Soul Figures Method
Welcome to Your Personal Star Map
We all have every planet and every sign in our natal charts. You may not “identify” with Aries but it still rules a part of your chart, and when you meet people with Aries energy and you have a reaction to them, it is often because they are activating a specific part of you. In astrology, there is no “out there” – everything is also within us.
Too, each of the signs and planets has a corresponding archetype. The natal chart is not merely a summary of fixed characteristics, but a map of the psyche. A map sends us on a journey – and in this case, each individual’s personal star map chart points us in the direction of our soul’s highest evolution.
Each planet and sign represents not fate but potentiality. And each birth chart emphasizes certain archetypes more than others, and in a very particular pattern. This is why your natal chart is one of the most precious and unique storehouses of information about you. It is also a portal to your deepest transformation. When we view the information in the chart as a set of clues introducing us to the strongest archetypes in our lives, we see the themes that demand more of our attention because they, more so than other archetypes, influence how we uniquely experience and rhyme with reality. In particular, those planets or signs that are in conflict with one another can benefit from “tuning” – see more about that when you book a reading – but regardless of whether an aspect is “good” or “bad,” you want to know all parts of your chart, and integrate all of them.
Like any good treasure map, there are key entry points in each individual’s sky map (the Ascendant-Descendant axis), key areas of foundation and the direction in which we can best expand (IC-MC and the Moon’s nodes), areas of challenge (squares, oppositions, T-squares, and where you will find your natal Saturn, Neptune, and other malefics), and areas of abundance and blessing (usually the Part of Fortune, Venus, Jupiter, for example – but even Jupiter and Venus can be ill-aspected, folks). In this article we will use a sample chart to introduce how one of these “keys” to the chart works in practice from an astro-archetypal lens.
Beyond Sun Sign Hegemony
But first a word about The Sun. Pop astrology (the watered down version of tropical astrology you will find in most social media feeds and “daily horoscopes” pages) encourages people to learn their Sun sign and attribute everything in their personality to that one sign – to even identify with it as if the Sun summarizes, in total, all aspects of their personality. Though it’s true that tropical Hellenistic astrology does favor the Sun as the key indicator of personality, much of what you run into online is far too reductive, even for tropical astrology. Either way, this overemphasis on the Sun also doesn’t do astrology as a whole any favors, as it leads people to narrow conclusions on astrology in total – if they “relate” to their Sun sign, then they might allow that astrology could hold some promise, but if they don’t like it, they reject the whole enterprise.
The Sun, from an astro-archetypal lens, is indeed the center of the solar system, and it’s still the biggest planet in the chart – we’re not challenging that. But its role is not to brand the entire chart with one identity. Rather, The Sun turns on the lights of the inner realm and guides the process of the Soul’s integration.
Isn’t that so much lovelier? The Sun is our source of inner illumination, the expansion of our consciousness to bring all that is in the shadows into integration. It is indeed a powerhouse of energy, but unto itself it doesn’t “say” nearly as much as pop astrology would have you believe. It needs the other archetypes and their patterns in order to have something to illuminate. You turn the lights on in the room and now you can see what’s in there, but the light itself doesn’t define the room. Get it?
When we view the chart this way, astrology becomes more about evolution and less about ego identification (“There’s no way I could be a Taurus; I’m such a Gemini,” “I’m an Aries so I never get along with Cancers,” etc. etc.). It allows us to tread more lightly in the areas where our egos tend to get over-invested in astrology and go deeper into the areas we tend to avoid.
as Above, So below; As within, so without.
Traditionally, the wheel of the natal chart is split by the main horizon line – the Ascendant/Descendant axis. Everything below that horizon is the inner, personal, more private and foundational realm of life, and everything above is the outer world, relationships with other people, career, and the public.
However, when we approach the natal chart as a map of the psyche, we view all of these houses as components that form our inner world and represent the potential latent in our creative unconscious. The outer houses still illustrate what an individual is likely to do for their career and how they show up amongst friends, etc., but all of that is an extension of the powerful currents running between the ASC-DSC and the IC-MC; first horizontally, and then vertically. The inner world and the astrological pattern it is printed with is like the lens through which our inner reality is projected outward. The entirety of the chart, regardless of whether it is above or below the horizon, can illustrate the manner, shape, and larger pattern of how a person projects their inner reality outward – and thus “creates” their reality. This view follows the Hermetic axiom: As within, so without.
This principle of as within, so without is illustrated visually in astrology along the Ascendant-Descendant axis. This axis shows us not only our outward persona that we use to present ourselves to the world (the Asc. or Rising Sign), but also the way that we encounter the fullness of ourselves through the mirror of Other on the Descendant point, opposite our persona.
The other dimensionality, as above, so below, shows both how our basic chart recipe flows outward into the external world (the upper houses), but also describes the phenomena of sympathetic resonance between our human lives and the planets and stars above. Many people insist astrology is absurd because there’s no way to prove causality between the planets and our human lives on Earth. But astrology doesn’t describe causality; it illustrates a sympathetic loop of resonance.
