The planets, which you can think of as the actors within a person, most commonly include the Sun 
, Moon 
, Mercury 
, Venus 
, Mars 
, Jupiter 
, Saturn 
, Uranus 
, Neptune 
, and Pluto 
(sometimes also represented as 
). Even though the Sun and the Moon are not planets, they are referred to a planets in astrology. There are glyphs associated with each planet which I included above and which you can also view in the box labeled “Planet Symbols” in the upper left portion of the natal chart below. Each planet represents a particular energy. For example, Mercury represents a person’s thinking and communication and Saturn represents a person’s structure and limitations.
In addition, there are four personal points represented by the Ascendant 
, Midheaven 
, North node 
and South node 
. A further description of these personal points is given later.
Viewing the natal chart below, you can see the planets and personal points are spread around in different places in the circular diagram. For example, Neptune is in the 9:00 position, Mars is in the 2:30 position and the Ascendant is in the 8:15 position. Shortly you will learn how to orient yourself to the natal chart from a north, south, east, west framework.
Note that every person’s natal chart is unique as constructing it requires the date of birth, time of birth, and location of birth. You may say, “Wait a minute. What about identical twins born at essentially the same time?” In that case, the charts are the same for the twins. So their energies they carry through life are the same. How they choose to use their energies throughout their lives is their choice, and thus different. Having interpreted the charts of identical twins, it became clear to me that the energies are the same and the choices each twin made in directing their energies were different. We will get to this more in the Fate vs Free Will portion of this tutorial later.
Example of a Natal (Birth) Chart
Next: Zodiac Signs
