Understanding Your Sun Sign

Excerpted from
Secrets of the Signs: Astro-Analyze Your Life!
By Stacey Wolf

The Sun sign is the most important astrological aspect. The placement of the Sun at the time of your birth determines your personality and your operating style. This chapter describes each sign, beginning with the traditional first sign, Aries, and moving through to the last sign, Pisces.

The dates listed for the Sun signs vary slightly year to year. These dates are the most accurate, but since we constructed our clocks around the movements of the Sun and not vice versa, the exact moment the Sun moves from one sign into another varies slightly every year. For example, you may be both born on March 20th and an Aries-occasionally that happens.

If you are born within a day or two of the dates listed, you are born on the cusp of two signs. That means your main influence is the sign you are born under, but you can expect to be highly influenced by the sign standing next to your own. Read the descriptions of both signs to see how they influence you in different ways.

To discover what makes you tick and find a focus for your future, read on!

Aries, Fire, March 21 - April 19

Aries are fireballs. You're driven, passionate, and impulsive, fiercely loyal friends and active crusaders. Rams love to set goals and achieve them in your headstrong way. The only problem is that after you start a project your energy fizzles, and then you lose interest. Aries are great at rousing others into action, so let them finish your project for you!

You're bursting with energy, and because of that you speak without thinking. What you say can be a bit bruising and tactless, but you mean no harm. With all that energy it's sometimes hard to think first and speak second. Yes, you can have a short fuse at times, but your dynamic and talkative nature far out-weighs any impulsiveness people may see.

You hate taking care of the small details of life and disdain domestic chores-you're just too important to be cleaning a bathroom, even if it's your own. You're much better at living in the moment than at seeing things through. Patience isn't one of the Rams' virtues. You can't imagine sitting through something you dislike for more than a minute.

You are independent to the max, fun-loving, and always open to a new experience. You're always in great demand. Whatever you want is yours, child of Aries. If you don't earn it, you'll get it by sheer force.

Cancer, Water, June 21-July 22

Cancers are sensitive and intuitive, but also insecure and withdrawn. Due to the Moon's influence, your moods and emotions flow like the tide. You're happy one day, gloomy the next. Everything happens under the surface with the Crab, far below the defenses of your tough shell. Some signs like to tell it like it is. With Cancers it's what you're not saying that's important. People who know you need some intuition of their own to understand what's happening with you on the inside.

You're a sympathetic listener, and people--from friends to clients, co-workers to strangers-flock to you with their problems. Cancers exude intuitive understanding from the depths of their soul. Caught on a bad day, though, you can be restless, indifferent, and filled with self-pity.

You are a romantic and dreamy partner who loves to create a safe living environment. You are the universe's nurturer. Nothing is better than showering your mate with love and affection. All that attention is wonderful, but your mate may find it stifling at times.

Cancers are enlightened souls who experience life by feeling everything deeply. You reach out to others, which can become too overwhelming. So you can get a little crabby, not because you enjoy being moody but because the feelings well up, and you're stuck trying to deal with them!

Sagittarius, Fire, November 22-December 21

Sagittarians are explorers and philosophers, always seeking to learn new things and expand your awareness. You are the ultimate adventurer. To you life is a big journey and you're out to experience it all. In fact, you are such a fun-loving free spirit that the mere thought of straightening out and settling down has you feeling trapped. You can just imagine how other people feel when they try to get you to keep appointments and deadlines!

As a friend Archers are generous, openhearted, and fun to be around. You're always there to lend a hand, and you give with no strings attached. You'd give away your last dime to a friend in need and not expect anything in return.

You have a great ability to pick things up and let them go, so nothing holds you back. You believe in living in the moment. Nothing is worth doing unless you go all the way. You don't interfere in other people's lives-you definitely don't want them interfering in yours.

All this fiery freedom does have a bad side. You can't commit, so it's hard for you to stay in one place for very long, let alone to work at one job or to get married for a lifetime. You can be irresponsible and are chronically late for everything. And to top it off, as a philosopher, you get insulted when people misunderstand you. None of this is too serious, though. Your sense of humor and your honest and giving nature win out every time.