Your sun sign

Everyone knows their sun sign, right? People who know very little about astrology – even those who reject it – know their sun sign. We’ve all read our daily horoscope (perhaps making sure that no one is watching 😉) and usually wondered how on earth the forecast will work out for us. Maybe you’ve also read descriptions of what your sun sign’s character is like.

Haven‘t you also wondered why these descriptions and forecasts don’t apply to you, or if so, only partially?

To understand why, let’s consider two basic astrological concepts: The zodiac and the sun sign.

Here on the Earth, we perceive the sun as moving around the Earth in a circle. This circle is divided into twelve parts, roughly defined by twelve different constellations of stars, and is called the zodiac. Each constellation can be imagined as depicting an animal or mythological figure and is called a “sign”.  In the space of one year, the sun moves through all twelve divisions, spending about 30 days in each.

But what does “your” sun sign mean? It tells you only where in the zodiac the sun was when you were born. “Sun sign Cancer“ means only that you were born sometime between June 22 and July 22, when the sun was in the sign of Cancer.

Because every person who was born when the sun was in the sign of Cancer (or any other sign) was born in a different place, in a different year, on a different day, at a different time, it’s impossible for the newspaper and magazine horoscopes to be accurate. Each birth is singular; thus, every natal horoscope is unique.

If one wants to use astrology to vignette a person’s character, then the astrologer examines other elements of the natal horoscope to determine the person’s temperament. A person’s temperament describes how they think, feel, and act. The position of the sun is not the most important factor here. Rather, the astrologer considers, among other things, in which zodiac sign the eastern horizon was, where the Moon was, what season it was, and where other planets were in relation to the sun at the moment of birth.