When I was small, I used to look at daily horoscopes in both Nepali-language newspapers and English-language newspapers. In the Nepali/Vedic system, my sign was Leo whereas in the English/Western system, my sign was Taurus. I used to wonder why the signs were different. Perhaps you also have a similar sense of curiosity. The difference is that they were not talking about the same thing at all. Your Nepali astrologer is referring to your Moon sign whereas the English newspapers are referring to the Sun sign. This article will help you understand why the Moon sign reveals about your personality and karma more than your Sun sign.
In astrology, at least Vedic astrology, there are nine grahas (called planets in English, although the word ‘grahas’ has a much more specific and arguably more astrologically relevant meaning than ‘planets’). Each planet occupies a certain space in the sky at a given time. The sky is divided into 12 signs, each of which occupies 360/12=30 degree space. Based on this division, each graha is present in one of these 12 spaces/signs. A sign can contain more than one grahas.
Regarding the popular Sun sign, you might very well know that the Sun transits each sign for around 30 days, moving one degree per day. In the Tropical Zodiac, for example, the Sun transits the sign Taurus from April 21 to May 20. (In case you are uncertain why we talk about Sun’s movement, it will help to know that Jyotish is an earth-centered science. So it assumes that the Sun moves around the Earth.) Thus, anyone born in any part of the world from April 21 to May 20 will have their Sun in Taurus.
Compared to the Sun, the Moon stays in one sign only for around one day, many times even less than a day. In other words, if the Moon is in Taurus today, it will certainly have moved to Gemini the next day. Thus, the Moon sign is related to the karma of individuals born within one day. In this sense, it is more representative of a person’s personality, karma etc. than the Sun sign. The Sun sign has its own significance but our concern here is the closeness of a particular sign to the native’s karma and individuality.
Having briefly discussed the difference, I think it is important to question whether it is reasonable to identify with one particular sign as many Sun sign enthusiasts and anyone with interest in astrology tend to do. We shall deconstruct the myth of this overenthusiastic identification with the Sun sign in a future post.