The Astrology Book

mundane sun” who created the world and everything in it through the power of its rea-

son or Logos. In the Gospel of St. John (1:1–2), the Logos is referred to as the divine

word: “In the beginning was the Word (Logos) and the Word was with God. According

to St. John, the Logos incarnated as Christ who was therefore identified with the spirit

of the Sun. It is against this background that early Christians placed the birth of Christ

on December 25, which was the date of the pagan festival of Sol Invictus (Invincible

Sun) and the date on which the winter solstice was celebrated (when Helios was

thought to be reborn as his light increased until the summer solstice).

A case for the physical, as well as the symbolic influence of the Sun on the

affairs of human beings has been made by natural astrologers such as Percy Seymour. It

is well known by scientists that the Earth’s magnetic field is affected by the Sun’s mag-

netic activity (sunspots and solar flares) which rises and falls in 22-year cycles. Sey-

mour argues that not only does the Sun’s magnetic field affect events on Earth, as is

evidenced from marks in tree rings every 22 years, but the other planets in the solar

system also affect the magnetic activity occurring on the Sun. Specifically, “Jupiter,

Saturn, Uranus and Neptune cause the little eddy currents that cause the sun’s mag-

netic field to reverse or flip over.” Michel Gauquelin’s lesser known studies involving

planetary heredity have shown evidence that children born on days when solar activi-

ty is more disturbed, are more likely to have the same planets as their parents in cer-

tain parts of the birth chart. “The number of hereditary similarities between the child

and the parent is two and a half times greaterif the child has entered the world on a

magnetically disturbed day than if the child is born on a calm day.”

Sources:

Aveni, Anthony. Stairways to the Stars.New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1997.

Campion, Nick. Cosmos: A Cultural History of Astrology.London: London Books, 2001.

DeFouw, Hart, and Robert Svoboda. Light on Life.New York: Arkana Penguin Books, 1996.

Gauquelin, Michel. Cosmic Influences on Human Behavior.Santa Fe, NM: Aurora Press, 1994.

Guttman, Ariel, and Kenneth Johnson. Mythic Astrology.St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1998.

Holden, James Herschel. A History of Horoscopic Astrology.Tempe, AZ: American Federation of

Astrologers, 1996.

Lehman, J. Lee. Classical Astrology for Modern Living.Atglen, PA: Whitford Press, 1996.

Louis, Anthony. Horary Astrology Plain and Simple.St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1998.

Perry, Glenn. Mapping the Landscape of the Soul.San Rafael, CA: Association of Astrological

Psychology, 2001.

Powell, Robert. History of the Planets.San Diego: ACS Publications, 1985.

Schmidt, Robert. Original Source Texts and Auxiliary Materials for the Study of Hellenistic Astrolo-

gy.Cumberland, MD: Phaser Foundation, 2002.

Seymour, Percy. Interview in Mountain Astrologer.August/September 1998.

Wilson, James. A Complete Dictionary of Astrology.London: W. Hughes, 1819.

—Maria J. Mateus

SUNSIGN

The sign of the zodiac the Sun is in, particularly in a natal chart, is the sun sign

(sometimes also called the birth sign). From the viewpoint of Western astrology, the

Sun, as the most important celestial body for Earth dwellers, is the most important

Sun Sign

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