Hi Sue! The main reason I didn’t include the “why” is because I think the best use of astrology comes from learning to interpret it ourselves and, as I mentioned, it’s much more complex than I can cover in one article — but I’ll take your question as an opportunity to drill down on a common misconception you mentioned (your comment, all all the others, are discussed at length in the book I recommended at the end). I held many of the views expressed before investigating the source material on my own, and I do believe that the “irresponsible astrologers” I refer to in the article are at least partially responsible for perpetuating the idea that the stars are to thank — or blame — for what happens down here.
The relationship between the stars and human events is not causal; rather, astrology argues that it’s synchronistic. Meaning, the position of the stars don’t cause events or imbue us with personality traits. More accurately, astrology looks at the cycles of each planet around its symbolic wheel (speed, retrogrades, relationships/interactions between planets at a given time, etc.), then it observes corresponding patterns in human behavior and psychological development.
Astrologer Dane Rudhyar once said that “people happen to events.” What he means is that the same type of event — or even the same specific event — is experienced in different ways, by different people, based on the meaning the individual gives that experience. The experience of an event has more to do with our own psychological contents than with the objective features of a given event. Take a natural disaster: A person who has prepared for this event will have a different attitude than a person who had no idea it was coming. A person who values sentimental keepsakes will prepare in a different way than a person who places more value on material possessions. The same event can empower one person and deflate another. Similarly, the events of our daily lives are largely the result of what we focus on, what we value, and what we neglect. Say a person is overwhelmed at work. Rather than communicating this, they stay quiet and grow resentful. To protect itself, the ego creates stories that justify the choice to quietly seethe — they don’t appreciate you, they wouldn’t help if you asked, no one cares. The ego then seeks out evidence to validate itself. Meanwhile, this person’s work begins to suffer, and their manager now has to them — an external event that “proves” the internal narrative of under-appreciation. Perhaps this ends with the individual being fired, another external event caused by the individual’s actions. Astrology could not predict the firing, because the person could have made a number of different choices before the Event made one for them. What a birth chart could have done in this case is draw attention to which of the individual’s mental patterns may be informing their feelings and behaviors. This could be an individual who has an aversion to asking for help because it challenges their self-sufficiency. They may be conflict-averse. The individual may have passive aggressive tendencies because they have not yet developed assertiveness. They may not ask for help because their caregivers expected them to act like adults when they were children. Or they could just be experiencing the beginning of a new cycle, in which they find themselves suddenly at odds with authority, or questioning their career path. Unaware of these unconscious desires, they create scenarios that will allow them to explore the new impulse without taking conscious ownership of it. The source of “I shouldn’t have to ask for help” may be painful to explore, but until one does, they’re stuck with that programming, running on autopilot anytime they give too much and ask for too little.
Think of the cosmos as a clock. A clock can tell us that it’s 5 p.m. But it does not tell us what happens when it’s 5 p.m. We use personal, societal, cultural, and global observations to make associations that tell us what 5 p.m. means. Knowing that it’s 5 p.m. also gives us some context as to what stage of the day we’re in — we’ve completed 4 p.m., and ahead of us is 6 p.m. This is similar to what astrology attempts to articulate—it uses the stars’ movements, and how those movements relate to our individual birth charts, to determine at which phase of a particular cycle a person might be in, what that cycle might represent for the individual, the amount of friction a particular cycle may cause us, and what archetypal forms may be expressed during that cycle. It can then make archetypal predictions — not concrete predictions. In other words, astrology is not fortune telling and should not pretend to be. It merely anticipates psychological development (individual and societal) at certain intervals that, in the case of the birth chart, are unique to each individual (including twins, as one comment mentioned — this is also covered in the book I referenced).
Another common misconception is that the zodiacal signs are the entire basis of astrology, and that sun signs are its defining element. This is what people are dismissing when they say the signs are too general or vague, or that they apply to everyone and are therefore useless, etc. The reason it seems as though the signs apply to everyone is because they do (this is what I meant in the essay, where I say that each of the signs and planets represent universal archetypes). Each of us has a birth chart, which is basically a screenshot of the sky at the time you were born. The birth chart is a symbolic wheel, which shows where each planet was at the time of birth, as well as the planets’ relationships — or aspects — to each other. Each planet and luminary falls into one of 12 zodiac signs on this symbolic wheel, and each of the 12 signs falls into a “house.” Each planet archetype represents an aspect of being human. The sun, for example, represents your conscious ego; the moon represents the emotional inner life and security needs; Mercury represents communication, thought processes, etc. The zodiac sign in which the planet falls represents the way you express these archetypes. A person with Mercury in Libra — the scales — may communicate in a way that is diplomatic, harmonious, balanced, and peacekeeping. Their thought process may include weighing all points of view before coming to a conclusion. If this tendency is unconscious, it can lead the Libra Mercury person to rely too much on the opinions of others; they may take a long time to make decisions; they may become too invested in peacekeeping to assert themselves. They may also have placements in the birth chart that contradict this thinking process: Perhaps their sun is in Aries — the ram — which prefers to take action now and see what happens later, and would be frustrated by the mental back-and-forth that comes naturally to Libra. They could also be less impulsive than the pure Aries as a result, taking more time than what’s typical to express themselves with diplomacy. Any relationship between 2+ planets, signs, and/or houses (I’ll explain those) alters the expression of a particular archetype. It’s through the birth chart that the generalities of the archetypes become more and more individualized (then we express them through our familial/social/cultural influences). I like to say that we contain the same ingredients, but the recipes vary from person to person. Some signs, elements, planets, or houses in the individual birth chart are heavily emphasized for some; others may be virtually invisible, or may only become apparent as a transiting planet enters or leaves a house.
