The Natal Astrological Chart ... Your Self Portrait

Want to get a clear picture of who you are?  Want to figure out what your positive aspects are so you can enjoy and share them?  Want to find out where you are stuck so you can try to release those blocks?

Then a natal chart is for you.  It is a chart that tells exactly where the planets were the moment you were born.  The location of the planets and how they interact with each other at that moment paint the picture of who you are.

THE BASIC CHART

My favorite site for finding out these locations is Astrolabe.  Head over there and fill in your birth information to get a chart and a short description of what each planet means for you based on where it was located.  Each planet brings with it some good traits and some more difficult traits.   Our goal in life is to release these negative traits and really focus our energy on expressing the positive ones.  The better we do that, the more peaceful and healthy and productive our lives will be.  

GOING DEEPER

Now you have a pretty good picture of yourself.  But we can go even deeper by looking at the aspects (another word for angles) the planets made to each other the moment you were born... where they right next to each other or across or making a difficult 90 degree angle.  

Always Astrology maps out the aspects at the time of your birth for you.  Fill in the information and display the chart.  Then scroll down to the Display Options and select "Display List of Aspects" and redraw the chart.  If you scroll all the way to the bottom you will get a list of planets with conjunction, square, trine.  Make a note of these and then head over to Rainbow's End to understand what each of the aspects means.   You now have a much more complete picture of your assets and challenges.

YOUR PURPOSE, PERHAPS

I like to add two additional pieces of information to my charts that give you a good indication of your biggest gift in this life and your biggest challenge.  

Your Rising Sign has many purposes but I love the idea that it indicates your soul purpose, what you are here to share in this life.  This site by Alan Oken gives a great overview of each Rising Sign. 

North and South Nodes are my favorite astrological discovery as they reveal your biggest obstacle, perhaps even a karmic challenge.  Your South Node indicates where you are coming from.  It is the behavior you fall back on when you feel uncomfortable and the habits you are trying to break.  Your North Node indicates where you are going.  It is what you need to strive to embrace instead of falling back on those bad habits.  I love the site Raging Universe for detailed descriptions of each node.  (The best way to get there is to figure out your North Node and then search on "raging universe north node in " then do the same for your South Node.  

WORKING WITH YOUR NATAL DISCOVERY

Now that you have all of this information, what do you do with it?  Well, it can be entertaining just to know all of this stuff but I like to put it to good use.  So I  use it is an input to the map for my life where I incorporate it into my goals and let it guide my decision making.   I do my best at taking my assets and making them even better and sharing them with others.  And I do my best to manage the challenges I have.