Understanding Sun Sign

The sign of the Zodiac the Sun is in at the time of a person’s birth is his or her Sun sign (sometimes also called the birth sign). The Sun, as the most important celestial body for Earth-dwellers, is the most important influence in a horoscope (an astrological chart). Consequently, the sign that the Sun is in at birth will usually be the single most important influence on an individual’s personality. Thus when people say that they are a certain sign, they are almost always referring to their Sun sign.

Sun-sign astrology, which is the kind of astrology one finds in newspa-pers and magazines, has the advantage of simplicity – all one needs to know is one’s birthday to be able to figure out one’s sign – but this simplicity is pur-chased at the price of ignoring all other astrological influences. The other important celestial bodies, for example, were all located in signs at the moment of birth. Thus, someone with a Scorpio Sun sign might also have a Sagittarius Moon sign, a Virgo Venus sign, a Libra Mercury sign, etc.

Each of these other signs has an influence, which is why everyone with the same Sun sign does not have the same personality. The subsidiary influences of the sign positions of the planets is further modified by the angles between them (referred to as aspects), as well as by their house positions (another set of 12 divisions). These other influences make Sun-sign astrology a hit-or-miss system that works sometimes but fails miserably at others. Professional astrologers tend to dislike Sun-sign astrology because it creates a

misconception of the science of the stars (i.e., that astrology is entirely about Sun signs), and because its inaccuracy leads non-astrologers to reject astrology as untrue.