How to Read Your Birth Chart: The Big Three You Must Know

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If you’ve ever lost your phone, you know the information on it is incredibly valuable — but without the code to unlock it, it’s useless. Your birth chart is the same way. You can have your chart in front of you, but without knowing how to decode it, you won’t be able to unlock its insights.

In this episode, I’m sharing the simplest and most powerful way to start reading your birth chart: by focusing on the “Big Three” — your ascendant, your moon, and your sun — plus one bonus factor that can be just as influential. We’ll go step-by-step through what each of these tells you, why they’re essential, and how to put them together for a clear and accurate first reading.

I use Beyoncé’s chart as a real-life example now that we have her accurate birth time from her biography: September 4, 1981, 21:47 in Houston, Texas. She has Aries Rising (Ashwini Nakshatra), Moon in Scorpio (Vishaka), and Sun in Leo — three powerful placements that each reveal different aspects of her personality, leadership style, and emotional world. On top of that, she has five placements in Virgo, showing how an abundance of planets in one sign can shape someone’s life as much as, or even more than, the Big Three.

I also share simple tips for decoding sign energies — from the initiating leadership of Aries, to the intensity and mystery of Scorpio, to the regal authority of Leo — and why learning the symbols of the zodiac can take you far in your studies. You’ll hear about the strengths and challenges of each, plus how Beyoncé’s Virgo stellium shows up in her perfectionism, discipline, and attention to detail in her performances.

This is your foundation for everything else in astrology — nakshatras, planetary rulerships, divisional charts — it all builds from understanding your Big Three. I’ll be diving deeper into these tools in my Become Your Own Astrologer workshop, all-new for 2025, with a fully updated 50+ page workbook to guide you. Whether you’re brand new to astrology or you’ve been studying for years, this episode will help you sharpen your skills, return to the essentials, and see your chart in a whole new way.

Key ideas from the episode:

• The ascendant (rising sign) shapes the houses and is the foundation of any chart reading
• The moon sign reveals your mind, emotions, and relationship with the mother
• The sun sign shows where you shine, your leadership, and paternal influences
• Three or more planets in one sign can be as influential as the Big Three
• Learning the zodiac symbols is a quick way to start understanding sign energies

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Keywords: nakshatras, grahas (planets), rashi (zodiac signs), bhavas (houses), jyotish (astrology), yoga (planetary combinations), doshas (afflictions), kundali (birth chart), transits, retrograde, aspects, dasha system, remedies, mantras, shani, chani, chandra, mangala, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
If you ever lost your phone, youwould know that what's on your
phone is super valuable, but without the code to unlock it,
it's useless. It's the same way with your
birth chart. So having the birth chart,
knowing this about yourself is super useful and valuable, but
without the way to understand itand decode it, it's useless to

(00:20):
know the birth chart. So in this episode, I want to
talk through how to start to read your birth chart and what
you're looking at when you see the chart, how to make use of
it, and the three most importantthings to focus on to start
with, and then where to go deeper from there.
So we're going to go into all this inside of the Become Your
Own Astrologer workshop. All new for 2025.

(00:43):
Full new workbook, 50 plus pages, super useful, super
powerful. Quietmanastrology.com/workshop
to join us live for that. So I've got here Beyoncé's birth
chart, which we now have a accurate birth time because it
came out from her biography. So she's born in Houston, TX,
September 4th, 1981 at 2147 and she has Aries Rising.

(01:08):
So that is the first of the big three that I think are essential
to know to decode your chart because if you don't have the
ascendant, then you don't know the houses, you don't know so
much about the chart. You can do a reading without the
ascendant. If you don't know your exact
birth time, you can't really usethe ascendant because that's
going to shape where all the houses are.

(01:29):
So it really helps to have the accurate birth time, especially
with celebrity horoscopes like this.
When I'm looking at celebrity charts, usually I don't have a
reliable birth time unless it's been in the biography or
something like that. But I do have an episode on
astrology without a birth time for the process of how to narrow
that down. A lot of astrologers charge like

(01:50):
$400.00 for this service. The rectification, I don't think
it needs to be that complicated.I found ways to do it that are
super accurate and simple. And anytime I do a reading with
somebody, it's included. So if you're not sure about your
birth time, just book a reading with me.
We'll go through it. I'll help you clarify your time
of birth and what the rising sign most likely is.

(02:11):
And this helps us understand thewhole rest of the chart in a lot
more detail. So that's the first of the big
three is the ascendant, what's rising on the eastern horizon at
the moment of your birth that isnow determining where all the
houses land. Second is the moon.
This is your mind and your emotions, our feeling sense.
And this helps us understand so much about our inner world

(02:32):
descending, how people see us, our perception, our personality,
our identity. It shapes all the rest of the
houses, all the areas of life, how they land.
The moon is now what's happeninginternally.
So I don't know what's happeningin your mind unless I'm very
intuitive or mind reader or verygood at psychology.
But there's a lot happening internally that's in the moon

(02:53):
sign. Now, some people have the moon
in the rising in the same sign, even the same nakshatra.
So they're going to be very similar.
So what somebody's thinking and how they're perceived can be
very much related. Now, you might have your moon
somewhere very different than your ascendant, so what's
happening internally might be very different than what you are
showing externally. The moon also tells us a lot

