Do You Recognize Yourself In Your Sun Sign Description?

There are some people who, in all sincerity, look at the list of traits and qualities assigned to them by their astrological Sun Sign ... and say the description just doesn't fit them. Sure, some of them are smug and pleased to have confirmed their belief that astrology is a bunch of hokum, which is what they thought from the start. But others say rather wistfully, "I'm not a typical Libra," or "I must not be a real Pisces."

And in the tone of their voice I hear the disappointment of someone who really would like to explore the treasures astrology may offer, and understand themselves better through the wisdom astrology can provide. But they just can't stretch the description they have until it "fits" the selves they know they are. And I agree with them. In their case, astrology suffers from having been simplified into nonsense. There's lots more going on inside every one of us than can be covered by the cut-and-dried glibness of pop culture Sun Sign astrology. In fact, when you get right down to it very few people are "typical" examples of their Sun Sign traits.

This is because a complete horoscope (which is the complete astrological picture of a personality) is made up not of just Sun Sign qualities ... any more than "vanilla wafers" are made of just vanilla. When you bite into a cookie, you're experiencing the sugar, salt, baking soda, eggs, shortening, flour, milk ... and the vanilla ... that went into producing them. Leave the vanilla out ... and "something's missing." You can taste it in the different flavor. And that's just a simple example.

A horoscope is made up of ten planets, twelve signs, twelve houses, twelve possible placements for planets in those houses, and twelve different "sign on the cusp" arrangements for each of those houses. See how Sun Sign information can get watered until it's unrecognizable? And yet it will still be there -- as part of the person's character. Without it, he is somehow "not himself" ... just like the vanilla-less cookie.

Some astrologers say adding Moon Sign information along with Sun Sign descriptions would quiet some of the objections, and, yes, I agree that might help. But it's still incomplete. A Sun Sign description -- or even a Sun Sign / Moon Sign description -- is a gross condensation of a complex and unfolding story. Read the synopsis of a 2 hour movie ... and, yes, you've got the gist of the story, but, wow, have you ever missed out on the grand encounter that a well--made film can deliver. You can't begin to experience the characters, the plot, the emotion, the theme, or the message the film-makers wanted to provide by reading a one-to-three sentence summary.

I must also note that free will and social conditioning play a huge part in what people eventually become -- what they make of the raw materials they began life with when they took their first breath and their horoscope -- mapped by the placement of the Sun, Moon, and planets -- described the qualities of their emerging self. In fact, one of astrology's greatest gifts can be to return to you the knowledge of how you were designed to operate and the person you were born to be. People make choices not in alignment with their true selves all the time. And then they wonder why their lives are an empty, unfulfilling mess.

So, in fairness, let's note that the same free will that can work for you can also work against you. You can use creative ingenuity and the decision to do things differently to dig yourself out of a circular problem -- or repetitive character pattern. But you can also make deliberate choices to use your energy and apply your abilities that just dig you deeper into unfortunate, self-sabotaging habits.

It is absolutely possible for people to pervert, repress, and disown their essential being, just as it's possible for people to squander, ignore, and fail to develop the qualities and talents they brought with them when they arrived. People take the elements of their character and make choices about what to do with them. Not everybody born on Bill Gates' birthday is a gazillionaire ... and not every soul with the same elements that came with Adolf Hitler turned their lives into a synonym for mass murder.

So if you were at one time taught to repress your self-assertiveness or deny your creativity ... and you keep on doing that year after year ... when someone tells you these things are abundant resources in your character, you may honest-to-goodness not believe it. That doesn't make it any less true -- and being told something about yourself you've always secretly believed but never dared test can be an amazing gift, liberating beyond words. I've seen it happen again and again. It's like witnessing a new birth. In fact, it's exactly that!!

(c) 2007 Rebecca Brents, All rights reserved.