Tag: sun

Posted on

The Astrology of Love

What do the planets have to say about love? As always, you know I’m going come at it from another angle. Read on about the Astrology of Love the sidereal way.

This content originally appeared in a thread of tweets on my Twitter timeline.  It has been edited for clarity and cohesion.

While Venus is often called the planet of love, sex, and pleasure, each of the planets speaks to us about love. Love can be defined in practical terms, spiritual terms, psychological, etc. But I’m going to include all of the above and then some as I share what the planets have to say about love.


Moon

I always start with the MOON because this is where you began—in your mother’s womb. Your first body, your first home, was not your own, it was your mother’s. It was there that your body was shaped. And only upon your emergence from that body did your body take a form of its own.

The MOON is home and family, it is the circumstances of your upbringing. It is all of the people, places, and things that are familiar to you, the fixtures in your environment that comprise “home”.

LOVE begins with mother—home. This is where you learn what your needs are, who will meet them, and how they are met. Your body is programmed by your upbringing to interpret one thing as a need, and another as optional. If you survived without it, then you don’t need it, right?

The MOON teaches us that LOVE is the incubator of necessity. LOVE defines what we cannot live without. As we are shaped by our home and upbringing, so too is our relationship to our body. LOVE teaches us what necessity feels like.

  • How has your mother, home, family, upbringing, and familiar environment during your formative years shaped how you define necessity in your life?
  • Are these necessities rooted in familiarity, or does your body call for these things at present?
  • Who are the people that fulfill necessity in your life at present?

Sun

The SUN is the sense of self shaped by the awareness that you are not your body. The mind that perceives can perceive the body. The mind is aware of itself, too. The SUN, experienced as FATHER, teaches us that our sense of self informs our level of entitlement to impact the world around us. LOVE, in this sense, is the drive to be seen as we see ourselves.

  • How has your experience of FATHER shaped your entitlement to impact the world you inhabit, your world?
  • Who and what is the self that seeks to be seen as it is? Is that really you?
  • How do you show yourself so that you can be seen?

Mercury

MERCURY is the underrated champion of LOVE. It is the words we think in, speak with, write with. As incantations of manifestation, words create the world we inhabit. They create the space and place where we exercise our entitlement to be.

When your world is named for you, it shapes how you perceive it. And when you are named, it shapes how you are seen and how you see yourself.

When you name your world, you shape your world. When you name yourself, you shape yourself.

  • What have you been called?
  • How has this shaped your becoming at present?
  • If you are to be seen as you are, what words have shaped your capacity to show up to be seen?

Venus

Now, we have arrived at VENUS: the capacity to change, assimilate, adapt, adjust, bend, and conform. The SUN says that your sense of self informs how you see the world. But VENUS says that LOVE means letting the world and the people in it change you, and how you see yourself.

Both are needed, you see? There is no self without LOVE. Because who you are and who you are becoming has and will always be shaped by the people in your life. Either by your resistance to conforming or by your willingness to change. This is the LOVE that VENUS teaches.

  • How willing or unwilling are you to be changed by the people in your life?
  • How do you find balance between maintaining the sense of self rooted in self perception vs the sense of self reflected back to you by the people in your life?
  • Even if you did not choose the reflection, the people in your life, can you still see yourself?
  • Can you still magnify the commonalities, however small they might appear? Perception is reality, right?

Mars

MARS, the defender of the body which emerged from Mother MOON. The one that severs the binding that necessity has created. The one that ventures out to flex the muscle of courage. It sustains and maintains the entitlement endowed by Father SUN.

The courage to stand your ground, preserve your life and body, and move as the force of life empowers you and impels you to act—this is MARS. This, too, is LOVE.

  • Who and what empowers you to save your own life?
  • Where do you find the strength to stand your ground when it matters most?
  • Who empowers you with a visceral awareness of the value of your life, your body, yourself?

