One of the first things you need to learn when you start studying astrology is the meaning of all of the 12 Archetypes of the Zodiac. In this blog, I’m going to share some of my insights into each of them.
Aries – The Warrior
Brave, bold, and fiery Aries takes action. Ruled by Mars the planet of action and bravery Aries takes no prisoners and is here to lead.
Beware of the Aries tendencies for selfishness & aggressiveness and harness Aries’s direct nature, independence, and bold action-taking.
In my chart, Aries falls in my 7th house with my Pallas Athene asteroid bringing some fiery and brave searching for justice to my home life and partnership. However, it especially depicts how my husband (a Libra) and I band together as a couple to create the most harmonious life by knowing what we want and deserve and taking action to achieve it.
Embracing Aries energy helps you to get.shit.done. Take a look at where Aries falls in your chart (which house) to see where you can most effectively bring that Aries firecracker energy!
“Listen to me girl, you have castles inside your bones, coronets inside your heart, if he threatens you with battle, you raise him a whole war, the last time i checked you cower before no man”. – Nikita Gill
Taurus – The Sensualist
Steady, grounded, and yes a wee materialistic sign of the zodiac. Ruled by Venus Taurus loves pleasure, luxury, and all things premium.
Taurus can be stubborn as a bull and yes quite self-indulgent. You can tune into Taurus energy with beautiful self-care, choosing the premium options in life and business and seeking beauty in all things.
Taurus is all about luxury and self-care. Would a Taurus fill a bath with flowers and lie in it? Hell yes! Although they’d prefer someone else to do the filling! Taurus is the romantic – all about living a high-quality life full of beauty and pleasure.
Taurus wants life to be beautiful and luxurious, they aren’t exactly the backpacker tourists of the Zodiac. Staying in fancy hotels, getting their hair and make-up done, choosing the premium option – these are all distinctly Taurus traits yet somehow they still remain very grounded and steady.
Gemini – The Messenger
Oh, Gemini. You are the storyteller of the Zodiac.
So many of my clients who are in online or traditional marketing have prominent Gemini in their charts. Marketing, Copywriting, and all forms of communication were made for Gemini’s.
I have a Gemini midheaven or career zone and this accounts for the large amount of communication in my work.
Gemini is also known as the twins and Gemini’s can come across at best as having two distinct aspects to their personality and at worst not what they seem or “two-faced”.
I’ve seen this in my career I’m not one or the other – I’m strategy and soul – I’m masculine and feminine – in my approach. It’s not about choosing one but merging the two.
Gemini’s are outgoing and intelligent but can be a bit scatterbrained and find it hard to focus. They can be indecisive – “of two minds” about things.
My first daughter is a Gemini and so is my father.
Gemini is the archetype of two faces and I’m yet to see how this plays out with my daughter other than the fact she loves to talk and communicate which is a typical Gemini trait.
With my father, it sadly plays out in the extreme of this archetype. The man with two faces. The gregarious life of the party, the father who is affectionate and will always tell me he loves me, and the tortured, angry, toxic masculinity that comes out without warning.
In astrology, the archetypes can be weak or strong in the person and a lot depends on the rest of their chart and how “prominent” their sun sign actually is.
I told myself this story for so long. “Kath, you are not a speaker. Kath you don’t want to be on stage in front of hundreds of people. Kath speaking just doesn’t light you up…“
And a few years ago in San Francisco seeing a VERY prominent spiritual leader taken down whilst on stage just confirmed to my Cancer Moon that I NEVER wanted to put myself in a position where that could happen to me. And what happened to this leader could literally happen to ANYONE.
Interestingly this event, which I actually found very traumatic at the time, heralded a period of my business and myself contracting.
However, a few years ago I put myself forward to speak at a friend’s event. It was SO thrilling.
My Gemini in my 10th house and career line wants to communicate, wants to share her message, and wants to impact the masses. She wants to be seen and heard.
So it’s time to let her!
