Sun Signs

What is a Sun sign? From our viewpoint here on Earth, the Sun travels around the Earth once each year. Within the space of that year, the Sun moves through all twelve signs of the zodiac, spending approximately one month in each sign. The sign that the sun was traveling through at the time of your birth is your Sun sign.

The Sun is the most important influence in your horoscope and in many ways determines how others see you. The position of the Sun in your birth chart governs your individuality, your distinctive style, and your drive to fulfill your goals in life.  In an analogy, the Sun sign is the role you have been given in the grand drama. If life is a play that one enters into at the time of birth, the role you are acting is your Sun sign.

Another analogy is that your horoscope is a painting of you. The characteristics of your Sun sign are the broad strokes that the artist first lays down on the canvas. The artist outlines your general shape, the planes and angles of your face. In the same way, the Sun delineates your general character! (Joanna Woolfolk)

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Dualities:

Masculine: direct and energetic; outer directed and strong through action

Feminine: receptive and magnetic; self-contained and strong through inner reserves

Triplicities:

Fire: (active, energetic) - Aries, Leo, Sagittarius

Earth: (practical, stable) - Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn

Air: (intellectual, communicative) - Gemini, Libra, Aquarius

Water: (emotional, intuitive) - Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces

Quadriplicities:

Cardinal (initiators, enterprising, outgoing) - Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn

Fixed (perfectionists, finishers, resistant to change) - Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius

Mutable (flexible, versatile, adaptable) - Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces

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ARIES (March 21- April 19) Aries is active, energetic, excitable and impulsive, optimistic, courageous, open to change and new experiences.

 Duality: Masculine               Triplicity: Fire                 Quadruplicity: Cardinal

TAURUS (April 20- May 20) Taurus is quiet, affectionate, patient, dependable, stable, determined and practical, stubborn, and resistant to change.

Duality: Feminine                 Triplicity: Earth              Quadruplicity: Fixed

GEMINI (May 21- June 20) Gemini is lively, responsive, versatile, and intellectual, lives primarily in the mind rather than the emotions, and is extremely adaptable to new situations.

Duality: Masculine                Triplicity: Air                 Quadruplicity: Mutable

CANCER (June 21- July 22) Cancer is loyal, sensitive, and imaginative, sympathetic, kind, and emotional, and possesses an active, shrewd and intuitive mind.

Duality: Feminine                 Triplicity: Water            Quadruplicity: Cardinal

LEO (July 23- August 22) Leo is enthusiastic, powerful, expansive and creative, generous and extravagant, dogmatic and fixed in opinion.

Duality: Masculine               Triplicity: Fire                Quadruplicity: Fixed

VIRGO (August 23-September 22) Virgo is reserved, modest, practical, conscientious, discriminating and industrious, analytical and painstaking, seeking to know and understand.

Duality: Feminine                 Triplicity: Earth             Quadruplicity: Mutable

LIBRA (September 23- October 22) Libra is active, artistic, charming, easygoing, peaceable, prizes beauty and harmony, is diplomatic, polished, and very socially inclined.

Duality: Masculine               Triplicity: Air                 Quadruplicity: Cardinal

SCORPIO (October 23- November 21) Scorpio is imaginative, idealistic, passionate and emotional, subtle, persistent, intense, obstinate, and unyielding.

Duality: Feminine                 Triplicity: Water            Quadruplicity: Fixed

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21) Sagittarius is ambitious, generous, optimistic, freedom loving, and a seeker of challenge, open to new ideas and exploration.

Duality: Masculine                Triplicity: Fire               Quadruplicity: Mutable

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19) Capricorn is reserved, prudent, patient, steady, uses strategy instead of force, seeks security, is acquisitive, disciplined, and quick to seize opportunity.

Duality: Feminine                  Triplicity: Earth            Quadruplicity: Cardinal

AQUARIUS (January 20- February 18) Aquarius is assertive, independent, friendly, progressive, analytical, original, inventive, has strong dislikes and firm opinions.

Duality: Masculine                 Triplicity: Air                Quadruplicity: Fixed

PISCES (February 19- March 20) Pisces is receptive, intuitive, and emotional, compassionate, imaginative, romantic, impressionable and mystical, adaptable, and very changeable.

Duality: Feminine                   Triplicity: Water           Quadruplicity: Mutable

The Death of Socrates (1787) is a painting by the French artist Jacques-Louis David. It is an illustration of the trial and execution of the Athenian philosopher Socrates who lived during the golden age of Athens in 399 BC. As a thinker, Socrates was primarily concerned with the study of Ethics, a branch of philosophy that focuses on morality and proper human conduct. Throughout his life, Socrates was known for engaging Athenian citizens in philosophical debates concerning concepts such as Justice, Religion, Piety, Law, and Virtue, and helped others examine and reflect upon their belief systems. This conviction is best revealed in his most famous statement: “An unexamined life is not worth living!" Socrates held the maxim that wisdom is inherent within the soul of every individual, but is often masked by beliefs and values passed down by culture and society. He compared himself to a ‘gadfly' that stung slumbering horses, awakening them from their everyday conditioned beliefs. Socrates' mission, which he believed to be divinely inspired, was to assist others rise beyond their subjective values to reach a Higher Truth.

