Behold the Light of the Goddesses: Norse
An icy north wind sweeps across a battlefield as tense, warring tribes anticipate the beginning of battle. A black cloud approaches, sparking ominous electricity, as thunder warns of impending danger. Thick, dark tendrils fall out of the clouds, revealing women riders in full combat armor on massive steeds. These riders rush to the warriors, who immediately fall upon each other in ferocious battle. The riders are the Valkyries, the daughters of Odin, and theirs is the world of war.
This sets the scene for a mythology that presents its goddesses in a way not common to most religions. The femininity of Norse goddesses is unquestionable, but so is their strength and determination, as well as the ability to fight. Other ancient religions also portrayed goddesses as being involved with warfare, battlefield strategy and hunting. For example, ancient Egypt had Sekhemet and Neith. Greece revered Artemis and Athena as powerful warriors.
In Norse mythology, however, strength, determination and battle abilities weren’t an exception for goddesses; they were the rule.
I’m honored to present a brief look at a few Norse goddesses. Norse myths hold a depth that always excites my imagination. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
Frigg: Goddess of Foreknowledge
Frigg was the wife of Odin and the mother of Baldr the Beautiful. Baldr was a solar deity, kind and beloved in every way. His brother, Hodr, was blind and the two were devoted to each other. So deep was Frigg’s love for her son, that she devised a plan to keep him safe forever, impervious to anything that existed in the Universe. She sought and received a vow of compliance from everything, both living and inanimate, never to hurt her son. From the highest mountain peak, to the deepest depths of the seas, everything of the earth and sky gave an unbreakable promise to never injure Baldr, except for one plant. Frigg considered mistletoe to be completely harmless. As parasitic flora, it lives upon the boughs of other trees and as such, mistletoe was neither a plant of the earth, nor a product of the sky and was not bound by the oath taken by every other being, or thing, that existed. Loki, the trickster of Norse mythology, angry and jealous of the attention being put to this project, disguised himself as an old woman and approached Frigg, asking her for details regarding the promises given to her. Frigg told the old woman how she’d not worried about mistletoe and the wheels of tragedy were set in motion.
To celebrate Baldr’s magical protection, an event was planned in which the gods would take turns hurling stones, throwing spears, shooting arrows and doing whatever else they could to the immortal Baldr. Assault after assault was made by the boisterous deities. Baldr smiled calmly, totally unharmed as every missile simply fell at his feet or had no affect. The gods cheered and celebrated his power of invulnerability. Loki, still in the disguise of the old woman, approached the contest with Baldr’s blind brother, Hodr, whom was thrilled to be able to participate in the celebration. Loki had fashioned a dart of mistletoe, which he placed in Hodr’s hand and helped him aim. Everyone watching cheered Hodr. He threw the dart as hard as he could, expecting to hear the usual cheers, but to everyone’s horror, the dart went through Baldr’s body and he instantly fell dead. Loki was eventually discovered and punished for his treachery, but the real power of this myth is in the reality it reflects.
Although this myth is a fascinating take on the movement of the Sun upon the ecliptic during the cycle of the year, it also offers powerful commentary regarding a mother’s attempt to provide protection for her children and the inevitable truth, that no matter how careful one may be, the unexpected is always a part of life. Another interesting pattern in this myth is the disguising of Loki as an old woman. This motif is repeated in another Norse myth in which Thor engages in a series of competitions while in a magician’s realm. Thor is challenged to wrestle an elderly woman, toothless and decrepit in appearance. As Thor begins the bout, he’s amazed to find the woman to be remarkably strong, with a grip like iron. Laughing, she easily drops Thor to his knees and the contest is mercifully ended before the god is totally defeated. Thor is understandably humiliated, but eventually discovers that the woman is much more than she seems to be and is, in fact, Old Age itself. Not even the God of Thunder could overcome the power of Time. This tale of an old lady being more than she seems is repeated in tales like Hansel and Gretel and other stories that feature Wicked Witches disguised as helpless old ladies. The message is clear. Never underestimate anyone, for they may not be as they seem. The arrogance of assumptions based on the way people look is dangerous, to say the least.