(03:15):
about the relationship with the mother and if the person becomes
a mother, their own maternal energies as well.
The sun is the father and the paternal energy.
So whether the person is a father or has a father energy in
their life or what their father was like can be understood
through the sun placement. This is also where you shine and

(03:37):
where your radiance is and whereyour light is and where people
see you in the spotlight. So Beyoncé has Sun and Leo, and
that's a very much leadership, strong leader kind of energy.
So for your own chart, you want to look to the ascendant, the
moon, and the Sun. These are considered the big

(03:57):
three in astrology. But like Beyoncé, if you have
three or more placements in one sign, and that sign may also be
highly influential in the chart and maybe even more influential
than the big three, this is going to go case by case.
There's an intuitive art to this.

(04:18):
It's not just a logical step by step to this, but she has 12345
placements in Virgo, and none ofthem are the big three, the
ascendant Moon or the Sun. So Virgo energy is going to be
very, very influential in her chart, almost as if it were her
rising sign. But her rising sign is Aries.

(04:40):
So she has Moon in Scorpio, rising Aries and Sun in Leo, but
she's got 12345 placements in Virgo.
So all of those signs are going to be very influential for her,
not just the big three. So now how do you start to
decode it? Well, first you got to
understand the energies of the signs and energies of the big

(05:02):
three that are at play. So again, the ascendant is the
what's rising at the eastern horizon at the moment of your
birth. There's a sort of movement
energy, there's something comingup to the surface and there's a
sense of a new thing coming intobeing.
So wherever the ascendant is in your chart is where you are
rising into this thing. It's your sense of self.

(05:24):
Now here I am, this is me. This is what we're seeing.
And the rising sign could be happening any time of day
because like, she's born at 2147, right?
So that's not early, that's late, and that's more nighttime
energy. So the time of day is a whole
other topic, but the rising signis what's coming up for you,

(05:45):
where you're coming into this part of yourself, almost like
Rahu, which is more of your purpose and drive and your
passion in this lifetime. The rising signs, what you're
rising into. And she has Ashwini Nakshatra
there inside of Aries. So in the free workshop, we're
just going to focus on the signsto keep it simple.
But the signs can get more and more precise down to smaller

(06:06):
divisions into nakshatras and even patas.
So it's actually not just 12 possible signs you can have, but
108. But we saved that for the
mentorship and deeper topics. To keep it simple, it is very
useful to know the main 12 signs.
So somebody with Aries ascendant, you think of the
Aries energy, the symbol of a ram, this initiative, it's the

(06:30):
first sign of the Zodiac and it's this beginning energy,
starting energy. So anyone who has a strong Aries
energy is going to be somebody who is a starter, a leader,
somebody who initiates things and has ability to start new
things. Now with that, there's always a
shadow side to everything. So the shadow of Aries is maybe

(06:52):
starting too many things, being impatient, being unreliable and
full of ideas but lacking the follow through and the execution
on them. Maybe being impulsive and
starting things and kind of abruptly ending them, or
abruptly beginning new things. Sometimes anger, frustration,
these are emotions that move quickly through the system.
Strong sympathetic nervous system reactions could be seen

(07:15):
through strong Aries placements.And in my way of speaking, when
I'm talking about something being strong, it means that
there is ascendance on our moon there, or three or more
placements. That typically means that sign
is very influential. Rahu is also a very strong
example of this, but that's for another topic for another time.

(07:36):
But today, to keep it simple, the big three, ascendant, sun
and moon, and then if you have three more placements than a
sign, that sign is almost like aBIG4 now and then the moon and
the Scorpio energy. So Scorpio is like a scorpion.
So if we see a scorpion, it's a little bit scary.
It seems like it's possibly going to sting us.

(07:59):
It's could be dangerous, and it tends to be appearing out of
nowhere, like it's hiding. And if you've ever been around
scorpions, like in Mexico, there's a lot of scorpions and
they can just kind of get there,almost any opening, but there's
just a little bit of an opening through the door or the wall or
a window. They magically somehow get

(08:20):
through it. But they're actually more afraid
of humans than we are of them. It's a misunderstanding about
scorpions. They don't want to sting you.
It actually takes a lot of theirenergy to sting you.
So they're very selective. If they're going to do it, it's
because they feel very threatened and they feel like
they have to do it, but they would prefer not to.
And if usually when you approacha scorpion as a human, they're

(08:42):
going to shrink up. I don't know how else I guess
we're all going to approach themas humans.
I don't know how else you might approach them.
Maybe you see a cat approach them.
My cat will just stay far away from a scorpion.
She won't play with it. She won't go near it, she just
avoids it. So approaching it as a cat, if
you are a cat listening, then you're probably going to avoid

(09:02):
the scorpion. But as a human, you're probably
going to be scared of it. But if you notice as you get
close to maybe try to take it outside or something or put it
in a jar and move it, they tend to get very scared.
So they have this intensity, butthere's actually a bit of a fear
there, right? We look at the Aries, the the
Ram. This is something that's
aggressive. They assert their dominance.