Cancer – The Nurturer
The loving mother but also the Crab who wants to retreat back into her shell.
This is the paradox of Cancer. So loving, caring, and nurturing but so easily hurt and with real tendencies to be a hermit.
Oh, Cancer I see you. I feel you.
My moon is in Cancer in the 11th House of Community. I feel the very real drive to retreat into my shell and be a hermit but truly what my soul needs is to find nurturing and support through community and I have the potential to stir the emotions of large groups of people.
Cancer is ruled by the Moon, feelings, and emotions. Cancer needs to follow the ebb and flow of energy and work with her natural cycles.
My Moon in Cancer which brings a beautiful, sensitive, and nurturing mother energy to my work with clients.
I care deeply about each and every one of my clients and I will give you both gentle and fierce mama love and help you to push past your blocks and limiting beliefs.
The moon is at home in Cancer and so I am deeply attuned to the moon cycles and I teach my clients how they can work closely with the moon for greater alignment and flow.
To learn more about the 12 archetypes of the zodiac join my Astrology Basics LIVE training happening very soon.
Leo – The Creator
Another fire sign Leo brings creativity and a desire to be seen and heard.
Leo is creative, outgoing, warm, and playful but don’t be fooled Leo also has a shadow side. Leo can be a little vain, egotistical, and showy!
Leo, you are here to create and contribute. You are here to be seen and heard.
Where does Leo fall in your chart? Check the house and you will discover where you were born to shine.
With my North Node in Leo Leadership and shining is really important to my soul evolution.
Virgo – The Healer
Not always recognized by others as the healer – Virgo seeks alignment.
Virgos are well suited to analytical healing modalities such as astrology and kinesiology as well as other grounded healing techniques like crystal work, herbalism or essential oils (tools of the earth).
Virgos are organised, responsible and altruistic but when expressing their shadow side they can become a perfectionist, critical, and even a bit obsessive. I literally can’t survive if my inbox has more than 10 emails in it. My head gets fuzzy, I feel stressed and overwhelmed. And p.s my emails are all organized into detailed folders!
I am a Virgo rising and I’ll admit I’ve been called ‘anal’, perfectionistic, and have pretty high standards. What was really freeing for me was embracing the other aspect of Virgo – the earthy healer and using my analytical gifts to embrace the very mental (as well as intuitive) modality of astrology to help others in their search for meaning (totally resonating with my Sagittarius sun but more about Sag later!).
Discovering astrology for me was like coming home and a match made in heaven all at once. It allows me to use my analytical AND healer Virgo rising, my search for meaning Sagittarius sun, and my intuitive and nurturing cancer moon.
Libra – The Diplomat.
In everything, Libra seeks harmony and balance. They are fair and have a strong sense of justice as well as a love of beauty.
My husband is a Libran – a really typical one. He hates confrontation and believes that in life everything can be really harmonious. He has been a strong part of me fighting (ironically) for the harmonious life for myself and my girls and our little family that I have always craved.
Libra wants to be fair in everything but the shadow side is that Libra can be really indecisive, and have trouble picking a side or even a dinner choice! Because Libra hates overt confrontation frustration and anger inevitably build and they can tend to be a bit passive-aggressive.
Libra needs to be encouraged to feel their anger and frustration in appropriate ways and know that it is OK to set boundaries and have their own opinion.
I have a lot of planets in Libra including Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto so Libra is a strong archetype in my overall soul blueprint.
With Pluto in Libra in the 1st house, there is a lot of energy around disruptive and even violent relationships. My deepest need and desire is for safety and security in a relationship as well as personal empowerment and strength. I’m pleased to say I found this in my Libran husband who is gentle and kind but also strong and encourages my independence and claiming of myself.
A key theme for me is balance. Balancing work and home. Freedom and Responsibility. Spending and saving. Joy and Pain.
Scorpio – The Alchemist
Scorpio is about deep, soul-level transformation. Scorpio is passionate, intense, and perceptive.