Frigg is often considered to be a goddess with foreknowledge, seeing deeply into the future and able to discern the paths and destinies of both men and gods alike, not unlike the Norns (knowers of all destiny). It’s significant that with this ability, she was still unable to prevent the death of her son, Baldr. There’s a deep message behind this story, one that bears mulling over.
Freyja: Embodiment of Passion and Joy
Freya is often called the Norse Venus, or Goddess of Love. This description is a vast oversimplification. Freyja could be seen as the embodiment of passion, celebrations and joy. She was the happiness of a successful harvest and the fertility that brought new animal life to our planet. She was filled with desire and inspired it in others. She brought the joy of life into the hearts of even the most cynical. Her beauty was matched only by her strength and her skills in the magical arts, making her a deity to reckon with. In some cultures, Freyja would have been considered a sorceress. She was definitely a Shaman. Her ability to walk between worlds and affect the outcome of the future, made her a deity to be respected. Freyja wasn’t Aesir, like Frigg. The Aesir dealt with warfare and the affairs of the heavens. She was Vanir, the rulers of the Earth and fertility. As such, her realm focused on the more tangible aspects of life, including love and need.
A popular story about Freya has to do with her immense beauty. A Jotun (enemy of Aesir and Vanir) stole Thor’s hammer and demanded that Freya be delivered as his bride, or never see the hammer again. This problem was solved by dressing up a furious Thor to look somewhat like Freya and delivering him into the thief’s kingdom. I’ll bet you can figure out how the story turned out.
Freya ruled over an afterlife known as Folkvangr, meaning “warrior’s field” This was where she delivered half of the warriors slain in battle, the other half destined to spend eternity in Valhalla. No one seems certain as to what the actual criteria was that decided the destination of the souls of the fallen. I believe that some men were suited mainly for battle, having been born warriors, while others were called into war from other walks of life. This was a good and fair division, giving each of the fallen their best possible eternity. There’s benevolence in that idea, one that speaks to the respect of a culture for those who sacrifice their lives in war.
Idunn: Keeper of Eternal Life
Idunn was in charge of the Golden Apples that bestowed eternal life to the Gods. As was the case with Freya, she was abducted, this time through the treachery of Loki. To make a long story short, Idunn was abducted by a giant and then retrieved by Loki, under duress.
The main point of interest with Idunn is her affiliation with the fruit of eternity. She’s reminiscent of the Hesperides, the keepers of the Greek Golden Apples. The Priestess in Tarot is often shown with seed bearing fruits and flowers. The reality is that such fruits are the immortality of the species of flora involved, just as woman, the real goddesses, bear within them the immortality of mankind. This may bring to mind the fruit eaten by Eve in The Garden. I’ll leave it to the reader to ponder the importance of this train of thought.
Hel: Powerful and Intimidating
One of the most interesting of the Norse goddesses, Hel, was the daughter of Loki and the ruler of Niflheim, the land of the dead for those hadn’t died heroically. Half alive and half corpse, she was powerful and intimidating. At one time, “going to Hel” meant to die without heroic honor.
The Valkyries: Choosers of the Slain
Of all the female entities in Norse mythology, perhaps none are as indicative of powerful feminine energy as the Valkyries. The word Valkyrie means “chooser of the slain.”” These women were daughters of Odin, chief of the Aesir. They moved into the dreams of warriors, giving them visions of blood and carnage. These were warnings of unavoidable combat, omens of dark outcomes. Battles only began when the Valkyries rode to the battlefield. The Valkyries chose who won and who lost, usually at the direction of their father. Disobeying Odin’s direction did happen, with grave consequences. After a battle ended, the Valkyries transported those chosen to reside in Valhalla. There, the Valkyries waited upon the resurrected warriors in an eternity of feasting, drinking, fighting, dying and being resurrected. I can’t think of another mythological version of the afterlife like this one.
Richard Wagner’s Classic operatic series, Der Ring des Nibelungen, tells the story of Siegfried, an ancient hero of the Norse and Brunnhilde, the Valkyrie whom falls in love with him. Brunnhilde defies her father, Odin, by trying to save Siegfried’s father’s life. In a nutshell, she’s punished with mortality, betrays her beloved Siegfried, gets him killed and eventually throws herself on his funeral pyre, singing as she goes. It may not end happily, but wow what an ending. If it had be me, I’d have had her last note be Soprano C” thus ending the opera on a high note.
