Astrology guide
Astrology is a system of interpretation, thousands of years old, that assumes a symbolic relationship between the positions of celestial bodies and life on Earth. Where the Sun, Moon and planets sit in the zodiac, the aspects they make to one another and their positions relative to the horizon at the moment of birth are read as a kind of symbolic language. In astrology the sky is read like a clock: the sky at a given moment is treated as a symbolic map of the qualities belonging to that moment.
Basic concepts
The 12 signs
Personality, love and career readings for every sign.
Planets
The area of life each planet in the chart stands for.
The 12 houses
Where in life the planets put their energy to work.
Aspects
The relationships the planets form with each other.
Elements and modalities
Fire, earth, air, water; cardinal, fixed, mutable.
Glossary
Short explanations of astrology terms.
Other astrology traditions
Vedic astrology
The sidereal zodiac, nakshatras and dasha periods.
Chinese astrology
Twelve animals, five elements and yin–yang.
Mayan astrology
The Tzolk'in calendar, day signs and tones.
Celtic tree astrology
The tree that matches your date of birth.
Egyptian astrology
Twelve gods and their protective qualities.
Karmic astrology
The lunar nodes, Saturn, Chiron and karmic debt numbers.
Esoteric astrology
The soul's purpose, esoteric rulers and the seven rays.
Numerology
Life path, expression and personal year numbers.
Abjad calculator
Name values, name signs, chronograms and divine names.
What is astrology?
The zodiac lies at the foundation of the system. The zodiac is the ecliptic, the path the Sun traces over the course of a year, divided into 12 equal parts, or signs; each sign spans 30 degrees. The tropical zodiac used in Western astrology takes the spring equinox (around March 20-21) as 0 degrees Aries and is tied to the seasons. For this reason the astrological signs do not line up exactly with the constellations of the same names in the sky; because of the slow wobble of Earth's axis (precession), the gap between the two systems has grown over time. Alongside the signs, the planets (what), the houses (where) and the aspects (how they relate to one another) are the core elements of interpretation.
Astrology's roots reach back to Mesopotamia. Babylonian priests recorded celestial events and linked them to events on Earth; the oldest known individual birth charts date to the 5th century BCE. In the Hellenistic period this body of knowledge merged with Egyptian and Greek influences; signs, houses and aspects were systematized, and Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos, written in the 2nd century CE, became the reference work for centuries to come. In the Islamic world, scholars such as Abu Ma'shar and al-Biruni carried on the study of astrology and astronomy; at the Ottoman court, chief astrologers (müneccimbaşı) prepared calendars and determined auspicious times. With the scientific revolution of the 17th century, astrology lost its academic standing. In the 20th century, psychological astrology influenced by Carl Jung's psychology, together with newspaper horoscope columns, shaped its popular form today.
Astrology has no scientific basis: controlled studies have not shown that the signs provide reliable predictions about personality or events. Today many people use astrology to understand themselves, make sense of life and think in a symbolic language, without expecting it to foretell the future. The interpretations on this site are written in that spirit, for information and inspiration; they should not be used as the basis for health, legal or financial decisions.
What is a birth chart?
A birth chart (natal chart) is a snapshot of the sky as seen from Earth at the moment a person is born. The zodiac positions of the Sun, Moon and planets, the sign rising on the eastern horizon at that moment, and the houses are shown on a 360-degree circle. Since two people born at the same moment in the same place would have the same chart, a birth chart is considered as unique to a person as a fingerprint. Astrologers do not treat the chart as a table of fate; they read it as a symbolic portrait of a person's tendencies, strengths and life themes.
Three pieces of information are needed to cast a birth chart: date of birth, time of birth and place of birth. The date gives the signs of the Sun and the other planets. The time determines the rising sign and the starting points of the houses; since the Ascendant changes sign roughly every two hours, the more precise the time, the more reliable the chart. The place determines latitude, longitude and time zone. Because Turkey has applied different daylight saving time rules in past years, the time for older births needs to be converted correctly to local time; a good calculator does this automatically. Since birth times are not included in civil registry records, you may need to consult the birth report or family records.
Each part of the chart answers a different question. The planets describe which functions of life are involved (such as thinking, loving or taking action), the signs describe the style in which those functions are lived, the houses describe the area of life where they play out, and the aspects describe how the planets relate to one another. For example, “Venus in Taurus in the 7th house” means that the sense of love and value (Venus) comes to the fore in a patient, sensual style (Taurus) in the area of one-to-one relationships (7th house).
The easiest place to start reading a chart is to look at the Sun, Moon and Ascendant together, known as the “big three.” The Sun describes your core and identity, the Moon your emotional needs, and the Ascendant how you appear to the outside world. After that, look at which element and modality are dominant, which houses hold clusters of planets, and which planets form the closest aspects. On a first reading it helps not to get lost in every detail and to see these main lines first. A chart is a picture of tendencies; it should not be seen as the only factor shaping a person's choices and life.