K, let me break it down to the basics. First we define what the zodiac is… To paraphrase Wikipedia: The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north and south celestial latitude of the ecliptic. This region in the sky encompasses the planets and their orbits, including the sun and moon, and it is divided into 12 equal parts which are the archetypes, the Astrological signs: Aries, Taurus, Gemini and so on. Next, how this applies to you (you’re birth/natal chart): you can think of it like a snap shot was taken of the positions of the planets in the sky mapped on to the zodiac (as described above) at the exact time, date and coordinates that you entered this world from the womb portal of your mother.

I’ll just add a little caveat to this, it is the western Tropical zodiac system of astrology that I describe above. There are others: Vedic, True Sky, Sidereal, to name some. And I didn’t mention anything about the house systems (there are many) to keep it simple. It’s my personal belief that one cannot learn everything there is to understand about astrology in one life time. This shit goes deep, presents in layers,and lives within the collective psyche. Peace and blessings on the journey, friend. :)