The sun is the most important heavenly body for our existence on Earth, and by far the biggest in our solar system. Also in astrology its importance vastly surpasses that of the other heavenly bodies.
     When we talk about our Zodiac sign or star sign, we actually refer to the position of the sun at the moment of birth. Those who are Aries have the sun in Aries in their horoscope, and so on.
     From our geocentric perspective, the sun moves around the whole Zodiac in a year, spending one month in each sign. The dates for each sign differ slightly from year to year, depending on our system of leap years. Below are the normal dates for the sun in each sign, but each change from one sign to the next can differ a day. In rare cases, depending on your exact time of birth, it can differ two days. So, if you are born around the date of change from one sign to another, make sure to check your exact horoscope (see the instructions here).
    The sun sign dates:
    Aries   March 21 - April 19
    Taurus   April 20 - May 20
    Gemini   May 21 - June 20
    Cancer   June 21 - July 22
    Leo   July 23 - August 22
    Virgo   August 23 - September 22
    Libra   September 23 - October 22
    Scorpio   October 23 - November 21
    Sagittarius   November 22 - December 21
    Capricorn   December 22 - January 19
    Aquarius   January 20 - February 19
    Pisces   February 20 - March 20



Ruler
The sun rules over Leo, which means that it tends to be the most obvious and enforced in that sign. It exalts in Aries, another sign of the element fire. There is no sign where the sun is particularly weakened or alienated.


The Sun and its traits. Woodcut by Hans Sebald Beham, from the 1530's.

Your basic state of mind
The sun rules over your basic personality, the way you are before you engage in something that awakes another planetary force. The horoscope is aa dynamic thing. The planets are forces, energies, with their particular traits and modes of expression. But the sun is neutral in itself, so it becomes its position in the horoscope - for example the Zodiac sign it's in, but it is also influenced by any aspects to other planets.
     Normally, it is when we relax and involve in nothing particular that we express our sun position the most.

Traits of Your Father
The sun in the horoscope also shows a lot about your relation to your father, or the father figure in your family. The moon shows your relation to your mother, and any aspects between the two in your horoscope shows their relation to one another, at least as it comes across to you.
     Men tend to identify with their father, at least as adults. Women often do the same with their mothers. It is also quite common that men find wives that are somewhat similar to their mothers, as shown by the moon in their horoscopes. Again, women tend to do the same with their husbands: they are attracted to men with some links to the sun of their horoscope.
     It's not certain, though, and it depends quite a lot on the horoscope as a whole. Other factors can alter it.


Helios, the Greek sun god.

Planet age
Each of the heavenly bodies represents a period in your life of about seven years. In the case of the moon it is early adulthood, from about 21 to 28 years of age. The position of the sun in your horoscope reveals what that period of your life is like, generally speaking. The twenties is the period in life where we start to bloom as adult individuals, showing who we really are. That's to a large extent the character that the sun in our horoscope shows.


Your Zodiac star sign
Here you can read about your sun sign and what it means:

Aries Taurus Gemini

Cancer Leo Virgo

Libra Scorpio Sagittarius

Capricorn Aquarius Pisces

© Stefan Stenudd, 2008