The Twelve Zodiac Signs
What are the Sings?
The wise people of ancient times learned a lot from star gazing. They identified group of stars that looked like certain shapes and named them. These shapes were later called constellations. There are 88 constellations, but only twelve are on the ecliptic line – the path on which the sun appears to travel throughout the year. Obviously, the sun does not really travel, but since earth orbits the sun, when we look at the sun from earth, it looks like the sun is moving from one constellation to another.
Each one of the twelve constellations on the ecliptic line represents a zodiac sign.
Ruling Planets
Each zodiac sign is ruled by one cosmic body – the sun, the moon, one of the planets or Pluto. The ruling body gives its qualities to the sign it rules. For example, Cancer is ruled by the Moon. The moon relates to the emotional and domestic realms. Therefore the sign of Cancer is considered emotional and family oriented.
There are cosmic bodies that rule more than one sign. For instance, Venus rules both Taurus and Libra. Some zodiac signs are ruled by primary and secondary cosmic bodies. For example, the primary ruler of Aquarius is Uranus, and the secondary ruler is Saturn.
Sings Categories
As we learned from the four elements and the three modalities, each sign embodies a unique combination of element and modality.
Signs and Houses
Each sign is associated with a specific astrological house, based on its order in the list of signs. Aries is the first sign and Pisces is the last sign. For example, Gemini is the third sign of the zodiac and is therefore associated with the third house.
Signs in Chart Reading
When reading a chart, we look at the position of the different cosmic bodies in the signs. “Your sign” is the sign where the sun was at the moment of your birth. But there is a huge significance to the position of all other cosmic bodies, especially the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter, as well. It is also important to know the constellation that was on the eastern horizon at your moment of birth, which is your rising sign.
The cosmic bodies represent different aspects of your personality. The signs in which they are placed, represent the way in which these aspects are expressed. For example, Mercury represents the way you think. Taurus is a slow, steady, and practical sign. Therefore, if your Mercury is in Taurus, you think slowly, steadily, and practically. But If your Mercury is in Pieces, your way of thinking will be Piscean – dreamy, creative, and poetic.
The ABCs of the Zodiac Signs
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