷
Chiron
The wound & the healer
A comet-asteroid that shows your deepest wound — and your greatest gift. The wound Chiron describes often never fully closes, but it becomes the source of profound capacity to heal others. Where Chiron sits is where you hurt, and where you ultimately learn to tend that hurt in others.
☊
North Node
Soul's direction
Not a planet but a mathematical point — the North Node (with its counterpart, the South Node) marks the axis of your soul's journey. The South Node is what you know innately; the North Node is the unfamiliar territory your soul is being called to grow toward in this lifetime.

The stage

The 12 houses

The chart wheel is divided into 12 houses, each governing a different area of life. Think of the planets as the actors, the signs as their costumes, and the houses as the stage — the specific scenes where the action plays out. The cusp of each house (its starting degree) is shaped by your birth time and location.

1
Self & first impressions
Identity · body · appearance
The 1st house is the self as it enters the world. Its cusp is your Ascendant (Rising sign) — the most personal point in the chart, shaped by the exact time of your birth. It describes how you come across to others, your physical presence, and the instinctive identity you project before anyone gets to know you.
2
Resources & self-worth
Money · possessions · values
The 2nd house governs everything you own and everything you consider yours — including your sense of your own worth. Material security, income, physical possessions, and the deeper question of what you truly value. Planets here shape your relationship with money and self-esteem.
3
Communication & local world
Mind · siblings · writing · short travel
Your immediate environment and how you move through it. The 3rd house covers the way you communicate and think, your relationship with siblings and neighbours, your early education, writing, and daily movement. It is the mind in its immediate, practical expression.
4
Home & roots
Family · ancestry · private self
The foundation of everything. The 4th house governs home, family of origin, ancestral roots, and your deepest private inner world. Its cusp is the IC (Imum Coeli) — the most hidden point in the chart. It shows where you come from, and what you build your life upon.
5
Creativity & joy
Play · romance · children · self-expression
Life as art and play. The 5th house governs creative self-expression, romance (the heady, early-stage kind), children, and anything you do for the pure joy of it. Where you shine simply because you can. Planets here shape how you create, perform, love, and play.
6
Health & daily service
Routines · body · work · healing
The daily practice of being alive. The 6th house governs routines, physical health, the work you do day-to-day (as distinct from your vocation), and acts of service. It is the house of devotion in the small — how you show up consistently, tend your body, and offer your skills.
7
Partnership
Marriage · contracts · one-to-one relationships
The mirror — what you seek in others and what you project onto them. The 7th house governs committed partnerships (romantic and business), contracts, and the qualities you both attract and struggle with in close one-to-one relationships. Its cusp is the Descendant, directly opposite your Ascendant.
8
Transformation & depth
Shared resources · death · intimacy · power
The house of what we share — bodies, finances, power, and grief. The 8th house governs deep intimacy, joint resources (inheritance, loans, a partner's money), and transformation through loss. Death, here, is both literal and metaphorical — the endings that forge new beginnings.
9
Meaning & expansion
Philosophy · travel · higher learning · publishing
The house that reaches beyond the known. The 9th governs long-distance travel, universities, religion, philosophy, publishing, and the search for meaning. Where the 3rd house covers facts, the 9th seeks wisdom. It is the natural home of Jupiter — the house of the big picture.
10
Vocation & public self
Career · reputation · legacy · public role
The most visible point in the chart. The 10th house cusp is the Midheaven (MC) — what you are known for, your public role, and the legacy you build. Career lives here, but so does reputation and how you are seen by the wider world. It shows what you are here to contribute publicly.
11
Community & vision
Friends · groups · collective hopes · social change
Where individual vision meets collective purpose. The 11th house governs friendships, communities, causes, and the hopes you hold for the future — not just your own, but humanity's. It is the house of social belonging, the people who truly see you, and your dreams for a better world.
12
The hidden realm
Unconscious · solitude · spiritual depth
The interior world — dreams, the unconscious, retreat, and hidden strength. The 12th house holds what is concealed, what operates beneath the surface, and what must be integrated for wholeness. Planets here can be difficult to access consciously, but carry profound depth. A stellium here means much of the power runs underground.

The tone

The 12 zodiac signs

Signs describe the quality and flavour of energy — the how, not the what. A planet in Scorpio operates very differently to the same planet in Gemini, even if it sits in the same house. Each sign belongs to one of four elements and one of three modes.

