Modern astrology is built on the foundation of the psychological meaning of the 12 signs of the zodiac. This is where most modern astrologers start, and we still refer back to it as a kind of quick astrology shorthand.
Linda Goodman’s Sun Signs is a good and typical example of modern sun sign astrology, and her book still reads quite well. Full modern astrology is quite a bit more complex and nuanced than that book, and yet there is a certain core of meaning there that is a kind of foundation, a simple base.
We describe or identify people with their Sun Signs – Hi, I’m a Leo, what are you? At an astrology gathering you might then be asked to add your moon sign and rising sign, but the core is still the meaning of the Sun sign. That is what you are.
This is very much a twentieth century phenomenon.
I want to take a walk through the history of astrology, looking at how the meanings of the signs has changed and evolved over the last few centuries. I am going to focus on the sign Aquarius for my example, since this sign has Saturn as ruler for traditional astrologers, and a different ruler, Uranus, for modern astrologers.
My premise is that the meanings we give the signs changes as we associate different rulers with them, and as we put astrology in different spiritual or psychological contexts.