Join Sara and Anna this week for another episode of Magic on the Inside where they talk about the layers of astrology!

The Layers of Astrology: Birth Chart Pie!

In the blog this week Sara and Anna look ahead to our free astrology class – Birth Chart Basics.

Astrology has many layers and it can be confusing when you are beginning to work out how it all fits together. Sara herself is no professional astrologer but has learned so much from hanging around and chatting to Anna, Nick and Sarah, the astrology teachers here at The Sisters Enchanted. From these conversations, Sara has come to think of a birth chart like the layers of delicious cake or a pie. This is a super helpful way to look at the birth chart and come to understand all the different information and energies and how they layer on each other and influence each other.

The Birth Chart Pie Analogy

Twelve Slices – the Twelve Houses

Our birth chart is divided up into twelve houses, representing different parts of our experiences through life. So, like a pie cut into twelve pieces.  

The Bottom Crust – the Natural Chart

A pie starts with a pastry base at its bottom layer. This is the same for all pies, whatever the topping and decoration that will be layered upon the bottom crust. This is like the natural astrology chart – the bit that is the same for everyone. Each of the twelve houses are ruled by one of the twelve signs of the Zodiac. We have specific ruling signs for our own birth chart but, at the same time, each of the houses has a sign that naturally rules. For example, House One, the house that represents the beginnings of things, how we assert ourselves and our identity in the world, what is on our surface, what people see about us on the surface. Aries is the natural ruler of House One, the first Zodiac Sign, the sign of the pioneer, the ram that wants to push itself headstrong into the world and into all it wants to achieve in this lifetime. 

We all have Aries energy in our House One, we all have Taurus energy in House Two, the house of values and Gemini energy in House Three, the house of experiences and exchange through communication, siblings and short distance travel, and so on…  When you look at a blank birth chart that has no information on it, you will see that it’s cut into 12 equal pieces. And those 12 equal pieces are ruled by one of the zodiac signs, and it’s always that way This is the energy and influence that is baked into that pie crust – that foundation that is the same for any pie. 

The Filling – The Signs Tuling the Houses for Your Birth Chart

Once you have your crust, you build your pie. You can’t change the base – once it is made it is made, just like that natural chart made of the natural placements of the Zodiac signs that stay the same for all of us. The bass is the underlying energy, common to everybody. The filling is what is unique to you – your character and experiences. If your first house in your birth chart is ruled by Cancer, then this is your filling. Cancer filling on an Aries crust. When you eat the pie, you taste both – the filling and the underlying crust. It is the same in the birth chart. We have the underlying characteristics of Aries in House One with the energy of our own sign on the top of it. With Cancer ruling House One, this would give you nurturing and emotional characteristics, on top of the independent and pioneering Aries energy. Of course, if you have Aries Ascendant – Aries ruling House One in your own chart your filling matches your base.

The Decoration – The Planets

Our birth chart also has the planets situated throughout the houses. This is like the fancy top layer – a lattice or a top layer cut into shapes with motifs like flowers, leaves, moons or with fruit or candy decorations. 

Each of those twelve slices, our twelve houses have the base flavor or energy that we all share, our own unique filling and our unique decorations, the energy of the planets. They are all in the same slice. They all act together in each house. These are the layers of astrology in our birth chart. 

Yeah, a lattice. And your planets, those are the topping, so those are layered over your pie 

I don’t know. I would say, astrology’s a wormhole. And I feel like anything that I could even 

What kind of pie would you be?

When you first look at your birth chart it can be overwhelming with all the different components and questions you can ask about them all and their interaction and relationships. The first thing to know is the overall flavor – the kind of pie your chart shows you to be.

What kind of pie would you be based on your chart?

Sara has a Sagittarius Stellium, lots of planets working together in one house, all in Sagittarius – a fire sign and the wanderer of the Zodiac that loves to experience everything about the heavens, spirituality and philosophy, that wants to learn everything and share their knowledge and beliefs with everyone.  Sara sees her pie as a dynamic strawberry and rhubarb pie. 

Anna has a Virgo Stellium, the earth sign that loves to bring beauty and perfection to everyone and every situation. Anna sees her pie as a pumpkin pie with intricately placed cut-out leaves in a corner of it, representing the planets in her Stellium.  Not too sweet and not too savory and with lots of cinnamon and nutmeg and nicely brushed with butter and sugar. 

To understand astrology, you have to understand how these layers work together

Everybody has their personalized chart because there are twelve houses in there, with as many signs and planets. Although a lot of people share an Ascendant or Rising Sign and a Sun Sign and a Moon Sign, they are different because of all of these layers that are in there. You can go buy a strawberry rhubarb pie or a pumpkin pie, but they will not likely taste the same because it depends on who made them, what ingredients are put in them, the oven they were baked in. So even though they’re similar, they’re always kind of different at the same time. 

An online, standard chart generator may be able to show us all these layers and flavors, but it cannot put all these together and help us understand what we might be experiencing internally or externally. Only by learning astrology can we begin to understand those layers and how they work together. This is what really makes astrology such a cool tool for us in our lives. 

Get this episode’s transcript here