The Norse Gods have become fashionable again, due in part to the cinema, but the big screen renditions of these deities bear little resemblance to their bigger than life counterparts.
There’s a grandeur and majesty to the gods of the Norse, a sense of heroic dynamism that can fill we mere mortals with awe and never fails to entertain and excite the imagination.
I wish you all peace and love.
About the Author
What Is a Birth Chart and What Does It Reveal About Your Personality?
You know what your sign is, and you say it without thinking when someone asks. But that word —Aries, Cancer, Libra— is only the tip of something much larger and more personal. Your birth chart is the complete map of the sky at the exact instant you were born, and it contains much more information than can fit into a single sign.
In this article, we explore what a birth chart is, what elements make it up, and what it can reveal about your way of being, feeling, and existing in the world.
Table of Contents
- What Is a Birth Chart
- Main Elements of a Birth Chart
- What Do the Houses Mean in a Birth Chart?
- What Each Planet Represents in the Natal Chart
- Venus, Lilith, and Other Important Points in the Birth Chart
- How to Read a Birth Chart at a Basic Level
- What Is the Purpose of Knowing Your Natal Chart?
What Is a Birth Chart
Imagine a photograph of the sky taken at the exact instant of your first breath, from the precise place where you were born. That is, in essence, a birth chart: a record of where the Sun, the Moon, and the planets were at that unique moment. Each of them appears positioned in one of the twelve signs of the zodiac, and that position is what is later interpreted. Since no two people are born in the same second and in the same place on the planet, no two charts are identical: yours is as particular as a fingerprint.
Astrology begins from a simple and very ancient idea: what happens above is connected to what we are down here. It is not that the stars decide your life, but that their position at the moment of your birth draws a symbolic map of your character, your talents, and your challenges. Understanding that map is a way of knowing yourself better: of putting into words traits of yours that perhaps you always sensed, but had never known how to name.
Unlike magazine horoscopes, which only look at the sign where your Sun is, the natal chart takes the entire sky into account. That is why it can tell you much more, and in a much more precise way, about who you are.
If you want to see how these symbols are interpreted in practice, the episode Fundamentals of Astrology, from the series Beyond Belief, available on Gaia, is a good place to start. In it, Heather Arielle explores the foundations of astrology —houses, planets, rising signs and the reading of a natal chart— showing how this symbolic language can help you recognize your personal cycles and make more conscious decisions.
Main Elements of a Birth Chart
The first time you see your chart, it can look like a hieroglyph: a circle full of symbols, lines, and numbers that seem to say nothing at first glance. The good news is that behind that apparent chaos, there are a few key elements. Once you understand what each one is, the drawing begins to make sense.
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The Sun and Essential Identity
When you say “I’m a Taurus” or “I’m a Scorpio,” you are actually talking about your Sun. Your sign is simply the place in the zodiac where the Sun was on the day you were born. And the Sun is the central piece of the chart: it represents the core of who you are, your underlying character, and what truly moves you. It is the part of you that shows most clearly when you are doing something you love and feel fully like yourself.
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The Moon and the Emotional World
If the Sun is who you are, the Moon is how you feel. It represents your emotional world: the way you react internally, what you need in order to feel calm and safe, and what moves you even if you do not always show it. It is the most intimate part of you, the one that appears when you are in a place of trust and let your guard down. That is why knowing your Moon helps you understand why certain things affect you more than you might say out loud.
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The Ascendant and the Way You Present Yourself to the World
The Sun is who you are and the Moon is how you feel; the ascendant is how others see you. It is the image you project without realizing it and your spontaneous way of responding to what is new, the thing others notice about you before they know you deeply. It depends on the exact time you were born, which is why it is so personal; without a precise birth time, it cannot be calculated properly. Sometimes it looks very different from how you feel inside, and that is where the feeling comes from that people perceive you differently from who you really are.
