Sun sign astrology has a bad reputation because many writers who take themselves seriously will trash genre fiction or commercial astrology. And I get it. Yes, I do. Anybody who is involved in natal chart creation and then begins to study sun sign astrology will undoubtedly come up with the conclusion, “Sun sign Horoscopes are nonsensical.”

It is, but it’s not. It isn’t completely absurd.

Sun sign astrology assumes, as do most astrological practices, that the Sign in which the sun shines (whether it be per your natal chart or in horary and electional astrology or other astrological practices), will provide some insight into your Self, your identity, how you project your external personality, and general information about who you are.

Your day-to-day life will be affected by the correspondences between that Sign (your Sun sign). Astrologers use sun sign astrology to analyze the positions of celestial bodies and their transits and aspect for a particular period. For example, your monthly forecast. Daily forecasts will be more focused on moon. In metaphysical theory, any significant aspects, transits, or planetary influences that occur around your Sign can have an effect on your life. For example, the ongoings of your Sign’s ruling planet will have a greater impact on your Sign than they might on others.

Mercury changes signs every 7 to 8 days, Venus every 18-19 days. These planets will have an impact on your life on a weekly basis, bi-weekly or monthly basis. They are worth considering in sun sign astrology. They are also important for their transits to other planets. Vesta, one the largest asteroids in the solar system, changes Signs about every 2 to 3 months. This means that Vesta’s movement will have short-term effects. Ceres is a small asteroid or dwarf planet, depending on whom you are talking to. It is currently in Sign for three to four months.

All these factors are taken into consideration when writing sun sign horoscopes. It’s not a complete crock of bull, but I find it excessive. Sun sign astrology can be a lot of fun for entertainment. Sun sign horoscopes written well can give us ideas and motivate us into making plans. Sun sign horoscopes are able to inform a wider audience about the planetary influences on our daily lives. Sun sign astrologers have made Mercury retrograde and its implications a common knowledge.

Sun Sign Horoscopes Step-by-Step Checklist (PDF)

In the sense that I don’t explain everything, this document is more complex. Here is my personal checklist I use to write sun sign horoscopes. This will give you an idea of how I write sun sign horoscopes.

My Approach To Sun Sign Astrology

This is how I approach sun sign astrology, particularly monthly forecasts:

I examine an event chart that is under a solar sign house. I conduct a transit animation for the duration the month, day by day, and take note of the Houses and correspondences within each Sign for the duration the month.

Noting the major aspects of each Sign’s House that relate to the planets/celestial body within each Sign’s House is also important. For horoscopes writing, I pay particular attention to the Sun and Mercury, Venus, Mars and Ceres. I also pay attention to the transits of Jupiter, Saturn Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Note: I may place greater emphasis on studying the influence of Venus and Ceres on women’s magazines or fashion magazines. Mercury, Venus and Neptune are the best choices for an arts and culture publication. Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are publications aimed at young professionals.

One common method for sun sign astrology involves creating 12 separate charts. Each chart will have a Sign. The Sign is placed in the first house. A basic house-and sign interpretive method is used. For example, the Sign in question will be placed in the first house of the chart. The second house will indicate money matters while the seventh house will indicate love. While I do this for each Sign, it is not the only way that I interpret them. The common approach is more for cross-referencing and confirmation.

My analysis also includes all transits that are significant between Signs. I also note the planetary rulership for each Sign and its correspondences. To gain more insight into particular Signs, I create additional event charts. To examine Aries (the Signs ruled Mars), Scorpio (the Signs ruled Mars), and Venus in the first House of Taurus and Libra to study Aries and Scorpio, and another one with Mercury in the House for Gemini, Virgo and Mercury, respectively. Next, I use the Traditional Whole Sign Houses method to analyze each Sign’s House and Sign.

Lastly, and perhaps most important, I analyze the phases of the moon and its trajectory through the Signs in order to determine the best and worst days for each Sign.