Rose's Astro Academy | An Astrology Podcast

E05 Where Sun-Centric Pop Astrology Came From, and Understanding the Big Three

August 28, 2024 • Rose Potts • Episode 5

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In this episode, we journey back to the 1600s to explore astrology's decline in popularity and subsequent resurgence in the 1800s. We delve into the origins of Sun-centric pop astrology that emerged during this revival, and address common misconceptions about Sun signs. Next, we discuss the "big three" in astrology—the Sun, Moon, and Rising signs—explaining how each influences your chart. By understanding these key components, we gain a more nuanced perspective on how our ambitions, personality, and inner world interconnect in our lives.

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https://horoscopes.astro-seek.com/birth-chart-horoscope-online

Website: rosesastroacademy.com

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Podcast Transcripts: rosesastroacademy.buzzsprout.com

Contact: rosesastroacademy@gmail.com

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Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome to episode 5 of Rose's Astro Academy, where I demystify the system of astrology piece by piece. Starting this week, we're doing things a little differently. Instead of combining the transit talk and topic into one episode, we're doing things a little differently. Instead of combining the transit talk and topic into one episode, we're splitting them into two episodes. Every Monday, we'll talk about the current transits and every Wednesday, we'll dive into a new topic in astrology. On Monday, I had hinted that we might be exploring the archetypes of Venus. Today. I had hinted that we might be exploring the archetypes of Venus today, but I've decided to save that discussion for a future episode. Instead, for our topic today, we will focus on the phenomenon of sun-centric astrology, where it came from, the misconceptions around sun signs and how the sun was actually viewed in ancient astrology. Additionally, we'll discuss the other two pillars of the big three, which are the sun, moon and rising signs, and what they reveal about us in our charts. So what's the deal with sun signs? Why is it the first thing that comes up when people talk about astrology? Has it always been the case? The answer is no. Sun-centric astrology is a modern development. It's only been around since the early 1900s, whereas the system of astrology is thousands of years old. To understand how we got to a place of sun-centric astrology, we first have to understand what was happening with astrology in the early 1900s. But to understand that we first have to go all the way back to the 1600s.

Speaker 1:

In the 1600s, the scientific revolution was in full swing and astrology was pushed out of the mainstream in full swing, and astrology was pushed out of the mainstream. Astrological studies got dropped from universities and there was a huge push from the church to outlaw the practice of astrology. Because of this, astrology had to go underground for a time. During the period that astrology was underground, which spanned a couple hundred years, we lost many of the ancient astrological texts that laid out the system of astrology. When astrology began to re-emerge in the 1800s, due to the spiritualist movement that was sweeping Europe, only a few of the ancient texts on astrology resurfaced at this time. The texts that resurfaced were not representative of the ancient texts on astrology resurfaced at this time. The texts that resurfaced were not representative of the tradition of astrology, and so the modern revival of astrology began with a very skewed understanding of the breadth and depth of the system. Many astrologers of that modern era were writing books that were, to be quite frank, very speculative in nature. Astrologers of that time were making up a lot as they went along to fill in the gaps. Today, thankfully, there has been a huge effort to locate many of the lost texts in astrology. This effort has spanned decades and we've had talented translators and astrologers who have dedicated their entire careers to uncovering, piecing together, deciphering, understanding and then finally teaching the ancient Hellenistic system of astrology to others. One of the main people behind this movement was Robert Schmidt, who dedicated his entire career to understanding the system of Hellenistic astrology and teaching it to others. Today, thanks to all of this effort, we are seeing a huge resurgence of the practice of Hellenistic astrology as a system of astrology that is grounded in these ancient astrological texts.

Speaker 1:

But in the early 1900s they didn't have access to that understanding, and the modern Western astrologers were making up a lot of things as they went along. Astrologers were making up a lot of things as they went along. This is where newspapers started to take note. They saw that astrology was rising in popularity and in the early 1900s a British newspaper decided to publish a sun sign horoscope. The trends took off and soon newspapers everywhere were pumping out these sun sign horoscopes. The reason for this was purely convenience People only needed to know their birthday to know their sun sign. In the days before the internet, someone would have to pay an astrologer to cast their birth chart to find out what signs the other planets in their chart occupied. But everyone could know their sun sign simply by knowing their birthday. Newspapers took advantage of the simplicity of this, and so they chose to focus on the sun sign with their daily horoscopes, and this simple reason is the reason that sun-centric pop astrology took off. It's not because the sun sign is the most important thing to look at in your birth chart. It's simply because it was the easiest to determine For many who have only a surface level understanding of astrology.

Speaker 1:

This seemingly narrow focus on sun signs in pop astrology makes astrology seem like a joke. Each sign became associated with a list of cliches Tauruses are stubborn, scorpios are intense, geminis don't know when to stop talking, and so on. And while there might be a grain of truth behind these descriptions, they paint a very limited picture. Reducing astrology to such broad strokes misses its complexity, and it's easy to see why people dismiss astrology as nonsense when it's presented in this way. Let's face it not everyone born in the same season as you has the same personality of you, but sun-centric pop astrology tries to make it seem like this is what astrology is about. We can still be grateful for the role that sun-centric astrology played in the modern revival of the popularity of astrology as a whole, but it's time that we moved beyond the sun-centric focus.