Jupiter

JUPITER tells the story of who you are. It’s the teacher who shows and tells. It’s the culture that gives words meaning. It’s the experiences that give you meaning.

Framing the cultural narrative around belonging and community, JUPITER gives the context for how we interpret ourselves and our bodies within the society where we live. JUPITER teaches us that LOVE is finding connection beyond the primal and biological while reinforcing it at the same time.

Stories are tapestries of words that shape how we interpret the world, ourselves, and the people in it. This is JUPITER and this is LOVE.

  • How do these stories provide a way to interpret the impulses that arise in you?
  • What is the origin of these stories?
  • How do they empower intention and possibility in your life?

Saturn

SATURN is where it ends and begins, for birth, too, is a SATURN thing. Birth is the beginning of the discovery of where the limits of our body lie. And death is where we face the limits of life itself.

Life ends at death, so says Saturn. The awareness of your mortality brings an existential crisis that makes living urgent. Pressing you against the walls of possibility, narrowing the path forward, LOVE is urgent. LOVE is life and death. The only two guarantees in this world.

LOVE is the consequence of mortality. It grows from the awareness that life is not forever. So we must figure some way to make it last past the time our bodies are animated with life. LOVE is the legacy we leave as evidence of our lives.

  • How have you discovered the limits of your body?
  • Who are your partners is legacy creation?
  • How has the awareness of your mortality narrowed the path of possibility in your life, revealing who and what matters most?
Posted on

October 2018 Horoscope

The October 2018 Astrology Forecast and Horoscope is delivered via a blog post rather than my usual video forecast. I hope to resume my monthly video forecast in November.

October’s Big Picture

There are 3 major themes for the month. They are all equally major, so I present these in no particular order:

  1. Cardinal Convergence Redux
  2. The month of the Dog has arrived
  3. Bye bye, Jupiter in Libra; Hello, Jupiter in Scorpio

#1 Cardinal Convergence Redux

In July 2018, I tweeted about the overwhelming focus on cardinal signs that would take us through to August:

Cardinal signs are like the Aces of the Tarot.

Cancer is the Ace of Cups
Libra is the Ace of Swords (I mean, look at Justicia!)
Capricorn is Ace of Pentacles
Aries is Ace of Wands

Aces are more than seeds. They are opportunities to be taken advantage of, potential energy stored up waiting for that kinetic initiation. Cardinal signs have all the get-up and go required to actualize that potential. Cardinal signs want to see a thing brought to its resolution, so they will constantly impose and enforce to get it there. That could be controlling—or, you know, leadership. Depends on the circumstance. Bossy, bully, competent, and capable. Mix it up!

This is the energy that carries us through to the very end of the year. Aries and Cancer are more temporary legs. Capricorn will be occupied through November 5. There will be at least one planet in Libra through December 31.

Your Capricorn house is where you are feeling moved to impose order by establishing new ways to use what you have and get what you deserve.

Your Cancer house is where you are pressed to stay tuned in and respond to needs as they arise.

Your Aries house is where you feel entitled, but likely lack the opportunity to do what you want to do. You Capricorn house is the outlet and focus for what you want here.

Your Libra house is where you have opportunities to include others or to be included by others. This is the part of your chart that’s been busy since September 2017 and will remain so through the very last day of 2018.

Your Capricorn house is going to be feeling relentless. You are going to feel driven in this part of your life, like the need to act is urgent. But don’t let it fool you. That’s Mars talking. Pace yourself in this part of your life. You don’t really have a choice anyway.

And don’t fall into the trap believing that the work in your Libra house can’t help your Capricorn work; it can. Stay connected to others, intentionally include others, and say yes (within reason) to opportunities that come your way.

I took the liberty of copying all that I wrote in that tweet thread here because it is very important to what is happening this month.

Back in July, Cancer was the sign that took center focus in the form of mothers and their children, families and their home, immigration, and housing. The square between Cancer and Libra was palpable as major litigation and court rulings regarding the housing of immigrants pushed through the courts.

