Everyone seeks dignity, consciously or unconsciously. This value is of great importance to us all. In our personal lives and in our social circles, we strive to show to others that we are worthy of respect. Hence, dignity is synonymous with pride. We are proud of ourselves, of who we are and of what we seek to achieve. We want to be loved and respected and we wish to behave with grace and dignity (at least, most of the time). We appreciate the approval of others and when they honour us. Receiving some sort of honour, a worthwhile gratification or a carefully thought-out, fair and fitting compliment fills us with joy and builds our self-confidence. Even if dignity has been lost at some point, it can usually be reclaimed. We can regain our self-control and strength and reflect on our past actions to behave better in the future. By reclaiming our dignity, we can better accept and love ourselves. Most of us love what is beautiful and good. In this respect, to love ourselves even in the slightest way, we must look inward and see what makes us feel beautiful and look beautiful to others. How can we appreciate and love ourselves if we consider ourselves to be nothing less than rejects, or unworthy of love? As you most probably know, the Sun is a bright star enabling life to thrive on our planet. The Sun is a source of heat, light and brightness. It inspires nobleness of the heart, good health, individual radiance and dignity. When the Sun crosses a specific zodiac sign, a person born under that sign is said to be naturally influenced by the symbol of the sign. In this article, we propose an analysis of dignity considering the symbol of the Sun in the zodiac. Our purpose was to illustrate the lessons of the zodiac with respect to dignity. These lessons are appropriate for everyone, regardless of one’s zodiac sign. More precisely, we will examine twelve essential components of dignity in relation to the twelve signs of the zodiac as they are crossed by the Sun. The Sign of Aries Aries is the first sign of the zodiac. Individuals born under the influence of this sign like to forge ahead in life. They are not afraid of the obstacles they must overcome; on the contrary, they enjoy challenges. In ancient times, battering rams were actually war machines used to break down doors or stone walls. By analogy, individuals born under the sign of Aries enjoy charging ahead in life. The Sun in Aries invites us to assert our individual dignity. We must not be wary of showing our worthiness. We must not hesitate to behave with dignity, but quite the opposite: we must clearly show this value in our every action. From the astrological viewpoint, the Sun, a star of light, brightness, grace and radiance, is exalted under the sign of Aries. It shines with all its force in this first sign of the zodiac. The same goes for us; we should shine with all our strength as we go about our lives and show ourselves as highly worthy and noble in everything we undertake. In short, Aries is a sign of fire; it has drive and it is undertaking, energetic and bold. The Sun in this sign invites us to express our love for life and our dignity in every aspect of our lives The Sign of Taurus The sign of Taurus is partly associated with money. In fact, this sign is related to the goods that we accumulate or the money that we save to earn interest. Individuals born under this sign are indeed good fortune builders. Their investments are quite profitable. Pure luck is with them when they invest in real estate (houses, apartment buildings, etc.). Fortune provides financial independence and puts an end to material concerns. Ideally, fortunes are built gradually over time and through sound investment. We are invited to invest our savings wisely in sustainable goods whose value increases over time. In doing so, we can build a solid fortune for ourselves and be successful, at least at the financial level. Financial problems are a major concern for everyone. In this regard, it is better to plan the financial aspect of our lives well in advance if we are to safeguard our dignity in this field and exercise unwavering judgment when it comes to the way we spend our money. Venus is a planet at home in the sign of Taurus. Venus symbolizes beauty and beautiful things. Nothing is better than immersing ourselves in an appealing environment to appreciate life, shine with joy and love ourselves with respect and dignity. The Sign of Gemini Everyone agrees that communication, verbal or written, is an important element of self-expression allowing us to express our personality, our feelings and our entire being. Mercury, the planet that governs the sign of Gemini, presides over communication with others. We are all immersed in a world where communications are omnipresent and very important. In this respect, dignity is synonymous with clarity. To be understood and loved, we must express ourselves simply, and above all clearly. Silence, as such, can be painful, unhealthy or haunting. We should not miss any opportunity to express ourselves, especially when the time is appropriate to do so. Nothing is better than good timing to talk about projects or ideas that are fitting. We can all improve our interpersonal communication skills. We need only to increase the capacity of our brain and our neurons as much as possible. By doing so, we can better understand messages received and express ourselves fully in confidence and complete dignity in order to enhance ourselves and the people around us. In this respect, it is better to “talk than to fight”. Consequently, we manage to clear matters up, convey our needs better and solve a host of problems by talking with one another. In short, we should not hesitate to maintain good human relations and sound communication with the people around us in order to enhance the quality of life and the dignity of everyone involved. The Sign of Cancer Cancer is actually the sign of home, family and children. Cancer symbolizes affection, fertility and the Mother, while the Sun is a symbol of authority and radiance. The zodiac teaches us that children seek and genuinely need quiet authority at home within the family. Hence, parents should make sure that their children feel safe at home. Authority and safety should go hand in hand within the family. It is relatively easy to ensure the safety of our children when we love them. Parents are invited to be relatively open and understanding towards their children. Parental authority is based on the respect of children and is aimed at their welfare above all else. Fathers