How Your Sign Changes As You Age

You might struggle to identify with your sun sign for all sorts of reasons: Maybe you were born on a "cusp" (during a transitional point in the sun's movements through the signs), or perhaps you've only heard bad (or totally false) claims about your sign's personality. Then again, you might feel disconnected from your sun sign for a totally different reason — and that's perfectly normal, too.

As all-purpose as our sun sign is made to seem by mainstream astrologers, it actually serves a much more specific function. This sign can tell us more about who we're going to become than who are right now.

If you've never heard of your sun sign described as such, it's the sign that the sun was in at the moment of your birth — and probably the first sign you ever learned you had. Most people choose which horoscope to read based on their sun sign (although there are other, equally valid approaches), and if someone ever asks you, "What's your sign?" at a bar, they're most likely asking about your sun sign.

Athena Perrakis, PhD, founder and CEO of Sage Goddess, puts it this way: "Your sun sign is the sign you came to become." In other words, she adds, "Most people reach the most evolved version of that sign in the later years of their lives."

So, if the sun was in Virgo when you were born, that's your sun sign. Even if you were never particularly Virgo-like as a young person, you'll likely grow to have more habits or quirks that are in line with a Virgo personality profile.

It's no coincidence that, in general, we gain a better understanding of who we are and what we want to accomplish as we age. It simply takes time to reach that point of self-knowledge. Many astrologers, including Annie Heese, suggest that this increased sense of purpose and self is actually proof that you're settling into your sun sign. That sign's likes and dislikes will come to affect the major decisions and changes you make in your life. For example, someone with the sun in Virgo will likely reach adulthood and realize that they prefer a stable home base where they can connect with nature, rather than a lifestyle that requires a lot of travel with little room for control.

Not to be confused with your north node, which also has a say in where you're going in life, your sun sign should be treated like a compass. Learning what makes that sign tick — and, more importantly, accepting that you have at least some of those traits, too — will help you determine what challenges you'll overcome and what lessons you will learn.

That Virgo we mentioned earlier will probably spend their early life fighting for control, because they fear what will happen when they let someone else take the reigns. By the time they hit middle age, they'll understand that they don't need to clamor for power when they can let their natural leadership skills shine through, while trusting that others know what they're doing.

Whether you completely identify with your sun sign or not, you will probably come to feel at home in it — you just might need a few more years.

Now, we want to hear from you. Do you absolutely adore your sun sign? Do you feel like certain positive traits tend to get glossed over in horoscopes? Or, do you totally hate how your sign is normally portrayed? Tell us what you love — and hate — most about your sign for a chance to be featured in a future R29 story. Click through below to fill out our brief survey.