What you have is a birth chart for someone (I assume that it is yours).
The chart is a map of the heavens, as seen from the place of birth, at the time of birth.
If you start at the 9 O' clock position you have your Ascendant sign, that is the sign of the zodiac which was rising in the East (where the Sun rises). This sign and its ruler, are important in the interpretation. In this case it is Gemini, ruled by Mercury.
Moving clockwise to the 12 o'clock position we come to the second key point, This is the point directly overhead when looking due South. It is called the MC or Midheaven and is an indicator of the adult person, the new born will grow into. These days there is a concentration on career when looking at this point but it is actually more than just that. In this case the MC is in Aquarius, so this sign, and it's ruler Saturn are also important in the interpretation.
There are two other key points (or angles) these are directly opposite the Ascendant (the Descendant, where the Sun sets) and the IC or Nadir, opposite the MC. The signs and rulers at these points are also important but not as much as the previous two.
The way this chart is drawn, the MC is actually more around one o' clock, because of the latitutde distorts the two dimensional representation of essentially a three dimensional universe.
The zodiac circle carries the planets (Sun and Moon count as planets in Astrology). The chart shows the position of each planet in terms of which sign it was in and how far through the sign it had traveled. So in this case th Sun is at 24 degrees 45 minutes of Scorpio. Each sign is 30 degrees wides, so this person was born near the end of Scorpio (approximately five days before the Sun moved into Sagittarius. The Sun sign is perhaps the most important element of the chart for interpretation as far as modern Astrology is concerned, but as we have already noted the Ascendant and the MC also have to be considered).
Adding to those three we have the Moon, in this case just shy of 10 degrees Libra.
The three most important positions for interpreting the chart are Sun, Moon and Ascendant (13 degrees Gemini).
The remaining planets, Mercury, Venus, Kars, Jupiter and Saturn each add something to the individual, so each would be considered after the Sun, Moon and Ascendant.
The three 'outer' planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are considered 'generational' in their effects and influence because of their extremely slow orbits. This chart also plots the position of Chiron, which is not a planet but a 'centaur like object' which is the Astronomical description. Some Astrologers treat Chiron as being important, others ignore it. But in an interpretation it would be one of the last things considered.
Most beginners will start with a 'crib' book which gives a brief interpretation for each planet in each sign. An additional dimension is added by dividing the chart into houses (numbered 1 to 12 on the chart). Each house represents an area of life. The four Angles each start one of the houses, and these four houses (1,4,7,10) are considered the most important ones for the interpreation - they are referred to as the Angular houses.
Again a beginner's book will give a brief meaning to each house and give an indication of what each planet is like in each house.
The art of interpreation is to take these three layers, planets, signs and houses and draw conclusions. To make matters even more complex, the interpretor will look for relationships between planets, called aspects. These are the angular distance between planets and are shown as blue and red lines on the chart. Any planet may aspect one or more others, or may not be in aspect to any. The beginner's book will give some indication of which aspects are important and how to assess them.
I've dealt with the physical nature of the chart here, rather than start an interpretation. Unless you have a good idea what the chart shows, it is virtually impossible to understand how the interpretation works.
You can now choose to either get a beginner's book and start out on your own, or you can ask some further questions in terms of this chart. But the first thing you must do is to make sure you can follow my explanation. If there's anything you can't understand then let's start with that before we go on to 'read' the chart.
