So why Sun Signs?

Perhaps the easiest and most heard criticism of astrology is “How can it be true when it’s written for one twelfth of the population?” This is of course referring to the popular sun sign columns you can find in almost every newspaper or magazine you pick up. Once you start learning a bit more about astrology one of the first “revelations” is that the sun is by far NOT the most important part of the birth chart at all (cue lots of astrological debate as to what IS :) ) I guess the answer is that the calculation of a birth chart is quite a complex set of calculations and the “average man on the street” would find it easier to at least know their sun sign which only changes once a month as opposed to any other planet which either changes way too often / not regularly enough year on year or at all for a long amount of time, to make identification easy without an ephemeris (more on these later) However what I always find amazing that is even with the rough “typing” whereby in theory one twelfth of the population falls into each group (in practice more babies are born in set months every year) and the fact that most columns in newspapers or popular astrology sun sign books are fairly tenuous in astrological exactitude, that there is STILL enough truth in them to make them enduring parts of cultural tradition still surviving today across most of the world. I mean who doesn’t know what sign they are? Sceptic or believer we all know… In case you don’t know -  here’s the chart for you.....

So most of us know the general attributes of our sun sign, if you don’t this is a great link but what you might not know is that every sun sign is full of mythology and stories passed along and down for generations, nearly every culture has similar myths and stories, and this is how moral traditions were carried from generation to generation before the printed word and today’s technologically "ever connected" world.

Once you dive behind the front door of the Sun sign of a person though (although this applies more as a description of the Ascendant – again more on that later!) you begin to realise that the sun is just one of the planets astrology looks at in the overall map of a persons psyche or personality. Here’s part of my chart, the Sun is the round circle with the dot in it, you can see it’s in Aries, but plenty of other planets are in other signs. So how does this balance out? If I have Sun in Aries but Venus and Jupiter in Pisces with a Capricorn Moon, am I more or less Arian? How do these energies all blend together? Are there some areas in life where, rather than the “bolshy / enthusiastic / cheerful Aries ram” I am actually quieter, more subdued, careful to show my feelings? Once you start asking and answering questions like these….. that’s it! You are hooked and have to find out more! Also every sign and planet like everything in life has a positive and a negative side, a yin / yang aspect. So even the cheeriest of Arians, can get a little despondent, the unselfish fighter for the underdog, can be a petulant spoilt little child, and so on. It’s a complex set of sometimes conflicting drives that make up a person, and a birth chart, which means its not easy to interpret – but hey – nothing good worth knowing or having is ever easy, right? 

So what does the sun mean to professional astrologers, once you move past the “Born in May? You are a Gemini!” stage? The sun is actually not the easist part of a person's chart to read on casual aquaintance, you are much more likely to be able to identify other parts first. The sun is the real inner core of the person. The inner self, and something which we often strive to become through our lives and experiences. Its an underlying “flavour” or theme of a person, their overall vitality or energy make up and the way they assert themselves. But just like the base of a cake or a recipe might be something that on first taste you miss, so the sun can easily be missed by other stronger and immediate flavours, the icing on the cake so to speak. When interpreting a chart generally the Sun, Moon and Ascendant are the most important central themes. But then you can often find a cluster of planets in a totally different sign to any of these, meaning that what you think you will find in that person is hidden by other more forceful energies.  That being said most people DO get on very well with, and “click” or connect with members of their own sun sign. Probably you tend to feel most comfortable with people that have a general “flavour” or energy consistancy most similar to your own. I can recognise an Aries at about 5 mins into a conversation usually, so clearly although not always dominant, sun signs are forceful and recognisable traits in their own way. And I do find that the daily sun sign predictions are often spookily accurate for where I am in my life, I can't recommend enough Jonathan Cainer's predictions, he really is the best!

As to me and my sun sign? I LOVE being an Aries, we are  number one and the best! Woo! Which kind of sums up both the positivity of the sign and the childish need to be number one and get the most attention. There’s no doubt I am an Aries, and there’s no doubt that of all the qualities I like in myself, often it’s the Arian ones I want to develop and promote the most. I like the fearlessness, the “sunniness” the cheerful,  enthusiastic, bombastic, “nothing is impossible” energy. I am proud of the competitiveness and the fighting spirit, the need to stand up for the underdog, the will to never give up! I also recognise the spoilt child, the “What about ME!” whining / demanding brat, and the fact that sometimes the bouncy ebullience can be SO annoying to others (and me!) Sometimes the energy is too much, I get easily bored / restless / fed up with people, situations, myself. It’s not an easy sign to be, certainly not quiet, it takes some handling, but I can’t imagine being any other sun sign. It truly is the core of me, and when people describe me they usually do describe the sun in me “Fiesty, fun, sunny, kind, loyal” (as well as sometimes “brat, baby, centre of attention!”) Which parts of your sun sign do you identify with?