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There are twelve signs and over six billion people on Earth. Does this mean that each applies accurately to five hundred million people for any given sign? How can one prediction be accurate for five hundred million different people all over the world? We asked Astrologer Kelly Surtees to explain it to us;

The simple answer to the guestion The Sun, being tlre primary life force, above is tlrat they can't. The 12 zodiac is often touted as the dominant signs are only one part of the vast planetary influence. As a result, astrological playing field. Accurate the zodiac sign the Sun falls into at predictions can be made using person/s birth (commonly known as astrology, but to do so one must look your star sign) describes their basic further than the 12 zodiac signs. ego characteristics. (where things get spookily accurate) refines this simple interpretation What are the zodiac signs? by, including birth time, place and The 12 zttdiac sign: are integral to detailed chart aspects to create a astrology and have been around for unique astrological chart. Sun sign thousands of years. There are many astrology has blossomed from an constellations in the sky, but only 12 oversimplified modern fixation on the that the Sun is seen to pass through 12 zodiac signs. They are like a bite- on his heavenly ;ourney. These are sized version of the real thing. Kelly Surtees the 12 constellations fronr which the zodiac signs are drawn. The zodiac constellations are literally the starry Where did Sun sign columns Annual almanacs, published by many backdrop of the Sun's annual passage come from? high profile astrologers through the through the sky. This is where the term Sun sign astrology (a modern branch 18th and 19th centuries, were some 'Sun signs' comes from. The 12 zodiac of astrology that is less than 100 years of the earliest manifestations of the signs literally refer to where in the sky old) was designed for the media. Sun modern obsession with Sun sign the Sun was at a person's birth. sign columns printed in newspapers columns. Leading astrologers of the or magazines explore general themes time oublished annual almanacs Astrologically, the 12 zodiac signs affecting each Sun (star) sign. ln fifty containing their predictions for the represent 12 broad archetypes of words or less your fortune will always upcoming year in an effort to create development. their own these On be vague and non-specific. These pu blicity and an income forthemselves. signs have never been intended to predictions are not meant to be Based on the twelve Sun signs, these describe daily details people's of detailed transcripts of people's lives, annual almanacs fed a growing public lives. Zodiac signs are defined as the Through daily, weekly or monthly desire for more information about clothing or persona different planets Sun sign columns you, the public, get what they perceived astrology to be. adopt. a mini-me version of the cosmos at Modern newspaper astrology columns rnrnrlz rrir tha norcnon+i.r^ ..rr^l^-', ^f were the next sten reg u lar Astrology

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The birth of Princess Margaret early in the 2Oth century This personalised astrological map holds infinite amounts proved to be an unlikely boon for Sun sign astrology. The of detail about the life and times of an individual. lt is ed itor of London's Sunday Express, in h is search for a u n iq ue alarm ingly accu rate. Astrological pred ictions have detailed story on the birth of the new Princess, asked one of the the rise ancl fall of nations as accurately as the times of biggest names in astrology at the time to write an article. success and loss in individual lives. The finished story, "What the Stars foretell for the new Princess", set the standard for Astrology has a solidly scientific basis Galileo/r^r:r^^:^,,^,,-,,,. is usually the many daily, weekly and monthly tur,%norny -won,tgrew out of astrology), remembered as the sun sign columns of today' but you find it by lust founder of modern astronomical lookins at the 12 zodiac signs. A modern Sun sign column science. But did you know he was also describes an esser astrologer' preparing for generat theme p"n"',lt,,ig ,l' Accuracy in astrotogy "?:iifnMedici nobres as weil as his own famiry? Garireo each zodiac ,ign. n, o1" astrology poputar asrrotoger ,".",i,,i used his new telescopes to improve the accuract i::::::: saicl. "SLrn"-.."..). sion astrology of his horoscopes by carefully observing planetary ii,ll'L"iO,,.,ii,^i;:ii:T: describes movements. When Galileo discovered four the headlines moons the constantly moving of your life," - not the orbiting Jupiter in 1610 he named them after his minutiae' celestial bodies to be patron, Cosimo de Medici. This was because Jupiter pinpointed in a visual held a prominent midheaven position in charts perspective as seen from Where does he had prepared for the young prince. Galileo any poinr on Earth. This astrological accuracy and his telescope not only founded the combination of birth time come from? science of modern astronomy, but and place creates the 12 Astrological accuracy comes from also expanded the world of houses, including the ascendant combining the 1 2 zodiac signs with astrology. and midheaven. the oositions of 10 celestial bodies and the 12 astrological houses into an astrological The ascendant is a simple concept to chart. This chart is constructed based on the time, understand. lt represents the horizon at the time and date and place of one's birth. lt is a unique planetary place of your birth. Born at dawn? The Sun is rising and arrangement that repeats only once every 26,000 years. will be sitting on the ascendant. Born at midday? The Sun An astrology chart (sometimes known as a natal or birth is culminating and will be sitting in the uppermost point chart) is like a snapshot of the sky taken at the moment of in the chart. The Sun can be placed at any point in the birth, looking up at the heavens from the place on Earth astrological chart (commonly depicted as a circle). what if where a person was born' you were born when some other celestial body or ptanet

.,YOU CAN DO WHAT YOU LIKE UP THERE (IN HEAVEN) IT'S WHAT YOU DO WHEN YOU'RE HERE THAT YOU HAVE TO MAKE THE EFFORT" St Catherine in the movie'Millions' was rising? That celestial body or planet then becomes a with the 12 zodiac houses (each house detailing an super strong energy in your chart and therefore your life, area of life). To achieve accuracy in astrology the zodiac making the Sun sign much less influential. signs these nine other celestial bodies occupy, as well as the houses they fall into, need to be considered. The A person may have the Sun in (making their Sun media, in their frenzy to sell publications filled with bite- sign Taurus) however they may have a cluster of planets sized chunks of anything at all, have boiled astrology in a different sign indicating this other zodiac is sign down to a superficial and easily digestible product for more important in their life. Or the Sun in Taurus in one mass consumption - the 12 zodiac signs. lF person's chart may fall in the 1Oth house - a very public and confident area. This person will be more outgoing and confident than their fellow Taurean whose Sun falls in the shadowy and private 'l2th house. The only difference here ln our nexf lssue we ask Kelly about Pluto. Now that is the house the Taurus Sun falls in. astronomers have decided it's not a planet anymore does this affect the astrology world? What effect did Astrological accuracy comes from combin ing key principles, Pluto's discovery in 1930 have on astrology? And not just from looking at the 1 2 zodiac signs, as is commonly what about the other nearly Pluto-sized chunks of portrayed by the media. lt is the unique blending of planets, rock drifting around our solar sysfem like asteroids signs and houses that creates an accurate astrological birth Ceres and Xena - what role do they play in chart for an individual. astro log ical pred icti ons?

Why the focus on the 12 zodiac signs? Kelly Surtees is founder of the Young Astrologers Association, a committee member of the The general consensus seenrs be that 12 to the zodiac Astrology Association NSW and teaehes Astrology signs are astrology. In fact the 12 zodiac signs are only through the Earth lnstitute. She has local and a small (albeit essential) part of astrology. Nine other international clients and can be contacted at celestial bodies are included (the Moon, Mercury, Venus, www.kellysurtees.com Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) along

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