How to read your birth chart and your cards

A simple guide to everything Hadoria shows you. No jargon and nothing scary: astrology and the cards are for fun and for thinking about yourself.

What is a birth chart?

It's a snapshot of the sky at the exact moment you were born, seen from the place where you were born. Hadoria works out where each planet was using real astronomical data and draws it on a wheel. You read the wheel like a clock running backward: it starts on the left, at the rising sign (the Ascendant), and moves downward.

To get it right you need your date, time and place of birth. Without the time you still get the planets, but not the rising sign or the houses, which change every few minutes.

The big three: Sun, Moon and rising sign

The planets

Each planet is a part of you. The sign it sits in tells you how it shows up, and the house tells you where.

☉︎Sun

Who you are, what energizes you and how you shine.

☽︎Moon

Your emotions, and what you need to feel at home.

☿︎Mercury

How you think, talk and learn.

♀︎Venus

How you love, what you like and what you find beautiful.

♂︎Mars

Your drive: how you take action and stand up for what's yours.

♃︎Jupiter

Where you grow and feel lucky.

♄︎Saturn

Your responsibilities and what you build with patience.

♅︎Uranus

What makes you different and your urge for change. It's shared by a whole generation.

♆︎Neptune

Your dreams, your imagination and your sensitivity. It's generational, too.

♇︎Pluto

The big transformations. It's the slowest planet, so it marks an entire generation.

If you see "retrograde" next to a planet, it means that from Earth it seemed to be moving backward. Read it as a more inward-looking energy.

The twelve signs and their elements

The signs are grouped into four elements: fire (energy), earth (practical things), air (ideas) and water (emotions). Your chart shows which element weighs most for you.

The twelve houses

The wheel is divided into twelve houses, like twelve rooms of your life. A planet that falls in a house brings its energy to that area.

1Your personality

It starts at the Ascendant and covers your visible personality, your appearance, how you present yourself and how you get anything started. It's the door through which the world meets you, and the style you use to go out and meet it.

2Your resources and values

It's about what you consider valuable: your talents, your belongings and how you manage them. It also reflects your self-worth and what you need to feel grounded and calm.

3Your mind and your surroundings

This is home to communication, early schooling, siblings, neighbors and short trips. It shows how you think, how you talk and how you get around in your everyday world.

4Your home and your roots

It stands for family, home, childhood and the inner place you go back to when you need to feel safe. It's the emotional foundation that everything else in your chart rests on.

5Your joy and creativity

It's the house of play, romance, hobbies, creativity and children, if you have them. It's about what you truly enjoy and how you show your personal spark.

6Your daily life

It deals with routines, everyday work, habits and how you organize your time. It also shows how you help others and what makes you feel useful each day.

7Your relationships

It starts opposite the Ascendant and covers your partner, business partners and any one-on-one relationship. It reflects what you look for in others and what you learn from the people who walk beside you.

8Your transformations

It's about what you share, intimacy, deep trust and the changes that renew you from within. It's the house of endings that make way for new beginnings, and of the strength you discover by going through them.

9Your horizons

Here you'll find long journeys, higher education, beliefs, philosophy and everything that broadens your outlook. It shows how you search for meaning and what inspires you to keep learning.

10Your calling and your goals

It starts at the Midheaven and covers your career, your reputation and what you want to build in the world. It reflects your ambitions and the legacy you'd like to leave.

11Your friends and dreams

It brings together friends, groups, networks and plans for the future. It shows which community inspires you, who shares your ideals and which wishes keep you going in the long run.

12Your inner world

It stands for the private and the quiet: dreams, intuition, the need to withdraw, and compassion. It's where you rest, recharge and connect with something bigger than yourself.

The aspects: the lines in the middle

The lines inside the wheel connect planets that form a special angle. Blue and green lines are harmonious; red ones show tension (which also helps you grow).

Conjunction

Two planets at almost the same point in the sky. Their energies blend and act together, like two instruments playing the same note. It's a powerful aspect: whatever those planets stand for is strongly felt in your character.

Sextile

The planets are about 60 degrees apart. It's a friendly aspect that offers opportunities and makes it easy to combine their energies. It works like a door left ajar: it pays off when you choose to push it open with a little effort.

Square

About 90 degrees apart. The planets' energies pull against each other and call for action. That's not a bad thing: it's the engine that pushes you to grow, to solve problems and to find creative solutions you wouldn't look for otherwise.

Trine

About 120 degrees separate the planets, usually in signs of the same element. It's the most flowing aspect: their energies work together naturally. It points to talents that come easily to you and shine even brighter when you nurture them.

Opposition

Facing each other about 180 degrees apart, the two planets are two forces pulling in different directions, inviting you to find a balance. It's often lived through other people, who show you the part of yourself you still need to embrace.

The decks

How to ask a good question

• Ask about yourself, not about what others will do: "What can I do to...?" works better than "Will they call me?".
• One question at a time, open-ended and calm.
• Read the card as an invitation to reflect, not as a verdict. You decide.

Astrology and the cards don't predict the future or replace any professional. They're a moment just for you.

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