Kari Hohne has provided professional astrology readings since 1978. From corporate astrology to life path readings, she also offers astrology reports. A personal and live reading will include the interpretation of the natal chart to determine the life path, career, strengths and challenges. Additionally, she will discuss the current transits that are actively engaging the natal chart in its highest expression. For more information, click here.
Interpreting the Natal Chart
When providing an astrology reading, the planets and their placement in the signs and houses will reveal a story. When I am doing a life path reading, I will start with the location of Pluto and the nodes. While generations can have Pluto in the same sign, the house placement of Pluto puts a special emphasis on the evolutionary journey. Over a lifetime, Pluto will only move forward 5 houses. Therefore, the quadrant involved can reveal much about one's life path.
The north node of the Moon is like true north, and points to the sign and house that will have a high level of focus in terms of what you are learning. The south node portrays the axis or opposite of what you have mastered, or what you fall back on when not moving toward the north node.
For example, north node in the 11th house vs south node in the 5th suggests exploring the self as part of a group rather than focusing on expression as an individual. Since both houses are involved, the message relates to creative expression (5th) within a group setting (11th) or using one's creativity for the benefit of the collective.
North node in the 3rd vs south node in the 9th would put more emphasis on how one thinks and communicates in the immediate environment rather than being overly concerned with higher ideals (9th.) One may be a master at seeing the big picture (9th) but might need to focus more on the details (3rd.)
Planets in the Chart
The planet Uranus in the chart will show where you are seeking freedom from the known as a place to define your individuality. Saturn will describe the area of life where you feel deficient, but also coaxes you to master this portion of life. I see it as the perfection seeking placement.
Neptune can add a bit of confusion to the house in which it is located, as if you are not able to see things clearly in this area of your life. However, it also suggests a spiritual approach and can be tapped once you recognize how Neptune speaks in a language that transcends ego. Neptune speaks in the language of art, healing and mysticism.
A person with Uranus in the 1st will need to own their uniqueness and desire for freedom or they may project it on the partner (7th house axis.) Someone with Saturn in the 11th may feel like an outsider in groups and come to serve the collective diligently in an inspired or creative way (5th) while remaining somewhat detached from physical interaction.
Neptune in the 2nd may have a sense of self worth that is tied to a spiritual perspective. The gathering of resources may seem confusing or become projected into the 8th (feeling others must provide) until they own the idea that worldly resources do indeed come to them, just in a way that is unlike those around them.
Jupiter will reveal the area of life where expansion comes easily. Mars can show how the will is active and how you move toward your desires. Mercury relates to what we view as the left brain (logic and communication), while Venus has a more holistic focus as what might be called the right brain (how we relate to others.) The sun emphasizes ego and consciousness, while the moon relates to the subconscious or your unconscious needs. Based on the flow of aspects and the placement of planets in the houses, a story is revealed that describes the individual and lifepath.
Early Life in Chart
Additionally, the 4th and 10th house axis will describe the early life and the parents. While the chart reveals the hero's journey of empowerment, the 4th and 10th houses will describe the exact childhood conditions that will launch the hero toward individuation. This is where astrology excels in helping one to understand any perceived challenges of childhood.
The chart is set up in a way that it is important to look to the opposite house for more information about each planetary placement. As the planets continue to move through the chart by transit, arc and progression, we come to appreciate why understanding the opposite placement is important.
Aspects in the Chart
The squares and oppositions will challenge a deeper understanding of the natal chart. Trines and sextiles are pleasant and can coincide with easy periods of expansion, however the squares and oppositions are what bring about real change.
I have found that the best predictive technique uses the transits of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, while progressing the personal planets: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars.
What I find interesting is that whether using progressions (a day for a year,) solar arcs or transits, the same themes are repeated. By understanding the journey of the individual in the natal chart, and predicting how the story will unfold through transits and progressions, we can see the entire life path.
As a dream analyst, I am always fascinated by how the archetypes that appear in a person's dreams will mirror exactly the archetypes that describe the hero's journey in a chart. Dreams and astrology influence us from a metaphorical realm of symbolic expression.
Learning astrology can seem overwhelming because of the details involved, but I can help you understand your lifepath, revealed by the chart. Contact me for more information.
