GoddessArtemis said:
So what happens to people born on Feb. 18...are they Aquarius one year, Pisces next? Honestly, this friend of mine born on Feb. 18th is very Aquarian in his trait(s), not very much a Pisces at all. He was born in the a.m. EST, so maybe that's why he's still retaining the water-bearer's qualities. Still, it gets confusing.
GA
Well to start with the easy bits;
If the Sun is in Aquarius when he was born he's a Sun Aquarius birth full stop. The time of the Pisces ingress for future years has no effect on that, though it clearly will have an effect on the timing of his solar return (which will always be aat the same degree of Aries that it was when he was born)
The less easy bits:
You assume that his character is entirely deternined by his Sun sign. It is not. That's one of the things Dave and I are trying to get across - other planetary placements and the Ascendant and MC can more than outweigh the Sun in any particular chart. So he could have been born Sun Pisces, but the rest make him a Sanguine/melancholic type
Also as we grow old our Sun moves by secondary progression through the zodiac, arguably adding layers onto it's natal characteristics. At age 30 your Sun will have moved by progression 30 degrees on (approx) so if you were born at, say 15 degrees Cancer, your progressed Sun will be around 15 degrees Leo. Now that's an arguable stance and it's not one that I heavily subscribe to at all but you will find a lot lf Astrologers who will look at the progressed planets for a character reading for an adult. It appeals to modern approaches because it embodies the modern ideas of progress and change - personal development is the buzz phrase.
t.town.troy,
Quite a few astrologers would nod in agreement with that (though where the line is placed is arguable). There are others who would say that even at 29 degres 59.9 minutes of Aquarius it is still Aquarius and not in any way Pisces, till it reaches 0 degrees exactly of Pisces.
Personally I don't think there's much point in that argument because in the last three or four degrees of a sign Mercury is either in the same sign or the next one. It's likely that this also applies to Venus (though it could be two signs behind (less likeky or two signs in front (more likely). So a person with Sun at 29 degrees Aquarius could have Mercury and Venus in Pisces, or could have them in Aquarius. This could produce two different character traits The other placements are of course important but I'm trying to show that the Sun is not the be all and end all fo Astrology.
When Dave has finished wth Miss Piggy (or vice versa) perhaps we could try some Astrology WITHOUT the Sun, just to make us think about those other pesky planets.