♈Aries
21 March – 19 April
Fire · Cardinal · Ruled by Mars
Initiative, courage, impulse, pioneering spirit. Aries leads with instinct and burns bright. The first sign — the spark that sets everything in motion.
♉Taurus
20 April – 20 May
Earth · Fixed · Ruled by Venus
Stability, sensuality, loyalty, patience. Taurus builds slowly and keeps what it builds. Finds the sacred in the physical — food, land, touch, and beauty.
♊Gemini
21 May – 20 June
Air · Mutable · Ruled by Mercury
Curiosity, duality, adaptability, connection. Gemini gathers threads from everywhere and weaves them into conversation. The mind in motion — quick, versatile, a natural bridge-builder.
♋Cancer
21 June – 22 July
Water · Cardinal · Ruled by the Moon
Nurture, memory, intuition, protection. Cancer navigates by emotional intelligence and creates belonging for others. The shell is not withdrawal — it's armour for a tender heart.
♌Leo
23 July – 22 August
Fire · Fixed · Ruled by the Sun
Creativity, generosity, radiance, leadership. Leo shines from the heart — not for ego's sake, but because it has something genuine to give. Fixed fire: steady, warm, devoted.
♍Virgo
23 August – 22 September
Earth · Mutable · Ruled by Mercury
Discernment, service, analysis, refinement. Virgo notices what others miss. Detail-oriented and devoted to improvement, often in service to something larger than itself.
♎Libra
23 September – 22 October
Air · Cardinal · Ruled by Venus
Balance, beauty, justice, relationship. Libra seeks equilibrium in all things. A natural diplomat with an instinct for fairness — sometimes to the point of losing its own position.
♏Scorpio
23 October – 21 November
Water · Fixed · Ruled by Pluto & Mars
Depth, transformation, truth, regeneration. Scorpio moves beneath the surface. It is drawn to what is hidden, taboo, or deeply true — transformation is its native language.
♐Sagittarius
22 November – 21 December
Fire · Mutable · Ruled by Jupiter
Freedom, philosophy, expansion, truth-seeking. Sagittarius aims toward the horizon, hungry for meaning. Restless and optimistic — it can expand so fast it loses its roots.
♑Capricorn
22 December – 19 January
Earth · Cardinal · Ruled by Saturn
Ambition, discipline, legacy, endurance. Capricorn builds for the long term. It knows real things take time. The elder archetype — authority earned through sustained effort.
♒Aquarius
20 January – 18 February
Air · Fixed · Ruled by Uranus & Saturn
Innovation, vision, collective, originality. Aquarius sees patterns in systems and imagines better ones. Oriented toward the future and the collective — sometimes at the cost of the immediate.
♓Pisces
19 February – 20 March
Water · Mutable · Ruled by Neptune & Jupiter
Compassion, mysticism, surrender, transcendence. Pisces lives at the edges of the visible world. Deeply empathic — it can absorb others' pain as easily as their joy.

The nature of signs

Elements & modes

Every sign is a combination of an element — which describes the kind of energy it carries — and a mode, which describes how it moves through the world. Together they create twelve distinct combinations.

🔥 Fire — spirit & will
Aries · Leo · Sagittarius
Fire signs are animated by inspiration, vision, and the drive to create or lead. They move on instinct, need freedom to breathe, and carry an innate belief that things can be better. Naturally enthusiastic and warming — their shadow is burnout, recklessness, and difficulty with sustained effort.
🌿 Earth — matter & form
Taurus · Virgo · Capricorn
Earth signs work in the realm of the physical — body, money, land, and craft. They build what lasts and find meaning in tangible results. Grounding and reliable — their shadow is rigidity and over-identification with material security at the expense of growth.
🌬 Air — mind & connection
Gemini · Libra · Aquarius
Air signs live in the realm of ideas, language, and relationship. They thrive on exchange, synthesis, and seeing things from multiple angles. Naturally social and conceptual — their shadow is detachment, living in the head at the expense of the heart and body.
🌊 Water — soul & feeling
Cancer · Scorpio · Pisces
Water signs navigate by feeling, intuition, and emotional depth. They absorb the atmosphere of a room and process life through the body and imagination. Deeply empathic — their shadow is over-absorbing others' pain and losing themselves in close relationships.

The three modes

Cardinal — initiates
Aries · Cancer · Libra · Capricorn
Cardinal signs begin things. They carry the energy of a season's start and are driven to launch, lead, and set things in motion. Strong in initiation — can struggle with follow-through once the initial spark fades.
Fixed — sustains
Taurus · Leo · Scorpio · Aquarius
Fixed signs hold the heart of a season. Determined, loyal, and built for endurance — they commit deeply and keep going. Their gift is reliability and depth; their shadow is stubbornness and resistance to necessary change.
Mutable — adapts
Gemini · Virgo · Sagittarius · Pisces
Mutable signs close a season and prepare for the next. Flexible, synthesising, and comfortable with change and complexity. Their gift is adaptability and versatility; their challenge is finding solid ground and finishing what they start.

