Hello! Welcome to my resource page. Whether you’re working with me or not, I hope the information below will be useful to you.

Astrology can become very overwhelming very quickly! There is SO much to know, which is what makes it worth a lifetime of study, AND, especially if you are brand new to astrology, it can feel like a LOT. (Because it IS!) So, small doses and incremental steps toward understanding are best.

I’ve created this page as a very rudimentary glossary of some of the basic terms and concepts that astrologers work with. It’s meant to help illustrate some of what I will be addressing in a reading and/or to answer questions about my approach. It’s not intended to be digested in one big gulp.

Feel free to contact me if you have more questions.

Resources

What is a birth chart?

Our birth chart is a snapshot of the sky at the moment when we take our first breath and tells us what the planets were up to as we entered the world. It gives us an understanding of the specific energies at play, and the kinds of cosmic support and challenges we may encounter as our life unfolds. Our birth chart does not change, but the planets in the sky are always moving and activating different areas of our lives as they transit through the zodiacal signs and houses.

What are Whole Sign Houses?

The Whole Sign House (WSH) system is one of the oldest delineations of the astrological houses and signs and is the basis of Hellenistic Astrology. In this system, the boundaries of the signs (Virgo, Aries, etc) align with the boundaries of the Houses (there are 12). This is different from other systems, where the signs and houses might overlap.

I have primarily studied under Hellenistic astrologers who use the Whole Sign House System, and that is what I use in my practice.

There are many different astrological traditions, techniques, and schools of thought. If you have your chart read by someone who uses a different house system, know that your chart may look different from the one you will see in your reading with me.

My belief is that all of the systems are valid, and one chart will not be more “correct” than the other, but one might resonate or feel more accurate to you. I always recommend that people have their chart read by astrologers from a variety of lineages for the sake of experimentation and to see what resonates.

Houses of the Zodiac

A chart is divided into twelve houses, each of which represents a different area of life. In a birth chart, all of the planets end up in a house (and a sign), and this tells us where in your life that planet might express itself. They show us what area of life a transiting planet might impact when it moves through that house.

THE 12 HOUSES OF THE ZODIAC

IN HELLENISTIC ASTROLOGY

  
    HOUSE
    NAME 
    TOPICS & MEANINGS
  
    1
    1st House
    Self, body, identity, character, appearance, first impressions, approach to life
  
    2
    2nd House
    Possessions, money, valuables, income, resources, self-worth, material security
  
    3
    3rd House
    Communication, siblings, neighbors, short trips, learning, thinking, writing
  
  4
  4th House
  Home, family, parents, roots, emotional foundation, land, property
  
  5
  5th House
  Children, creativity, romance, love affairs, pleasure, hobbies, games, speculation, fertility
  
  6
  6th House
  Work, service, daily routine, health, illness, co-workers, pets
  
  7
  7th House
  Partnerships, marriage, spouse, contracts, one-to-one relations
  
  8
  8th House
  Shared resources, inheritances, loans, taxes, intimacy, debts
  
  9
  9th House
  Long journeys, higher learning, philosophy, law, religion, beliefs, foreign lands
  
  10
  10th House
  Career, reputation, honor, status, authority, public life, achievements, direction
  
  11
  11th House
  Friends, community, groups, hopes, wishes, goals, gains, support, the future
  
  12
  12th House
  The unseen, isolation, retreat, subconscious, sorrow, endings, secret enemies

Rising Sign or Ascendant & Why Birth Time is So Important

Your Ascendant point is the degree within the sign that was ascending, or rising, on the Eastern horizon the moment you were born. The Ascendant shifts every 1-2 hours, making it very time-sensitive and personal. The Ascendant sign always occupies the First House in a birth chart and determines which signs are in all of the other houses, or areas of life.

For example:

I cast a chart for a random date and time: April 9, 2014, 4:30 PM. In this chart, the AC, or Ascendant is in the sign of Virgo, which means that Virgo occupies the First House.

The order of the signs around the wheel never changes, so if Virgo is the first house, Libra is the 2nd, Pisces is the 7th, Cancer is the 11th, and so on. (Which means that everyone with Virgo on the ascendant or all Virgo Risings have Libra in the 2nd house, Pisces in the 7th, etc. However, while the house/sign alignments might be the same, the planets will always be in different places, which is what makes a birth chart unique).

So, in this chart, the sun is in Aries, in the 8th House, Venus is in Pisces in the 7th house, etc. For the sake of this example, let’s talk about Jupiter, which is the purple symbol in the upper left, blue section of the chart, which is Cancer, and in this chart, it’s the 11th House. (There is a chart with the symbols at the bottom of this page.)

Jupiter is known as a planet of luck, abundance, and good fortune. It loves being in the 11th house, which is the house of friends, groups, allies, and hopes and dreams for the future. So, we might say that a person with this chart is likely to have good luck through friends or benefactors.

Let’s move the chart forward just two hours. This is April 9, 2014 6:30 PM in Chicago.

Now, the Ascendant is in Libra. The Sun is still in Aries, but Aries is now in the 7th house. Venus is still in Pisces, but Pisces is now in the 6th house. All of the other planets have shifted Houses as well.

Jupiter is still in Cancer, but now Cancer is in the 10th House. The 10th House is the top of the chart and the most visible placement. It’s the house of career, public roles, and reputation. So, a person with this chart might have really good luck in their career, or the career might have something to do with creating abundance in some way, or, because Jupiter is also concerned with justice and the law, and because Cancer is a sign having to do with domestic life, this person might have a career in family law.

In any case, this chart, with a 10th House Jupiter, is very different from the chart two hours earlier.

Hopefully, this will give you a sense of how the planetary placements within specific Houses, or areas of life, can be determined by knowing the time of birth, and how the chart completely shifts when the rising sign changes.

Transits

When astrologers talk about transits, they are referring to the movement of planets in the sky, usually in reference to current or impending cosmic events. For example, right now, as I write this, it is mid-May, and the sun is in Taurus. So, in astrological lingo, we might say that the sun is transiting through Taurus. For anyone who was born with planets in Taurus, the sun will “ping” those planets as it moves through the sign, activating their energy as it does so.

In another example, when Jupiter moves from Cancer into Leo, as it will in 2026, it will also oppose Pluto, which is across the way in Aquarius. This will be a very dynamic aspect between these two transiting planets, for the collective, or, for the world at large. It will be extra spicy for people who also have planets in Leo and Aquarius in their birth charts. So, a transiting planet can interact with another transiting planet AND it can interact with a planet in a birth chart. Understanding these relationships is part of what makes astrology so fun and so fascinating!

The relationship between transiting planets and a birth chart is very dynamic and very personal. I look in depth at upcoming transits and how they will impact the planets in your birth chart in my Reading the Near Future offerings.