Nearly everyone has heard of the signs of the zodiac, mostly through "sun-sign astrology" columns, where the signs are taken as major determinants of the personality. In fact, in natal astrology, the use of signs is much more modest. The zodiac signs are considered to modify or color the energies of the major planets (not just the Sun), bringing out certain traits of a planet, inhibiting others, but without wholly changing that planetary energy. Astrologers also view the zodiac as the archetype of "cycles" and "cyclic time", the signs being phases or levels of development within the entire cycle.
