When most people think of astrology, their minds jump to generalized magazine horoscopes and internet trends such as "The Signs As Different Dog Breeds," or "What Your Boyfriend's Sign Says About Your Relationship." However, western astrology delves so much deeper than that.

In order to fully comprehend this article, you first have to understand that astrology is the study of the movements and positioning of celestial objects as a way of inferring information about human affairs and events. In order to interpret these objects, we need to look at what astrological sign they fall into at the time you were born. In order to do that we use what's called a natal chart, which is essentially a map telling you where each object fell when you were born.

Now, let's get started.

1. Your sun sign isn't your only sign

Your sun sign is the sign you're probably already familiar with, in that it depends on what day of the month you were born. However, the sun isn't the only thing we consider when studying astrology; we also look at the moon and every other planet in the solar system. Therefore, you not only have a sun sign, but also a moon sign, a Mercury sign, Venus, Mars, etc.

2. Every planet represents a different part of yourself.

In Western astrology, the sun represents the Ego, your personal identity, your sense of purpose-- it's the person you choose to show to the rest of the world, the traits you're most proud of. But your ego isn't the only part of yourself that makes up your personality; each planet in your birth chart represents a different aspect of the entire person you are, and each sign that planet is in tells us how the planets express themselves.

For example, your moon sign has to do with your emotional side. I'm a Libra sun with a Capricorn moon; this means that as a Libra, I try my best to be friendly, sociable, and open-minded in most situations. However, because of my Capricorn moon, I can quickly turn into a rather serious and sometimes cold individual when it comes to expressing my emotions.

3. Some planets are more important to your chart than others.

The planets can be split into personal and generational. The personal planets (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars) orbit relatively quickly around the sun, meaning their signs change pretty often making them most important when putting together a person's personality. The generational planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto) have a much slower orbit, meaning their signs stay stagnant for a lot longer, therefore, affecting a wider range of people.

4. There are also these things called houses..?

When looking at your natal chart, you'll notice that it's cut into 12 segments. These 12 parts are called "houses", and each house is associated with a different area of life. Every planet in your chart falls in a house, and so that planet's energy will focus on the themes of said house. Think of it this way: if the signs tell us howthe planets express themselves in your chart, the houses reveal where these energies play out. Each house is also associated with a sign, which helps when you're trying to remember what each house represents.

Let's take the 5th house for example. This house is ruled by Leo, the 5th sign of the zodiac, and so the 5th house represents that which is typically associated with Leo (drama, fun and play, creativity, children, self-expression, etc.) My sun sign falls in my 5th house, which means that the energy that fuels my ego/identity falls in the area of life ruled by Leo. As a result, the ways I choose to express myself creatively and is one of the main things that help me identify who I am.

5. Every chart starts somewhere.

Depending on what time of the day you were born, you'll have any one of the 12 signs beginning your chart-- this sign is your ascendant, or your rising sign. Because the rising sign is whatever sign rules your first house, which represents The Self, it shows the image you project to others, or the first impressions we tend to make. While your sun sign is the person you are, while your rising sign is the person you appear to be.

I'm a Libra, but my rising sign is Gemini. This means that even though I consider myself to be a typically charismatic person when I'm around new people I tend to seem more like a flighty Gemini. Although my Libra sun wants to strive to be poise, it's hard for me to keep from exhibiting the nervous energy brought on by my Gemini rising.

I wrote this article because I feel as though most people who write off astrology as a pseudoscience are people who don't really know too much about it-- that it's all about how everyone born in the same month is basically the same person. This is obviously far from the case, which is why everyone should read up on the subject before automatically dubbing themselves a skeptic. Unless your Mercury is in Capricorn, then really nothing will change your mind.