Recently, I watched the BBC historical drama Marie Antoinette. It tells the story of Marie’s early life in Austria and France — before the outbreak of the French Revolution. A young woman swept into the whirlwind of history by fate appears not only as a queen, but also as a daughter, a wife, and a mother. Knowing the tragic ending that awaits her makes it especially painful to watch: she comes across as a kind woman who loved her family and children, yet was forced to face countless obstacles and challenges within the luxurious — and treacherous — world of the French court.

Contemporary opinions of her were deeply divided and largely depended on political views. Some saw her as a charming, joyful, and beautiful woman, while others portrayed her as greedy, frivolous, and someone who betrayed the interests of France.

This made me curious to look at Marie Antoinette’s natal chart. What I value about astrology is that it allows us to “bring to life” long-gone historical figures and view them from an unexpected angle.

So, on November 2, 1755, the great Empress Maria Theresa gave birth to her fifteenth child — Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna of Habsburg-Lorraine. According to astro.com, her birth time is 19:30, and the place is Vienna.

Marie Antoinette loved her parents dearly. In her chart, both the Sun and Moon are in the 5th house, and the Sun is conjunct Venus. The Sun in Scorpio, in aspect to Neptune, along with Saturn in the 8th house, all point to a complicated relationship with the father figure. Her father, Emperor Francis I Stephen, died suddenly of a stroke (or heart attack) on August 18, 1765, while returning from the theatre. Marie Antoinette was not yet ten years old.

The Habsburgs always chose advantageous matches for their children. Marie Antoinette was therefore betrothed to the French Dauphin. This marriage was meant to secure an alliance between France and Austria — two countries whose relationship had long been far from simple. In April 1770, Marie left Vienna, and on May 16, in Versailles, she married the Dauphin Louis (the future Louis XVI).

With a Cancer Ascendant, and the Moon in Libra in the 5th house, Marie’s appearance and manner were marked by softness, friendliness, politeness, and refined social grace. It mattered to her how she came across and what others thought of her. However, this pleasant Moon forms a tense aspect with Mars: quick temper and irritability emerged especially when she felt undervalued or rejected. The Moon–Saturn square points to deep fears, emotional restraint, and vulnerability — Marie often had to suppress sudden bursts of irritation.

The Moon in Libra in the 5th house suggests that emotional satisfaction came through creativity and beauty: theatre, music, aesthetics, flirtation, and romantic experiences. Marie Antoinette was known to love music, ballet, and theatre; she played the clavichord, adored fashion and elegant clothing. She also played cards frequently — and it is likely that this helped her release emotional tension caused by the opposition between Mars in the 1st house and Saturn in the 8th house to the Moon, ruler of the 2nd house. Contemporary accounts mention episodes of melancholy and digestive issues, which can also be linked to the Moon’s tense aspects with Mars and Saturn.

Her relationship with her husband appears complicated in the chart: Saturn, ruler of the 7th and 8th houses, is in opposition to Mars in the 1st house. It is known that Louis XVI quietly covered his wife’s gambling debts, but behind closed doors expressed his displeasure. Everything connected with Saturn — law, order, partnership, and material responsibility — brought Marie stress (Saturn in the 8th house).

Special attention should be given to the Black Moon Lilith. In Marie Antoinette’s chart, Lilith is in Taurus, suggesting a strong attachment to the material world. In the chart of her mother, Maria Theresa, four planets are in Taurus, and this trait clearly passed on to her daughter. Lilith is placed in the 11th house, but conjunct the cusp of the 12th. Her attraction to wealth and luxury may have been something meant to be completed in this incarnation. Lilith’s connection to the 12th house can help explain the tragic ending of Marie’s life. Its placement in the 11th also points to being surrounded by unworthy people who took advantage of her favor for their own interests.

From contemporary memoirs:

Neptune — ruler of the 10th house — is placed in the 3rd house. Marie’s social role manifested through communication, education, and the exchange of ideas. But her environment was unusual: members of the highest society, “royal personalities,” since Neptune is in Leo. The public image of the young queen was wrapped in illusion, fantasy, distortion, and lies — which is supported by the square between the Sun and Neptune.

In the 10th house, there is also retrograde Uranus, indicating that her status and “career” would change unexpectedly under the influence of external forces. And indeed, the Revolution completely overturned her life.

After the Revolution began in 1789, the royal family was placed under house arrest. In 1791, they made an unsuccessful attempt to escape and were captured in Varennes. In 1793, Louis XVI was executed, and on October 16 of the same year, the guillotine ended Marie Antoinette’s life as well.

This piece is for anyone who’s thinking about seeing an astrologer for the first time. It’s based on the views of many practising astrologers and is here to help you understand what a consultation actually looks like — and how to make it genuinely worthwhile.

A good astrology session can be incredibly useful — but it works best when the client is engaged. If you’re expecting an astrologer to wave a wand and fix everything in your life, it’s worth dropping that idea right away.

