Chapter One: Beyond the Sun Signs
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home. WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, "ODE: INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY"
The sun signs are our first introduction to astrology. We realize immediately that there is a profound simplicity and wisdom in the sequence of twelve zodiac signs, despite our logical resistance to the fact that we are categorical and predictable. As if by osmosis we gradually learn this ancient set of symbols and their qualities, especially if we are interested in relationship, in our feelings, in why we do what we do, or why others do what they do. In time we learn the qualities of our own sun sign and also the meaning of the other signs. It even seems that signs other than our own are relevant to us. We wonder why this is the case.
The qualities of the twelve signs resonate with us on some deep level. We read that Leos are proud and self-centered or that Aquarians are idealistic and join groups, and we nod our heads in assent without really knowing why. What is not made clear is that the Sun is symbolically the father, the masculine principle, vitality, consciousness, and objectivity. The sun signs really tell us only about the masculine qualities and the equivalent parts of us that derive from our father, our father figures, or the masculine influences in our lives. Where can we discover the symbols that signify our feminine side and our emotional life? To do so, we must explore the Moon, our mother, our feelings, our values, and the feminine principle in the same sequence of twelve signs. The twelve astrological signs are types that apply to the Moon and the other planets.
The sun signs are places in the cycle of the solar year, which is why we associate them with our birthday. The sequence of their twelve values has a seasonal and a symbolic coherence. It is logical that the summer sign Leo is warmer and more outgoing than the winter sign Capricorn, which is more reserved and introverted. The reasons are obvious and simply explain when in the seasonal cycle we are born. By extending the logic of sun signs that we have already learned to the other planets, we bring a new richness of relationship to the familiar.
What are the zodiac signs and what do they mean? The zodiac is a ring of constellations functioning as a 360° measuring circle against which the Sun, Moon, and planets move through the heavens. By convention, measurement starts with the Spring Equinox around March 21 each year, when day is exactly equal to night. The yearly cycle of nature starts with Aries in the spring and proceeds through to Pisces at the end of winter, before the process starts over again. The signs are also a metaphor for the psychological stages that we experience in life. They also correspond to the twelve houses of the horoscope. The fact that they are a process rather than random associations is important.
The twelve signs are associated with body parts and organs. Aries is the head and brain; Taurus the neck, throat, and ears; Gemini the shoulders, arms, and lungs; Cancer the breast and stomach; Leo the spine and heart; Virgo the abdomen and the intestines; Libra the solar plexus and colon; Scorpio the sexual organs and reproductive system; Sagittarius the thighs and sciatic nerves; Capricorn the knees and skeletal system; Aquarius the ankles and sympathetic nervous system; and Pisces the feet and lymphatic system. When we have planets in a sign, we often experience health strengths, weaknesses, or specific physical traits in the equivalent body parts or organs. For example, we might have a mole or scar on the area of our body that corresponds to the sign of our Sun or Moon or Mars. I have Sun in the sign Leo and was born with a mole on the Leo (dorsal) part of my spine. The Taurean Sigmund Freud died of throat cancer. Our health and potential for illness work through the dominant signs in our horoscope.
The art of astrology is in the interpretation and integration of zodiac signs, the planets, and the aspect relationships between them. Astrological interpretation requires vision, wisdom, understanding, and, most important, the ability to look within ourselves, to question why we do what we do and how we do it, and to consider deeply the implications of our actions. While we ostensibly learn astrology to help others, our study must begin with our own life, explored in depth. Of course, it is always easier to see others more clearly than we can see ourselves. The more honest and penetrating we are with our own life and ourselves, the more effective and valuable our relationship will be to others.
Figure 1.2 below shows a horoscope like the one you can receive for buying this book. The various components of the horoscope wheel are shown together with the chapters in the book that allow you to interpret them. We will follow this sequence to learn about astrology and to create your life process.
