Understanding your solar zodiac sign
The zodiac sign is probably the part of astrology that marks popular culture the most… so much so that everyone at least knows his solar astrological sign!
Some clarifications are required.
The zodiac corresponds to the orbital rotation, to the Earth’s year, to the solar return, it is divided into 12 sectors of identical size (30°), each representing a sign, but the zodiac must always remain in mind as a single and indivisible whole.
An important notion to remember, the tropical astrological zodiac does not relate to the confines of the universe, it envelops the earth, this point is important to understand (see my article on Zodiacs), I refer the reader interested in this notion in particular to the book by Dane Rudhyar Astrology of Personality (see also below the notions on the axial precession (precession of the equinoxes), read in particular “The Rhythm of Human Fulfillment : In Tune with Cosmic Cycles” by D.Rudhyar too).
Concretely when we say “I am Aries”, it means that the Sun occupied the sector of the sky -from the zodiacal band- devoted to aries at the birth time.
So we are talking about solar energy, that is to say precisely that the “planetary function” of the Sun is colored with “aries” energies and attributes.
I invite you to discover the article on the Sun and the one on Astrological Planets to understand this notion of “solar function”, the importance solar star in astrology, and therefore the importance that we attribute to the sun sign, your zodiac sign.
D.Rudhyar uses a metaphor in his book “The Practice Of Astrology” which I find very relevant, it indicates that the zodiac signs somehow correspond to the “solar force in action”, solar energy being like “essence” and the various astrological signs being like “motors” using this energy to transform it into different “movements” types or “functional qualities” corresponding to the archetype sign.
It is very important to understand that the Sun is the fundamental symbol of Individuation in our birth chart, it represents the personality archetype that we must express with quintessence…
In a birth chart, the Planets represent functions and energies, the Houses represent human life sectors in the background, as for the Zodiac Signs they are archetypes of human consciousness.
When a planet -not only the Sun- crosses a sign, it is “colored” of this archetype, it somehow takes its share of mind, its energies.
Let’s take a closer look at the 12 zodiac signs, but keep in mind that these descriptions are “standard archetypes”, say “describing a basic temperament type”, for example “100% Taurus” or “100% Gemini”.
They are not to be taken literally, each individual being the fruit of a mixture of several energies: his sun sign, his Ascendant, the planetary dominants, etc … but we will see that below.
The dates given below for the start and end of the zodiac signs are not the same depending on the year of birth, remember to check if you are close to the sign change.
- Aries
March 21 to April 20
Fire sign ruled by Mars
The ego “I am”
1st HouseAries are dynamic, self-confident, determined and courageous, their character sometimes pushes them to impulsiveness and aggressiveness... - Taurus
April 21 to May 20
Earth sign ruled by Venus
“I have”
2nd HouseTaurus are hardworking and stable, conservative, stubborn, but nonetheless calm, being able to turn at a certain slowness... - Gemini
May 21 to June 21
Air sign ruled by Mercury
“I think”
3rd HouseGemini are intuitive, intelligent, sociable, they are very adaptable to their environment, versatile, they are versatile... - Cancer
June 22 to July 23
Water sign ruled by the Moon
“I feel”
4th HouseCancer are sensitive and emotional character, dreamer, they analyze everything through their feelings, what they feel and absorb... - Leo
July 24 to August 23
Fire sign ruled by the Sun
“I love”
5th HouseLeo are audacious, charismatic, voluntary character, they impose their strength of character and their ambition, even authoritarian... - Virgo
August 24 to September 23
Earth sign ruled by Mercury
“I serve”
6th HouseVirgo have organized, analytical, methodical character, they are shy and self-effacing, have a deep sense of detail and perfectionism... - Libra
September 24 to October 23
Air sign ruled by Venus
“We are”
7th HouseLibra are sociable character, loving harmony, beauty, aesthetics, acute sense of justice, it can also be superficial - Scorpio
October 24 to November 22
Water sign ruled by Pluto
“We have”
8th HouseScorpio have strength of character, secretive, tough, magnetic and distrustful, they are sometimes brittle, cold, they probe the soul... - Sagittarius
November 23 to December 21
Fire sign ruled by Jupiter
“We think”
9th HouseSagittarians are idealistic, optimistic, self-taught, frank, his temperament is split between bestiality and spirituality... - Capricorn
December 22 to January 20
Earth sign ruled by Saturn
“We realize”
10th HouseCapricorns are serious and responsible, ambitious, patient, thrifty, they are nevertheless discreet, reserved and not very expansive... - Aquarius
January 21 to February 19
Air sign ruled by Uranus
“We love”
11th HouseAquarians are idealistic, independent and original, creative and original visionaries, pioneers, forerunners in their field... - Pisces
February 20 to March 20
Water sign ruled by Neptune
“We serve”
12th HousePisces are intuitive, dreamy, imaginative, hypersensitive and very receptive to their unconscious, their kindness pushes them to sacrifice...
