If you were an artist, a painter, you could blend (mix) yellow paint and blue paint to get green paint.  Each tube of paint, yellow and blue, is a complete color in itself.  Yet, when blended together, they form an entirely new color that is unique to itself, green.

It is the same with astrology.  You "blend" different ideas, concepts, and thoughts to get an infinite variety of new "colors."

In the graphic, if you blend a Sun Sign, a planet, and a House, you will arrive at a complete description.  

This is why I ask you to make index cards or to keep notes.  When you "blend" different things together, you can lay side-by-side each of the pages or "things" you are going to blend.  You might have a page for Pisces, the First House, and Mars lying before you, for example.  By "blending" the ideas on each of these pages, you will have a good interpretation.  (We will work with this more later).

When you read what another astrologer says that something "means," it is nothing more than what that person "comes up with" when those astrological things are blended together.  It doesn't hurt to read what another astrologer says something "means" as long as you never consider them the "final authority."   Simply look to see how that person has "blended" the ideas.

Your experiences, observations of life and people, studies, education, growth, your place in your world, and all that is "YOU," will affect how you blend the different factors in each chart.  Your interpretations will be different from anyone else's.  This will be your "style."  Try not to imitate anyone else's style.  Rely on your own judgment, experience, and wisdom to make your own "colors."  You will never go wrong.  (Plus, it's a lot easier than trying to remember 1,000's of interpretations from someone else.)

People who come to you for a reading are attracted to you.  They arrive at your place and time because you can, uniquely, give them something they need, or say something they need to hear.  This happens, I believe, not by chance.  

Yet, it also happens from a very logical reason: the people you meet have similar experiences as you because they live in your "world" and environment.  So, you can give them a better reading than someone else with a different background and experience.  You may never be asked to do a reading for a Prime Minister; but, then, you don't live in that world, so you wouldn't understand the problems and the nuances.  You may be asked to do a chart for someone in your similar world, though.  For those people, only YOU can give the right reading, because you will do the reading from your own experience...your own blending of the "colors" of astrology.

If you never do a reading for anyone else, astrology can be a lifelong adventure into yourself.  The chart has an uncanny way of telling you what you need to know to grow and learn at that point in time.  It also spends more time telling you about the good things about you than the bad things (because I've never seen a chart that has more "bad" than "good.")  Astronomy-wise, it is impossible to have more "bad" aspects in the chart than good ones.  There is no doubt about how precious you are...simply by being born.

When you are ready, please go to the Questions and Answers (Discussion) section.

My grandfather always used to say that ppl live in drawers within a chest of draws, no level is better than the next.
So thats why you will always meet someone that knows someone that you know, the continually "Oh what a small world" syndrome and other examples...

I see that as kinda how we attract the ppl who we shall do a reading for.
But I know in my life so far that I have been presented with characters that are def not in my draw and I had to grow and add the new knowledge to my current repertoire.
I will recognise the kind of person they are, and those kind of ppl very rarely come into my life. I notice when they do as they are very different to anything I have experienced.

So what happens if I have to do a reading for them?
Just trust your gut and go with the flow?
Let your intuition get its juices flowing and just say what 'you' feel must be said.
And if they do not relate to it, then thats just the way the cookie crumbles??

I like your Grandfather's analogy.  

I think people come to us for a reading, for a reason.  I gave a logical reason why this happens, but I believe it is more than that.  When you have something to say that they need, they find their way to you, regardless of whether or not they are in your same sphere of life.

Most astrologers will tell you that they use intuition for their readings.  But, this is within the accepted meanings of what the chart is actually saying.  It isn't like a "psychic" reading where your interpretations have an unlimited number of possibilities.  In astrology, the possible interpretations are limited by the actual chart in front of you.

When there is an inaccurate reading, it is the astrologer's fault (in my opinion).  So when something isn't accurate, according to the person you're doing a reading for, then it is a time for the astrologer to learn and investigate where he/she went wrong.

For example:  recently I was doing a reading for a teenager.  I had already decided in my mind that she was argumentative (my first mistake).  So, when I did a reading, I said that she had recently had an argument (remember how I'd judged her?) with her mother.  She told me that this reading was not accurate, that she had not had an argument with her mother.  So, I had to go back and figure out where I had gone wrong.  The planets involved were the Sun and Mars.  The Sun can mean an authority figure, and I had mistakenly decided that this was her mother.  Mars can mean uncontrolled energy, and I had decided that this was an argument.  But, when I went back, as you know so far, the Sun can also mean THE SELF, and -- we will learn this later -- Mars can also be associated with a sudden health problem.  So, by now, you can already see why I gave a wrong reading.  The girl (the self) had had a recent illness (mars).  On the surface, these look like two entirely different things, but. in fact, the planets gave different interpretations available to me, within the chart itself.

So, how do you decide how to read something?  That's where your intuition comes in.  Also, the person almost always gives you clues.  The girl in the above example had already told me that she had health problems.  If I had been paying attention to her clues, and not been jumping to conclusions and pre-judging the situation, I would have given a better reading.

Later on, I will talk about "taking control of the reading."  This is when the astrologer has to learn to trust his/her judgment, and what the chart is saying.  You do this with some ethics, though.  I've had charts in front of me that showed a very bad outcome to a situation.  Instead of telling the person this, I've decided to decline to do the reading, or tried to prepare them for what was coming, but not to unnecessarily alarm them.  I do this more with internet readings than in-person readings, though.  With in-person readings, you have a better idea of how the person will react, and you can be there to assist with any concern the person may have...and that is lacking with impersonal internet readings.  These things come to you with experience, though.  And, as I said, I will talk about these things more later.

You are a long way off doing reading yet hon, so dont rush things. Astrology is a studied science and when you have enough knowledge and information to read a chart then is the time for bit of intuition to come in.....

If you recall there are 12 houses in a natal chart and 12 sun  signs, SO there is 144 permutations there...

Baby steps hon... baby steps.

Err astrologer50 does it really matter if I'm a long way off from doing a proper astro reading?
These questions are for then...I am pre-empting a scenario. Nothing wrong with that. At all.

Youdah has in a gentle fashion told us baby steps in different ways and different manners.......and so we learn.

While I respect your knowledge and experience...I don't feel you are being very tactful...even though you are prob just trying to help.
Note the tone of these lessons...and then slot in.

Just MY opinion, and my 2 cents.