Recently Snapchat came out with a new update where users can view a brief explanation of their astrological natal chart. A natal chart, or birth chart, requires your date of birth, time of birth, and the location of birth to determine astrological aspects when you were born.

Many of us will know our sun signs, for example, I am a Leo. But did you know there’s more planets that represent different aspects of us? In your birth chart, you will find planets in specific astrological signs.

To better explain this one specific celestial body, the moon is associated with our emotions. It will show how we process, react to and reflect emotions. It also represents our inner emotional being that we may hide, and what helps us feel good. So, according to the astrological sign someone’s moon is in, will tell how all of this plays out.

The birth chart also has 12 “houses” which refer to different aspects of our lives i.e. relationships, career, money, health etc. In these houses, you will find an astrological sign in each that helps you understand how this area of your life will be affected.

Now, with that extremely brief explanation of a birth chart out of the way, I will explain why I think these are important to us individually.

I have been studying my birth chart for the last two years, and I have learned many things about myself through this. Our birth charts can give us amazing insight into who we are as people, what we want out of life, our destiny and many other things.

It’s important to take the time to learn your birth chart and really research what each aspect means to you. It will take some time because birth charts contain a plethora of information. Though if you’re like me and going through a “trying to find yourself” phase, having your birth chart’s information to help you better understand who you are helps bring insight you never would have thought of before.

There are several websites you can use to calculate your birth chart and an app called The Pattern which will explain personal patterns based on our birth charts. I highly recommend the websites astro-seek, astro.com, and café.astrology.

Also, you can use birth charts to determine where you should live, why you should live there, and when you should move. This is something called relocation astrology.

You can also compare your charts to your friends or significant others to see how you and whoever react to each other, how you connect or disconnect and patterns between you two.

Gillian Eubanks junior health communications major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or gdeubanks@eiu.edu.