The chain of zodiac signs represents human consciousness evolution, from the emergence of personality in Aries until the transcendence and disembodiment in Pisces.
No sign is better or worse than another, each sign has its specificities and corresponds to the evolving needs that each person manifests in the course of their life at this precise moment.
These descriptions of Zodiac Signs, I remind you, really indicate “standard” type of each sign, that is to say an human characters archetype.
No person manifests exclusively ONLY characters of its solar sign or even its Ascendant also…
A birth chart is full of information, human nature is much richer, we are all the fruit of a panel of all these signs more or less accentuated, it is why the zodiac must be seen in our minds as a single whole, as a dynamic cycle, not as a portion of static sky where we would be “only” Cancer or Leo or Virgo, etc… it is very important.
It is accepted that some people who have their sun near the limit of 2 signs more easily have the characters of the both 2 signs concerned.
However, everyone has both criteria marked with his solar zodiac sign, but also next and previous; explanations are found in the progressions (Symbolic progressions, direct secondary and converses secondary), the deep solar character goes tend to evolve and change signs over time and advancement in life.
For example, a native Sagittarius will mark during his life characters both Scorpio and Capricorn, even according to his longevity and his decan of the characters Libra and Aquarius as he gets older…
Difference between solar and Ascendant zodiac sign (rising sign)
The Sun indicates the essential qualities of being, it describes the person you are fundamentally deep inside you, it indicates your willpower, your philosophy of life.
Your solar zodiac sign is the radiation that you’re emitting, it is the goal of consciousness to be achieved in this life, at the end of the necessary evolution, you will fully embody your sun sign when you come to the affirmation of your “Me”.
This is your “deep self”, the archetype of consciousness of your soul, it is your independent part and incorruptible in the social world, your deep values which do not deteriorate according to trends and external influences.
The Ascendant is your ego, the social veneer, your character at first sight, your daily vitality, your exteriority, your individuality, your free will, it is the part which bends to social conventions, which dialogues and makes compromises with the “others”, in this sense the ascendant can be more superficial.
But a human personality therefore consists of a mixture of the solar zodiac sign and the Ascendant, a nuance of both. We study the harmony or dissonance of this 2 parts in a birth chart to interpret possible conflicts in social or intimate life.
13th sign, Ophiuchus and other “your zodiac sign is not yours”…
Note that zodiac is based on the space geometric division, the 360° sphere divided into 12 portions of 30°.
Traditionally, astrology has been assigned the name of the constellation that was attached to this area of the sky thousands of years ago.
Since then, with the phenomenon of precession of the equinoxes, the zodiacal band “slips”, but this has no impact on the zodiacal division, which is I recall a geometric division of space (the solar return, the earth year), nor on the attribution of archetypical functions and energies which arise for each sector and which is not dependent on the constellations (in geocentric astrology the astrological zodiac is “the celestial sphere near the earth”), see Zodiac…
I invite you to read authors like Dane Rudhyar in particular or other humanistic astrologers (“Astrology of Personality”, “The Rhythm of Human Fulfillment : In Tune with Cosmic Cycles”), who explain and re-explain these points much better in detail than I do here… 🙂
Some classifications of signs according to their :
Polarity:
- Positive Yang:
Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius, Aquarius - Negative Yin:
Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, Pisces
Mode :
- Cardinal cross, action:
Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn - Fixed cross, coordination:
Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius - Mutable cross, mutation:
Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces
Classical Elements :
- Fire, philosophy of life:
Aries, Leo, Sagittarius - Earth, matter:
Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn - Air, relationships, exchange, sociability:
Gemini, Libra, Aquarius - Water, psychology:
Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces
