All right, you've started working on an application and you know, just know, that you need a personality with as many effective and deep-rooted traits as possible -- because come on, folks, lets face it, having three sentences and a tagline stating "he is very complicated with many twists and turns in his personality" just doesn't cut it. So how do you pull off a human-seeming personality with effective foils instead of painful contradictions? Easy, the same way Kelli Fox pays her rent: astrology.

You probably already know about the Sun Sign, that marvellous thing one uses when flipping to the back of a magazine to find one's horoscope. Because of the growing trend in main-stream horoscoping, professional astrologers have been known to refer to the Sun Sign as the "outer mask," or, in other words, what you project to people around you or what people expect to see when they look at you. As you can imagine, since the Sun Sign has become a physical mask, it quite probably has the absolute least to do with anyone's inner personality.

The inner personality falls normally in two places: the Moon Sign and the Ascendant or Rising Sign. The Moon Sign is your inner mask, representing your emotional responses. The Moon influence is more subtle than the Sun Sign -- how often have you known someone parading around and proclaiming their typified Aries-ness or Sagittarius-ness? -- because its effects are all felt internally. The Ascendant is core nature of any individual, and concentrates on temperament, health, and how you react to those around you. It represents inner strength and physicality.

Keep in mind, however, that some professional astrologers swap the influence of the Sun and Rising Signs, and this is why it's most important to look at how all three signs meld together as a whole. Every character should have these three Signs; the Houses and Planetary Aspects can add depth to a personality, but as they vary from individual to individual, we'll just concentrate on the Sun, Moon, and Rising for now.

The first way to look at the three personal signs interact is to take their elemental nature into account. This is another trick people know, but unfortunately they only know a few small bits, like Aries equalling fire. There's more to just that, however, and we'll break it down here. The twelve signs in the western Zodiac are separated into the four elemental influences of Fire, Air, Earth, and Water. These are called "triplicities," because each element is associated with three signs. Fire signs, as every fire-sphere hopeful is sure to know, are Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius (sidenote: note the spelling. One G, double Ts. This is *important*) and reflect action orientation. Air signs are Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius (yes, Aquarius is an Air sign. Not water) and reflect thinking and communication skills. Earth signs are Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn and reflect practicality and common sense. Water signs are Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces and deal with emotions and intuition.

Even beyond what a certain sign might mean on its own, you should also think about its position and its element as it relates to other signs in a chart. So class, keeping in mind what the Sun Sign, Moon Sign, and Rising Sign represent as well as elemental influences, we're going to go into what the signs all mean individually.

FIRE:

Aries: Energetic, innovative, pioneering, assertive, quick-tempered, ambitious, agressive, competitive, enthusiastic, self-assured, original, self-reliant, extroverted.

Leo: Ambitious, extroverted, honorable, dignified, confident, exuberant, flamboyant, charismatic, a leader, proud, optimistic, speculative, dramatic, competitive.

Sagittarius: Idealistic, optimistic, casual, enthusiastic, outspoken, restless, optimistic, buoyant, philosophical, freedom-loving, studious, direct, honest, loyal.

AIR:

Gemini: Flexible, versatile, restless, changeable, sociable, logical, agile, intellectual, quick-witted, alert, lively, literary.

Libra: Idealistic, peaceable, diplomatic, refined, poised, gracious, courteous, fair-minded, charming, creative, cooperative, indecisive.

Aquarius: Individualistic, progressive, unique, independent, humanitarian, scientific, altruistic, perceptive, visionary, intellectual, logical, inventive, unpredictable, detached.

EARTH:

Taurus: Cautious, stubborn, determined, efficient, persistent, introverted, conservative, conventional, materialistic, stable, industrious, dependable.

Virgo: Practical, responsible, sensible, logical, analytical, discriminating, careful, precise, punctual, dedicated, critical, perfectionist, planning.

Capricorn: Ambitious, organizational, self-disciplined, thrifty, prudent, conservative, responsible, methodical, political, rigid, entrepreneurial.

WATER:

Cancer: Introverted, reserved, emotional, sensitive, moody, sympathetic, retentive, domestic, maternal, protective, quiet, calm, traditional, conscientious.

Scorpio: Intense, determined, powerful, forceful, courageous, enduring, competitive, investigative, secretive, mysterious, self-reliant, closed, resourceful.

Pisces: Receptive, supersensitive, impressionable, sympathetic, serious, charitable, compassionate, artistic, creative, dreamy, dedicated, shy, introverted, spiritual, reclusive.

With this information in hand, you should be able to build yourself a nice elemental framework to work with which can then be expanded into a full-fledged personality. If you'd like more detailed information, however, please join us for the next class on Houses and Aspects.