Libra is the major focus in October with three planets in the sign for most of the month. This moment carries us through the end of the year bringing a much-anticipated culmination to the demands of justice for and by women that began when Jupiter ingressed Libra in September 2017.

#2 The month of the Dog has arrived

Anyone who follows me on Twitter knows that Chinese astrology (Bazi) is a major tool I use to make my accurate political predictions and predictions for public figures (like that one I hit right on for Elon Musk).

February 4, 2018 began the year of the Yang Earth-Dog (Wu Xu). On October 8, we begin the month of the Dog (Ren Xu, which is the Yang Water Dog). Whenever the month animal matches the year animal we know that during that month events and circumstances indicated by the year animal will come to pass. That means that October is the month where it all goes down. And by all I mean, the major themes of this year reach concurrent culminations: #MeToo and the movements of justice for and by women, Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, Facebook and its demise at the greedy hands of Mark Zuckerberg (one and two), immigration and #AbolishIce. After this month October Surprise will take on a whole new meaning.

The specifics of this month have to do with the elements contained in the month pillar: Yang Water (Ren) up top in the heavenly stem and the Dog (Xu)—which is Yang Earth—on the bottom. Yang Earth to Yang Water is a star called 7killings. This star represents husbands or boyfriends for women; power, authority, and influence for both men and women; and legal troubles for those who do not benefit from the element represented by the 7killings star.

I need not supply any additional evidence as to the importance of litigation and legal proceedings in the present for the United States.

#3 Bye, bye Jupiter in Libra; Hello, Jupiter in Scorpio

I wish there was a way for me to overstate the importance of Jupiter entering Scorpio. It is critically important for three primary reasons. The first reason is that Jupiter will be revisiting where Saturn transited the November 2014 through October 2017. That covers the entirety of Donald Trump’s campaign for president of the united states as well as an extremely violent and volatile time. with regard to gun violence in America.

The second reason is that Saturn is in Sagittarius which means that it is under the command of, answering to, Jupiter. As Jupiter changes signs so do the marching orders Saturn receives. Saturn in Sagittarius has been in Jupiter in Libra’s justice for him by women army since September 2017. This month it joins Jupiter in Scorpio’s stand-your-ground army.

The third and final reason that Jupiter’s sign change is critically important is that the front end of this transit revisits the August 21, 2017 fixed sign eclipse degree, 3°-4° Leo (aspecting that same degree in Taurus, Scorpio, and Aquarius.)

Towards the end of this past summer, I said that the final months of 2018 would be where 2015, 2016, and 2017 all come to meet and resolve what had occurred between them. I know that this brought up fear and concern for many people. However, this is the nature of time. Everything we experience connects to threads of stories that have been ongoing. And at any given time one or more of those threads brings relevant events and changes in the present. Now is the time for us to reckon with the Saturn in Scorpio transit and the eclipses in Leo and Aquarius.

I don’t want you to think too deeply about the specific interpretations of the signs and astrological configurations that occurred. It is most useful for you to think about the major events of the summers of 2015 & 2016, and September and October of 2017. What was going on in your life during that time? where were you challenged to stand your ground in the faces pressure to discard your emotional reality for one that prioritized others?

I’ve written many more questions about how you can think of and prepare for what is to come in your Scorpio house over the next several months: Jupiter in Scorpio.

Now, onto the details for the rest of the month.

WEEK 1

October 5: Venus Stationary Retrograde

We have arrived. Venus has been within the degree where it will station retrograde since September 28. This is the point in a relay race when one runner, who has been running around the track, takes the baton and reaches ahead as another runner begins to slowly run, gradually picking up the pace with their arm extended behind them ready to grab the baton and take off.

Jupiter is the runner finishing its lap through Libra. Venus is the final runner on the relay team, her arm extended, ready to finish the race. Because Jupiter is not a home in Libra it did not have the authority to exact the kind of justice demanded by women all over the world. But Venus is home. and he has the inherent authority to bring what is due.

