You might remember Diana Rose Harper from her first piece, Digital Covencrafting for POC Mystics. Creating real and conceptual homes is as important to her as it is for us and she’s offering a monthly musing on what home means to her, to people, and to the world. Expect to see anecdotes, words of wisdom, and tidbits of witchy knowledge peppered throughout.
Since it’s the easiest thing in the natal chart to determine, most folks with even a slight knowledge of astrology know what their Sun sign is — which zodiac sign the Sun was in at the moment of their birth. Because of this, folks will attempt to align their self-understanding and their understanding of others based on the Sun’s placement, often being disappointed when someone isn’t as obviously Virgoan or Cancerian as they might require in order to continue squishing folks into narrow Sun sign boxes.
What’s interesting is that our Sun sign is actually a much more private affair. Cosmologically, the Sun is the heart of everything, the energetic force that allows life to exist on our little rock hurtling through space. Astrologically, the Sun is our spiritual heart. Just as the Sun’s literal light is required for basic existence, the Sun’s metaphorical light fuels and directs our essential life-ness.
Ascendant!
Our Ascendant — the sign on the horizon at the moment of our birth — is the face we show the world, the tools that allow us to do what we want to do, the performance-of-self that allows us safety, the methods we use to cope. But our Sun is our heart, the core of our soul-space, the version of us that is closest to the bone. Not everyone can comfortably be their Sun-self; not everyone can survive while wearing their tenderest heart on their sleeve. The Sun-self comes out of hiding when we feel safe enough to show a bit of underbelly, to unapologetically embody our truest values, to share what we nerd out about without fear of dismissal.
In the contemporary era of hyperindividualism, there’s a greater push for our Sun to be a bit more public. But within this, there are times and places when we feel genuinely ourselves, when our Sun can really, truly shine. If the Sun in our chart is what makes us each a little star, then we become most radiant within a constellation that needs us: spiritual home, starshine home, sunshine home, that gathering of souls where the need to hide for safety’s sake dissipates.
Leo Vibes
Leo, our current astrological season, is ruled by the Sun. Leo folks are notorious for wanting to be the center of attention, wanting to be loved and adored. Misused, Leo energy is seeking fame for the sake of being famous, seeking praise no matter how shallow or short-lived or unsupported, desiring the sensation of being seen without ever being fully met by another.
But Leos can also be so expansively loving they can’t help but share themselves, so big-hearted they can’t help but call in even more love. In their full glory, Leo carries a personhood so profoundly confident that vulnerability is just another strength. Used skillfully, Leo season energy is brave openness, exactly the energy required to find and cultivate our relationship to our own Sun, our own heart, wherever it falls in the zodiac. Building that relationship within ourselves is the first step towards sharing that Sun-self with others, the first step to finding the constellations we belong in.
As we nurture our Suns, we shine brighter. As we shine brighter, we are found by other Suns whose light resonates with our own. As more and more resonant Suns come together, galaxies come to be, whole star systems twinkling with love and support and mutual appreciation. And as the homes we carry in our hearts illumine those of others, we create an even bigger home: an entire sky to shine in.
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Some suggestions as we continue through Leo season, with its retrograde Mars, Mercury, Saturn, Neptune, and soon-to-be retrograde Uranus:
Remember when you’ve felt luminous.
Recall when you’ve felt at home.
Re-align yourself with the structures (social, creative, home, thought) that act as constellations for the star that is your Sun.
Reevaluate your values, and adjust them as necessary.
Reconsider how much you hide your truest self.
Restate your love for others, over and over again.
Reiterate your love for yourself.
Reconnect with the child-you you carry in your heart.
Play.
Interested in learning more about Diana? Find her on Instagram at @ddamascenaa and on her website at ddamascenaa.com. Look out for more of her writing next month.
