Super idiot proof beginner's guide to modern astrology
Everything and everyone has a time, date, and location they came into the world. This is known as your natal (or birth) chart. Astrologers use this to understand who you are and what your life might look like. They do this by interpreting celestial bodies (usually planets) and their aspects, which is the relationship between them.
You can use a birth chart generator to make one - personally I like Astro Seek's birth chart generator.
We'll call the celestial bodies 'placements' from now on. The three main things you would look for in a chart are the placements' zodiac signs, what house they are in, and what aspects they have.
Example
In this example, we're looking at the person's Sun placement and Mercury placement.
Both placements are in the zodiac sign Gemini.
They are also both located in the 10th House.
They have an aspect between each other, and the Sun is aspecting the Ascendant (ASC).
From here, an astrologer would interpret what all of that means and how it might manifest in the person's life.
It's not good practice to make assumptions based off only one or two placements; it's important to understand the entire chart and how all the energies relate to each other.
This is why astrology gets a reputation of 'space racism', from people who make generalizations like "All Geminis (referring to their Sun sign) are two-faced".
do you want to know how i would interpret this? ok! :D
both planets in 10th house - 10th is the area of career/life path. they are also both in Gemini. the element for Gemini is Air and its modality is Mutable - meaning its energies are always moving and changing, like wind. this is why Gemini's energy can be perceived as two-faced, because it easily adapts to any situation.
Sun sign represents the self. It is your identity and values. Mercury represents communication and expression.
both planets in the 10th house indicate this is an area where their identity and self-expression will be important to their career.
both of their signs being Gemini indicate their identity is adaptable, very 'go with the flow' energy. plus, Gemini is ruled by Mercury (rulerships are a whole other thing) which means this is a positive placement for Mercury - so the person is likely to be good at communication.
bring this all together, and we have a person who:
- is a good communicator
- is able to adapt their identity and communication to any situation
- self-expression is important to a fulfilling career and may even be an advantage in their career
can you guess who this person might be?
what next?
if you want to develop the skill of reading birth charts, start by learning the basics: the 12 zodiac signs, common planets, the 12 houses, and what they all stand for. i would suggest starting with your own birth chart, or someone you know very well. from here, you'll start to see how the chart reflects areas of life.
the Zodiac System and House System i've used here are Tropical (Western) Zodiac with the Placidus House System. this combo is the most common in the West, but if you don't relate to your given chart you should also try it with the Whole Sign House system, or generate a Sidereal Zodiac chart. some people even find that they relate to their Tropical chart while they're young, but their life changes and their Sidereal chart is more accurate as they get older.
there is no one 'right' system, instead they can all be used to triangulate the same results.
basically, it's like how there's different ways of doing multiplication on paper, but all of the ways will help you end up with the same answer :p