If astrology has always felt like a foreign language full of symbols, glyphs, houses, nodes, and mysterious lines running across a wheel you are in exactly the right place. In this episode, I’m joined by ancestral astrologer, Annie Bertrand, for a true beginner-friendly walkthrough of the basics. Instead of staying conceptual, Annie reads directly from my birth chart, so you can follow along with your own and finally make sense of what you’re seeing.

Annie breaks astrology down to its simplest, most foundational layers: the “big three” (sun, moon, rising), what the planets represent, how houses work, and how to interpret the symbols and placements on your chart. She explains astrology as your soul’s language, and offers a grounded perspective on what your chart can reveal about your life path, innate patterns, emotional wiring, and even the challenges your soul chose to work through.

This is part one of a two-part series with Annie. Today is the foundational “how it works” conversation. In part two, we’ll dive into Annie’s signature expertise: ancestral healing, mother wounds, soul-level contracts, and how our families’ charts interweave across generations.

In this episode, we explore:

• What a birth chart actually is and how astrology functions as a “soul language”
• How to download your chart and the easiest tools for beginners (Astro-Seek and the CHANI app)
• The Big Three—sun, moon, and rising—and how each one shapes your identity, emotions, and worldview
• How to read the houses in your chart and what each house represents in your life
• What the planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars) reveal about your communication style, love language, self-worth, motivation, and action
• How generational planets like Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus shape collective patterns across entire generations
• What the nodes mean (North Node and South Node) and how they point to your destiny path, past life mastery, and karmic patterns
• What Chiron represents as the “wounded healer” and how it shows up in your personal and relational story
• How to interpret the lines (aspects) in the center of the chart and what they reveal about inner tension, ease, and integration
• A live walkthrough of Emily’s chart as Annie explains placements, patterns, and how everything ties together

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Connect with Annie:

• Website: anniebertrand.com
• Instagram: @astrology_with_annie
• Threads: @astrology_with_annie
• Ancestral Astrology Course
• Free Family Karma Masterclass
• Free Moon Guide

Connect with Emily:

• Website: www.EmilyReuschel.com
• Instagram: @emilyreuschel
• Facebook: Emily Reuschel
• LinkedIn: Emily Reuschel
• Join my Book Insiders List: Sign up here!

Emily is a speaker, facilitator, and host of the Wild & Waking podcast, creating spaces for women to unravel conditioning, reconnect to their truth, and rise in alignment with who they’re becoming.

Resources and Links:

• Sign up here to get the inside scoop to my book writing journey!
• Book me as a speaker for your next event - email inquiries to emilyreuschel@gmail.com or schedule a call here
• Wild & Waking – Produced by Jill Carr Podcasting | Learn More