This Is How to Actually Believe in Astrology

It's no secret that people who genuinely believe in Astrology and Zodiac Signs are perceived as a little bit crazy to the outside world. See, I get it. Before really diving deep into the world, I felt that way too.

The whole idea of planets dictating your personality does sound stupid, but hear me out for a minute. If you can't really get into it or find any reason to believe that there is value in learning about it—just let me give you a brief summary of how I started falling down the Astrology hole.

If you want, you can figure out your birth chart before reading to get an idea of what I'm talking about. Plus it's just fun. You can use apps like AstroMatrix or sites like Cafe Astrology or just Astro.com

Forget About Horoscopes

I can tell you straight up that Horoscopes are entirely misleading and rubbish. I think the whole idea of throwing out vague and underwhelming predictions for the kind of day you're gonna have is meant to reel people into the idea without any substance to back them up. It really has the opposite effect. People stop caring pretty quickly after realizing how inaccurate their horoscope actually is.

Real Astrology is nothing like how it is portrayed in magazines or newspapers—if you're still into that, I guess. It's all fluff, unfortunately.

There are real ways to gain a more specific understanding of how your life will unfold in certain areas but that includes a ton of in depth knowledge and studying of your birth chart.

Did I mention you have a birth chart?

The Birth Chart

I think the thing that really propelled me into understanding everything behind Astrology was when I learned about my own birth chart. Even just the fact that it existed was a surprise to me.

Many people are told at some point in their life that they are a Scorpio, Pisces, Cancer, etc. but what does that even mean? Without any other knowledge, you could look up the characteristics of your zodiac sign and realize that they don't really resonate with you and end up brushing it all off. How does everyone fit into just 12 personalities? It sounds stupid. (because it is)

Basically, your birth/natal chart shows all of the planets in our big ol' solar system matching with different zodiac signs according to your personal information (time & place you were born). It looks a little weird at first because of how many signs you actually have to take into consideration instead of just one.

That "one" is just your Sun Sign—meaning that the main sign that you are associated with represents the Sun which is yourself overall. It is the main part of your personality in a sense.

But wait, there's more.

Moon Signs

Now, Moon Signs are my personal favourite. This is the one that really captures the attention of people who are on the fence about the whole Astrology thing.

Your Moon Sign essentially dictates your personality, emotions and intuition. If your Sun Sign is you as a whole, your Moon Sign is you while you're drunk and crying. It's your inner self. All those bottled up thoughts and feelings that not many people get to see. The things you blurt out when your filter disappears.

A lot of people actually tend to connect more with their Moon Sign than their Sun Sign. Realizing that helps to understand why the sign that people always told them they were never really resonated with them. That may be the same for you as well. Luckily, there's a lot more to uncover.

Your Moon Sign can fall anywhere in the bundle of signs so you could have—for example—a Pisces Sun but a Sagittarius Moon which means that your inner self is a little spicier than how you are all around. (I may or may not be using myself as an example) In that example specifically, Pisces and Sagittarius characteristics are very different and also represent opposing elements. Pisces is a water sign and Sagittarius is fire. This adds that little hint of spice that I was talking about.

Also, an interesting thing to note, if you find that your Sun and Moon match—Cancer Sun & Cancer Moon for example—then you would be considered a "Double Cancer." Meaning you have very strong Cancer traits and may identify very heavily with the sign.

If the two signs are different, though, it's a lot of fun to see the mix of traits that you have stirring up inside.

Rising Signs

While Sun and Moon signs are very important aspects of your personality, there are actually three that are considered the basis of you as a whole. The third most prominent sign is called your Rising/Ascendant Sign.

Your Rising Sign embodies how you come off to other people and how you seem to be on the outside. for instance, people may confuse a person's Sun with their Rising before getting to know them because of this effect.

So if you are a Pisces with a Capricorn Rising, people might assume that you are more of a tough and skeptical person rather than your emotional and understanding Pisces-esque self. You may come across to people in a completely different way than how you actually are which may cause even more confusion when you have little knowledge of Astrology.

Finding out what these three signs are in your chart can give you a good basis of knowledge about your characteristics in your personality and how you function in the world. It's pretty interesting.

The Rest of The Chart

Aside from the three main signs, you still have a long list of other planets that are matched up with random signs from all over the wheel. This is where it gets interesting and creates that hole for you to fall into for a few hours.

Each planet represents a very specific aspect of you as a whole person and the sign matched up with each one will help describe how that aspect is affected.

To help you out a bit:

• Mercury: Communication (“I think”)
• Venus: Love & Beauty (“I love”)
• Mars: Sex & Aggression (“I act”)
• Jupiter: Ethics & Luck (“I grow”)
• Saturn: Ambition & Boundaries (“I achieve”)
• Uranus: Change & Opportunity (“I evolve”)
• Neptune: Inspiration & Creativity (“I dream”)
• Pluto: Change & Power (“I empower”)

So for instance—if your Venus is in Cancer—you would be a very caring and emotionally perceptive person. You would have a sentimental heart, and like to nurture your friends and partner.

It is fairly easy to figure out all the connections for each planet just by simple Google searching. (Search something like "Mars in Aries")

Dive In

After learning about the basics and accepting that Astrology might be a little bit legit, you can jump into the fun stuff.

There's all sorts of research you can do when it comes to Zodiac Signs. You can, of course, look into all of your planets and signs to dive into your own personality, you can look into the signs of people in your life (being a little nosy is fun), you can research legitimate compatibility, etc.

I found that reading about the signs and their elements (Fire, Water, Air & Earth all have their own little quirks) and even just watching youtube videos to learn more about the details of each sign has been endlessly entertaining. If you're interested in learning more and getting more nosy then there's tons of things you can do.

(Youtube Channels: Kendall Rae, Gabriela Francesca, Alyssa Trahan)

I might also write about each Zodiac Sign as well sometime in the future—mostly for my own entertainment. Have a great day y'all.