Take it with you

Download the 101 reference cards as a PDF — one page each for planets, houses, signs, and elements.

↓ Download reference guide (PDF)
Step one

Get your natal chart

Go to astro-seek.com and enter your birth date, birth time, and place of birth. You'll get a chart like the one below. Here's what to look at — and what to ignore for now.

What you need vs what to ignore

✓ Focus on this
The table below the wheel — this lists every planet with its sign, degree, and house number. This is all you need for the worksheet.
The ASC row — your Rising sign. One of your Big Three.
The MC row — your Midheaven. Your public role and direction.
Rx next to a planet — means it was retrograde at birth. Worth noting, but don't overthink it yet.
→ Ignore for now
The lines across the centre — those are aspects. Covered in 103.
Lilith, Fortune, Vertex — extra points that appear in the table. Skip these rows for now.
The degree strip at the bottom — the row of numbers along the very bottom of the chart. Not needed yet.
The element/mode grid (top right of the chart) — interesting later, not essential now.

How to read each row in the table

Column
Example
What it means
Planet name
☉ Sun
The planet. Rows run Sun → Moon → Mercury → Venus → Mars → Jupiter → Saturn → Uranus → Neptune → Pluto → Node → Lilith → Chiron → ASC → MC.
Degree & sign
21° ♏ 33'
The degree within the sign, then the sign symbol, then the minutes. For your worksheet you just need the degree number and the sign name — e.g. "21° Scorpio". Minutes are extra detail.
House number
12
Which of the 12 houses the planet sits in. This goes straight into the "house" column of your worksheet.
Rx
℞
Retrograde at birth — the planet's energy tends to be more inward or works less straightforwardly. Just note it for now.
Step two

Build your profile

Download the worksheet below, open it in Word, and fill in the sign, house, and degree for each planet from your Astro-Seek chart. Then write your own interpretation sentence using the formula: Planet (what) + Sign (how) + House (where). Refer back to 101 if you need to look up what any planet, sign, or house means.

The formula

☉
Planet
what
+
♏
Sign
how
+
12
House
where
=
"My core self (Sun) is intense, deep, and truth-seeking (Scorpio), and it operates largely in private — in the hidden interior realm (12th house)."
☽ Moon in Cancer · 8th house
"My emotional world is nurturing and deeply intuitive, and I process feelings most intensely through intimacy and shared experience."
♃ Jupiter in Capricorn · 2nd house
"I expand and grow through disciplined, practical effort, and this shows up most in how I build material security and self-worth."

Your personal worksheet

A Word document with every planet, space to fill in your sign, house, and degree, and room to write your own interpretation. Plus reflection prompts at the end.

Opens in Microsoft Word or Google Docs. Fill in on your computer, or print and fill in by hand.

↓ Download worksheet (Word)

Coming soon

Astrology 103 — Going deeper

You've learned the language and built your personal profile. Now it's time to go back to your natal chart and understand the fuller picture — what the relationships between your planets mean, what the exact degrees tell you, and how to use your chart as a living tool month by month.

This section is being built. It will cover:

✦
The lines in your chart — aspects
Now that you know your placements, you can start to read the relationships between them. Those lines crossing the centre of your wheel show which planets are talking to each other — and whether that conversation is easy, tense, or complex. Conjunctions, trines, squares, oppositions, sextiles, and quincunxes explained.
✦
The fine print — degrees
What early, middle, and late degrees mean within a sign. Why 29° (the anaretic degree) carries such intensity — and why it matters when a transiting planet hits that point in your chart.
✦
The living sky — transits
Your natal chart is fixed, but the sky keeps moving. Transits are what happen when today's planets interact with your natal placements — activating different parts of your chart at different times. This is how astrology becomes a tool for understanding what's happening in your life right now.
✦
Retrogrades
What it actually means when a planet goes retrograde — and how to work with the inward-turning energy rather than against it. Mercury Rx, Venus Rx, and the slower planets that mark bigger turning points.
✦
Living with it month by month — the Moon
Working with the lunar cycle as a practical tool. New moons for setting intentions, full moons for releasing, and how the Moon's sign each day colours your emotional weather. The most immediately accessible layer of astrology for everyday life.