Modern pop astrology is heavily sun-centric. As soon as astrology is mentioned in conversation, the first question is always, "what's your sun sign?" The answer is inevitably followed by a list of the most common clichés of that particular sun sign which then get branded onto the respondee. As a Taurus sun, for example, I get branded as strong-willed and stubborn - which isn't altogether wrong, but that's not the point. The point is to ask the question: why is there so much emphasis on the sun sign and how can we see beyond these surface level cliché's?
Let's face the facts. Everyone born in Taurus season does not have the same personality as me. We can't ALL be stubborn and strong-willed just because we're Taurus sun's. This completely logical argument is used to say astrology can't possibly be accurate and is all just a bunch of crap...and I AGREE. This way of doing astrology is not accurate, and it gives real astrology a bad rep.
So what's with the emphasis on sun signs? Well, there's a very good reason for it actually. Sun-centric pop astrology began with the reintroduction of astrology into modern culture in the 1800's. As interest in astrology began re-sparking in the general population, newspaper columns began printing daily sun sign horoscopes in order to help sell their papers. Before this time in history, sun sign horoscopes were NEVER a thing. Newspapers chose to publish sun sign horoscopes because it's the easiest sign to know - you only have to know what day you're born on in order to know your sun sign. All of your other planetary placements require the casting of your birth chart, which back in the day, needed to be done via a lengthy process of calculations which you needed to pay an astrologer for.
Most of the population hadn't had their birth chart cast, so they only knew their sun sign. So, modern astrology became conflated with sun sign astrology, and people began branding others based on their sun sign, ("oh you're just like that because you're a Scorpio, Steve."). Sound familiar? Now that we know where sun sign astrology comes from, our next question is, where do we go from here?
Well, remember how I said that people only knew their sun sign because most people hadn't paid an astrologer to calculate their birth chart? These days, we don't need to pay an astrologer to calculate our birth charts because we have free online websites that do it for us with the click of a button. That means that as a population, we're ready to start going deeper and begin understanding our charts beyond our sun sign.
If you've never cast your chart before, you can do so by going to: https://horoscopes.astro-seek.com/. Type in your birth details, including time of birth and city. It's important for the time to be as accurate as possible.
You'll see a circle pop up with all of these symbols and lines connecting symbols to other symbols. Don't worry about that. That's for an astrologer to interpret. You can look to the right hand side and it will show you where all of your planets are. I want you to scroll down until you find "AC" and see which sign is next to it. This will tell you your ascending sign, which is the constellation of stars that was rising on the eastern horizon at the time you were born. This typically says a lot more about your personality, and character than your sun sign does.
If you don't know the glyphs, here's a handy chart:
Why does your ascending sign tell you more about personality and character than your sun sign? Because the ascending sign changes every two hours or so, and the sun sign changes once per month. So, your ascending sign is a lot more specific to your birth, and hence your individual character, than your sun sign. The sun sign speaks a lot more to your life direction, overarching goal, or plot line of your life.
So, next time someone asks you what you're sun sign is, you can respond by saying, "well, my ascendant is ________." And slowly we can start to change the culture of sun-centric pop astrology into something that is more grounded in the real astrological tradition.
- Rose
