Important Considerations for Birth Chart Readings
The most important thing one can take away from a natal reading is practical information that can be used to live more consciously and holistically. This is the realm of remedial measures (upaya in sanskrit). It’s less important that an astrologer tell you details about your life that you already know, and more crucial that they be able to offer practical knowledge that can aid in bringing balance to imbalance.
Reading a chart requires an abundant amount of energy, concentration and contemplation. Everything I write is unique and original per reading. I do not just pull a bunch of stock interpretations of house, sign, planet from a book or something I’ve prewritten and hand it to you. In order to provide the best possible analysis I also often employ other tools when studying the chart, so it is not solely astrology though it is centered around it. My main concern is that you get the information in a tangible form, and therefore I will not be inundating you with a lot of astrological terminology in the write up itself.
Birth chart readings (and this applies to any kind of reading) are NOT something you should engage in merely for the fun of it. The information revealed by a birth chart is very raw and unforgiving. The purpose of learning such intimate things about one’s own life lies in being able to understand life as a whole so that you can proceed to live it with honest transparency. Before we can even begin to understand how to change our life we have to understand what we’ve come into the world with and what we are lacking. Just as in cooking we may find that we already have a good deal of ingredients we need to make a complete dish, but are lacking in others which we need to acquire. Perhaps some of the ingredients have gone bad and need to be thrown out, replaced, or substituted. Perhaps some are not readily attainable at your local grocery store. If you have a tendency to add too much salt you cannot start adding less until you realize such a tendency. You cannot even find a way to bring balance to an overly salted dish by adding more fresh ingredients etc. either.
Birth charts just shows us the tendencies of our lives based upon a mixture of our inner nature (Soul), outer nature (personality) and the fruits of previous actions (karmas). Some things are changeable, others are not or very much less so. Some things need to be changed for health and harmony (say a bad smoking habit), while others simply need to be accepted (the death of a loved one). Overall the circumstances of our outer life are a reflection of our inner life, but external circumstances really mean very little in the grander scheme of things because ultimately happiness is found within, and when found the external circumstances no longer control one’s ability to enjoy the dance of creation, and therefore have very little importance at the end of the day. So while we analyze a chart largely to understand the external circumstances of life, it is done in service to the inner life because it allows for a clearer and more objective view of oneself so that one can indeed learn to rely more upon the inner, unchanging, dimensions of reality for joy and fulfillment rather than the outer, temporal, dimensions as is often done.
I cover any topic in general to specific terms at my own discretion. There are some things I may see but will not predict if I feel they will be unhelpful for you spiritually. For example I won’t predict death and its circumstances because, while I have mused on this for my own chart, I ultimately don’t believe it is helpful to form a mental idea about this that one carries with them from day to day. I will always present things as possibilities rather than unalterable signatures of fate because even when I can be reasonably sure how likely or half-likely something is, it is not my place to declare something as set in stone.
Please understand that we are looking for what is real and true, not what sounds good. By confronting Truth, no matter how ugly or beautiful it may appear, we have a tremendous opportunity to become more tuned into the inner world. In this day and age we are presented with an unrealistic portrayal of what life and happiness are. Everyone is force fed the idea that they are guaranteed a life made plentiful by a promising career, notoriety, a functional marriage, healthy children, a nice home, plenty of money and more. The truth is that these things are not promised to everyone as mere accidents of their birth, even in so called first world countries like the US. Personally I know of no one who has had all of these things and more in a perfected capacity. You may have several but there is likely to be one that is sorely lacking etc. The media portrays people as being successful if they have them all, and instills a sense of doubt, guilt and shame for those who don’t have these things in the way they advertise them.
The chart will show what is the most likely reality of life if one goes through the motions determined at birth with little to no major variations. Therefore some charts may show wealth, while others tend to show poverty, some may show honors and a good career, while others show a major shift in career or a variety of menial jobs that secure an income but aren’t what we might call a career, some may show a happy and long lived marriage while others show constant interruptions to married life etc. The possibilities are as endless as life itself. In the context of life as a whole we do not assume that married life is interrupted because there is some failure on the part of the individuals in said marriage. We look at the chart and see what the interruptions are and what their source is. It could very well be due to one individual having an overseas position, to the premature death of one of the partners (not something I am likely to predict), to a natural growing apart that is mutual etc.
There is no personal judgement in astrology, it just shows the energetic patterns and convergences as they are. It does not label things as good or bad, right or wrong, etc. It is meant to provide a clear picture that can be used in a variety of ways to live a more holistic life. This information can also be used to live an increasingly inharmonious life, as in the case of people who use magic to alter certain signatures in their chart only for personal gain rather than for spiritual or psychological wholeness. Again worldly circumstances do not create happiness, they can only be a vehicle for inner happiness. Attempting to willfully alter aspects of your life that you don’t like or deem as an annoying and unnecessary distraction where happiness is concerned, especially when you don’t even understand why they are there, is ultimately to invite more suffering because it reinforces a dependence upon external circumstances to feel whole which widens the sense of fragmentation and disconnectedness so prevalent in today’s world.
A natal reading will bring you face to face with the raw stuff of your life irrespective of opinion when interpreted correctly. What is revealed can be used in a variety of different ways. The ultimate utility of a natal reading lies in providing one with clarity concerning life so that one can move forward more consciously and with awareness, which means less unconsciousness, less excuses and less lies concerning reality (thoughts, words and deeds included). A birth chart reading opens many doors within one’s inner being. Please be vigilant and determine if you are ready to interface with what walks through.
