Multiplicities: Why You Actually Have More than One Zodiac Sign (ASTROLOGY 101)

multiplicities

why you actually have more than one zodiac sign

What’s your sign?

This is a question we ask people when trying to get to know each other, whether it’s at a party or with a classmate or through a dating app. We use it when looking through online profiles to see if “they might be the one” and are thrilled when we find out someone we like “has the same sign” – even if we approach it playfully, with the idea that it is just a fun thought experiment, there’s an immediate connection that we recognise in the potentials this question holds.

This question also happens to be the first I get when people find out that I’m “into astrology”.

While most people don’t know it, usually, the response they give is their Sun sign: the zodiac sign where the Sun was positioned in someone’s chart during their reported moment of birth.

In my experience, as someone who practices astrology in their day-to-day life + has it come up a lot when meeting others, a guessing game tends to follow this question. Almost always, the person excitedly asks me to try and figure out what their sign is; I gently explain how the Sun sign is only one important piece of someone’s astrology, but generally, the person is thrilled if I mention the sign they were expecting and disappointed if I don’t. I often leave feeling a little frustrated either way, desiring for the person to know how much more depth there is to what astrology can mean in their life.

But what do I mean – what more could there be?

There are a number of things to clarify, all coming from the fact that the “astrology” most have had access to is a vastly commercialised and confused one. Humans tend to get easily frustrated with things they don’t feel they immediately understand (and increasingly so, especially in cultural spaces like the U.S. – a space largely founded in an active, impatient Aries spirit); because of this, practitioners of astrology have often been encouraged to minimise and misrepresent the depths of this emotive, spiritual art so that it could be consumed more quickly by more people. (I’ll be writing an article about some common myths + misunderstandings around astrology soon, linked here!)

The following parts here may seem a little technical, but be patient with yourself – I trust that you can receive all of what is shared here, and remember that you can put this article away and come back at another time, or many times. Though astrology can seem overwhelming, because there appears to be so much to learn, this is also true for nearly everything you are new to; I find it ideal to begin with the essence of a topic, then to get to the details. So, what is astrology for and about?

At its foundations, astrology is for and about the study of relationships. While many might think astrology simply looks to the stars for information to be handed down to us, it is actually that the sky serves as a mirror: it allows us space to witness connections between all that we are, all that we have been, and all that we dream of being.

There, we find the self and the other. We look upward to see inward. We allow the quiet of the outer to bring clarity to the inner. We approach the stars and give ourselves precisely what we need, not quite realising along the way that we are the stars – that we simply approach ourselves, that we are the giving and the receiving.

When we look to a birth chart (the projected image of the sky at the moment of one’s birth), what we generally find first is the Sun, great and beaming and familiar; this is a symbol of our relationship to personality, what light we choose to project into the world around us. And when we look a little more closely, we also find the Moon; she remains a symbol of care and clarifies our relationship to our needs and emotional processes, the internal tides we feel pushing and pulling as we move through life.

In fact, in some parts of the world, if you ask someone “what’s your sign?”, they will respond with where the Moon was in their birth chart, not the Sun; I feel this is largely a representation of what energies we value and most resonate with within different cultural spaces, symbolically.

Most who practice a traditional astrology will also note a number of other energies in a chart: somewhere between one and nine other planetary bodies like Mercury (an energy of communication, alchemy, and transformation of form – queerness, even) or Venus (symbolising love as affirmation, adulation, grace, ease, and pleasure). Some – like myself – may include other more controversial energies like Pluto (that which guides us through deep emotional reclaiming of trauma and darkness) or Ceres (that which guides us towards devotion, a commitment to something higher, and an understanding of cycles of harvesting). There are countless energies in the sky which may be considered within a birth chart, things that apply to all of us – from “planets” and asteroids to nodes and shadows, some of which don’t exist in such a literal physical/material form but which those who practice astrology might also calculate and consider important (the ascendant, for example). And luckily, these are all things you can google, by the way – or send us your questions!

What energies are considered within a chart varies greatly, depending on what the practitioner resonates with as significant; some who practice will not look at more than 7 “planets” or influences, though it is possible that literally all physical and non-physical bodies in the world could be viewed as significant.

Regardless of the number of energies considered, each individual energy is constantly shifting in space in relation to all the others. One way (of many options) to measure where each is in a given moment is to divide the sky into 30 degree portions – you guessed it: these are the zodiac signs that many of us are familiar with to varying degrees.

While the previously-mentioned planetary energies might represent the “what”, a sort of action, the signs might be understood as the “where” things are taking place. Each energy is tinted by the sign it’s in.

For example, an energy of Venus in Libra (where the planet is most comfortable!) is especially concerned with charm and appeal and desire; situated in her home, the energy freely expresses her romantic and flirtatious nature. When Venus moves into Capricorn, however, she becomes more serious and less open, the desire to express her romantic ideals present but tempered by the heaviness of such a sober, practical, and earthy sign.

Thus, those with more familiarity with traditional astrology will often know how to name their sun, moon, and ascendant sign – recognising some of how these signs (which are again, “locations” in the sky) affect the planetary energies. Newspapers and many astrology sites will give you a summary of your personality and what to expect based on “your one sign”, trying to simplify to a certain date of a certain month, but this doesn’t work because you don’t exist as one part; you are a complex individual who exists as many. You carry all of the signs in your being, but in different degrees in different moments and with varying relationships between them. Your story is uniquely yours, something for you to investigate as you learn to uncover your deeper and higher being. Can you imagine all there is to learn about your-self and the world by understanding not only these few, but the many more parts that make up who you are each day?

Understanding that birth is just one moment across all of the life-time you have experienced – that even in this exact moment, right now, the skies above are realigning in relation to your energies – you begin to realise that the birth chart isn’t a complete picture, in itself; this is a major reason why I do not use the birth chart in any of my own astrological work or practice. In the astrological philosophy I craft and teach, I emphasise knowing the role that psychological and sociological archetypes play in our lives (through an analysis I call the ARQ), reflecting and analysing to more deeply understand how all of these energies are present at all times, in flux and in relation.

By now, it should be coming somewhat clear that just talking about “my sign” as if there were only one would be a very limited view of all there is to witness in astrology; it would almost be akin to thinking I know about someone because I know their name (not quite an exact comparison, but close?)

And yet, there is still more! Part of working through deeper astrological studies is navigating the complexities of how all these planets and signs relate to one another. One must constantly work to remember that they do not exist alone, but as an interconnected experience, always transforming but to be witnessed as one body. If you’re feeling curious about this part of astrology, look up “aspects” – reading about trines and oppositions and such, how things move in cycles, is a quick and promising way to deepen your understanding.

As you can imagine, discretion is often necessary when beginning a study of the stars, as one can easily get overwhelmed with all there is to look at in a person’s astrology. This work is that of a lifelong study, and I do not expect I will ever cease to be humbled by the wonder of all there is to still learn. I take what I get each day through my practice, and I am thankful for it, for how it allows me to love others more honestly, more intentionally, more deeply.

What astrology has revealed to me so far is a truth easily apparent but often overlooked: we exist in multiplicities, as a flow and interaction between multiple energies, all desiring to be witnessed. We are not a self, but selves. In our many pieces, we exist as all – though some may remain in light and some in shadow.