What qualifies you to do a birth chart?

I'm a Ph.D. organizational psychologist (University of Michigan) with 25 years' experience helping people understand themselves and each other. While I'm not a professional astrologer, I do have a well-honed sense for rooting out practical, helpful information no matter where I find it.

As a psychologist, I know a lot about personal assessments. I've used many of them in my organizational consulting work and taken many of them myself. (I was born with an Aries Sun sign in the 9th house, which means I tend to seek the answers to the big questions in life and am not afraid to try new things, or new ways of looking at things).

For years my search to understand what makes people tick ran the standard route - degrees from respected colleges and universities and work in leadership development and training in big corporations. I jumped through all the traditional hoops, looking for tested and reliable ways to help people be more effective.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that no assessment I've ever taken has helped me understand myself and how I operate in the world better than my astrological birth chart. Absolutely none!

My first exposure to astrology came after I'd gotten divorced back in the 1980's and moved with my two young sons halfway across the U.S. to continue my education. My life was in major shift. It seemed like a good time to look beyond my usual channels of support.

So I had my natal chart done by an astrologer. Small step - HUGE impact.

I can't tell you how excited I was as I listened to the astrologer interpret my chart. It felt like coming home. I got confirmation of deep aspects of myself I'd known or suspected my whole life but had never put into words. What a relief it was to realize I wasn't crazy, or wrong, after all!

I was astounded at how well my birth chart described me. I particulary liked learning about my stumbling blocks and limitations and what I needed to do to move beyond them. That explained so much about many of the annoying patterns in my life that kept repeating no matter what I did to try to fix them.

I was even more amazed when the astrologer asked for my kids' birth information and then described them exactly as I knew them -- and she'd never even met them!

Curiosity and skepticism are good!

If you're curious about astrology but know little or nothing about it, take a look at the explanations and resources offered here. I've tried to present a simple, straightforward picture of astrological birth charts - not an easy task given the complexities of astrology.

If you're skeptical about astrology and birth charts, that's okay too. Astrology has earned an unfair bad name over the years as New Age mysticism or even dangerous voodoo. In addition, some people think astrology goes against their religious beliefs.

I can't convince you otherwise if your mind is made up that astrology is bad. But you should know that I'm not someone who jumps on a bandwagon just because it's popular or who promotes the fad of the moment just to make a buck. Like many people, I take my spirituality seriously (I've been Protestant, Jewish, and am now Buddhist). I haven't found anything in a birth chart that conflicts with most religious beliefs.

Call it a personal flaw, but I only promote those things that have made a significant difference in my life and that I 100% believe can make a similar difference in other people's lives.

I know many adults who've learned a lot about themselves and gotten tremendous value from their birth charts. I keep thinking - what if our parents had had our charts from the moment we were born? How different, how much more productive from an earlier age, would our lives have been?

Now you can give that opportunity to a special child in your life.