Vanessa Montgomery - Cosmic Power: Ignite your light: a simple guide to sun signs for the modern mystic

Have you ever met anyone who didnt know their sign? Even the I dont believe in it sceptics will be able to tell you their sign, by which, of course, we mean your star or zodiac sign or, as astrological experts call it, your Sun sign.

When you read your horoscope in a magazine or online, its based on your Sun sign.

The sky is divided by astrologers into 12 equal zones, each one correlating to a zodiac sign. As the Earth orbits the Sun, the Sun moves through those sections and appears in a particular zodiac portion of the sky each month. The month you were born determines which zodiac, or Sun, sign you fall under.

SUN SPOT The word horoscope means view of the hour or observing hour. It comes from the Greek hora, meaning hour, and skopos meaning view or observer.

Your horoscope also known as your astrology chart or birth chart focuses on your Sun sign, but is also influenced by your rising sign, Moon sign and other factors. The headliner, though, is the Sun sign. Your Sun sign reveals how and where you shine: your solar power, your flair and confidence. It is the reflection of the cosmic power hidden inside you. This book reveals how to hone in on your Sun sign, showing you how to unlock your cosmic power and purpose, and how to develop your full potential.

To live your best life, you need to identify and max out the positive traits associated with your sign. Learning about your sign forms a framework for self-exploration and can prove remarkably validating. As we are all unique, you will find that you resonate more with some of the traits associated with your sign than others thats great. Defining your individual Sun sign is about finding your unique shine from within and radiating it out.

The 12 Sun signs are based on a foundation of archetypes and symbolism, each sign resonating in its own unique way. It is helpful to learn about all these elements and how they are reflected in your sign, so that you can dial them up or down as you ebb and flow, and as situations demand different parts of yourself to come to the fore.

How to use this book

From the mundane to the mystic, this book is designed as a guide to help you discover and release your shine. It is divided into four sections.

Part 1 is all about the Sun, what it represents, and why it is imperative to own your shine and amp your cosmic power.

Part 2 illuminates the pitfalls that have the potential to throw shade on your shine, so you can spot imbalance and get back to glowing up and showing up.

Part 3 reveals where you shine. Its an easy guide that explains how the Sun (through the houses) represents different areas of your life. It also explains the association of each sign with its element and mode.

Part 4 is divided into the 12 Sun signs from Aries through to Pisces. Youll discover what makes each one shine and what can dim its light. Youll also understand how the signs correlate to crystals, yoga poses, mantras and beyond to align, amplify and balance your best self.

To delve further into astrology and learn how to read a birth chart by using the planets, signs, houses and aspects, pick up a copy of my book Star Power: A Simple Guide to Astrology for the Modern Mystic.

To introduce you to the power of the Sun, this reference section gives you an outline of the main qualities you can derive from radiating this beacon of light. Refer to it as you work through the book, until all the meanings become clear.

It includes yoga poses, mudra controlled hand gestures that guide the bodys energy to specific parts of the brain and pranayama breathing sequences. For more information on yoga and yoga styles and poses, go to the British Wheel of Yoga (bwy.org.uk) or Yoga Journal (yogajournal.com).

CONSCIOUS AWARENESS Ego and superego Ego strength Identity Self-esteem Personality Life-force/vitality Creative self-expression Confidence Courage Pride Active Integration Divine spark Self-actualization

GLYPH

ORBIT about 1 year

IN EACH SIGN FOR about 1 month

APPARENT ORBITAL SPEED 1 degree per day (each sign is 30 degrees)

OTHER NAMES Sol, Helios

SOUNDS LIKE I am me, my, mine

If the Sun were a person Theyd be a monarch, CEO, president or leader someone in charge. The sign the Sun was in at your time of birth embodies the type of monarch you are and indicates the direction of your path of self-actualization.

Healthy expression Humbly confident, courageous, purposeful, life-affirming, vibrant, strong-willed, incorruptible, wholehearted, loving, warm, consistent, generous, shows up.

Shadow expression (too much or too little) Egotistic, arrogant, selfish, weak-willed, fearful, low self-esteem, low self-confidence, self-doubting, competitive, comparative, inconsistent.

BODY PART heart

ENERGY ultra yang

CHAKRA solar plexus

YOGA POSES backbends, spinal twists, salute to the Sun series (Surya namaskar)

MUDRA Sun mudra (Surya mudra)

MANTRA ram (pronounced rum), followed by om

PRANAYAMA lions breath

SYMBOLS solar disc, the cosmic eye, lion or lioness, salamander, radiating sun beams

METAL gold

COLOURS yellows, gold

FLOWERS chrysanthemum, sunflower, calendula

HERBS St Johns wort, mistletoe, turmeric, saffron

GEMS/CRYSTALS diamond, ruby, citrine, gold topaz, amber, tigers eye, gold calcite

TAROT Sun card

IMPORT COSMIC POWER BY

• Wearing bright colours
• Sunbathing and sungazing
• Wearing gold
• Adopting yoga poses that twist and open your chest and solar plexus
• Chanting ram om while visualizing golden yellow light expanding and radiating from your core
• Holding your fingers in the Sun mudra position

MAINTAIN AND BUILD YOUR COSMIC POWER BY

• Setting and maintaining healthy boundaries
• Challenging yourself
• Doing and learning things that build pride and self-esteem
• Being authentic to your inner feeling, voice, vision, opinions, desires and motivations
• Staying in alignment with your values
• Forging genuinely reciprocal relationships with people who love and value you for who you are
• Being open and vulnerable with people who have earned your trust
• Approaching life wholeheartedly, creatively and with authenticity
• Connecting with your internal world and energy through meditation, mindfulness and yoga
• Cultivating the life force with systems like QiGong and QiKung

Lets take a step back. Our solar system was formed when a nebula of interstellar gas and dust collapsed 4.5 billion years ago. The Sun is at the heart, with the planets and asteroids fringing out to the edges. Our Sun also has an orbit. It takes about 230 million years, called a cosmic or galactic year, for the Sun taking all the planets and our solar system with it like an entourage to orbit a supermassive black hole at our galactic centre.