Your Sun sign is likely what you are most familiar with in your astrology. When someone says “I’m super intense-it’s a Scorpio thing,” or “What’s your sign? I’m really into Geminis,” they’re talking about Sun signs. As a key feature in a person’s natal chart, if all you know about someone is their Sun sign, you can understand a significant amount about who they are, how they express themselves, and their life purpose.

The Sun rules the self. Just as the actual sun in the sky shines brightly, our Sun sign is how we shine brightly. It indicates our core essence, our true inner being and how we exert our energy and will in the world. Our approach to creativity, interests and overall focus in life are all strongly connected to our Sun sign. Knowing and following your Sun sign can help reveal what motivates your personal growth and the lessons you are here to master in this lifetime.

“...the sign in which your Sun is placed gives insight into how you shine in the world-your individual expression and motivation.”

Each Zodiac sign provides a different influence or set of characteristics to the Sun which you will likely manifest as a key part of your personality. For example, if your Sun is in an expressive fire sign such as Leo, you may shine with fiery passion, generosity and boldness. Or, if your Sun is in Cancer; an emotionally-based water sign, you may express a deeper capacity to nurture or hold emotional space for others.

Your Sun sign is determined by the sign the Sun was travelling through at the time you were born. The Sun travels around the Earth once each year. Within this time it moves through all 12 signs of the Zodiac, spending roughly thirty days in each sign.

It’s important to note that your Sun sign is one of the many layers within your natal chart. If you’ve been reading your daily horoscope for the past twenty years and felt that the two sentence synopsis of your entire being based on your Sun sign wasn’t indicative of who you are, or what’s going on in your life that’s because it likely isn’t. “Oh, I’m going to be grumpy today? So all Pisceans-all people born between February 19 and March 20-are grumpy today?”. Enough said. We are all complex, multifaceted beings within an entirely unique combination of characteristics. Within the complexity that is you, your Sun sign is like the base or foundation that your personality is built around. It’s the broad strokes of the painting, the outline or blueprint of who you are and why you’re here.

I’ll walk through the other key planets and components in your chart in future posts, but to sum things up, the sign in which your Sun is placed gives insight into how you shine in the world-your individual expression and motivation.