Anytime a planet changes direction, either by stationing retrograde or stationing direct, it upsets the flow of traffic for all planets. And by making these stations, a planet is triggering other major astrological events and configurations that have occurred within the sign where it is stationing. The retrograde station of Venus occurring at 16° Libra triggers both the Full Moon in Libra (April 31, 2018), as well as Jupiter’s direct station at 19° Libra (July 10, 2018).

I’ve got three YouTube videos on my channel that will help you navigate what this retrograde means for you and how to best understand Libra. Remember, Libra and decide ariel zodiac is much different than tropical conceptions of the sign. libra as codependent, indecisive, passive, completely ignores depictions of Libra as Lady Justitia brandishing a sword and a blindfold. That’s ruthless if you ask me.

  1. Venus Retrograde 2018
  2. Sidereal Libra
  3. Venus conjunct Jupiter in Libra

If you are unsure of where Libra is in your sidereal birth chart, then please use this guide to help you cast your sidereal birth chart so that you can follow along with the videos linked above.

Also, here is a blog post on sidereal Libra.

October 6: Mercury in Libra

October 6th begins a special time period in 2018 where Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury are all in Libra. This time period lasts for only 5 days because Jupiter will leave Libra for Scorpio on October 10th.

From October 6th through October 11th, Venus is at home, having inherent authority in Libra. That means being in the position of power and having the authority to execute her agenda in her own way. To make matters even more interesting Venus is also stationary. Stationary means slow and disrupting traffic. Venus is drawing attention to herself in a way that we cannot ignore. Again, Venus is not alone, both Jupiter and Mercury are under her command.

Mercury has a special kind of minor dignity, or authority, in Libra called triplicity. Triplicity means element. We would then say that Mercury rules all air signs during the day. Practically this means that mercury can function relatively well in Libra.

As the planet of articulation Mercury gives word, tool, or other symbols (like number or picture) to what is perceived, heard, or understood. For Mercury, there is the necessity of being useful, and Mercury finds itself very useful and Libra. I’d say that Mercury is a willing and able participant for Venus’s exacting of justice.

In general, Mercury is changeable, adaptable, and flexible. It tends to take on the qualities and temperament of the sign it occupies, or planets nearby. In this case, Mercury joins the cult of Lady Justitia, it enlists in the Army for Justice.

As the writer and deliverer of contracts, the developer of the language of negotiation, articulator of consensus, and the one who files court cases and motions; Mercury is well-equipped to deliver the messages and file the appropriate paperwork necessary to bring the justice we’ve all been waiting for.

WEEK 2

October 8 New Moon in Virgo

Right now Virgo is the source of much irritation for us. However, we may see the ways in which it can work for us. Every planet in the sky is answering to Venus in Libra because it is the only planet at home and its own sign. The New Moon in Virgo, in the 12th sign from Libra, answers to Venus by way of Mercury in Libra.

Virgo is the sign of evidence and quantification. Much like Gemini, it takes things at face value. It does not seek to interpret or look any deeper than what can be perceived and accounted for in a mathematical or logical sense.

As the 12th sign from Libra, it’s insistence upon calculable logic undermines Libra’s drive to reconcile and magnify commonalities that may not be seen on the surface. This can be both good and bad for Libra and the justice it demands at this time.

A great example of this is taking at face value the calendar that Judge Brett Kavanaugh brought to his hearing in response to the allegations of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. Judge Kavanaugh brought his own interpretation to us and demanded that we interpret what was written in the calendar through his personal lens. He wanted us to believe the story he was telling. Yet, if we were to take the calendar at face value, there is an entry on July 1st that aligns with exactly the kind of event Dr. Ford would have been assaulted at, complete with ‘skis (beer) he claimed he didn’t drink on weekdays.

