“What’s your sign?” You’ve probably heard and said this sentiment many times among dates, friends, and family. Trying to gauge your compatibility with another person based on a small fraction of their astrological makeup.
It’s fun and we all do it but there’s more that goes along with a person’s sun sign. Today we’ll dive deeper into the facets that make up your astrological blueprint.
Astrology is something that people seem to either love or hate with a passion. Typically, I’ve noticed that feminine types tend to get a bit more excited about the practice than masculine types. Tons of people have grown up browsing the horoscope section in magazines or newspapers and either say it’s all fake or spot on.
Horoscopes in print are heavily generalized as there are 12 zodiac signs and 7.7 billion people on the planet. Of course, it’s not always going to resonate. It’s funny how the more you look into astrology and the tiny subtleties that make up your specific birth chart the more it tends to match up.
There is so much more to astrology than your sun sign. Every planet has a corresponding sign that goes along with it. If you don’t resonate with your sun sign it might be because the sun is the only planet in that sign.
You might have a stellium (three or more personal planets) in the opposite energy of your sun sign. Let’s go over some basic astrology info to help you better understand yourself in the stars.
Signs, Planets & Elements-
Today we’ll review the zodiac signs, elements, and planets that make up your birth chart. The more you know, the more you can deep dive into what astrology has to offer. It doesn’t mean you have to live and breathe by everything the planets are doing 24/7.
However, to paraphrase my favourite astrologer, Jessica Lanyadoo, “Astrology is like checking the weather forecast, seeing it’s going to storm and taking an umbrella.” Learning about astrology is a cool way to dig deeper into your energy and see what drives and motivates you.
Jessica Lanyadoo is an incredible astrologer, psychic medium, and animal communicator. Her weekly astrology podcast “Ghost of a Podcast” offers listeners useful information, like how to practice emotional self-care.
She answers listeners’ questions and uses their birth chart to find the right answer for them. She also does an astrological overview of the week ahead. If you check out her website at Jessicalanyadoo.com or click this link you can find a cute little birth chart where you can input your information and get the map of your life!
You need to know the date, location, and exact time of your birth. Not knowing the exact time can change the position of where your moon is. If you’re adopted, in foster care, or don’t have that information available then noon is a standard time to use but know your moon and rising will likely not be exact.
Zodiac Signs in Astrology-
There are 12 different signs in the zodiac. We’ll go over them below.
Capricorn:
Ambitious, Direct, Rigid
Dates: December 22 – January 19th
Element: Earth
Mode: Cardinal
Ruling Planet: Saturn
Aquarius:
Eccentric, Humanitarian, Temperamental
Dates: January 20th – February 18th
Element: Air
Mode: Fixed
Ruling Planet: Uranus
Pisces:
Emotional, Intuitive, Idealistic
Dates: February 19th – March 20th
Element: Water
Mode: Mutable
Ruling Planet: Neptune
Aries:
Leader, Fiery, Aggressive
Dates: March 21 – April 19th
Element: Fire
Mode: Cardinal
Ruling Planet: Mars
Taurus:
Stable, Practical, Stubborn
Dates: April 20th – May 20th
Element: Earth
Mode: Fixed
Ruling Planet: Venus
Gemini:
Spontaneous, Communicative, Indecisive
Dates: May 21st – June 20th
Element: Air
Mode: Mutable
Ruling Planet: Mercury
Cancer:
Sensitive, Imaginative, Moody
Dates: June 21st – July 22nd
Element: Water
Mode: Cardinal
Ruling Planet: Moon
Leo:
Loyal, Confident, Egotistical
Dates: July 23rd – August 22nd
Element: Fire
Mode: Fixed
Ruling Planet: Sun
Virgo:
Analytical, Intelligent, Perfectionist
Dates: August 23rd – September 22nd
Element: Earth
Mode: Mutable
Ruling Planet: Mercury
Libra:
Diplomatic, Romantic, Over-thinker
Dates: September 23rd – October 22nd
Element: Air
Mode: Cardinal
Ruling Planet: Venus
Scorpio:
Passionate, Mysterious, Secretive
Dates: October 23rd – November 21st
Element: Water
Mode: Fixed
Ruling Planet: Pluto
Sagittarius:
Adventurous, Optimistic, Judgemental
Dates: November 22nd – December 21st
Element: Fire
Mode: Mutable
Ruling Planet: Jupiter
Elements-
The zodiac signs all fall under one of the four elements Earth, Air, Water, or Fire. Three zodiac signs fall under each element.
Earth-
Capricorn, Taurus, Virgo
Earth signs tend to be loyal, stable, organized, grounded, and enjoy the finer things in life. On the flip side, they can be very stubborn, materialistic, and focused on success and chasing perfection. To the point that they’ll never be satisfied.
Air-
Aquarius, Gemini, Libra
Air signs are curious, free-spirited, and logical. They are communicative and spend their time thinking, and analyzing and need a lot of mental stimulation. They can lead with their head as opposed to their heart which can be good or bad depending on the situation. By being in their head so much it can make them come off as being detached from others.
