From an evolutionary astrology perspective, you have the chart you do for a reason. There’s a reason you’re a Cancer, Aries, or Capricorn, and have any number of configurations of other placements. Your chart comes with certain lessons you’re here to learn and ways to navigate your life– that if done well, you will look back at the end of your days smiling, knowing that was a life well lived. 

We can look at our chart and see what we’re invited into, what experiences our soul is craving, and where our growth edges are. And with this, comes the invitation to work with our chart consciously. To tend it. To lean in. To build a relationship with it and make conscious choices to respond to our charts well. 

What I love about evolutionary astrology is it’s both soulful and practical. As we tend our Sun we tend our vitality. As we tend our moon, we tend our happiness. As we lean into our Ascendant and chart ruler, we get our act together and tend our self-actualization. 

With this, we can have a positive or poor response to our birth charts.

We all have free will and don’t have to actively work with the energy. We can unconsciously get stuck in old familiar patterns, spend too much time numbing out, push the inner nudges off until later, or lose our nerve when we’re at a crossroads to do something we know our soul is calling us to do.

When we have a poor response to our charts, we can feel melancholic, without a zest for life, stuck, insecure, and disempowered. 

On the other hand, when we have a positive response to our charts, we feel more vibrant, connected, on purpose, vital, happy, and empowered in our lives. 

Synchronistically, life guides us to work with our charts.

Something is calling us forward from within. The creative impulses, the desire to slow down or to go on an adventure, the dreams on the heart, the gifts we have, and opportunities to use them. That’s why readings can be so validating. It brings to consciousness where we’re called to put our energy and what lights us up. It can help us put to language the soul stirrings we’re already feeling. It can give us a nod from the angels that we’re on the right track.

We come to many crossroads in our lives. Some big and obvious (think the big life decisions like moving, going on the trip, making a big investment, starting a family, etc) and some more mundane and subtle (where am I going to put my energy today, how am I going to approach this situation, what are my daily practices going to look like, etc). Each give us an opportunity to remember the higher invitations of our chart.

For example, someone may be feeling stuck in their life and are struggling to take risks, worrying what others may think or get caught spinning their wheels not wanting to rock the boat. They stand at a crossroads and have an opportunity that would mean facing the unknown, trusting, and disrupting the seeming peace and comfort they have. But they know this could be really good for them; huge in fact. There’s something nudging them to assert themselves and muster their courage. Maybe this person has a south node in Libra and now has a lot of Aries and strong Mars energy in their chart, where the evolutionary intention / growth edge is to cultivate courage and be the warrior in one’s life. They are wired to find themselves in situations that will test their courage. However, it’s up to them to seize the opportunities.

To start working with your chart chart:

• Learn about your chart: Let your mind wander about the placements, get readings, research, reflect, journal, daydream 
• Start experimenting with tending your Sun sign. I have a guide to help get you started
• When facing challenges in your life, think about your chart, what assignments are you here to learn? 

Overall, having a strong response to your chart is about intentionally leaning into the evolutionary intention of your chart, consciously working with the placements, and using that wisdom in your daily life as well as as you navigate life’s ups and downs.