In our personal lives, the dissonance between our Virgo and Libra houses underscores the challenge of reconciling what we see with what we believe. We often subscribed an immutability to that which can be quantified. It is said that one cannot argue with the numbers.

However, opinion and differing agendas demand to be reconciled. What evidence is taken into consideration as we look underlying commonalities different factions of our personal experience and those we meet in our relationships with other people, and the world at large? The evidence we observe may lead us to one conclusion. But as we meet and relate with others we see not only different experiences, but also different conclusions drawn from the same evidence. That is what must be reconciled.

October 10: Venus Rx SQUARE Mars in Capricorn

By October 10th Venus has not moved much at all from the degree of its October 5th retrograde station. So pretty much from the moment of Venus stations retrograde it is applying to a second square with Mars in Capricorn.

Venus in Libra is in the superior position as it reverses into the second of two squares with Mars in Capricorn. The first square was September 8th. This is a square of two heavyweights pitted against each other, except that now Venus has some unfinished business. Because Venus is retrograde it can be that Venus is going back to revisit something left unfinished or unresolved. It can also mean that Venus is disruptive and acting in a way that we may not expect. Given the current political and social climate I find this to be reassuring.


We expect Venus to be accommodating and eager to come to an agreement. We expect Venus to bend and adjust. In Libra, we expect Venus to be rational and deeply rooted in principle. With these expectations of Venus in Libra, what does it mean for Venus to be disruptive and act in unexpected ways? Could it be that Venus suddenly demands the justice that has been withheld from her?

Mars in Capricorn has been the stubborn, heels dug into the ground, unwilling to relent, impervious to reason and rationale, and unwilling to be convinced. That is a formidable foe for Venus in Libra. However, Venus is in the superior position (earlier in the zodiac). Being in the superior position grants Venus the power to overcome the resistance offered by Mars in Capricorn.

Venus is at home in Libra whereas Mars, though exalted in Capricorn, is borrowing the authority of Saturn. Ultimately, Venus is the final Arbiter, the ultimate judge, the one who determines how we proceed. Though impervious to reason Mars cannot compete with Venus’s sharp Sword of Justice.

Yes, Venus in Libra wants Mars to agree. It’s been putting up its best argument for a year now. But, there is a way for Venus to move forward even if Mars does not agree. That would be for Venus to discard it civility in exchange for a warrior stance.

Note: The first square of this pair occurred September 8th. That was the culminating moment of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s initial confirmation hearings and testimony for a seat on the Supreme Court. We know that Venus has already loudly done her retrograde dance by reopening the FBI background check into allegations of criminal sexual assault.

October 11: Jupiter in Scorpio

Now we enter a new year with a new trend. From Justice for and by women to stand your ground. I’ve written extensively about this transit, providing reflection questions and additional keywords and trends.

But what I did not mention in that article that I did want to talk about is the fact that Jupiter in Scorpio will be under the command of Mars in Capricorn until November 5, 2018. Mars will have a cohort of planets working on its behalf beginning with Jupiter and eventually including Mercury.

While Mars is borrowing authority from Saturn, and Jupiter is under Mars command, Jupiter is not happy to be working for Mars in Capricorn. Capricorn, the sign Mars is occupying, is the sign of Jupiter’s detriment. Jupiter has no authority in Capricorn. Capricorn is hostile to Jupiter’s agenda.

Jupiter is concerned with possibility, and the story that makes individual events, information, and experiences make sense. Capricorn does not care about a story, it cares about practical ways to use money, time, and energy.

This is what I would call a malefic mashup. While Jupiter itself is benefic, in Scorpio with Mars in Capricorn, the more destructive, life-denying side of both planets is magnified. Jupiter can bring too much, overwhelming and suffocating the life out of living things. Mars in Capricorn is too eager to snuff the life out before its time by denying what is needed to sustain life. The severity and destructiveness of austerity, withholding because “we don’t have enough” brings consequences far beyond what is intended.

