Zodiac Sun Signs

People who know nothing else about astrology usually know their Sun sign (also called their star sign). Many people think that's all astrology is.

While the Sun sign is important, it is only one component of a birth chart. Each of us is so much more than our Sun signs.

In fact, for many people their Sun sign and the meaning it has for them play second fiddle to other more influential signs in their charts. But they'd never know that if they didn't have their birth charts.

Astrology has gotten an undeserved bad reputation because of those daily Sun sign horoscopes you see in the newspapers. Condensing astrology into a short sentence or two about a Sun sign doesn't actually mean much, if anything. As you've probably said, all those horoscopes on any given day could apply to anyone.

The personal meaning of one's Sun sign is so much more than that.

The Sun, considered a planet in astrology, is the foundation of who we are -- our conscious, active life force, sense of purpose, and the person we are knowingly or unknowingly striving to become. Put another way, the Sun represents the qualities and attributes we need to acquire.

The Sun sign is the sign of the zodiac the Sun was in at the time of birth. Each sign has both a positive and negative side. It also has a modality (basic quality) and element. Find out more about these other qualities of a sign on the overview page on zodiac signs.

The Sun sign is thus a potential. We don't just automatically show all the qualities of our Sun sign from the moment of birth. Our Sun sign is our innate motivation, the natural direction in which we long to move. It indicates the kinds of energies that are available to us in accomplishing our personal lifetime journey.

Many things can get in the way of our tapping into our Sun sign. Where we live and with whom we live may prevent us from realizing this energy. We may not have enough opportunities to spread our wings to test out certain Sun sign qualities. We may resist owning this aspect of ourselves, preferring instead to see ourselves as someone else with different, "better" qualities. Even the society in which we live may prevent us from expressing who we innately are.

Because of these real and imaginary obstacles, many of us end up frustrated, doubting ourselves, with a longing for full self-expression we never seem to be able to materialize. Others of us may be lucky to have parents who know our Sun sign and understand it's lifelong significance for us.

Regardless, at any age, knowledge of our Sun sign can show us the path we were meant to take and give us guidelines for how to find fulfillment and life satisfaction.