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The Planets and Their Areas of Influence
You already know the Sun, the Moon, and the ascendant. Your chart also has other protagonists: the planets. The best way to understand them is to think of them as a cast of characters living inside you, each one in charge of something different: one of how you think, another of what attracts you, another of how you pursue what you want. None of them acts alone; together, they shape your way of being. Later, you will see what each one represents, but for now, that image is enough: an inner team working all at once.
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The Astrological Houses and the Areas of Life
So far, we have talked about parts of you: the Sun, the Moon, the ascendant, the planets. The houses are something different: they represent the areas of your life. The chart is divided into twelve sections, and each one corresponds to a specific field: work, money, love, family, health. And what do they have to do with the planets? Each planet is placed within one of those twelve houses, and that tells you in which part of your life it acts with the most strength.
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The Aspects Between Planets
The planets in your chart are not isolated: they “converse” with one another. In the drawing, those conversations appear as lines crossing the center of the wheel and connecting some planets to others. They are called aspects. Some are harmonious: two planets that get along well and strengthen each other. Others are tense: they create friction, that small inner struggle between what you want and what you end up doing. That is why aspects explain much of your contradiction and, also, your richness.
What Do the Houses Mean in a Birth Chart?
For the houses to make sense, it helps to see how the three basic pieces of the chart fit together. They work like a play. The planet is the actor: a part of you that does something; for example, Mars is your drive, your way of taking action and going after what you want. The sign is its character: the style in which it moves, whether calmly, intensely, or cautiously. And the house is the stage: the area of your life where that actor steps into the scene, such as work, love, or money.
What matters is that every planet has all three things at once: it is a part of you, it acts with the style of a sign, and it appears on the stage of a house.
The twelve houses, one by one, cover these areas:
- House 1: your image and the way you show yourself to the world.
- House 2: money, what you have, and what you value.
- House 3: communication, early studies, and siblings.
- House 4: home, family, and your roots.
- House 5: creativity, pleasure, romance, and children.
- House 6: daily work, routine, and health.
- House 7: partnership and one-on-one relationships.
- House 8: deep intimacy, what you share with others, and major transformations.
- House 9: travel, higher studies, and the search for meaning.
- House 10: vocation, career, and your public place in the world.
- House 11: friends, groups, and future projects.
- House 12: the inner world, rest, and what happens in silence.
Let’s look at a complete example. Imagine that your Mars is in the sign of Aries —which gives it an impulsive and direct style— and that it falls in the 6th house, the house of daily work. The reading would be something like this: you put your energy mainly into your work life (that is shown by the house), and you do it quickly and decisively, without overthinking things (that is shown by the sign).
That same Mars in Aries, but placed in the 7th house, the house of partnership, would direct that impulsive drive into your relationships. The actor and its character are the same; the only thing that changes is the stage: the area of your life where all of that is most visible.
What Each Planet Represents in the Natal Chart
The Sun, the Moon, and the ascendant are the main headlines of your chart; the other planets add the details. Each one governs a part of your inner world and expresses itself according to the sign and house where it is placed. Getting to know them is like getting to know the different characters that live within you.
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Mercury, Venus, and Mars
These three move close to the Sun and touch the most everyday parts of your life. Mercury rules how you think and communicate: whether you get straight to the point or take detours, whether you learn quickly or need your time. Venus speaks of what you enjoy and what you value: your sense of beauty, pleasure, and what attracts you almost without trying. Mars is your engine: how you pursue what you desire, how you get angry, and how much initiative you bring to making things happen.
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Jupiter and Saturn
After Mars, the rhythm changes. Jupiter and Saturn are the great teachers of the chart, and they often pull in opposite directions. Jupiter is expansion, confidence, and abundance; it shows where you grow with ease and where life invites you to open up and take risks. Saturn is the opposite: limits, responsibility, and sustained effort. It marks where you are asked to mature, take responsibility, and build with patience. Together, they represent that balance between casting off the moorings and keeping your feet on the ground.
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Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto
The three most distant planets move so slowly that they mark entire generations, not just one person. Even so, the place they occupy in your chart says something intimate about you. Uranus is rupture and originality, the impulse to break out of the mold and do things your own way. Neptune dissolves boundaries: it rules imagination, dreams, spiritual sensitivity, and also the tendency to idealize. Pluto is depth and power, what dies and is reborn within you after the crises that transform you from the root.