Libra planets are still our only hope. In the 12th sign from Scorpio, using rationality, reason, and the sword of justice to undermine the harshness of Jupiter. And still being in the superior position, an overcoming square with Mars keeps Mars from running completely unchecked. It’s gonna be a rough time though, with desperation inspiring destructive behavior. Some of us may need this, others likely don’t need the encouragement of these tendencies. Which one are you?

WEEK 3

October 15: Mercury CONJUNCT Venus Rx

It’s Libra party. Cardinal Convergence. I talked about both of these things already so I won’t add 350 million more words to talk about this again. (See above, October 6)

October 19: Mercury SQUARE Mars

This year we’ve gotten an overdose of tension between our Libra and Capricorn houses. Rationality and reason, consensus and fairness pitted against conservation of energy, and rigid expectations. Capricorn demands that we work with what we’ve got while Libra demands that we move forward with consensus even if that means doing something completely new.

Mercury is tracing the ground already traveled by Venus twice this year. Venus has squared Mars twice, first on September 8th, and then again while traveling retrograde on October 10th. While Mercury does not have the inherent Authority that Venus has in Libra, Mercury is backed up by the big boss herself. And just like Venus, Mercury is also in the superior position.

Mars may be standing at the door demanding that we play by its rules. But Venus is the headliner; she’s who we came to see. Justice is what we’ve all been waiting for. How can Mars compete?

WEEK 4

October 24: Full Moon in Aries

Do you remember September 27, 2018? That day the Moon was in Aries causing a ruckus. That was the day that we tensely watched Dr. Christine Blasey Ford give a gut-wrenching and terrifying testimony about the assault she experienced at the hands of Judge Brett Kavanaugh just 36 years prior. Dr. Ford was sensible, civil, credible, and honest. Yes, she was Venus in Libra, literally.

Then we witnessed Judge Brett Kavanaugh, the fiery embodiment of the Moon in Aries. He was angry, aggressive, entitled, self-righteous, and rude.

If this drama plays out this long the Full Moon in Aries will up the ante. How is that even possible? The drama of October, it’s many surprises—how can there be more? Well, if anything we have learned over the past two years that there is no low too low, and there is no such thing as too unprecedented.

With the Full Moon in Aries, three of the four cardinal signs are occupied. Remember Cardinal Convergence? Yes, we shall make progress by any means necessary. Mars in Capricorn rules this Moon, and the Moon is further supported by a trine with Saturn in Sagittarius. Yet, Aries and Capricorn are in conflict. Is this a stalemate? Is conviction with religious-like fervor enough to let the petulant toddler have his way? Or, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” (And by the lady, I mean the man.)


October 26: Mercury in Scorpio

Jupiter in Scorpio gets its first visitor as Mercury enters the sign on October 26th. And with that entrance comes the third Mercury retrograde of the year. More about that later.

Let’s talk about Mercury in Scorpio. Let’s talk about another planet under the command of Mars. Boy, is Mars getting desperate! It’s at this point of the year where Mars gets major support. Were it not for the Sun, and Venus retrograde still in Libra working at cross purposes with Mars, the Scorpio planets would have unfettered access to power.

Scorpio is self-preservation, emotional entitlement, and emotional boundaries. Mercury’s on Mars’s team now so it must speak and articulate in order to achieve those ends.

WEEK 5

October: 29 Mercury CONJUNCT Jupiter

Every single Mercury retrograde this year was intense. The first was a carryover from 2017 which featured three conjunctions with Saturn in Sagittarius. The second one, in Cancer, was traveling through a minefield of Mars retrograde and Cancer-Capricorn eclipse triggers. This impending Mercury retrograde is bringing up old stuff. I’m talking about 2015, 2016, 2017—yep, there’s a bunch of unfinished business in the fixed signs, and Scorpio leads the way.