Example Astrology Reading
Many years ago, I read a chart for a client and observed stressful aspects in her 5th house of children. When I asked about them, she mentioned that one of her daughters was pregnant and getting married. Knowing that nothing negative is ever happening, I simply asked the daughter’s age and inquired about the pregnancy. Later that week the daughter's fiancé was slapped with a paternity suit from another woman.
She contacted me again because her daughter would require a c-section and since I had inquired about her pregnancy, she asked if I could do a chart on the day of the procedure to determine the best possible chart. I drew up several charts and calculated that an early morning delivery would bring about the best aspects.
However, the child was not born until 4pm with stressful aspects to the Sun (father) and Saturn on the Descendant opposing the Ascendant. This exactly described her slow entry and the stress related to the Sun (father) at birth. What I learned is that an astrologer can read a chart but cannot interfere with the life path.
Having Saturn oppose the Ascendant would also mean that the child would approach any new situations with caution (Saturn) just like it described her delayed entry into life.
Reading a chart it is like reading a language. The letters C-A-T will paint an entirely different picture than C-A-B. One meows and the other offers rides for a fare. Astrologers develop sentences out of chart images where the house, sign, ruler, aspect lines and planets will weave together a story about the life path. 'C' can relate to the house, while 'A' is the planet, and the other letters will be drawn from the constellation energy and aspects between planets.
The natal chart is the story of our strengths, weaknesses and life path. The transit or progressed chart show how the planets continue to move and influence the natal chart, and describe changing conditions during one’s life.
Another Example Astrology Reading
Once, when doing a group reading I saw an aspect between Saturn, Mars and Moon in the 12th house which suggested counting in the dark. I asked why he was counting in the dark? He said that whenever he expressed emotion his father would make him sit in the corner and count. Saturn and Mars can represent discipline or punishment in stressful aspects.
In the many years that I have been studying astrology, the chart has proven to accurately describe the early environment (4th house) and the parental influences (4th and 10th, Sun and Moon), siblings (3rd house) and the past situation of the client accurately.
This is not something that we need to be aware of on a daily basis in terms of understanding the planetary influences as they move in time, but when faced with difficulty the chart can reveal why the life path has become challenging. It is never bad. It is simply that we are facing unique challenges that will help us rise to the highest level expressed by the chart.
It's Always Good
Some astrologers refer to the planets as being good or bad. Like the Saturn example, it is not a bad planet. Saturn relates to what we are building and what we need to get right. Saturn is a necessary discipline in our chart that allows us to create a foundation.
Since I am also a dream analyst, I also see how nightmares are a positive sign that power is being resurrected in the psyche.
The scientific community might dismiss astrology, but astrologers are not suggesting that a chart is based on anything other than the language of an archetypal realm.
We spend almost half of our lives tapping the inspiration and wisdom of our dreams, which also seem like fantasy. However, consciousness would prefer to hold to its assumptions, and without dreams, our outlook would remain stagnant. The same inspired symbols that seem to know the dreamer better than they know themselves, are at work in the story of the birth chart.
Just as we know that dreams are a symbolic representation of our challenges offering clues to overcome them, astrology works the same way. We may not be able to say who or what guides our dreams or why astrology works, but both are an invaluable resource on the road to empowerment and fulfilling our destiny.
I am a symbologist and my work in dreams, myths, comparative religion, and philosophy has allowed me to decipher and share the metaphorical world or symbolic language of the intangible. I describe dream interpretation as poetry appreciation. Some of us 'get' the metaphors as if we can see the hidden meaning in the less obvious. Others go through life and after high school never want to look at another poem.
When composing music, chord structures will reverberate their own melody and I simply capture what I hear. Harmony and discord can also be found in the aspects where a Trine shows ease and a Square is like a dissonant note that merely acts as a wake up call. Harmonic aspects make us feel good while discordant aspects make us so uneasy in a way that change has to be considered. The energy is no longer in sync and flowing. We discover that unhappiness is simply the hunger pain for change.
I hope you enjoy this site and find it to be a valuable tool on your journey of empowerment. You can order personalized astrology reports here. I also offer a life path reading live via Zoom or Skype.