Venus, Lilith, and Other Important Points in the Birth Chart
A chart does not stop at the planets. There are other points that astrologers also look at because they add very revealing nuances. Some are angles of the drawing itself, highlighted places on the wheel, and others are lesser-known celestial bodies. You do not need to master them to begin, but it is worth knowing four of the most commonly used ones. Let’s start with one we have already named: Venus.
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Venus and the Way of Loving
We have already seen that Venus speaks of what you like and what you value. But Venus has a second side, just as important: the way you love. Its position describes what you look for in relationships, how you show affection, and what makes you feel truly loved. Some people need constant words and gestures; others feel loved through a calm presence, without so much display. Looking at your Venus helps you understand why you fall in love the way you do.
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Lilith and Instinctive Energy
Lilith is not a planet, or a sign, or a house: it is a point calculated in the chart and known as the Black Moon. It represents your most instinctive and untamed side: the desire that does not ask permission and the part of you that refuses to fit into what is expected. It shows where you struggle to follow the rules and where you hold a strength, an anger, or a passion that you may have learned to silence. When listened to well, Lilith is not something dark: it is the voice that appears when you stop trying to please everyone and show yourself exactly as you are.
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The Midheaven and Vocation
The Midheaven is another of those key points: it marks the highest point in your chart, the top of the sky at the moment of your birth, which is where its name comes from. Because it looks upward, toward what is visible, it speaks of your public life: your vocation, your professional image, and what you feel you are moving toward, even if you do not yet know how to name it. If the ascendant is the impression you give when you enter a place, the Midheaven is the mark you leave on the world. When your work comes close to what this point indicates, the effort feels lighter, because you feel you are moving in the right direction.
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Chiron and the Wound That Can Become Medicine
Chiron is a small celestial body that astrology incorporated a few decades ago. It takes its name from a figure in Greek mythology: a wise being who knew how to heal others but carried a wound of his own that he could not heal. In your chart, Chiron points precisely to that: a sensitive wound, almost always linked to something that hurt early on and still touches a nerve. What is valuable is that this same wound, when you move through it, becomes your greatest capacity to understand and accompany others. That is why Chiron is said to be the wound that can become medicine.
How to Read a Birth Chart at a Basic Level
You do not need to be an astrologer to begin understanding your chart. In fact, you do not take the first step yourself: today, any astrology website or app can draw your chart for free. You simply give it your date, time, and place of birth, and it shows everything in order: which sign and house each planet occupies, and which lines, the aspects, connect them. With that image in front of you, you can read it like this:
- Start with your basic trio: Look for your Sun, your Moon, and your ascendant: they are the backbone of your chart and, together, they already tell a large part of your story.
- Notice which house each planet is in: The chart already shows you; all you have to do is look at which area of life, such as work, love, or money, each one is located in.
- Observe the lines in the center: These are the aspects: harmonious connections show you your natural talents, while tense ones point to the areas where you often feel an internal push and pull.
- Read the whole before the parts: One isolated detail says little; meaning appears when you see how all the elements combine.
Take it as a conversation with yourself, not as an exam. If one part does not fit, let it rest: many times, a piece of the chart only begins to make sense when life places before you the situation that explains it.
What Is the Purpose of Knowing Your Natal Chart?
At this point, the most important question remains: what is all this for? The natal chart does not tell you what is going to happen, nor does it hand you a written destiny. What it does is return a more complete image of yourself to you, with your light and your shadows, without asking you to change anything.
Knowing it often brings a form of relief. You understand why you react the way you react, why certain things are harder for you and others come naturally, why you repeat certain patterns. And when you understand that, you judge yourself a little less. Where you once saw a flaw, you begin to see a trait you can work with.
More than an oracle, the birth chart is a mirror and a compass. A mirror, because it shows you who you are with an honesty that is difficult to find anywhere else. A compass, because it helps you make decisions that are more faithful to your nature, instead of living according to what others expect of you. And that is, perhaps, its greatest gift: not turning you into someone different, but bringing you closer to the person you already are.
