Sun sign astrology
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Sun sign astrology is the form of astrology most commonly found in many newspaper and magazine columns. It is a simplified system of astrology which considers only the position of the Sun, which is said to be placed within one of the twelve zodiac signs depending on the month of birth. This sign is then called the sun sign or star sign of the person born that month.
Sun sign astrologers take this basic twelvefold division and relate all the current movements of all the planets to each other, using traditional rules to divine meanings for each sign separately. Paradoxically, because the Moon has the fastest apparent movement of all the heavenly bodies, it is often used as the main indicator of daily trends for sun sign astrology forecasts.
Despite its vast popularity with the general public (e.g. in the UK over 60% of adults are said to read their "stars" first on opening a newspaper, a slightly higher proportion in the USA[citation needed]), there is much argument about the validity of sun sign astrology, particularly amongst astrologers of different persuasions. The more traditional the astrologer, the more likely they are to dislike sun sign astrology.[citation needed]
As with all astrology, it is considered pseudoscience by astronomers and most other scientists.
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[edit] History
Although William Lilly in the 17th century was the first newspaper astrologer (in fact some people believe that newspapers began as largely astrological prediction-sheets), sun sign astrology was not invented until 1930. The astrologer R. H. Naylor was claimed by his newspaper to have predicted the crash of the R101 airship. This led to pressure on Naylor to come up with a simplified system of astrology suitable for a newspaper column. After some experimentation, Naylor decided on sun signs.
[edit] Criticisms
Owing to the popularity of horoscope columns in many newspapers and magazines, it is sometimes erroneously believed that sun sign astrology is the whole extent of astrology. Some horoscopic astrologers view these predictions as highly generalized and of little value.
For example, each person also has a Moon sign, a Mercury sign, a Venus sign, etc. These do not conform to the above dates and change greatly from year to year. Sun sign astrologers are unable to take these and many other variables into account.