The same way the planets pass through signs in the cycle, they also pass through houses, which represent 12 different areas of life or fields of experience. The house positions are determined by the constellation rising in the eastern hemisphere at the time of a person’s birth; that sign always marks the beginning of one’s chart and tells us how we express ourselves in the first house, the house of identity through action (this is our persona or mask, how we make first impressions, etc.) This means that the way we express ourselves (sign) in different fields of experience (house) is more similar to those we share a rising sign with, than those we share a sun sign with. The placement of the planets, and their relationship to each other in the birth chart as well as to the current position of the planets, is what creates our unique recipe.
If someone’s rising sign is Gemini, the Gemini qualities will be most prominently expressed in the first house. A person’s rising sign may complement their sun sign (it can also be the same as their sun sign); in this case there will be little friction between how a person sees themselves and how they’re seen by others. When the sun sign is not compatible with the rising sign, there may be a disconnect between how a person appears to others and who they feel themselves to be. This can manifest as a person who is seen as more confident than they feel, a person who’s seen as more frivolous than they are, a person who appears bubbly but is actually shy or secretive. I have heard the rising sign described as a persona developed in early childhood, which often has to do with adaptations the child had to make to fit into a familial role or to meet parental expectations; meanwhile the sun sign becomes more prominent as a person matures and has a better grasp on who they are and how they want to express that. The sun sign is also more apparent to those we form intimate relationships with, whereas the rising sign is more representative of how we perform in social settings.
As for the signs themselves, they are combinations of elements (fire, earth, air, water) and modalities (cardinal, fixed, mutable). The elements are the most basic building blocks of organic and physical forms; in astrology they represent the core temperaments of human nature. Fire is the identity principle. Earth is the material substance principle. Air is the mental principle. Water is the feeling principle. Broken down further, Fire and Air are considered masculine (or yang) expressions; they are extroverted, individualized, logical (left-brained), etc. Earth and Water are feminine (or yang) expressions; they are receptive, intuitive, and social-collective. The three modalities alter the expression of the four elements (giving us 12 signs total). They represent a three-part cycle: the Cardinal phase represents outward action (initiating), the Fixed phase represents inward action (stabilizing), and Mutable signs are what link the two together, an integration and refinement period (adapting). Cardinal signs were born at the beginning of their respective seasons; they are the initiators of the zodiac. How they initiate depends on the element it’s paired with — intuitively (fire), materially (earth), emotionally (water), or mentally (air). The fixed signs were born in the middle of their respective seasons; the initial impression of their environment is that it’s stable and unchanging. Fixed signs preserve and sustain what began in the Cardinal phase. They are persistent and have endurance; they may also be described as stubborn and overly attached to the element they’re paired with. Mutable signs are born at the end of one season and the beginning of the next, making them more adaptable and flexible. In their early experience, change — not stability — is the given. They take what was initiated in the Cardinal phase and stabilized in the Fixed phase, then refine the output so that it can withstand changing conditions. Their adaptability often means they can be a bit directionless and scattered.
A very basic way to use this information is to look for excesses, deficiencies, and balances in how the planets are distributed throughout the elements and modes in a person’s individual chart. Some people will have one or two elements emphasized in their chart, some will have a balance of the four, some will have a deficiency in or two. Someone with a lot of fire could be energetic, creative, assertive, impassioned — or they could be aggressive, impatient, and domineering. Both positive and negative expressions of their element and mode are possible; a person can better choose the expression when they understand that these strengths and weaknesses are two sides of the same coin. On the flip side, a person who lacks fire may struggle to assert themselves, follow their gut instinct, or to inspire others. (I should note that if a person’s sun is the only planet to fall under a specific element, the elements that are heavily emphasized can challenge or alter the sun’s expression. A person with a heavy emphasis on fire, with the sun in an earth sign, will be much more extraverted and spirited than the average earth sign.) Similarly, someone who is mostly Cardinal will be a leader and initiator, but may lack the follow-through of the Fixed sign to manifest their ideas, and the adaptability of the Mutable sign to improve upon and refine those ideas.
I’ll stop here, before I write another article. My main point is that astrology is as complicated as we are, and it’s impossible to argue about it with people who have spent little time understanding it.
