Your Sun sign (where the sun was positioned at birth) is characteristic of what you are "made of." The Sun sign presents a view of your inner self, that which you feel is you, your fundamental outlook on life. While we will not address all of the planetary aspects, such as the Ascendant and Moon signs (which modify the Sun's influence), you will definitely see yourself in the Sun.
If you intend to dig deeper into astrology, you'll want to know that the Ascendant (also called the "rising" sign, which is the sign rising above the horizon at birth) is the major character backbone, your core essence. The Moon sign (the sign the moon is in at birth) is your entire emotional/personality factor. And remember that you are perfecting over adversity, rather than over wonderfulness.
Midheaven (the sign directly above you at birth) rules finances and career. That is a very important spot. A lot of astrologers, especially when working with progressed charts, will want to know what is happening in your Midheaven. Whatever planets fall into your Midheaven will certainly affect your finances and career.
I have said many times that if 40 Virgos stood up, they would all be in different shapes and sizes. It is ridiculous for astrologers to approach somebody (unless that person is a "pure sign") and say, "I know what you are!" This is because most of the time your structure is actually flavored by the Ascendant, not the Sun. For instance, if your Sun is in Leo and the Ascendant is Libra, more likely than not, the Ascendant will dictate your physical structure, which (for Libra) is to be medium in stature, small-boned, light coloring, with dark eyes.
Unfortunately, people tend to look upon astrology as a directive. In other words, if you forecast that an accident is coming, it need not be more than just hitting your hand; it does not have to be a major accident. You should just take the warning into consideration. But do not go to any extreme such as staying all cooped up in a room -- that's ridiculous.
For future reference, keep in mind that the Ascendant and Moon signs, especially the Moon, can flavor everything. People usually refer to their Sun sign when they say, "I am a Pisces," or Leo, or whatever. But the Sun sign alone does not describe the whole character and personality structure.
Reading for several thousand people every year has made me somewhat of a statistician. I do not ask for a client's sign during a reading, as it does not contribute anything to my work. Rather, after a reading I will ask for their sign to add more data to my collection. After all these years, one really gets a feel for what is going on with the different signs.
You will find that many psychic people have the sign of Libra, Leo, Pisces, Sagittarius, or Aquarius. Now, for God's sake, if your Sun sign is not one of these, do not be upset. You may have the Moon (which is very primary) or the Ascendant in that sign. Therefore, if you are a Virgo or whatever, it does not mean that you cannot be psychic. But it seems like those signs really carry a great deal of psychic impetus in them. So it would stand to reason that a guru would be an earth sign -- Virgo, Capricorn, or Taurus -- because they are analytical in almost a metaphysical way.
If a person is born on the cusp (the day in which a sign changes), I do not think that they carry traits from both signs. I have seen people born on the cusp who are totally one sign or the other, with little carryover.
Males carry characteristics much more strongly than the female. The male will take on the full-blown aspects of the sign. This is a general rule of the signs. For example, a Cancer female is never as emotional as her Cancer male counterpart. He is far more martyred and emotional. In other words, he seems to take more depth in a sign for some reason. Now, you would think that the female would be more extreme because of their emotional structure, yet they are not. The same is true for Scorpios. The Scorpio male is much more sexually oriented than the Scorpio female.
So the male takes on the full-blown aspect of a sign. The female of a sign usually takes on more muted qualities. Even in the fire signs, you do not find that the females are nearly as ambitious as the males.
Francine (my spirit guide) says that we go through different signs to take up the task of getting a balance. If we wanted to be more balanced, we would be a Libra; if we wanted to be more ambitious, we would be a Leo; if we wanted to be more practical, we would be a Virgo; and so on and so forth. We take on these aspects when we plan our life prior to incarnating.
Francine says that everything is charted for us. We preselect every aspect of our life before incarnating, including our Sun sign, Ascendant, Moon sign, and so on. It is amazing to see the number of children who are born a month "early," or a month "late." They are actually timing their entry to be sure of the right astrological signs. And they are still healthy births. So when you hear of premature children, do not be too upset about it. Most of the time it is just because they did not want one sign -- they wanted another one.