The sun signs in a newspaper or magazine are presented as unrelated to each other, but they have an internal logic because of their location around the circle, which has its own internal geometry, such as triangles and squares. The zodiac signifies a cycle of soul growth and experience. The Natural Zodiac, or World Horoscope, has the First House equivalent to Aries, the Second House to Taurus, etc., around the circle. The signs are divisions in space and qualities of life, while the houses are divisions in time and phases of life. The signs tell us about the qualities, and the houses tell us about timings. The twelve numbered houses step counterclockwise from the Ascendant (Asc) on the left of the circle, marking our progress through life. We will use this important sequence as a temporal map of our life in time.
Each season starts with equinoxes and solstices that are cardinal signs (Aries = spring, Cancer = summer, Libra = autumn, and Capricorn = winter). The fixed signs maintain the middle of each season (Taurus = mid-spring, Leo = mid-summer, Scorpio = mid-autumn, and Aquarius = mid-winter). The mutable signs end each season and are transitional to the next quadrants (Gemini = spring to summer, Virgo = summer to autumn, Sagittarius = autumn to winter, and Pisces = winter to spring). These three modes help us understand how the signs act. The cardinal signs are initiatory and originate behavior; the fixed signs are permanent and stable, and maintain behavior; and the mutable signs are changeable and unstable and modify behavior, within each of the four seasons.
We divide the twelve signs into four elements: fire, earth, air, and water. The elements are principles of action in the world. The psychologist Carl Jung related them to the four psychological functions: Fire is intuition, earth is sensation, air is thinking, and water is feeling. They correspond to Plato's four bodies, where fire is the spiritual body, earth is the physical body, air is the mental body, and water is the emotional body. They correlate with the modern view of the world as seen by physicists, in which fire is energy, earth is the particle nature of matter, water is the wave nature of matter, and air is the complementarity between particle and wave. The fire signs Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius are energetic, intuitive, and hot. The earth signs Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn are physical, sensitive, and substantial. The air signs Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius are mental, thinking, and mobile. The water signs Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces are emotional, feeling, and fluid.
On the horoscope form you receive from newvisionastrology.com you will see on the lower right a grid that shows the element and mode distribution of the nine planets, the Ascendant, and the Midheaven. You can see at a glance which element dominates and which ones are less strong. The distribution may be very meaningful because it shows us the qualities with which we are most comfortable, and the ones for which we must compensate. When we lack an element we often seek that quality in others. If we lack fire, we are attracted to fire-sign types as partners, friends, associates, or even our children. Figure 1.4 shows the distribution for Oprah Winfrey, who lacks the grounding element earth, but compensates with her communicative air.
When we discover the dominant element and mode -- as, in Oprah's case, air and fixed -- we can surmise that she functions much like the fixed air sign Aquarius, the sign of idealism, eccentric yet popular communication, and networking. She is a perfect figure for our Aquarian Age.
Planets in each sign partake of the mode and element of the sign in which they reside, which qualifies how they act and which part of our psychology they signify. The signs are behavioral lenses that modify how we see the planets. For example, when the Moon is in Virgo, describing our mother and our feelings, the mutable mode will make our feelings about her and our emotions changeable and dualistic, while the element earth will make our feelings more realistic and substantial. We will therefore tend to classify and organize our emotional life as if it were something tangible.
The box "The Zodiac Signs" presents the signs in their natural sequence, related to the qualities derived from their times in the year, together with their traditional meanings. These meanings apply not only to sun signs, but to other planets as well.
THE ZODIAC SIGNS Aries the Ram
Cardinal, Masculine, Fire Sign
First House
00°-30°
March 21 to April 20
Ruled by Mars
Germinating time; unfolding energy. Adventure; daring; impatience; the personality. Aries is pure spirit and energy, leading onward and bringing joy and irresistible will to everything that they do. Aries people are often pioneers or inventors, certainly seeking adventure in their lives. Aries is self-assertive and initiatory, directed e...
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