Sally Cragin - Astrology on the Cusp: Birthdays on the Edge of Two Signs

About the Author

Sally Cragin (Massachusetts) is an astrologer and author who has published articles on astrology in newspapers across the country. She has written the astrology column for the Boston Phoenix since 1998, and can be heard live Mondays on WCRN-AM in the Worcester/Boston area. She is also a theater and arts critic for the Boston Globe .

Visit Sally Cragin online at
http://theastrologicalelements. blogspot.com/.

Copyright Information

Astrology on the Cusp : Birthdays on the Edge of Two Signs 2012 by Sally Gragin

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First e-book edition 2011

E-book ISBN: 978-0-7387-3257-2

Book design by Donna Burch

Cover art: Zodiac wheel iStockphoto.com/Baris Simsek, Texture PhotoDisc

Cover design by Ellen Lawson

Interior charts by the Llewellyn Art Department

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Dedication

This book is dedicated to everyone born on the cusp

and those who love them.

Contents

: How to Use This Book

: The Twelve Sun Signs

: Aries - Taurus Cusp

: Taurus - Gemini Cusp

: Gemini - Cancer Cusp

: Cancer - Leo Cusp

: Leo - Virgo Cusp

: Virgo - Libra Cusp

: Libra - Scorpio Cusp

: Scorpio - Sagittarius Cusp

: Sagittarius - Capricorn Cusp

: Capricorn -Aquarius Cusp

: Aquarius - Pisces Cusp

: Pisces -Aries Cusp

Acknowledgments

This book emerged from a chapter that didnt make it into my first book, The Astrological Elements. Trust me, this was a good decision! As I was writing about people born on the cusp, I realized many clients, plus folks who came to reading, were eager to read a book just for them. No one I met felt they were exactly like their Sun sign, or the adjacent cusp. So thanks to everyone who asked me: So when is that book coming out?!

Here is that book. It has been a long time coming and many thanks to my family: my husband Chuck Warner, and our children Christopher T and Jet Beatrix. I am so grateful for your love and support. And a big thanks to my mom, Janet Cragin, who supported this project in so many ways, especially helping to provide a slice of time, space, and quiet for me to get on with it. My love and gratitude to you all. Thank you also to Pat and Dick Warner, Anne, Pat, Jillian and Amelia Costello, my Ingwersen family, and Hal, Lucie, Austin, Colin, and Benjamin Cragin. Special thanks to Gemini cousin Susan Cragin for her editing skills. Thanks also to my mom writer friends who helped provide enthusiasm and opportunities for writing: Gayane Seppelin, Laura Douglas, and Sarah Klapprodt.

Thanks to Susan Lozier, the director of Fitchburgs Maverick Street Preschool, where Jet is a pupil. I was fortunate to write part of this book upstairs in a nineteenth- century schoolhouse with happy children, including my own, playing and learning downstairs.

I am fortunate to live in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, among artists, writers, dancers, and actors. Huge thanks to my friend, Mayor Lisa A. Wong. Her leadership and advocacy for the arts make our city a creative, vibrant, and eclectic place to live.

Thanks to the late Clif Garboden, my longtime editor at the Boston Phoenix and a dear friend who helped midwife my column, Moon Signs, back in 1998. I am grateful to have been his student.

Finally, thanks to those of you who let me interview you for this book. Cusps rule!

INTRODUCTION

Some Observations about Cuspy Signs

Do you feel betwixt and between? Being born on the cusp is more common than you might think. More than 20 percent of all birthdays are cuspy birthdays. If youre within that population and interested in astrology, you have an exciting research project. You get to become an expert on not one, but two signs.

Daunting? Not really. The system of astrology provides ample literature and data on each of the twelve signs, and signs have similarities as well as differences. In my first book, The Astrological Elements , I divided the twelve signs into their constituent elements: fire, earth, air, and water, each of which has three signs. I wanted readers to learn about those four elements. That way, they could see that fire signs initiate, earth signs acquire, air signs communicate, and water signs might live through their senses in a way different from the other three.

So prepare to immerse yourself into a fascinating brew composed of combinations of fire, earth, air, and water! I have tried to be precise about identifying when a sign concludes, and the next sign begins, but you should know that the ingress (moment a planet enters the next sign, in this case the Sun) day changes from year to year. Depending on your year of birth, you could literally be one sign or another, depending on the year in which you were born. Some of the signs are highly variable as to boundaries, so cuspy can refer to someone on the very end of a sign (28 to 29 degrees), or just barely into the next sign (0, 1, or 2 degrees). I have had some interesting clients with a birthday at the very end of a sign. Its easy to conjecture that when they were in the womb, they were determined not to be the next sign. Or that their mom didnt want them to be the next sign and, therefore, went into labor at the first possible moment.

Now, Ive also had clients who are at zero, one, two, or three degrees of a sign, and sometimes their gestation ran a little late. Clients born at the end of a sign sometimes have growing-up experiences that make them seem older than they are, too. Ive also had clients born at the beginning of the sign who show precocity in unusual areas.

What about extreme prematurity? As the twentieth century wore on, it became more and more common for premature babies to survive at thirty weeks, twenty-five weeks, and even less than half of their expected gestation. Now, thats a huge gap between what sign you thought the universe wanted the child to be, and the sign that the universe thought the child should be. My niece is a Pisces, and she was born at twenty-two weeks. So despite having been expected in May she is an absolutely classic Pisces fish: sensitive, appreciative, and empathetic toward the downtrodden, prone to procrastination, but also capable of great sympathy. I cant imagine her as a Taurus!

So whether youre born on the cusp, or you love someone born on the cusp, I hope youll find useful information here. And let me know what you think. I spoke to dozens of people during the two years of work on this book and was always struck by how insightful cuspy folks are about their so-called divided self. My view: you get twice as much of the good stuff, and half as much of the difficult stuff. But thats up to you!