In astrology, the position of the sun at the time of your birth determines your sun sign or, as it's more commonly known, your star sign. The sun is deemed very important in astrology; it rules willpower and ego and is fundamental to who a person is and what they're about.

The position of the other planets at the time you were born also has an effect on how you behave, but it's the sun's position, over all the other planets' positions, that is taken into account when determining a person's character.

Elements

There are 12 star signs, and each star sign belongs to an "element." The elements are Fire, Earth, Air and Water: Aries, Leo and Sagittarius are Fire signs; Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn are Earth signs; Gemini, Libra and Aquarius are Air signs; and Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces are Water signs. There are basic personality types for each element, and each element reflects a quality of human nature. Fire represents the physical, Earth the practical, Air the intellectual and Water the emotional.

So for example, it's probable that someone born under the sign of Virgo will go about things in a more practical way than, say, someone who's born under the sign of Gemini, who will use his or her intuition to work through situations. But while people born under the signs of the same element will be concerned with the basic human nature quality associated with that group, the position of the sun at the time of their birth will bestow on them different, additional traits.