Astrology Fun
UPDATE: More than a year later, I finally have the update I promised: Astrology Fun, Part 2
I’ve been learning more about astrology and, like anyone with enough knowledge to have an opinion and not enough reverence to know better, I have made a series of astrology memes based on the signs in the three major natal chart positions: sun sign, moon sign, and rising sign/ascendant. Each sign leads to a part of a sentence that, when taken together, gives an insightful and/or funny way to look at yourself. Some combinations make more sense than others because it’s a surprisingly difficult task to create them, but it’s so quick to read out the sentence that your signs make that there’s not a lot of invested time lost if it doesn’t spark a laugh or a thoughtful Hmmmm…
I use these three natal chart positions/signs because they’re what most people bother to remember from their natal charts, assuming they’ve even had one drawn up for them. If you’re not sure what sun signs, moon signs, and rising signs/ascendants are, then you should definitely get a natal chart spun up for you. You can find free natal chart generators online that just need your date, time, and location of birth. Those are all necessary for determining your rising sign and they can be necessary for determining your moon sign. (Don’t get cute and try to change the location and amend the time based just on time zones because it doesn’t always work; I’ve tried.)
Disclaimer: I’m not anything close to an astrologer
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know that much about astrology. Of course, I know more than the average person because astrology comes up in tarot readings due to major arcana associations with the 12 zodiac signs, as well as the large overlap of people interested in tarot and people interested in astrology. Also, I love personality tests, and the confirmation bias that lets someone enjoy personality tests is not much different from the confirmation bias that lets someone enjoy astrology. That’s not to say that astrology doesn’t have a lot to teach us about ourselves and people in our lives, but it doesn’t have to be exactly accurate to do so. As with a tarot reading, knowing what’s wrong can often be just as useful as knowing what’s right because it focuses the mind on something that might not have been clear before.
The Charts
And with that self-awareness, I want to introduce my current selection of astrology memes. You can find them on my Instagram profile through my IG Stories archive labeled “Astrology fun.” There are three main charts so far, with a bunch of twists on the second one. And they’re meant for fun. They shouldn’t be taken too seriously because they’re just one man’s take on a broad topic using the three “main” signs as guides to making one sentence. If it’s spot-on, hooray! If you’re resistant to the sentence, think about why. If the sentence makes little sense, then, well, I’m sorry that one was a dud. But there are others.
Each chart starts with a carrier phrase and then completes the sentence using various adjectives, nouns, and predicates based on those three signs. The order of the natal chart positions changes from chart to chart, but the zodiac signs are always in standard order. See General Instructions below for more information on how to “complete” them. And if you want to share yours on Instagram, tag me because I’d love to see it.
The first chart is a bit of fun to show the playful side of these and of me as a tarot practitioner and astrology dilettante (even that might be too strong a word): it’s who we are . . . in bed. Think of it like a fortune cookie but without the need for any appended words because they’re so obviously about sexy times. They’re as subtle as a sledgehammer.
Example
Since my sun is in Taurus, my moon is in Leo, and Capricorn was rising on the horizon when I was born, my sentence for this first chart would be:
“I am a . . .” + {Capricorn rising} + {Taurus sun} + {Leo moon}
or
“I am a” + “precise” + “lover” + “who wants you to beg for it.”
Ooh . . . spicy!
The second chart follows one of my other favorite pastimes, reading novels. The main one is about playing a character in fiction, although it doesn’t mean your the hero of the story, or even a main character. There are then a handful of others that each look at a popular genre: mystery, smutty romance, pulpy sci-fi, fantasy, romantic comedy, and horror. I’ll post those all at the bottom of this post.
Example
Since my sun is in Taurus, my moon is in Leo, and Capricorn was rising on the horizon when I was born, my sentence for this second chart would be:
“In fiction, I would be a . . .” + {Leo moon} + {Capricorn rising} + {Taurus sun}
or
“In fiction, I would be a . . .” + “vain” + “magician” + “who learns what really has value.”
I’ve actually probably read a book or three with a character like that.
The third chart is more serious because it is a starting place for doing some shadow work to examine parts of you that you’re not all that familiar with (by accident or design). Because of that, it can be the most awkward to parse, so you might have to rephrase some of it in your own words to make as much sense of it. For some people, though, it gets very deep very quickly. And for others, it’s more of a laugh.
Example
Since my sun is in Taurus, my moon is in Leo, and Capricorn was rising on the horizon when I was born, my sentence for this third chart would be:
“When facing my shadows, I …” + {Capricorn rising} + {Taurus sun} + {Leo moon}
or
“When facing my shadows, I …” + “work hard” + “to consume them” + “so I don’t worship them”
Yikes. That’s something I should seriously think about.
The fourth chart is for tarot fans who want to see how their astrology chart lines up with some of the imagery from the traditional major arcana–zodiac associations and imagery from the minors in the Smith-Waite/Rider deck using astrological decan associations (see below for more).
For those who are interested, decans are 10- or 11-day periods in the year that are associated with the 36 minor pip arcana (2s–10s), and each one has a planet in a sign (e.g., “Mars in Aries”). So I made the chart starting with any minor cards representing the “Moon in” or “Sun in” the relevant sign. If there was one, the decan-associated minor arcana was used for that position (e.g., Moon in Taurus is 6 of Pentacles, so the Moon Sign of Taurus is “gives to the needy”), and the other position (Moon if there is a minor for “Sun in {X},” Sun if there is a minor for “Moon in {X}”) uses the typical major arcana association with that sign (e.g, Moon sign for Taurus was a minor card, so Sun sign for Taurus is then the typical Taurus association, the Hierophant). In the two cases where there wasn’t either “Moon in” or “Sun in” the sign (Leo and Pisces), I placed a related figure in the Sun sign, and I used another association for the Moon sign. In all cases, Rising sign imagery was based on the minor arcana for the first decan of that sign. For the two cards where the first decan was the “Moon in” or “Sun in” card (Virgo and Libra), I combined the images from the other two cards.
Example
Since my sun is in Taurus, my rising sign is Capricorn, and my moon sign is in Leo, my sentence for this fourth chart would be:
“If I were on a tarot card, I’d be a(n) …” + {Taurus sun} + {Capricorn rising} + {Leo moon}
or
“If I were on a tarot card, I’d be a …” + “priest” + “in a jester’s outfit” + “who lusts for more”
Good lord. That would be a disturbing card.
General Instructions
For each chart, you start with the carrier phrase at the top of the chart.
For example, if I’m using the first chart, then I will start with “I am a(n) …”
Then you find the zodiac sign in the first column that matches the first natal chart position (i.e., sun sign, moon sign, or rising sign) in the top row. The words in that cell continue the sentence.
For example, the first chart starts with the rising sign, and my rising sign is Capricorn, so I would then take the word “precise” as the next part of the sentence.
“I am a(n) …” becomes “I am a precise …”
You then find the zodiac sign for the second natal chart position and add that to the sentence.
For example, the first chart has the sun sign next, and my sun sign is Taurus, so I would then take the word “lover” as the next part of the sentence.
“I am a precise …” becomes “I am a precise lover …”
Last, you find the zodiac sign for the final natal chart position and finish the sentence with that phrase. This is usually the longest part of the sentence and, in some ways, it’s what the chart is really about.
For example, the first chart has the moon sign last because that is most closely tied to inner desires. My moon sign is Leo, so I would then take the phrase “who wants you to beg for it” as the last part of the sentence.
“I am a precise lover …” finally becomes “I am a precise lover who wants you to beg for it.”
See how that works? Enjoy!
