Your birth chart is a blueprint of you, revealing your personality, innate abilities, interests and proclivities, challenges and limitations, approach to life, and much more. An astrologer can look at your chart and instantly see a great deal about you: what sort of career suits you, what types of people you're attracted to, and what things you enjoy doing.

A birth, or natal, chart is calculated for the date, time, and place of a person's birth. It takes into consideration the positions of the sun, moon, planets, and other heavenly bodies relative to earth. The chart looks like a pie cut into twelve pieces. Each piece is known as a house and each house corresponds to a different facet of life. The second house, for instance, describes your physical resources and potential for earning money.

When a planet is situated in a house, it activates circumstances related to the areas of life governed by that house in a way that's in keeping with the planet's nature. If Mars is in your second house, you might aggressively pursue wealth or earn money from a job that involves conflict (sports, the military, etc.). Additionally, your chart shows the relationships between the heavenly bodies and how they interact with one another. Some of these relationships, called aspects, are harmonious, others are stressful.

Your birth chart, like your genetic makeup, remains in effect for your entire earthly existence. However, due to the continuous movements of the celestial spheres, the circumstances in your life keep changing. As the planets shift in the sky, they influence factors in your birth chart — and your life. Astrologers examine these cycles, known as transits and progressions, to determine what the future will bring.