The Phoenix rising from the ashes.
I have a lot of Scorpio in my chart with Venus, Uranus, and Mercury in Scorpio in the 2nd house. This means that as part of who I am especially through my business, my path is to transform, burn things down, rise from the ashes, to reinvent myself over and over.
I’m not here to live on the surface of life, I’m here to dive to the depths and tackle the hard things in life – Bravery, Courage, the search for meaning, power, money, violence, women’s rights, and empowerment.
I am ever-evolving and ever-deepening.
Scorpio can be destructive, jealous, and vindictive at her worst and so Scorpio has a bit of a bad name in popular astrology.
Represented by the scorpion yes Scorpio has a biting tongue. My sister is a Scorpio and she was the sibling in our house who would yell, swear, and OMG hold a grudge for eons! She is a force to be reckoned with! She’s also amazing in many ways so you know #balance
Scorpio reminds me that not all healing is the light and pretty goddess kind. Some healing is deep, complex, painful but importantly transformational.
I have to learn to integrate the Scorpio in my birth chart – with 3 planets in Scorpio, it is a big part of who I am but not necessarily a part that has come easily to me.
I find anger – both my own and others’s hard to deal with, I find anger very painful and my experience of it as a child was it being very destructive. I have a difficult relationship with power, particularly toxic masculinity.
Scorpio is ruled by Pluto and part of Pluto’s domain is power. I feel that my planets in Pluto are very significant to my evolution.
To learn more about the 12 archetypes of the zodiac join my Astrology Basics LIVE training happening very soon.
Sagittarius – The Explorer
Oh, Sagittarius I simply cannot say a bad word about you!
Now that might be because I have a Sagittarius sun but let’s be serious everyone loves a Sag!
Who wouldn’t want to be the explorer of the zodiac, the globetrotter, the philosopher, the guide?
Well, my husband for a start but that’s another discussion altogether!
If I have to say something bad about Sag well they can be a little lazy (ahem!) but I like to call it “chilled” or “discerning”, they are absolutely restless (seriously when am I next hopping on a plane??!!) and yes they can be very direct and tactless (it gets me into trouble on the regular!). I’m told they can be unfocused but luckily my Virgo rising and Mars in Capricorn takes care of that.
So now let me tell you all the good things – we are adventurous, optimistic, and enthusiastic, we are wanderers and on a constant search for meaning. We want to know the meaning of life even if it takes a lifetime.
So I guess in retrospect we might not be the easiest people to be married to but I think our good traits go a long way!
If there is something I know about being a Sag (ittarian) it is that we LOVE to travel. We get itchy feet and are the perfect digital nomads unless like me you have some other elements that create a need for a stable base.
I am always planning my next trip both for work and with my family. There is never enough travel, exploration, or expansion of my reality.
Sagittarius is represented by the archer. As a fire sign, Sagittarius has a lot of drive, is blessed by the luck of its ruling Planet Jupiter, and is very willing to take risks. Jupiter is the planet of luck, abundance, and expansion so for a Sagittarius sun person anything that expands their reality is going to help them shine – be it travel, study, philosophizing, or teaching (or preaching!).
I’ve always felt very connected to my sun sign in Sag but before studying astrology I was a little confused about some of the contradictions in me – like part of me would have loved to be a hippie digital nomad yet I ended up with a mortgage, husband and two kids living the traditional life – yes there is a reason and it’s all in my chart but I do feel my Sag if it is too long between overseas trips or studying something new!
Capricorn – The Ruler
The Mountain Goat climbing that metaphorical mountain, slow but steady will get you there.
The Master – ruled by Saturn it’s all about your great work, structure, and responsibility.
Sometimes I feel a little sad for Capricorns because life can be a little bit too serious.
They are hard-working, responsible, and ambitious – Capricorns are going somewhere and by hell or high water they are going to do it.
In Capricorn I see the work-a-holic because unlike Aries whose fire and action is short-lived – Capricorn keeps going and going until burnout forces them to take a break.
