Your Sign is Your Lesson, Part 3: Sextile Support
In part one, we discussed the concept of your sun sign symbolizing the lesson that you’re here to learn in this lifetime. Then in part two, we learned to read our sun sign’s neighbors as warnings of potential pitfalls. Now that we know the lesson and what to avoid, let’s talk about where we can find support and help.
In astrology, the sextile is a 60-degree angle that connects water signs to earth signs, and fire signs to air signs. Sextiles help signs evolve by supporting their strengths. The energy of a sextile is just different enough to be energizing and stimulating, while still supportive enough to be helpful. Sextiles deserve a lot of love and are wonderful aspects because they energize and encourage our sign’s expression.
The best part is that they’re easy to find.
Since we’re working only with sun signs in this series, we’ll focus on the signs that sextile your sun sign and find out what they mean for you. Finding the sextile signs is easy—just look two signs before your sign and two signs after your sign. In other words, skip over the signs immediately before and after your sign. (We worked with the immediate neighbors in part two—now we’re looking at their neighbors.)
Let’s take a look at Aquarius, for example. The sextiles before Aquarius is Sagittarius (because Sagittarius is two signs before Aquarius), and the sextile after Aquarius is Aries (two signs after Aquarius). We basically just skipped over Aquarius’s direct neighbors Capricorn and Pisces.
Continuing with the Aquarius example, if we think back to what Aquariuses are here to learn, which is to be true to themselves even when it’s not socially acceptable to do so, then Aquarius must possess two things to complete this mission: 1) a desire for truth in the first place and 2) the courage to stick to their convictions.
This first quality—valuing truth—is described by Sagittarius, the seeker of truth. The second quality—courage—is described by Aries, the warrior. Together, they support Aquarius in its mission to courageously pioneer (Aries) new truths and new paradigms (Sagittarius) for the world. Sagittarius and Aries add their strengths to Aquarius rather than detract from it.
You can do this with any sign!
Here's a cheat sheet for sextiles and how they can support the mission of each sign:
Aries: To achieve the Aries ideal of courage and bravery, Aries must embody Aquarian independence of mind as well as Gemini’s natural restlessness, which fuels Aries’s pioneering spirit.
Taurus: Pisces instills inner peace while Cancer brings nurturing tenderness, which calms and helps Taurus to feel safe and secure. Taurus works best when it feels like it has space and is in sync with the natural rhythm of life. Boundary-less Pisces gives this space and Cancer, ruled by the ebbing and waning moon, allows Taurus to inhabit its body safely.
Gemini: Aries is perhaps the only sign that can match Gemini’s zany energy, but Aries also lends its courage to curious Gemini to persist in its mission to acquire information. Leo playfulness and friendliness also help Gemini with its interpersonal skills, which, in turn, helps it to acquire more information!
Cancer: Cozy Taurus and organized Virgo help Cancer to make home—their favorite place—beautiful, functional, and comfortable. Taurus energy is stable while Virgo energy is structured, and they help to calm and soothe the safety-seeking Cancer.
Leo: Gemini and Leo are peas in a pod when it comes to childlike enthusiasm, and Libra adds diplomacy to Leo’s charisma. Gemini’s gift of gab combined with Libra’s ability to charm make it more likely for any Leo to find their limelight.
Virgo: Blessed with the critical eye that sees all imperfections, the make-or-break quality of any Virgo is humility. Cancer’s empathy reminds Virgo that its ultimate mission is to serve and care for others, while Scorpio’s ability to see past its own BS helps Virgo to temper its critical eye with humility.
Libra: Leo and Sagittarius are both fun and energetic, which complement Libra’s sociability and boost likeability. People-pleasing Libra can too often forget itself in the process of saying and being what they think others want to see and hear, so Leo reminds Libra of its dignity and Sagittarius helps Libra remember that there are truths worth standing up for.
Scorpio: Virgo and Capricorn bring a sense of service and duty to Scorpio, which remind Scorpio to not become too self-absorbed and remember to share their insights. Scorpio can get lost in the oceanic depths of its feelings, so what better than the two most grounded structured signs to remind Scorpio to come back to the material world?
Sagittarius: Sagittarius often ends up with its foot in its mouth, therefore sweet and charming Libra helps Sagittarius learn tact and diplomacy. Libra reminds Sagittarius of the art of timing and challenges Sag to find a better way to say their truth. Aquarian detachment also supports Sagittarius’s quest for truth and higher knowledge, which, at the end of the day, is a solo pursuit.
Capricorn: Scorpio’s depth and Pisces’s spirituality provide color and meaning to Capricorn’s achievements. They help prevent Capricorn from wasting a lifetime lost in the proverbial rat race by encouraging Capricorn to find meaning and to devote their achievements towards the betterment of all.
Aquarius: The Sagittarius desire to explore and Aries’s courage help Aquarius to push the boundaries of discovery. Sagittarian seeking for truth and Aries’s energetic push and hard-headed tenacity fuel Aquarius’s drive toward innovation. Aquarius, a social air sign, also benefits from Sagittarius’s playfulness and Aries’s childlike energy.
Pisces: The grounding influence of Capricorn and Taurus help to bring floating and wafting Pisces back to earth, where they can also help Pisces to focus and translate their ideas into the material world. Capricorn brings discipline and structure—much needed for Pisces—while Taurus brings stabilizing and creative energy.
So how does this help you? How can you implement this knowledge into your everyday life?
In part 2, we talked about how knowing your weaknesses empowers you with self-awareness. Similarly, knowing how the sextiles support your sun sign gives you insights into the skills and mind states that you can develop to support you. If you’re an Aries, instead of simply telling yourself to be brave, the sextiles give you more information on how you can become more brave. The sextiling Aquarius teaches you to not crave consensus while Gemini teaches you to not be complacent—and, together, by embodying those traits, you will become more brave.
Stay tuned for part 4 where I teach you how to put it all together in the final installment!