(09:24):
A scorpion is protecting itself.It can be dominated, can sting
you, can't hurt you. Even some of them are fatal, but
it's rare. But generally they don't want
you, but they they will if they have to.
So they have this intensity to them, the secretiveness, where
are they hiding? You don't know where as a ram,
you know where it is. It's not trying to hide.

(09:46):
It's very direct into the point.And the Zodiac signs typically
go from more gross to more subtle as we go from Aries to
Pisces, with the fish being moreand more subtle than the ram of
Aries and the scorpion somewherein the middle there at the 8th
sign of the Zodiac. So it's a bit intense, but
secretive it mysterious. So there's an internal world for

(10:07):
Beyoncé as a moon in Scorpio. That's a bit internal
mysterious. But it's in Vishaka Nakshatra,
which is very ambitious, very good for somebody who is like an
entrepreneur or performer or wants to have a lot of success.
Anyone who has Vishaka placements in their chart,
especially in the Scorpio side. So then the sun in Leo or what

(10:30):
is Leo? It's the lion, right?
So knowing the symbols of the Zodiac get you pretty far into
understanding the energies of the lion is the king of the
jungle. If you've ever been around a
lion in real life, their roar issuper impressive, very powerful,
very strong and very dangerous. And they can kill a lot of

(10:50):
things, but they also tend to conserve their energy.
But when they are in the hunts and when they need to strike,
they will. And you don't want to be in
their path. So they command respect and
authority. And just like in the movie The
Lion King, the way the the lion is the king of the jungle and
respected by the other animals, there's this element to the Leo

(11:12):
energy where the whoever has strong legal placements is
typically respected by others. They have a sense of authority
and leadership and gravity, and without even necessarily having
to do a lot, they definitely do things.
But there's a sense of presence and energy around them just by
being. And when you have the sun there,

(11:34):
it's amplified even more. So that's the sense of self, the
leadership ability. The sun actually rules Leo.
So these are very harmonious energies.
So obviously Beyoncé is an amazing leader.
She has this, all these things Ijust talked about apply to her.
And she was a great example of the sun and Leo energy also
often seen in kings and Queens and rulers and performers.

(11:57):
Somebody like Michael Jackson, the King of Pop as well.
And then we have all the Virgo energy, which is not the Sun,
Moon or Ascendant, but it's verystrong with Jupiter, Venus,
Mercury, Saturn, Pluto there. So she is very detailed and her
dresses and her dances are very precise.
She has very choreographed performances that are very

(12:19):
beautiful and graceful and very thought out.
And she's quite a perfectionist in a lot of ways.
So those are the Virgo sides coming out.
So the Virgo energy is very strong as well.
And the Virgo symbol is a woman bringing Ayurvedic herbs, a
healer, a doctor kind of energy.Now, Beyoncé is not necessarily
a healer or doctor, but her music is very powerful.

(12:41):
And music is often considered a form of medicine.
And they have Venus there, the performer, the art, the artistic
expression, and Mercury the communication, and Jupiter, the
expansion and growth, Saturn in the discipline.
These are all very nice energiesand factors here for her to be a
great performer and artist. And in her daily life, she's

(13:01):
probably very precise about her health and her diet to maintain
her fitness and her health and her image and everything that's
Saturn in the 6th House of dailyroutine and Virgo, It's very
precise, right? So I'm adding some layers here.
I'm going a little deeper. I'm not going to go so deep
beyond this right now because I want to bring to the main point

(13:23):
of today's episode is that if you want to start to read your
chart, you got to start with something.
And the best thing you can startwith is the big three, the
ascendant, the moon and the sun.And then if you have three or
more placements and a sign that sign as well, now in the free
workshop, I give you a chart to help you start to decode this
yourself. So you put together the energies
of the placement with the sign and you start to interpret.

(13:46):
And that gives you a really goodfoundation to do everything else
with the nakshatras, with the rulers, with the divisional
charts, all these other things have to start from somewhere.
And this is a really good foundation.
It's your big three ascendant, moon and sun.
And again, it's a free guide, free workbook.
It's I've put a lot of time intoit.
I'm very happy with it. I spent the whole last week, all

(14:07):
week, just working on the updates to the workbook for this
year. Very happy with it.
So even if you've taken it before, it's all new and this is
my most popular event of the year.
So I'm excited to share it with you and excited to make it the
best it can be and really help you go on this journey.
So even if you're far along on the journey, this is coming back
to the basics and foundation andbuilding on it.

(14:27):
And I think you're actually going to find a lot of cool
things that you haven't seen before and new perspectives I
haven't seen before as I continue to refine.
And I've worked with thousands of students over the years to
see how I can best teach astrology and best make this
something we can use to thrive in our health, wealth,
relationships, and purpose. That's what I'll be sharing at
the workshop. So Quiet Mind,
astrology.com/workshop if you want to join us live on

(14:50):
Thursday, that is August 14th. But if you catch you later, you
can catch the replay. Thank you for listening.
Hope you have a great, great dayand look forward to sharing more
with you next time on the Quiet Mind Astrology Podcast.