Knowing Your Signs
Most of us "know our sign" and when asked reply, "I'm an Aries" or "I'm a Gemini", but for most people, it goes no farther than this, just knowing a brief description of "our sign" and reading a newspaper or magazine horoscope from time to time. However, for many people, their sign only seems to partially fit. Many of the aspects of being an Aries or a Gemini seem somewhat inaccurate or untrue for them, leading many to believe that astrology is simply untrue, or just a fun hobby with no real impact of determining personality traits in people.
However, there is more to knowing your sign that you may think. You are more than just an Aries or a Gemini, you have 3 signs, and all of them work together to balance each other and create the unique person that you are.
The sign that most of us know, because it is the easiest to determine, is our sun sign. Our sun sign is determined by where the sun was when we were born, for example if you you were born between June 22 and July 23, you likely know that you are a Cancer. However, if you are born on the cusp of a sun sign you should always check and be sure that yours is accurate, as your birth time my push you into the preceding or following sign. Your sun sign details your ego, the essential aspects of what make you who you are, however, there is more to you than that! While your ego and Sun sign are important, you also have a moon sign, and an ascendent or "rising" sign that balance the ego.
Your moon sign tells you more about your emotional side and your private, inner self. Your moon sign is equally as important as your sun sign in determining aspects of your personality and interpreting a natal chart. The position of the moon when you were born is what determines your moon sign, and is why to people with the same sun sun but different moon signs may seem extremely different from one another. To determine your moon sign you will need to know your birthday, time of birth, and the place you were born.
Lastly, you have an ascendent sign, which is the sign that was rising in the sky at the moment when you were born. Your ascendent sign is determined with your birthday, time, and the place where you were born. Ascendent signs are trickier to calculate because they are changing faster than sun and moon signs, but they are equally as important in knowing more about your astrological make-up. If you are ever surprised when someone tells you their sun sign because it doesn't seem to be the personality you perceived from that person, it is likely because you were perceiving their ascendant sign and outer self. Your ascendent sign rules your first house, determines what planet rules your chart, and describes aspects of your outer self, or the self that other perceive. When reading horoscopes written by serious astrologers, remember to always read both your sun and ascendent sign.
This may all seem like a lot, but people are more complex than even 3 signs can describe, and while your 3 signs provide the building blocks for understanding your personality, a full natal chart reading tells even more specific details about you based upon all the planetary positions at the moment of your birth. Your signs are an important start to understanding who you are, and give insight into what forces in the universe helped to shape you!
