Western Astrology for Beginners: Sun, Moon and Rising Signs

The zodiac and the twelve signs

The zodiac is a belt of sky around the path the Sun takes across the year. Western astrology divides it into twelve equal parts of thirty degrees each. They are named after constellations that once lay behind them: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.

The system most Western astrologers use is called the tropical zodiac. It starts the year at the spring equinox, when the Sun crosses the celestial equator, and places Aries there. Because the Earth's axis slowly wobbles, the signs have drifted away from the constellations they are named after. Sidereal astrology, used in India, follows the stars instead, which is why its signs often differ from Western ones by about a month.

Elements and modalities

Each sign belongs to one of four elements. Fire signs are Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. Earth signs are Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn. Air signs are Gemini, Libra and Aquarius. Water signs are Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. Traditionally fire is described as energetic and enthusiastic, earth as practical and steady, air as curious and sociable, and water as emotional and intuitive.

Each sign also has a modality, which describes how it acts. Cardinal signs begin things, fixed signs hold on to them, and mutable signs adapt and change. Aries is cardinal fire, Leo is fixed fire and Sagittarius is mutable fire, and the same pattern repeats for the other elements. Twelve signs are the twelve ways these four elements and three modalities combine.

The Sun sign

Your Sun sign is the sign the Sun was in when you were born, and it depends only on the date. Roughly speaking, Aries begins around March 21, Taurus around April 20, Gemini around May 21, Cancer around June 21, Leo around July 23, Virgo around August 23, Libra around September 23, Scorpio around October 23, Sagittarius around November 22, Capricorn around December 22, Aquarius around January 20 and Pisces around February 19.

These dates move by a day from year to year, so people born on the first or last day of a sign should check an exact table for their year and time. A calculator that uses real astronomical positions will place them correctly, which is what ours does.

The Sun sign is traditionally the core identity, the way you shine and what you need in order to feel alive. It is the most popular placement because it needs only a birth date.

The Moon sign

The Moon moves through a sign in about two and a half days, so the Moon sign needs the birth date and, ideally, the birth time. It is read as the emotional side of a chart: what feels safe, how you react when you are tired and what you need in order to feel at home.

If the Sun is who you are becoming, the Moon is often described as who you already are underneath. Two people with the same Sun sign but different Moon signs can seem quite unlike each other, which is one reason a single sign tells so little.

When a birth time is not known, the Moon may still be certain, since it spends over two days in a sign. Only when the Moon changed sign during the birth day does a missing time leave doubt.

The rising sign

The rising sign, or ascendant, is the sign that was rising over the eastern horizon at the moment of birth. It changes about every two hours, which is why it needs the time and the place of birth. It is read as the first impression you give, the style with which you meet the world and the lens through which you see new situations.

The rising sign is also the starting point of the whole chart. The twelve houses, which divide a chart into areas of life such as home, work and relationships, are counted from it. NamesByStars does not use houses or the other planets, to keep the reading focused on the three placements that are easiest to calculate and explain.

What the planets add

A full chart also places Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and the outer planets in signs and houses, and measures the angles between them, called aspects. Mercury is read as the way you think and speak, Venus as what you love and value, and Mars as how you act and assert yourself. Practising astrologers weigh all of these together.

That depth is why professional readings take an hour. A short summary based on three placements can only be a starting point, and it should be treated as one.

A fair word about evidence

Controlled studies have not found that astrology predicts personality or events better than chance. Many people nevertheless enjoy it as a shared language for talking about temperament and mood, much as others enjoy reading a favourite novel's characters. We present it in that spirit: as something to explore and enjoy, not as a basis for serious decisions.

Choosing a name is a good example of a decision where that spirit works well. A name is a personal, emotional choice, and there is no harm in letting a symbolic system nudge you toward the sounds you like.

From chart to name

On NamesByStars, your Sun, Moon and rising signs each have an element, and each English name has a sound element drawn from how it is pronounced. A name whose sound matches or supports your chart ranks higher. You can follow the whole method on the How it works page, or read how astrology and Saju differ in our comparison guide.