Let me be clear. No sign is a bad one and if you are an entrepreneur you will be hoping that you have some planets in Capricorn to help with your drive, action, and motivation!
Part goat and part fish – Capricorns are one of the most successful astrology chart signs if we look at the traditional meaning of success in business. Capricorn doesn’t have time for the ‘woo’ – it’s all about structure and focus. – facts and figures.
My Mars (planet of bravery and action) falls in Capricorn on my chart – it helps to explain why I am able to take so much consistent and long-term action and also my penchant for structure and systems! But I need to watch out the Mars-Capricorn connection makes burnout a very real issue!
Aquarius – The Maverick
Aquarius of the sign of the Innovator and the Humanitarian. They are the water bearer and The future maker.
I have quite a few Aquarius clients who really struggle to connect with their Aquarius sun.
The feeling I’m getting is that they need to claim this amazing sign of the zodiac. They need to claim this amazing part of themselves. The entrepreneur who is here to do big things, new things, innovative things, things that help humanity as a whole.
And yes that’s a big role to claim.
Cafe astrology describes Aquarius:
“Symbolically and eternally giving life and spiritual food to the world. The water from the vessel washes away the past, leaving room for a fresh, new start. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The sign of Aquarius is forward-looking and growth-oriented. Concerned with equality and individual freedom, Aquarius seeks to dispense its knowledge, and its vision of equality and individuality, to all.”⠀
My main link to Aquarius is through my south node. Our south node – a mathematical point on our chart – is thought to be our comfort zone or if you believe in past lives (I do) it represents your most recent past life (or lives) and the skills and experiences that you have mastered.
For most of us, we need to move from our south to north node, from our comfort zone to our soul purpose however as always in astrology there are complexities. Some peoples node are harmonious and work together and support each other and others provide challenge and tension.
Mine are quite harmonious and they allow me to move in between them as well as integrate them into a larger whole.
I’ve worked in aid and development in the past (very Aquarian) and my work in future online technology is very much an Aquarian pursuit but over time it has started to feel like a comfort zone or a point of stagnation that I need to be careful not to be forever trapped in. It also explains why I was so drawn to astrology – Aquarius rules astrology.
Pisces – The Mystic
The not quite here on earth cosmic wanderer.
Pisces you are creative, intuitive, mystical, and spiritual.
You can be a bit vague, seem a little lost (because you are), and you can tend to try to escape the realities of life here on earth. You are not the most practical of the signs that’s for sure.
But what would the world be without you? Not worth living in, that’s for sure because we need your hippie boho spirit in our world.
The sign of Pisces is represented by the fishes. Swimming in opposite directions and that’s often how Pisces feels – being pulled in different directions. Pisces really wants to be up in the cosmos, connecting with source energy, meditating, or creating but they are often told that is not the way they should live or they feel unable to live that way due to material needs.
My first astrology mentor is a Pisces. I told her early on “I’m so jealous of you I wish I had more Pisces in me”. I said this because it reflected my not feeling “spiritual enough” or not being the “right sign” to be an astrologist.
My mentor said to me “Kath I wish I had more of your Sag fire and your Virgo rising organization!” She then reminded me that Virgo among other things is the sign of the earthy healer.
And what I’ve come to realize over time is that firstly there is no “ideal” sign and our chart is activated by many of the 12 signs of astrology and secondly that my mentor and I each bring amazing, but very different, gifts to our astrology work.
Pisces in my chart is right on my DC line or my relationship line. In business astrology, we see the DC line as being representative of your soul clients, and over time I’ve realized that I’m here to support the soulful, spiritual, mystical creatives of this world by bringing my fire and earthy healing yet also very much speaking their language.
Learn more
I hope you enjoyed my explanation of the 12 archetypes of the zodiac as well as how they play out in my own chart and life. To learn more about the 12 archetypes of the zodiac join my FREE Astrology Basics Course.