The moment that Mercury conjoins Jupiter in Scorpio at 3° is the moment that Mercury enters its retrograde shadow. Mercury will station direct at 3° Scorpio on December 6th. If it sounds like a long time, that’s because it is a long time.

Three degrees should sound very familiar to you, very very familiar. Do you recall August 21, 2017? What about the first several days of September 2017? There was a total solar eclipse at 4° Leo on the first date. And those second set of days? Mercury and Mars conjoined at 4° Leo triggering that August 21st eclipse degree. And with that trigger came hurricanes, rain, lots of rain, and destruction.

You may have not connected those fateful days in 2017 to August 2015. But, August 3, 2015, Saturn stationed direct at 4° Scorpio. Saturn sat at that degree of Scorpio all of July and all of August 2015. It was brutal and ominous in ways we could not comprehend at the time. Donald Trump officially announced his candidacy for president on July 16 of that year. Whoa! The placement of the rest of the planets at the time is a marvel. But I’ll save that for another time.

Fixed signs, got pummeled for 3 years straight. But there is more to be done.

Scorpio withdraws into a fortress of self-protection, impervious to precedent and demands that it conform to make others comfortable. Scorpio says “stand your ground!” because your life depends on it. Willing to act in ways that might even endanger its own life, Scorpio is no stranger to risk.

Yet, the risk that Scorpio is willing to take is only activated when its back is up against a wall when it has no choice. Otherwise, Scorpio moves in the direction of its emotions, unwilling to be talked out of them, and relinquishing its own comfort in the process. Emotional rigidity preserves the self as far as Scorpio feels. There is no need to ask if what one is feeling is true. It’s true in as much as it is felt.

There are both constructive and destructive manifestations of this. Finding the courage to reject calls for civility because respectability is killing you. And standing firm in one’s feelings, leading to freedom.

Posted on

The Sun in Sidereal Astrology

This is a post about the Sun in sidereal astrology. It originally appeared as a thread of tweets on Twitter.

The Sun as a golden fiery ball of gas

There are 3 primary ways to understand the function of a planet in a natal (birth) chart. And I believe they go in this order:

  1. As representative of people in your life;
  2. As experiences or events at particular times;
  3. As aspects of your becoming, rooted in 1# & #2.

Free Will & Astrology Aren’t Good Friends

Modern astrology often avoids, derides, or out right denounces predictive astrology. But that’s because modern astrology doesn’t possess the tools to be adept at predictive astrology. Plus, it’s predicated on free will which is NOT the philosophical roots of astrology at all. If you’ve followed me for awhile you’ll know that I believe we have very limited freedom of will. And I believe that free will is a tool of oppression. But that’s another conversation for another time.

The focus on individual will as opposed to a more collectivist worldview has framed the sign of the Sun in a natal chart as the most important and central part of a person’s astrological make up. This is unfortunate.

Which You is the Real You

Anyone born within the same season (30 +/- day period) as you has their natal Sun in the same sign as you. Let’s borrow from Chinese astrology to understand what a season is and how it relates to the natal Sun’s sign.

In Chinese astrology, the season of birth which is the month of birth, is important. However, that season serves as a context for the day of birth. This is like the relationship between the Sun and the moon. The Moon being the day, the Sun being the month. The season/month of birth generally defines the level of support the day master/day element has. Specifically it represents the parents, family, home and upbringing.

Now, if we translate this back to western astrology, we’ll see that the Moon is the identifying factor in a natal chart as it takes 2 days to transit a sign (as opposed to 30 days for the Sun). A person born in the same season as you (30 day period of the same Sun sign) has to be born within the same 2 day period as you in order to have the same Sun and Moon sign. Conceptually this helps us to understand that the Sun in the natal chart is not a unique identifying factor for an individual. I know this goes contrary to everything you’ve learned, but you must unlearn it.

I’m going to offer some philosophical concepts to help you better understand the Sun in astrology. Then I’ll offer some basic significations. The latter will be a result of the former.

