24 Feb 2025

How to interpret a chart for dummies


 Introducing astrological psychology, using The Cosmic Egg Timer as your guide to getting into, and beneath the skin of chart intepretation. 

 One of the most important things we can do when starting to look at a natal chart, drawn up in the Huber style and vibrant with colours and shapes is to do simply that - to look. Setting aside and perhaps even temporarily “forgetting” any astrology you already know, the first way into the chart is via the senses, the eyes and the intuition.

If you cast your mind back to the time when you were a small child, you may remember you had a coal fire in the house where you grew up. Can you remember looking into the embers of the fire and seeing pictures or scenes, faces or figures? 

Similarly, you may have done the same thing when looking at clouds in the sky; perhaps you do it now?  You may see one that first looks like a dog, then it changes and looks more like a dragon, or a mountain range, and so on. Using your eyes, your senses and your imagination, you were perhaps - as a child -  able to see pictures and images, based on the shapes you saw in the clouds or the embers of the fire. Perhaps you can do it still? Give it a go!

Using a similar approach when first looking at a chart, we can train ourselves to look for an intuitive picture or image, and we do this by looking at the overall aspect structure which fills the large central area of the chart. In the context of astrological psychology, this area relates to the unconscious motivation of a person. Often the very essence of the person is contained within this area of the chart, and through developing the intuition we can gain a sense of the person simply by looking at this central core of the chart and absorbing and reflecting upon the pictures or images that we see there.

You can try this out for yourself using a Huber-style chart. Allow yourself to get a sense of what is in the chart. From this a picture or image may emerge. Some of the images budding astrologers see in charts are as diverse as a flower opening, a tent or marquee, a pyramid, a butterfly, a space rocket, an open book, a yacht, a flag - the variety of images is limitless, and is based upon what has been intuitively seen and perceived from the chart. 

You may not see an image or picture, but you may have a strong sense of a predominant colour in the aspect structure, or a sense that everything in the chart is spread out, or squashed, or clinging to one particular area of the chart. If you are unable to see an image or picture, be aware of whether you are picking up something in the chart via your other senses. Trust them. And try it out with this chart. What do you see? Does it remind you of anything? And what might it say about that person?
Astrological psychology emphasises the importance of taking the time to look at a chart before setting off into the realms of deeper and more technical interpretation. This approach is Jupiterian - using your eyes and intuition, take a good look at the chart, taking in the whole picture before moving on to the finer points and details. This is different from a more conventional Mercurial approach to astrological chart interpretation, where facts and detailed information about the chart are considered first and foremost using the logical mind and the overall picture of the chart is not necessarily taken into consideration.

Looking at and absorbing the chart in this way is the first of a series of “foundation stones” or “building blocks” that can be set in place to enable us to find a way into the natal chart. Chart interpretation can be daunting and difficult, especially if there are a mass of other factors to hold in mind all at the same time. But using this Jupiterian approach, where the eyes, the senses and the intuition are engaged first and foremost, we have the ability to begin our exploration of any natal chart in considerable depth, as we start by looking at the very essence and the unconscious motivating energies of the person concerned.

There's lot's more on how to work with charts in my book The Cosmic Egg Timer

No comments: