When I look at a chart for the first time, I start with the elements.

What’s the balance of fire, earth, water, and air here?

Those four simple frequencies we experience every day hold so much.

But we can also look at the elements in terms of season.

What’s the elemental flavor and frequency of this season of life, and what's that inviting?

And is it in tension with what's most alive in our charts?

For instance, I have a fire and air chart. I like to move boldly, act quickly, and think frenetically.

But I’m in an earthy and watery season.

A season defined by care and connection, logistics and limits – a time when, no matter how much my fire and air pull at me for more speed, drama, and energy, I’m feeling pulled elsewhere – into home and family, and all the watery emotional connection and earthy embodied care this realm of life demands.

This doesn’t mean my fire and air have gone away – what we come in with never does. It just means I’m holding it differently – alongside the roots and the flow my life needs right now.

It’s so helpful – even life-changing -- to understand the nuance, complexity, and power in our natal charts.

But our relationship to our chart (and to ourselves) is meant to change, as we're pulled in different directions over a lifetime-- through cycles, transits, and the shifting circumstances of our lives.

This can be challenging, but it’s also where it gets interesting.

Because it forces questions.

Like, for me: What does it mean to be fully alive in my fire in the presence of limits? What might it look like to be bold, fierce, and passionate when I’m swimming into the watery realm of deep feeling? How do I hold the tension, paradox, and frustration of this season?

These questions don't have easy answers, but when I can stay with them, my imagination and my world get bigger.

So know yourself.

But also remember that forces beyond your control will keep pulling you into new seasons that will change your relationship to that knowing.

Growth is the point.