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Step 1
Pick up a handy ephemeris at you bookstore or borrow one from a friend.
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Step 2
Familiarize yourself with all the different symbols used in the ephemeris--zodiac signs, planets, moon phases, eclipses and planetary aspects.
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Step 3
Look at the Phenomena section and read up a little bit on the astro data and all the different charts and boxes on this page.
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Step 4
Note that the phenomena boxes are important and give you shortcuts for understanding and reading the ephemeris. You will find these boxes on every page of specific months you are interested in.
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Step 5
Turn to a date you are interested in reading ephemeris data about. Let's say it is June 4, 2000.
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Step 6
Place your finger on the number 4 for the day of June 2000. You are going to move your finger in a straight line across this table for June when we begin. You will see symbols for all the planets including the Sun and Moon at the top. Under the planet symbols you will see the symbols indicating zodiac signs and then numbers that change down the columns. Some of the symbols for the zodiac signs change too.
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Step 7
Follow your finger now across the straight line of the 4. You first arrive at the column for the Sun. Here you will see a symbol for the zodiac at the top of the column. This is the sign of the Sun on the 4th of June. Then note the numbers. For instance, ephemeris notes 13 41 3, mean 13 degrees, 41 minutes, and 3 seconds. You mostly need to know the Sun is in the sign of Gemini at 13 degrees. As you follow your finger across to the columns for the other planets, you will read the numbers and symbols the way you just learned to do for the Sun.
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Step 8
Understand reading the Moon gets a little bit more complicated, because it moves so fast--and you really need a time zone chart to get it right. And the Phenomena boxes at the bottom of each page give you greater detail, and are explained in detail in that Phenomena section.