Most of the time, you will find that fire and air go very well together. So any of the air signs will go with fire signs, because air feeds fire. Most of the air signs are very fortunate, because they can go with earth and fire and water. But if you get an earth sign with a water sign, then you get murky water, where one muddies up the other one. You really will. Or if you get a very, very strong earth sign and a fire sign, the earth will dampen the fire.
So when you stop and think about it, no one sign goes well with any other sign!
My grandmother (Ada Coil) was a tremendous astrologer. She used to say that three signs away from your own, on both sides (the trine) is very good.
And then there are the "sister signs" (six signs away). Libra and Aries are sister or "twin" signs. They take on twin aspects. Even though one is air and the other is fire, they complement each other.
Years ago, when they really used astrology (such as in Napoleon's time), people would actually pick who would be their general, or who would ride with whom, because of the dynamics of their astrological sign. And most world leaders, such as Caesar, ruled the world by what their astrologers counseled.
Francine says that everyone comes into a sign that is compatible with their theme in life. And as a result, cusp people will possibly be "middle-of-the-road" types. In other words, they really want to perfect a lot. I am convinced that cusp people have a very heavy perfection scheme because they may be pulling from many areas. They are not only picking out Sun signs, but they are pulling from Ascendants, Moon, and so on. We are really talking about a duality -- in the truest sense of the word.
Francine also says that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, we do not come in with every single sign in our chart (in one lifetime). If you wanted to correct moodiness, you would come in with water signs to overcome that (because they tend to have moods). Or perhaps you do not want to be so flighty, so you would come in as an air sign to perfect over that (because air signs tend to be impractical). For example, when signs are married, there can be a problem if one is down, the other is down, or when one is up, the other is up. They can reflect one another.
A rule of thumb is that you are compatible with someone who is three signs removed from you, in either direction. But they are not the only people you get along with. Francine says that during our evolution, we pull certain signs to us that are either compatible or irritating, again, to aid in one's perfection of the soul.
People born in the fall and winter "blossom" later in their life, where spring and summer people will blossom earlier in their life. Now that does not mean that they go to pot afterwards, but they will pursue their profession and goals early in life, where the other ones will change later on.
Fall, and especially winter, babies, are supposed to be much smarter than any of the other signs. No one knows why, but statistics show this to be true.
Parallels
All parallel signs seem to be alike, in a complementary manner. It is the sister part of you. This is the duality, or balance, of you. For example, Gemini is very airy and somewhat flighty, whereas Sagittarius (the parallel to Gemini) is quite analytical. So we see a direct balance within the parallels, which are:
Aries and Libra
Taurus and Scorpio
Gemini and Sagittarius
Cancer and Capricorn
Leo and Aquarius
Virgo and Pisces
Can you see how this works? You will notice from the list that one sign is very analytical, and one is more flighty, but it is a good balance overall.
Now, I am not like most astrologers who say, "For God's sake, if you do not marry a certain sign, you will never be happy." This is because we have to get into the Ascendant and into some planetary positions (Venus and Mercury) to fully determine marriage partners.
This information is the result of my counseling work with thousands of people. It represents a 30-year summary of my observations, psychic insights, and the personal histories of my clients.
This article was excerpted from:
Astrology Through a Psychic's Eyes
by Sylvia Browne.
About The Author
Millions of people have witnessed Sylvia Browne's incredible psychic powers on TV shows such as Montel Williams, Larry King Live, and Unsolved Mysteries; she has also been profiled in Cosmopolitan, People magazine, and other national media. Her on target psychic readings have helped police solve crimes. Sylvia (a Libra) is the author of Adventures of a Psychic, Life on the Other Side, and The Other Side and Back, Astrology Through A Psychic's Eyes, among other works. Contact Sylvia Browne at: www.sylvia.org or Sylvia Browne Corporation, 35 Dillon Ave., Campbell, CA 95008. (408) 379-7070.