Your natal, aka birth, chart is a map of what you would have seen at the moment of your birth if you had been able to open your eyes and glance into the heavens, combined with what was hidden below the horizon. From your perspective on earth, the planets appear to move around you, so you are placed at the center of your natal chart.
“We are born at a given moment, in a given place, and like vintage years of wine, we have the qualities of the year and of the season in which we are born” ~ C.G. Jung
Your chart is a reflection of life unfolding, from birth to old age, and you can use it to gain a better understanding of yourself and others. A birth chart reveals innate potential, strengths and weaknesses, emotional needs, and inner thought processes. As a practical tool for enhancing personal wellbeing, it can identify areas of compatibility and conflict, indicate timing for an important event, and point the way forward when all other identifiable paths are blocked. The zodiac journey is a voyage through human experience.
There are myriad and all equally important components of the natal chart:
- The zodiac signs – The elements
- The qualities – The planets
- The houses – The aspects
In the coming posts, I will be discussing each component and address the relevance in the context of understanding the nature of personal development on the continuum of psychological wholeness.
In Jungian philosophy, the zodiacal wheel comprising all of the signs is a symbol of the Self. The Self, not to be confused with the identity of our egoic nature but, rather, refers to the archetype of wholeness and the ordering principle of the psyche.
To begin this fascinating journey, we will start by exploring the zodiac signs following the natural order of the zodiac wheel, beginning with Aries and ending with Pisces.