The arrangement of the planets in the chart and the signs and planets on key sensitive chart points illustrates the particular filter on an individual’s lens as they move through the world. If a planet or aspect is causing fuzziness, distortion, or pain in the form of chronic patterns, “tuning” the planets and signs in the chart with archetypal meditation helps clean the lens and lets the energy move outward cohesively, rather than fold over on itself in conflict.
Examples of the chart as a projective lens
Let’s break down an example of how you can approach the chart as a “filter” through which an individual experiences (and creates) reality. The sample chart below is from March 14th, 2026, and is marked by a few very loud square aspects forming a fixed sign Grand Cross (and indeed, this moment in time on the world stage involved lots of combative, aggressive military actions playing out in geopolitics). But for our purposes here, we are only going to look at that Cancer-Capricorn axis on the Ascendent-Descendant.
Though tropical astrology often focuses on “The Big Three,” (the Sun, Moon, and Rising), the real keys to the chart are the planetary ruler and the main axes. The planetary ruler is the “silent” planet of the Big Three, as it is the planet that rules the Ascendant. But the planetary ruler is just as significant and often points to more of the overall themes of the chart than merely the Sun or Moon or sign of the Rising can alone. However, for planetary rulers to be accurate, you really need to view your chart in sidereal time.
Star Map for March 14, 2026 – Sidereal time. Cancer Rising, Pisces MC, Sun at the first degree of Pisces (in sidereal time, the Sun changes signs mid-month; see our Sidereal Sun Sign calculator for a handy guide).
In this particular chart, which is ruled by Cancer, the planetary ruler (The Moon) is sitting closely opposite the Ascendant, and within 3° of Pluto. So we have a very potent signature on one of the main axes of the chart – it is a Pluto-flavored Cancer chart, with the ruler of the chart sitting on the Descendant (in the chart’s shadow). Though most of the planetary business in this chart is happening in the upper horizon (the “outer” world), this person won’t really be able access the benefics or motion of this chart (the sextiles and trines from Venus in Pisces in particular – what an exaltation!) unless they balance that main Cancer-Capricorn axis, where all their energy threatens to drain away in controlling Capricorn power dynamics and moody Moon child outbursts. Indeed, this could be a person who outwardly seems like an innocent, sensitive little lamb due to all that Piscean dreaminess in their outer life expression (especially if they find themselves in educational or spiritual environments), but who, under the surface, courts an intense addiction to power, control, codependent dynamics, and emotional blackmail – if the basic chart signatures remain unexamined and unintegrated, that is.
Pluto conjunct the Moon on the Descendant points to a strong tendency to project or sublimate the physical, emotional, and bodily drives into the Netherlands of the psyche – to push our awareness of our drive for power and distinction, our awareness of other people’s drives, and our feelings themselves (the Moon), all into the shadow.
Even without the Moon involved, Pluto sitting right on the Descendant is a strong depiction of how the Shadow can either destroy us when it is unintegrated or elevate us when we greet it consciously. Because Pluto signals not only our drive for power but also potential for transformation, this is also an entry point for deep evolution. And here, the Moon joining Pluto signals a great potential for healing through somatic work, bodywork, exercise, massage, EMDR, nervous system regulation, and embodiment of all kinds – especially in a chart ruled by Cancer (and especially with that sextile from Saturn, emphasizing structured routines and containment and redirection of all that bodily energy). This Moon demands depth of process, bringing what is buried in the psyche into the physical, somatic experience of the body, and processing all of those Cancer rising feelings with attention, depth, and presence.
If I were working with a client who has this chart – first off, I wouldn’t work with them at all unless they were already in counseling! But in working with the chart, we would first focus on The Moon and then second with Pluto, since Pluto is so close to the planetary ruler and on the main axis, so that it lends a very strong Plutonian flavor to the chart, signaling a very powerful portal of integration lying in wait in shadow work (bringing the opposite of the ego/persona into consciousness).
That is just a brief glimpse at how deep we can go with the chart – all without even getting into the Sun at all. But since I mentioned it, the Sun at 0° Pisces here is sort of a release valve where the person can “come up for air” from all that shadow work and get out of those gnarly power dynamics through the gentle, dreamy Piscean waters, and tune into the larger, ambient themes being illuminated – but they have to beware about projecting all that depth onto external people who carry Piscean qualities, or letting their Piscean ideals slide into contorted power dynamics. The 9th house is where we often project our own inner guidance onto other people, and this is a chart with an intense tendency to project onto others, in all directions. We all do it, but this chart, like, specializes in projection. Remembering the basic principle of withdrawing projection and bringing the vitalizing power of the Sun and Pluto into the inner planes for illumination and growth is critical.
Horizontal & Vertical Integration
The integration of the planetary signatures on the Asc-Dsc axis, followed by the integration of the energies on the MC-IC axis, helps us bring the Hermetic axiom into our lived experience. Each person has their own unique portal into exactly what it means to say “As above, so below; as within, so without,” and your chart opens the door. See READINGS if you would like to explore your chart with us!
