Unlocking Your Birth Chart: A Step-by-Step Guide to Understanding Your Sun, Moon, and Rising Signs
Resources to Have on Hand
In addition to your birth chart, which I explain how to obtain in Step 1, there are a few resources I think you will find very helpful to have handy while you go through this step by step process. You can obtain both of them free by subscribing to my website: marialuz.online. They are: The 12 Zodiac Signs Explained and The Key to Glyphs: Sign and Planets. You can also use the internet (e.g. astro-seek) or a basic astrology book (I recommend this workbook style one), or my podcast “Maria Luz’s Conscious Curiosities” Episode 1. You will also want to journal your insights.
What is a Birth Chart?
An astrology birth chart, also known as a natal chart, is a snapshot of the celestial bodies' positions at the moment of birth from the location of birth. It displays the positions of the sun, moon, planets, and asteroids, as well as other celestial points such as the Ascendant (Rising sign) and Midheaven (MC).
We can use our birth chart to gain insights into our tendencies based on the positions and aspects (angular relationships) between these celestial bodies. Each planet and point in the chart represents different components of a person's psyche and natural mode of operating, while the houses they fall into provide further insights into the area of life these energies manifest in a person's life.
Because we have the entirety of the birth chart in us, we contain the energies of ALL of the 12 zodiac signs, even if there are no planets or points where that sign resides. We will still feel its energy in that area of our life.
What are some things you can learn about yourself by understanding your Big Three (Sun, Moon, and Ascendant/Rising signs)?
How to motivate yourself
What may be most important when faced with making important choices
What type of work you will find most satisfying
What you need in a partner
How to manage your energy
Step 1: Download a copy of you birth chart. In addition to your date of birth, you will need the location and time. If you do not know the time, let it assign the default or enter 12:00 (noon). One idea if this is you, you could order your birth record from the county in which you were born (the department of vital statistics), typically for about $30. You can download a copy of your birth chart at one of the below websites, or using an app, such as Time Passages, Co-Star, or the Chani App.
https://astro.cafeastrology.com/natal.php
https://horoscopes.astro-seek.com/birth-chart-horoscope-online
https://www.astro.com/cgi/chart.cgi
You will end up with a circle that looks like a wheel. In the diagram, the circle represents the celestial sphere, with the Earth at the center. The circle is divided into 12 sections, each representing one of the 12 astrological houses.
Each house corresponds to specific areas of life, such as self, home, relationships, career, etc. The houses are numbered counterclockwise starting from the Ascendant, which represents the eastern horizon at the time of birth.
The Ascendant is located at the 9 o'clock position on the chart. The houses are divided by lines called "cusps," which mark the beginning of each house and indicates the point where one house ends and the next begins.
Note that the Ascendant sign changes ~every 2 hours, which is why astrologers stress the importance of an accurate time of birth. Regardless of the sign on the cusp of the first house, the signs always follow one another in the same order, proceeding counter-clockwise from Aries to Pisces.
There are numerous different systems for dividing up the chart. Most astrologers use the system from the lineage in which they were trained. As I am trained in the Jeffrey Wolf Green Evolutionary Astrology lineage, I use the Porphyry house system, which is a Quadrant as opposed to an equal house system (e.g. the Whole Sign house system used by Hellenistic astrologers).
Step 2: Determine your Sun, Moon, and Rising signs.
Refer to the Key to Glyphs to see the symbol (glyph) for the Sun, Moon, and Ascendant and for each Sign. You will see the glyph for the planet furthest toward the outside of the wheel, followed by a number (the degrees), glyph for the sign, and another number (the minutes), and possibly an ‘Rx’ (retrograde). Your chart may have also come with a table with the planets and key angles and their signs and positions. The Ascendant is often abbreviated as ‘AS’ or ‘ASC’. Write down the sign for each.
Sun sign:
Moon sign:
Ascendant/Rising sign:
Step 3: Explore your Sun, Moon, and Rising sign energy using The 12 Zodiac Signs Explained list.
The Sun represents your ego self, guiding light, vitality, and conscious purpose.
Note: Some people just do not identify with their sun sign and write off astrology completely because of it. This may happen because we are so much more than our Sun sign. Just like up in the sky, the sun’s position alone is not equivalent to the weather. The conditions of our life may cause us to hide our sun’s characteristics, even from ourselves, or we have only been exposed to stereotypes of Sun signs, thus giving us a false idea of what the signs energy represents.
The Moon represents your intuition, moods averaged out, and daily habits. It is often how we see ourselves. It will be the emotional motivation behind what your Sun/Ego wants to achieve.
You may have heard that your moon sign is yourself in private. While there is some truth to this, as we all know, our feelings inevitably come out. The moon’s sign and placement indicates how you make others feel emotionally secure and how you feel secure. It also shows you how you learn and what motivates you to do something for yourself (or not).
The Ascendant/Rising sign represents your instinctive approach to new situations and is how others perceive you. As it is you seeing things through the filter of this sign, you don’t realize you are also projecting the filter’s effect. Many people are therefore surprised to learn their Rising sign.
Now it is time to begin exploring your Big Three. Using either the reference tools from my website or from other sources, identify the sign’s key phrase and some descriptors of the sign when used skillfully or unskillfully. Note that the judgment of skillful vs. unskillful may vary depending on the circumstances. Just write down some of the expressions which seem to describe you at your best and worst in the context of which of the Big Three that sign is attached to.
My Sun sign’s Keyphrase and resonant skillful and unskillful expressions:
My Moon sign’s Keyphrase and resonant skillful and unskillful expressions:
My Ascendant sign’s Keyphrase and resonant skillful and unskillful expressions:
I will give you some examples from my own birth chart to get you thinking about the energies in your life, and then in Step 4 you will do your own reflecting.
My Sun is in Leo, which is the sign ruled by the Sun. Keyphrase: My need to creatively express myself and be appreciated by others. Descriptors which resonate: leader, big-hearted, generous, vain, needs attention, childish.
My Moon is in Aries, which is ruled by the planet Mars. Keyphrase: My need to be independent and develop self-awareness. Descriptors which resonate: energetic, active, independent, impulsive, confident, competitive.
My Ascendant, or Rising sign is Scorpio, which is ruled by the planet Pluto. Keyphrase: My need for deep involvements and intense transformation. Descriptors which resonate: complex, intense, deep, obsessive, suspicious.
And now its your turn!
Step 4: Reflect and/or journal on the descriptions of your Big Three signs. I suggest continuing your exploration after this. Here are some prompts to get you started.
How does your Sun sign represent your conscious purpose? If it doesn’t, what could that look like if it did?
How might your Rising sign give you self-confidence in how you approach new situations and people?
How does your Moon sign provide the emotional motivation for achieving goals?
Focusing in on one area of life (work, home, health, etc), how might the Big Three work together to support you?
For extra credit, you may want to do this 20 min hypnotic track to further explore your Big Three.
I hope this guide has provided you with a jumping off point to further investigate what makes you tick from an astrology lens. And if you are like most people, you are also now super curious about your partner, your kids, and your co-workers. By learning our own and others’ astrology, we develop more compassion for the human condition. We see that some tendencies were just programmed into us, and when we are not aware, we slide into the path of least resistance or believe everyone is just like us.
Reference for The 12 Zodiac Signs Explained: Astrology for Yourself, by Douglas Bloch and Demetra George
Questions? email me: info@marialuz.online
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