What It Means to Be One Sign Versus Another

RECENTLY, A FRIEND WROTE THIS TO ME...

"I have a question for you. ... it makes me wonder. Perhaps you will have some thoughts. How does being born premature affect you? I should have been born in August and be a Leo...but I was born in late May making me a Gemini. Does this affect me? If so how. Also, my fiance is a Leo, how does affect the 2 of us? If I am supposed to be Leo but I'm Gemini, do I have Leo traits and how do 2 Leos fair in relationships? Have always wondered about this and I guess you would be the person to ask. Thanks for your time!"

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Have you ever wondered what difference it makes (if any) to be, say, Cancer versus Sagittarius? 

If so, then here's my answer to that question (as posed by my friend) and answers to the other questions that she asked (above)..... 

FIRST, A CAVEAT

Different astrologers have different answers for such questions, so please bear in mind that I can't "represent" for each and every astrologer on this here planet.

HOW GREAT THOU ART: YOUR “FACULTY ADVISOR” IN LIFE… AND YOU

Imagine God (or Goddess, or the Cosmic Wow, or whatever you might call a higher power) as your faculty advisory at college. You and G / G / CW / etc. are sitting down to sort out what sort of lessons you're going to study at college--in which areas you might choose to do enough to basically get by (but otherwise not focus so much on), in which ones you might especially challenge yourself to learn all you can, etc.

MAP STUDY

I think of your birth chart as being a map of symbols that indicate what sort of college study (read: lifetime) you and a higher power agreed to before you "enrolled in school" (that is, before you took your first breath).

So in that sense, I would certainly say that it affects you that you're Gemini rather than Leo.

In any particular person’s birth chart (based on her or his specific time, date, and place of birth), the Sun symbols her or his identity (in a word). 

With your Sun being in Gemini (or in everyday parlance, since “you’re Gemini”), you’re here in this life, here on this planet, to learn--and hopefully master---Variety. You’re here to sample as many new places, and people, and things as possible, as if you were playing a verrrrrrry long game of Beat The Clock.

YOU VERSUS THE CLOCK … (AND PERSONALLY, I’M BETTING ON YOU :-)  )

Now, yes, we’re all playing Beat The Clock to some extent because we all have Gemini somewhere in our charts. However, for you, your very identity (the Sun) is riding on it because you have the Sun in Gemini. That is, playing Beat The Clock from the cradle to the grave is crucial for you to have a clear, solid, stable, adequate working sense of who you are. It’s crucial for you to have an adequate sense of basic life energy about you. It’s crucial for you to feel good about yourself.  

With the Sun in Gemini, you have certain sorts of resources at your disposal during your life (or during this life, if you believe in reincarnation)—resources that can help you emerge victorious against the Clock. 

There are certain hazards (such as boring yourself through repetition or sameness, spreading yourself too thinly, etc.) that you’d do well to avoid, though you can choose to fall for them or settle for them if you want. 

Likewise, there are certain strategies that can help you achieve glorious success by the time that you walk across that Big Graduation Stage in the Sky. You can act like a teacher, juggler, journalist, witness, networker, and so on.  

IN AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE: YOU AS A LEO

If you had been born under the sign of Leo (say, in an alternate universe), then you would instead be studying toward getting a degree in Joyfulness--in celebrating life and yourself, and expressing what people call "personality" or a certain "stage presence" if you will.

Now, in case you're wondering if you are sentenced to a life of Utter Joylessness because you aren't Leo, dismayeth not, fair mad-mwah-zelle. We're all studying Joyfulness in some parts of our lives. You just have something other than your core identity or life force riding on it.

What you have riding on it has to do with gracefully letting go (or struggling in vain against) circumstances that are simply beyond your power to change in life. You’re learning to achieve Joyfulness (including a sense of pride or self-respect) through “letting go and letting God” (“God, grant me the serenity…”) / doing acts of kindness for others / pursuing activities in relative seclusion… that sort of thing.

DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE… OR DOUBLE TROUBLE?: THE CHOICE IS YOURS

The fact that you’re Gemini also affects the natural chemistry between you and your fiancé.

Now, my philosophy is that there is no combination of two people in this world that is so disastrously difficult that if they couldn't possibly ever achieve something glorious together.

Whether they ever catch even a fleeting, distant glimpse of anything that looks like it could possibly be the edge of glory...

... or they peer over the edge while keeping themselves safely (and truly happily) on this side of the edge...

... or (again, truly happily) they take their chances...

...depends on two things:

1. whether they choose to "go there" (in the first place)
2. assuming that they do choose to go there, whether they also choose to make enough effort, approach life with some sense of humor, maintain a modicum of humility (not humiliation!), and act with what  I'll will call "maturity" (some self-discipline, self-restraint, etc.) ... both today, tomorrow, and beyond... both when it's easy and when it's anything but easy to do so... to make it work. 

By the same token, I also firmly believe that there's no combination of two people in this world whose natural chemistry is so glorious that they couldn't make a royal mess of it, through their action / inaction. 

Again, the choice is theirs to make.

HIT ME AGAIN?

Does that (at least sort of) answer your questions? 

If not, please fire another round at me (gently, of course ;-)  ).