What is an astrological sign?

Sign - as in "What's my sign?" - is a word the average reader of horoscope columns in newspapers thinks of as a "label" for a stereotype applied to him simply because he was born in a certain one-month time period. This is NOT exactly true.

Sign is a term used by astrologers to define a sector of the sky (like the segments of a peeled orange). Each of the twelve Signs of the zodiac is a 30-degree arc in a 360-degree circle around the Earth (360/12=30). It is one of the twelve sections of Space in which we observe the Sun (by day) and Moon and the other planets which are visible to the naked eye.

From our point of observation, the Sun and Moon and all the Planets appear to move within a narrow 7 and 1/2 degree band in the sky called the Zodiac - which comes from a Greek expression meaning "circle of animals". (Eight of twelve Signs have animals as their symbol).

Strictly speaking, Signs are areas in space, or areas on the map of space called the horoscope chart, in which the Sun and Planets are positioned at various times. Signs indicate traits, and you have a Sun Sign, but you are not a Sign (which is what many people have been led to believe by "horoscope columns" on-line and in newspapers).

The Meaning of Signs

A Sign is like:

1. a PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESS, working out a FUNCTION
   
2. a MANNER of EXPRESSING certain parts of THE PSYCHE
   
3. a WAY of EXPRESSING a POTENTIAL ENERGY
   
4. a FILTER to FOCUS & COLOUR a DRIVE or MOTIVATION
   
5. a STRATEGY for ACTING OUT a certain THEME
   
6. a PREFERRED WAY of SATISFYING a NEED or HUNGER
   
7. a STRATEGY to achieve the OBJECTIVE of a PLANET
   
8. a POSITIVE or NEGATIVE EXPRESSION of an ENERGY
   
9. a WAY of EMPHASIZING certain LESSONS to be learned
   
10. an EVOLUTIONARY METHOD, a WAY of GROWING.

1. A Planet is WHAT ENERGY NEEDS TO BE EXPRESSED OR UNDERSTOOD
   
2. A Sign is HOW IT MANIFESTS as drives or personal style
   
3. A House is WHERE IT MANIFESTS as situations or events.