(Check here if you need help remembering what the symbols/glyphs mean.) Here is a handy, printable worksheetthat will help you keep track of your birth chart information. Look at the birth chart and take note of what sign and house each planet is in. What emerges is an amazingly accurate portrait of an individual. So what we’re saying here is the opposite of that age-old adage: "Don't judge a book by its cover." The opposite is "Don’t judge a book by a single page inside." The work of the astrologer, then, is to take all the bits and pieces of insight in the birth chart and synthesize them into a whole. Although the mosaics contain similar pieces, the final products look nothing alike. Now, two different completed mosaics, if you look close enough, may contain tiny pieces that are exactly the same, yet they are part of two completely different finished mosaics (this point is illustrated by the example of Mercury in Sagittarius above). In the birth chart, each separate planet in a sign and house is like one tiny individual image, one tiny part of the whole mosaic. It’s as if each of us is a mosaic, made up of tiny individual images. But then you must weave it all together, and lace it with the Rising Sign, to get an accurate picture. Yes, by all means, go ahead and see all the separate interpretations of each planet in its sign and house. The point, again (and this point will be repeated often), is that the entire chart must be blended together. While they both have Mercury in Sagittarius, the first person (Sun in Capricorn) will have a much more reserved communication style than the second person (Sun in Sagittarius). You may be tempted to assume that both of the individuals are "outspoken." But, say the first person has the Sun in Capricorn, while the second person has the Sun in Sagittarius. For example, say that two individuals both have Mercury in Sagittarius (denoting something of a "big mouth"). Of course, you will be tempted to stop at one or another of the planetary meanings, and think that it is the defining factor of a person. If you do that, you will, undoubtedly, be in error.
This means that you cannot take one piece of the chart (for example, Mercury in Sagittarius) and decide that it defines the entire person. Each separate bit must be synthesized into one whole picture of the person. A natal chart abounds with bits and pieces of information about an individual. The entire chart must be taken as a whole. The most important thing to remember while interpreting any birth chart is: synthesis. If you prefer, see instead 4 Easy Birth Chart Reading Techniques For Beginners.) (Get your free birth chart and report here.)