In his teachings, Socrates employed a question and answer technique called the ‘dialectic’. Acting as a curious man in search of Truth, he engaged others in philosophical conversation by asking questions that probed into the individual's belief system. Believing they were knowledgeable in the questions asked, those engaged readily shared their viewpoints as experts on the topic. However, in short time Socrates would subtly point out the inconsistencies in their belief systems, eventually taking over as the teacher and guiding the unassuming student towards a higher Truth. This form of examination often offended many Athenian citizens, especially statesman who became disgruntled with his indirect approach and scrutiny. As result, they ultimately charged him with accusations that put him on trial. Since some of Socrates' most sought out students were young Athenians bound to participate in the state's democracy, one of the two charges against him was the corruption and misleading of the youth of Athens.  

Socrates was eventually summoned to court based on two major charges; corrupting the minds of Athenian youth, and believing in the deities of his own invention instead of the gods recognized by the state. After defending himself in front of a jury of 500 Athenians, Socrates was found guilty by Athenian Democracy and condemned to drink the poison hemlock for his sentence. Socrates’ trial and last days in prison are portrayed in The Apology and Crito, two philosophical dialogues written by Plato, Socrates’ most cherished student.  

The painting by Jacques-Louis David is an illustration of Crito, one of Plato’s most famous dialogues. In it, Socrates is awaiting his sentencing in an Athenian prison cell when Crito, one of his oldest and most devoted friends comes to visit. Believing Socrates’ fate to be a tragedy, Crito has devised a plan to get him out of prison and away from Athens. He informs Socrates that he is well acquainted with the guard and can easily provide a generous bribe that will allow Socrates to escape. He assures Socrates Athens is not the only place where he can live happily, for someone like him can find friends wherever he goes. 

In response, Socrates argues for the principle that "It is never good to do injustice, even when it is in response to another injustice." He claims that it would be unjust to forsake the Laws of Athens, and that a citizen stands in relation to the state as a child does to the parent. He further states that he entered into a social contract with Athens by choosing to live in the city, benefiting from it's laws, and now cannot defy it on account of having been unjustly convicted. He agreed to be a citizen under the laws by remaining in Athens after having reached an age of maturity, and knowing how Athenian Law functions. Now that the Law has charged him, it would be unjust to abandon its authority. At the end of the dialogue, Socrates claims that injustice may not be answered with injustice, and refuses Crito’s offering to escape from prison.

The painting by Jacques-Louis David illustrates that even at the moment of death Socrates still remains true to his principles, adhering to his ideals of justice and not disobeying Athenian Law. As he takes the hemlock, he remains in discussion reassuring his friends that he is making the correct choice. His finger points upward to the transcendental realm of Justice he speaks of, one that even surpasses the Athenian Laws which have condemned him.

The Coming of the Sun

If you ever reflect on life and feel you have faltered in your way,

Remember there is always promise in the renewal of another day;

Still if you believe you have strayed, been misled, or even terribly offended,

Keep these simple precepts in mind and in time all will be mended.

That all occasions in God’s glorious universe work in a cyclical trend,

It has been this way since the beginning, and forever will be until the end;

Things co-exist in opposites, what goes up will one day come down,

And a truth revealed today can remove yesterday’s melancholic frown.

For even the illustrious Sun descends in the turning of day and night,

And for some short duration its brilliance vanishes out of all perceptive sight;

Yet it is merely the obstructive Earth that has temporarily made its splendor fade,

Concealing its radiance, fragmenting colors into lessened dissipating shades.

Likewise obstacles can block our light making us think we’ve lost our way,

Believing our beauty is lost forever, having us lament on that unfortunate day,

But our downfalls are really graces in disguise ultimately intended for us to rise,

Although at first glance they most often appear to be our greatest demise.

What seems like misfortune in our life is truly a concealed lesson in love,

Set in motion by the Almighty and guided by the spiritual heavens above;

Revealing to us we are immortal beings and forever intended to be here,

A design implemented by the Divine Will in drawing you closer and near.

The events of our lifetimes are sacred notes and melodies in a grander scheme,

Unfolding in a majestic dance already pre-determined in the Everlasting’s dream.

Just witness the functioning of the world, the harmony in its integrated dance,

It reveals that Eternity has left no outcome to the mere occurrence of chance.

So never undermine yourself when the circumstances of life have you on the brink,

For the lengthy chain never estimates itself by the measure of its shortest link,

And when your spirit feels empty in the most trying and challenging of days,

Recall the mighty ocean hardly approximates itself by the froth of its crashing waves!

A Modern Day Hero

As precious time passes through the annals of the ages,

I long to walk the path of history’s most thoughtful sages;

With those who traveled through life with a most deliberate stance,

Living with purpose, never yielding cause to the fickle whims of chance!

Treading a higher path in search of Truth every step of the way,

Yearning for more lasting meaning with the coming of each new day;

Climbing the steepest roads endeavoring to gain the utmost sight,

Knowing the exhilaration of when darkness transforms into light!

By learning from masters I follow in the greatness they have laid,

Keeping as inspiration the dedication with which they have paid;

Forfeiting a normal life and sacrificing in ways most never would,

Surrendering to a greater cause, the betterment of the common good!

Like them I long to be noble, helping others in the pursuit of their way,

Through service to humanity fulfilling my own destiny one glorious day:

This is my greatest aspiration in the turmoil of our ever-changing times,

To put into expressive action the conviction of these aforementioned rhymes!

To be an inspiration one day is how I wish to have my story told,

Through a life of dignity showing my devotion to the rest of the world;

With this achievement I can be fulfilled when all has come and passed,

For I have played a meaningful role in the larger scheme of things at last!