Speaker 1:

With the internet at our fingertips, we have access to a wealth of astrological information. You can now go online, input your birth details and see your entire birth chart in a matter of seconds. If you've never done this before, I've linked my favorite free birth chart website in the show notes. When you pull up your chart, you'll see various glyphs representing the planets and different signs. This could be a bit overwhelming at first, but if you scroll down, you'll find a breakdown in plain text. This will tell you where each planet is, such as Venus in Scorpio, moon in Libra, etc. This accessibility has allowed more people to start engaging with astrology beyond their sun signs. As a result of anyone now being able to see their chart online, the Big Three concept has gained popularity in recent years.

Speaker 1:

Instead of focusing solely on the sun sign, it's now common for people to talk about their sun, moon and rising signs, so I'm going to break those down for you today and how each is speaking to a different aspect of yourself. Let's start with the sun sign and how it was actually viewed in the Hellenistic tradition. Now, I've been a bit critical of the overemphasis on sun signs, but I don't think we should throw it out completely. The sun sign plays an important role in the chart, but rather than speaking to one's personality, as pop astrology seems to think, the sun was seen to represent your life direction. Think of it as the main character in a movie, with a goal that guides them through their adventures and misadventures. The sun in your birth chart shows your plot line, your sense of ambition, your spirit and your sense of mission and purpose.

Speaker 1:

Next up is the rising sign, also known as the ascendant. This is the sign that was rising on the eastern horizon, where the sun comes up at the moment of your birth. In whole sign houses, which were used in Hellenistic astrology, the rising sign occupies the entire first house of your chart. The first house represents you, your personality, your demeanor, your mannerisms, appearance, body type, health, vitality, etc. Whereas the other houses represent external areas of life, such as one's home, finances, career, relationships. The first house is the only house that speaks directly to the individual. The rising sign colors your outward demeanor and how others perceive you.

Speaker 1:

However, the ruler of the rising sign is just as important in determining how this energy expresses itself. For example, if you have Aries rising, mars is your ascendant ruler. Aries rising individuals may come across as assertive, energetic and direct, but two people with Aries rising can have very different personalities, mannerisms, body types etc. Depending on where Mars is located in their heart. If Mars is in another fire sign, for example, like Sagittarius, those natural fiery traits of Aries will be more prominent. However, if Mars is in a water sign, like Cancer, the natural fiery expression of Aries, like the directness and assertiveness, might be more subdued. So understanding where the ruler of your rising sign is located is just as important, I would say, as understanding your rising sign itself.

Speaker 1:

And finally, we arrive at the moon sign. Whereas the sun represents one's conscious purpose and rational mind, the moon represents one's inner world, emotional nature and the instinctive or unconscious parts of one's psyche. The moon sign shows your emotional needs and how you seek comfort and safety. It's also another indicator of your body, alongside the first house and shows the environment that you find yourself in and your everyday types of experiences. When we're talking about the big three, we can think about them like this the sun represents your life and ambition, the rising sign and its ruler are your outward personality and physical presence, and the moon shows your emotional nature and unconscious psyche. So by looking at all three of these components in our chart, we can gain a deeper understanding of how our ambitions, our emotional world and our personality interact. It's a big step in understanding a more nuanced version of ourselves.

Speaker 1:

It's also important to note that, although this talk has been very focused on the signs that planets occupy, the house a planet is in is just as crucial in influencing how that planet expresses. The house placement tells us the areas of life where the planet's expression will be most evident. For example, let's say someone has the sun in Cancer. Cancer suns often have an ambition that involves nurturing and protecting others. If the Cancer Sun is in the 4th house, which represents home and family, you might see someone whose ambition for nurturing and protecting others is very focused on their family and their home life. On the other hand, if the Cancer Sun is in the 10th house, which represents career and one's public life, then that nurturing and protective ambition could come out in one's profession. They could have a caretaking role, like being a counselor or a nurse, or they could be a compassionate boss who greets their team like family Just to give you an example of how you can take your understanding of your big three another step deeper. So hopefully this talk has helped give you an understanding of where sun-centric astrology came from and how we can move beyond that by looking at our big three. Understanding your big three is a great way to start to get a handle on your birth chart and how you can use your birth chart to deepen your understanding of how these different aspects of yourself, your personality, your ambitions and your emotions are intertwining and working with one another.

Speaker 1:

I want this podcast to be a co-creative space, so if you have a topic in astrology that you would like me to talk about, you can email it to rosesastroacademy at gmailcom. If you want to go even deeper into your chart and want to book a reading with me, you can do that at rosesastroacademycom and you can follow along on my Instagram at rosesastroacademy. Finally, if you enjoyed this episode and haven't done so already, consider leaving a review of the podcast. Every review really helps others to find the podcast and helps this community grow. Also, consider sharing it with your astrology-loving friends. Well, that's all I have for you. See you Monday for a new episode.