Self-Study in Astrology: From Cafe Astrology to Astrodienst & Everything Free in Between
Four dependable resources to jumpstart your self-study in astrology.
One of my biggest frustrations over the 7 years I’ve been reading natal charts and studying astrology is the mass-marketed, heavily aestheticized products for zodiac signs that seem to pop up everywhere. I love nicely-designed candles and sleek notebooks, but I question how much symbolism and knowledge gets completely slashed out of the picture. I’ve seen a lot of trendy books and bite-size zodiac posts floating around social media that don’t divulge the depth of information behind why this planet inside of that sign and within that house does this and that. Not all of them, of course, but it seems like a good majority never goes past the Sun sign and different ways to market it.
With that out of the way, I’m writing about my favorite resources I’ve appreciated visiting when starting. I’ve relied mainly on older lectures and books from before astrology became the pop-culture capitalistic sensation it is today (sorry, I’m trying to move on), but these sites contain vital information for the beginner and seasoned astrologer alike that I highly recommend for starting or furthering research. I’ll be going from beginner-friendly sources to the more advanced.
Cafe astrology is a solid source for those learning their placements for the first time. While looking at your chart, you can search through this site for your specific planets and their aspects to learn all the basics. Don’t take every interpretation to heart though. The goal is to reference your own experience through your chart and practically apply it. See how much it relates to you and your own reference to personal experience.
They have in-depth breakdowns to everything from The Moon in the Signs and Mercury in the Houses, to Planetary Aspects in the Natal Chart, like Sun conjunct Pluto. You can easily search all of your planetary aspects through this site and start learning to interpret your own chart instantly. This is a great way to navigate cookbook astrology, which just means looking at interpretations and descriptions of placements already pre-made; It’s sort of like looking at all the ingredients there to create an accurate recipe later on. Also, my own favorite detail: the creator of the site, Annie, has her own chart listed. Pretty neat.
Their bio is a stellar tool for self-reflection, which I think we can all agree with. This is formatted similarly to Café Astrology, and you can compare and contrast between the café’s description and Advanced’s description of Mercury in the Houses. Personally, I think both of these resources offer great information for the basics of learning: planets, houses, aspects. Stargazer, the creator of Advanced Astrology, seems to go a bit more into depth on each placement, such as the Venus in Libra Natal Meaning, where she describes the characteristics, personality, love, compatibility, meanings of both Venus and Libra in astrology, as well as celebrities with this placement. The clean, minimal design is also pretty easy to navigate.
Interested in learning the fundamentals of the houses? Read this article on learning to interpret the first four houses right here at 12 Mirrors Studio.
3. The Astrology Podcast hosted by Chris Brennan
There is a wealth of extensive wisdom in this podcast by Chris Brennan that absolutely cannot be passed up. You would be doing yourself a disservice by skipping it. This is the best way to transition from cookbook astrology techniques to study real-world methods of interpreting astrology of all kinds, with a rotating guest list of prolific astrologers to listen to. The monthly astrology forecasts are vital resources to understand how the planetary movements affect us globally and politically, like the episode “Bad Bunny, Puerto Rico, and the Saturn-Neptune Conjunction,” not to mention their current discussions in world news today. There are hundreds of podcasts to break down whichever subject of astrology you’re studying. Some great episodes to start with are the ones on the houses , like “Significations of the Twelve Houses - Part 1: Houses 1-6,” which feel like full-on lectures you’ve snuck into for free. I highly recommend the self-studying learner to begin here with a pen, paper, and your chart.
Everyone’s go-to for chart calculations. It’s called The World’s Best Horoscopes for a reason. You can create synastry charts, see your transits, and explore astrocartography, and you can download them all into convenient PDF files. Alongside seeing your chart, be sure to read the articles they offer. Once you’ve learned the general planets and their meanings, you can cross “The Psychology of Jupiter: The Sin of Gluttony” off your list. It’s an excerpt from Liz Greene’s book By Jove! and teaches the symbolic meanings of Jupiter on obsession, addiction, and envy. It’s an eye-opening look on how Jupiter can mean more than the simplistic interpretations of how Jupiter is good luck, expansion, and wisdom that most resources stick to. Liz Greene is a great resource in general too - she holds doctorate degrees in psychology and has shaped modern psychological astrology through her books and lectures, so reading anything by her through Astrodienst is enlightening. In addition, Robert Hand is a doctor of philosophy and one of the world’s most famous astrologers. His section on Astrodienst details the transits of the planets, a good example being “Effects of the Transiting Saturn,” which is a worthy read considering that Saturn had just moved into Aries earlier this year in February. His work on the transits is invaluable, and it’d be a loss not to get his book Planets in Transit: Life Cycles for Living.
Thank you for swinging by, and I hope to see you soon. If you’re interested in a comprehensive natal chart reading that will expedite your learning process, book a reading here.
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