An astrologer isn’t a fortune teller, and they certainly aren’t a magician. What they can do is help you make sense of yourself, point out patterns, highlight likely themes in different areas of your life, and help you spot better timings for certain decisions.

But whether something happens or not? That’s still down to you.

An astrology consultation isn’t someone talking at you for two hours. It’s a proper back-and-forth.

The astrologer uses their knowledge and your chart, but they also rely on your feedback. Together, you explore what might be going on under the surface: recurring struggles, strengths, blind spots, emotional patterns — and then you look at how you can move forward in a way that actually makes sense for you.

Sometimes, just naming the issue is a massive relief. People stop beating themselves up and start understanding themselves better. (Psychologists sometimes call this “meeting the enemy” )

A birth chart can’t tell an astrologer how “developed” you are as a person, or how well you were brought up. It can show broad themes and the kind of environment you grew up in — but not the full story.

That’s why your honesty matters. Think of it like going to the GP: if you don’t explain what’s going on, it’s hard for anyone to help you properly.

A natal chart contains dozens — sometimes hundreds — of potential life storylines. It can speak to relationships, family, career, money, health, confidence, purpose… you name it.

But astrologers aren’t mind readers. To get to the right answers, they need to know what you want to focus on. When you explain what’s been bothering you and why you’ve come, you help guide them towards the most relevant parts of your chart.

It’s really worth thinking in advance about what you want from the session and being clear about it.

A good astrologer will tell you what’s realistic — and what isn’t.

For example, “Make it so I get married” isn’t a realistic request.

But something like:
“I want to understand why relationships are difficult for me, what patterns I keep repeating, and what I can do differently” — that’s exactly the kind of thing astrology can help with.

Most people book a consultation because something is happening in real life, for example:

If you’re seeing an astrologer for the first time, it’s usually best to start with a full natal chart reading. Once you’ve got that foundation, you can go into more specific topics like forecasting, relationship compatibility (synastry), choosing dates, and so on.

To answer your questions properly, an astrologer needs to cast your natal chart (your birth chart). A fair question is: how do you know it’s been done accurately?

A professional astrologer checks the chart against events that have already happened in your life. If your past makes sense through the chart, the chart is far more likely to be reliable for future trends too.

To do that, astrologers often send you a questionnaire and ask you to list key life events with dates.

Your job is to be as accurate as you can. If you need to, check paperwork. If the dates are muddled or the years are wrong, it can send the astrologer in the wrong direction — which affects the quality of the reading.

Birth time rectification (refining the exact birth time) is often needed — not only when someone has no idea what time they were born, but even when the recorded time is approximate.

This is highly skilled work, and it takes time. The astrologer checks whether key past events line up with the chart. This part usually happens behind the scenes and isn’t visible during the consultation, but it’s absolutely crucial.

These days, charts are generated through astrology software: the astrologer enters your birth details and the programme produces the chart.

But the real value isn’t the chart itself — it’s the interpretation.

In a way, the astrologer is translating: turning the “language of the stars” into something you can actually understand and use.

If you use a free astrology website, you’ll often get a pile of generic descriptions (planet in sign, planet in house, etc.). They can be contradictory, confusing, and not especially helpful — because they’re not put together into one coherent picture.

A professional astrologer can’t just glance at a chart and give you something meaningful in five minutes.

They need to look at the chart as a whole, compare multiple factors, and piece together how everything interacts. That kind of synthesis takes time — sometimes hours, sometimes even days — even for someone who’s read thousands of charts.

Once the preparation is done, the consultation usually lasts about one to two hours.

And again — it’s a conversation. Not a recorded monologue. Not a long written lecture.

A written summary can be provided afterwards, but it’s normally an extra, not a replacement for the actual discussion.

Consultations can be done face-to-face or online. Either way, the format stays the same: discussion, questions, clarification, and working through things together.

Sometimes people think, “That’s a lot of money for an hour’s chat.” But you’re not paying only for the time spent talking.

I have a higher technical education — I graduated from MIIGAiK in 1994, Faculty of Photogrammetry. In 2002 I also received a degree in economics after graduating from the A.S. Griboedov Institute of International Law and Economics.

After that, I worked for several years in various business organizations. For a long time, astrology seemed to me something very distant — a kind of relic inherited from ancient times. Of course, I didn’t believe in anything like that — astrology? What astrology? Complete nonsense!

However, sometime around 2010, out of curiosity, I ordered an interpretation of my natal chart. The result amazed me. The astrologer was able to describe different areas of my life quite accurately. Not everything matched, but the percentage of “spot on” insights was very high. And then I started wondering: how is this even possible?

I began reading various astrology books and manuals — and didn’t even notice how deeply I got drawn into the process, to the point where astrology no longer wanted to let me go. Later came years of study at the Higher School of Classical Astrology, and I also attended several courses by the wonderful astrologer Galina Volzhina.