There are several different kinds of Astrology around the world which use different techniques, but curiously are quite similar under the surface.

In the West you will find Classical Astrology with many signs and meanings portrayed on a Zodiac "birth chart" or Horoscope.

Chinese and Indian Astrology use other methods to arrive at similar results.
The kind of Astrology I studied is "Huber" which has a psychological slant and places emphasis on personal growth in the chart. It is an offshoot of Classical Western Astrology and a system I personally find more satisfying to work with but really does not make much difference to the person receiving the forecast.

The 12 Sun Signs of the Zodiac

The position of the Sun in the Zodiac wheel determines your "Star Sign", (more properly known as the "Sun Sign") of an individual. This is literally the zodiac sign that the sun was passing through at the time of your birth. It is this position that determines whether you need look under "Aries" or "Pisces" etc. in your newspapers "Star Signs."

The text for each Sun Sign to the right, for the purpose of simplicity, represents simple "Sun Sign / Star Sign Astrology" that you will find in countless newspapers and magazines around the world. You may be typical of your Sun Sign but the full flavour of your traits, characteristics and trends is dependant on much more, and this is very unique to each individual or event.

A Professional Astrologer will take into account the effect of all the planets in our Solar System, including the Sun and Moon to determine the characteristics and "path" of an individual, place or an event.

Each planet in our solar system also passes in turn through the 12 zodiac astrology signs, so not only could the sun be in Gemini at the time of your birth making you a Sun Sign Gemini, but the moon could be in Cancer, venus in Capricorn and Mars, Jupiter and Saturn in Aries etc. etc.

All the Planets plus Sun and Moon are depicted within the Birth Chart. To an Astrologer they quite literally are the ingredients that make up the Character of an individual or an event, their strengths and the way they relate one to another show how they blend to make the ingredients of your character, life and its possibilities.

Within this chart, this is understood by the Astrologer in an intuitive and interpretive way, that requires skill, and is based on thousands of years of observation and wisdom.

Yet this is only the start !
Every day and every event stretching way into the future and far in to your past can have its own chart. By studying the comparison of your chart to the chart for tomorrow, can be very helpful in determining what you may be compelled to do next and what you should do, plus importantly when you will face this. Call it a weather forecast.

Just as relevant is the comparison of charts going into the past, lessons learned and all that!

This does not mean that all things are pre-ordained! The position of the planets can be predicted with absolute certainty, past present and future. Astrology provides a "weather forecast" to determine your moods, motivations and possibilities. By forecasting the sea before you, YOU choose when to act, and when you should sit quiet. You have the power to live up to your full potential, making the most of the real opportunities that come your way, while handling the difficulties in the best way possible.

The chart of one individual or event can also be compared to the chart for an other individual or event, this is how you can compare the compatibility of two individuals in Love or friendship, and also how you can see how history quite literaly does repeat itself, because it is all based on observed patterns!

This then is full blown Astrology, a powerful tool to plan and sort your life, but NOT a method of ruling your life.

So you see now that Astrology is considerably more complex than the Sun signs you have heard about, which are depitced below. Sun Signs do though give you a beginning to Astrology in an easily digestible form, and hence its current popularity.

There is more than Sun Sign Astrology!

So by now you must have thought that what you have been calling Astrology as depicted in your Stars is the tip of the iceberg, and if you thought Astrology was rubbish based upon this limited understanding, then you need to understand what you are talking about.

To the right is a list of Sun Signs, with a brief description of their main characteristics, more correctly they represent the Suns presence in each Zodiac sign.

Hold on, there's more....
Every planet and the Moon also will have a position within the Zodiac, so you have Sun Signs, Moon Signs, Venus signs etc. These are steeped in meaning for instance the Sun Sign is how you appear to everyone else, your basic character, the Moon sign is how you feel inside etc etc.

And then it gets very complex, and hence you need a computer to work out where all these planets are, and what they are doing, it used to be done through applied maths and a huge number of charts and it took literaly months, but that is where we will leave it!

but Sun Signs are easy !

The Sun Signs to the right have characteristics, each is depicted in brief, click on the "glyph" or picture next to each for a fuller description of that Sun Signs character.

On the page that opens you will find the initial summary for each Sun Sign, this is biased towards Love and Friendship.

The bright and dark sides for each Sun Sign show the "two sides of the coin" in each individual.

The compatibility's are general for each sign, again bear in mind that it takes a full set of planets to "flavour" both individuals, and it is the full interaction of these two sets of planets and charts that determines whether two individuals "get on" in love, friendship and work.

Your opposite sign is literally the sign opposite to you on the Zodiac wheel, but that personality is also someone you can learn a lot from, someone you may not completely see eye to eye with, but who in a strange way is an other side to you and what you can become, they are as the Chinese would say YIN to your YANG.
So you are beginning to see that everything works in circles, and there is much truth in the old saying: "what goes around, comes around".

The personalities chosen to represent each sign are in no way derogatory, the first is a fictitious character who displays the traits of a typical sun sign, while the second two are people you will have heard of, who happen to be that Sun Sign.

Go on, take a look at the basic you... and then some people you know.