Water-
Pisces, Cancer, Scorpio
Water signs are the most emotional of all the zodiac. They are sensitive, intuitive, and empathetic. They feel their emotions deeply and intensely. While this makes them good friends and romantic partners they tend to take things personally. They feel things very intensely, which is tough, as living in the world as a human is intense as it is.
Fire-
Aries, Leo, Sagittarius
The fire signs in astrology are the most outgoing and outspoken of the zodiac signs. They love to be the centre of attention. They’re natural-born leaders and love to be in positions of power. This is a good thing unless they get carried away and become bossy and demanding.
Planets-
There are 10 planets in astrology…..yes, we still consider Pluto a planet.
Sun-
The sun is the core of your being. You probably relate to your sun sign the most as you’ve likely had the most information on it. If your rising sign is how you come off to other people the moon is your inner emotions, the sun is who you are to your core. It is the traits that you’ve probably associated yourself with consistently throughout time. It rules the sign of Leo and the 5th house.
Ascendant-
The Ascendant isn’t a planet, it’s your chart ruler and the sign on the eastern horizon the moment you were born. It’s called your rising sign and correlates to how other people view you, it also relates to your physical appearance. This is the sign someone would assume you are before getting to know you. Your ascendant rules the 1st house.
Moon-
Your moon sign is all about your inner world and emotions. Your sun and rising sign relate to how others view you, but your moon sign relates to how you feel. It plays a huge part in your relationships with others and yourself. The moon rules the sign of Cancer and the 4th house.
Mars-
Mars is the planet of masculine energy. It relates to aggression, passion, sex, wars, and ambition. Mars rules the masculine while Venus rules the feminine. Aim to keep your feminine and masculine sides in balance. Check out where your Mars is located if you feel it’s out of balance. It rules over Aries and the 1st house.
Venus-
Venus is how we love and want to be loved. It’s associated with beauty, how we indulge in life’s pleasures, and how we practice self-care. Sensuality, sympathy, beauty, and harmony perfectly describe Venus. It rules Taurus and Libra (it can rule more than one sign) and looks over the 2nd and 7th houses.
Mercury-
Mercury rules communication, how we communicate, and how we’d like to be communicated with. It rules your mind, memory, intellect, and relationships. Mercury gets a bad rap as it retrogrades a few times every year and can cause some wonky miscommunication and technical issues. It rules over Gemini and Virgo in the 3rd and 6th houses.
Jupiter-
This planet is full of luck, it offers us opportunities for expansion and personal growth. It’s full of jubilance and abundance. Look to this planet if you feel you’ve had a string of good or bad luck in your life. It rules over Sagittarius and the 9th house.
Saturn-
This planet has mastered “adulting”. It governs rules, responsibility, achievements, and maturity. If you feel like you have a lot of maturing to do or are too rigid check out where Saturn falls in your chart. It rules over Capricorn and the 10th house.
Uranus-
The planet Uranus has far too much good going for it to be the butt of stupid jokes. Uranus deals with themes of innovation, forward-moving change, technological growth, and progression. It wants to tear down the old broken systems and build them anew. It rules over the sign of Aquarius and the 11th house.
Neptune-
This planet is all about intuition, the psychic realm, dreaming, and compassion. If you have difficulty trusting your intuition then look at what’s going on with your Neptune. It rules over Pisces and the 12th house.
Pluto-
Pluto governs transformation, shame, regeneration, and death. If Jupiter is the light-hearted planet, Pluto is the opposite. It deals with darker themes and the subconscious. This doesn’t make it bad or worse than other planets as it contributes to the full human experience. You can’t have one without the other. It rules over Scorpio and the 8th house.
Planet Proximity-
Personal Planets-
The personal planets in astrology are the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars. They rotate around the sun more quickly than outer planets do, so they affect you more personally than the outer planets would.
Outer Planets-
The outer planets in astrology are Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. They take longer to orbit the sun and therefore affect generations more than they do individually. Baby boomers, Gen X, Millenials, and Gen Z all have vastly different perspectives on work, life, media, etc. That’s because the years Pluto spends in a sign tend to influence that generation differently.
Stellium-
A stellium is a concentration of three or more planets in the same sign. It only includes planets, so your rising sign wouldn’t be included. Having a stellium in a certain sign will exaggerate the traits of that sign in your overall personality.
Your sun sign might be in Leo but if you have a Pisces stellium then you might lean towards having a more watery personality as opposed to the fiery personality a Leo might possess. The stellium can affect you even more if it’s congregated among your personal planets as opposed to the outer planets.
Conclusion-
As you can see, astrology goes far beyond “What’s your sign?” If you’ve never resonated with your sign before there are so many other layers to dive into to make sense of it all.
Your sun, moon, rising, what element dominates your chart, if you have a stellium, and how the signs interact will define how your chart will look. We’ve only scratched the surface today as there’s more information to get into.
Astrology has been so generalized over the years and now people are realizing how unique and completely personal your natal chart is. If you want to look into your personality and why you react and do things a certain way then astrology is a great tool for getting to know yourself, your strengths and weaknesses. By getting to know yourself better you can see what things you need to focus on to become the person you envision becoming.