Have You  Ever Seen the Sun?

Look at the picture of the Sun that I used to begin this blog post. Have you ever turned your head towards the sky and observed the Sun appearing this way? How does the Sun appear to your eye? Have you ever seen it as it is? A simpler question: What does the Sun look like?

All that we see with our eyes is because of the light of the Sun. Objects absorb & reflect certain wavelengths of light providing the appearance of colors. Yet we can’t perceive this light as it is. Google quantum physics & explanations of light and matter, have your mind blown.

The primary way that we perceive the light of the Sun is via the Moon. The Moon reflects different amounts of the Sun’s light at cyclical intervals based on the spacial relationship between the Moon, Earth, and Sun.

In astrology the Sun is the mind, sight, and perception. You cannot see the mind. You cannot see sight. And you cannot perceive perception. Much like you cannot take your eyes out of your head and look at them. The very nature of the mind and perception is that you cannot turn it back on itself to see it. Just like you cannot see the Sun as it truly is, you cannot see the mind.

The Sun is the light that illuminates allowing perception. It’s consciousness, and the lens through which you see yourself—not your physical body, but the concept of yourself held in your mind. The Sun is the concept of your self, the idea of who you are that you project into the world, and that you seek to see reflected back to you.

There is no you without your body. When there is no body, there is only the idea of you which is different in everyone’s mind. What is the body in astrology? It’s the Moon. And we know that the Moon is about family, mother, your home, your tribe. It’s the social and physical means by which you come into being.

Identity is a funny thing. Social science and philosophy ask and attempt to answer questions about how identity is formed. We know that identity is formed in society/social setting.

You and the concept/idea of who you are (SUN) comes into being via your body, your mother, your tribe, your family, society (MOON). There is no you without things.

Going back to my comparison to Chinese astrology, it’s clear that in a hierarchy of planets and points that most uniquely identify you and your life, it is the Moon and it’s relationship to the Sun that gives a complete and unique picture. This is why I see astrology as a social science and a tool of divination. It very clearly articulates the nature of human life, the self, and how it comes into being.

But, if you believe that who you are is something that exists in this rigid form, separate from your relationships, family, and society, rather than emerging from those things, then of course you think that the Sun is the most important planet in the natal chart.

The Sun as a Gear of Time

The Sun is the father, significant men, and authority figures. It is your mind, the concept of how you perceive your self, the lens through which your mind perceives the world around you. The Sun is how you think of yourself, yet it says nothing of who you are and what you do out in the world.

The Sun says nothing of how others see you. No one can see your mind, and you can’t see theirs either. It says nothing of how you function and the roles you play in life. Implied here is that your self concept/idea of yourself is formed and reinforced by your body, your family and upbringing, your tribe, and the society in which you come up.

The very 1st time the Sun returns to the position where it was when you were born, there have been 13 Moons/lunations. That’s 13 cycles of New & Full Moons, 365+/- circadian cycles of sleeping and waking. If the Moon is the body, this is 13 cycles of nourishing and nurturing that body.

At that time you answer to your name, and you have come to understand whether or not needs you have and express will be fulfilled. Will someone answer when you cry? Do you experience familiar smells and sights? Is your world one of plenty or lack? Are you touched and played with?

All of these things have to do with the body. And the orientation of your body to the world around you and the people in it are what forms the first ideas of who you are. This is the relationship between the Moon and the Sun in your natal chart: how is the idea/concept of yourself formed?

You have no identity when you are born. You have no idea or concept of a self or who you are. It is something that develops over time. And every time the Sun comes back to the sign and degree where it is in your natal chart, you enter a new season of becoming aware of this self. That time is around your birthday each year and we call the chart cast for that moment your solar return.

The season of your birth, the Sun sign in your natal chart, is indicative of the outer world circumstances in which you were born. It is a transiting moment of time for your mother as well. And what is the mother, the Moon in your natal chart.

Wrap your mind around that!