and mothers are considered as helping individuals. They are parties to the achievement of their children’s dreams and aspirations, ideally in a peaceful, serene, pleasant and fulfilling setting. As a result, children are likely to feel comfortable within their family. A loving environment encourages children to develop and evolve harmoniously. Hence, children feel safe to develop their early abilities and self-confidence through their first experiences. Like adults, children become increasingly aware of their individual radiance. Their emotions and sensitivity are enriched by a growing confidence in their abilities. Hence, a sound relationship of trust between children and parents is important. Children having reached adolescence still need their parents and the model that they inspire to better overcome the obstacles that cross their path. Among the many aspects of their lives, children will need to draw inspiration from their parents’ attitude when discovering the joys and pains of love. Children forge their sense of individual dignity throughout their childhood and adolescence. The Sign of Leo Love, respect and dignity go hand in hand. In this regard, the sign of Leo represents the most beautiful and most noble feeling that humans can experience: love. Authors have written abundantly about the feeling of love in songs, poems, plays, films and novels. This topic is an inexhaustible source of inspiration! Suffice it to say, love needs an appropriate setting to thrive. A great deal of dignity, mutual respect, inner beauty, honesty, interest, mutual attraction, availability and time is needed for love to last. Like the sign of Leo, strength of character, individual will and fervour of love should be at play. As the saying goes, “nothing comes easy”. Such noble feelings evoked should be genuinely felt and maintained by the two people involved. Otherwise, love tends to wither away slowly. Passion must constantly be rekindled! As Leo the king of animals loves to rule, love as such is a ruling feeling. It takes control of our entire being, overwhelms us and requires self-control. Love and creativity also go hand in hand. Once in love, a couple might decide to create their own home and have children to invest in a family. Love is obviously a source of individual radiance, dignity and fulfillment. Love enables us to give our very best, aim at excellence in everything we do and fully enjoy life in all its magnificence. To achieve these noble goals, we should be demanding and ambitious, yet patient. In this regard, we should aim high, far and accurately! The Sign of Virgo The sign of Virgo symbolizes purity and whiteness and everything that is clean, neat and flawless, like a white wedding dress. The sign of Virgo represents what is spotless. To achieve this level of purity, one must pay close attention to detail and show a great deal of discernment. In short, one must aim for excellence. The same goes for dignity: we must often strive to be perfectly worthy, pure and neat down to the last detail. This requires attention, concentration and meticulousness. Come to think of it, efforts are certainly needed to keep a garment white, clean and spotless in order to wear it. The same goes for dignity; once asserted, we must work hard to maintain it. Like a soiled garment, our reputation and individual image can be smeared. We must constantly correct our mistakes, re-establish facts and convince the people around us. At times, we even have to defend ourselves to preserve what we have gained. In this regard, we should “strike telling blows” as the saying goes. Paying close attention to detail is essential to face criticism and objection properly and resolve misunderstandings. We also need a good sense of rigour to solve our problems convincingly, efficiently and permanently. Virgo is an earth sign. Instead of losing ourselves in idle talk, we should uphold our honour, dignity and reputation through concrete words or down-to-earth images. Nothing is better than being properly understood unequivocally, clearly and precisely! In short, we should seriously see to the protection of our interests and take our responsibilities to heart at every moment in our lives and on every occasion. Lastly, it should be pointed out that we may give to others the sound advice that we give ourselves. We should readily help the people around us to preserve their dignity by giving them sound counsel. The Sign of Libra This sign symbolizes the couple, the life partner or the business partner. The Sun in Libra incites us to fulfill our potential in cooperation with the people around us. As much as the Sun in Aries represents the aspirations of “the self”, the Sun in Libra, as the opposite sign, represents the achievement of goals with the help and cooperation of others. As the saying goes, “Man is not meant to live alone”. Man must fit into a world where others take all the place that suits them and to which they are entitled. In short, this sign helps us to understand that we need others to achieve our projects. Our relationship with others should be maintained with dignity and respect for them and their values, concerns and goals. This reflects the importance of wisely choosing our partners, the people with whom we deal and those who are ready to help us and grow with us. Saturn is exalted under the sign of Libra. The planet is perfectly at ease in this sign. Saturn represents the serious, sometimes constraining aspect of associations and contracts involving two or more people. Hence, we should take the time to understand our mutual commitments and the links binding us under contract; otherwise, legal recourse is always possible. In this regard, the sign of Libra also symbolizes justice, as well as peace and harmony. When reflecting upon this, we realize that the purpose of legal action is to re-establish the dignity of one of the parties who feels wronged through a particular agreement, contract or event. As the pans of a scale swing with the addition of the slightest weight, we are sensitive to the slightest injustice whether revealed by the media or during conversations with our relatives, at which time our individual dignity is challenged. Hence, we seek solutions to solve the problems it raises. In doing so, we certainly have the opportunity to share some of our time or our goods, or to give useful advice for the sake of altruism. Nothing is better than putting generosity, leadership, creativity and enthusiasm at the service of the people around us. The Sign of Scorpio This sign symbolizes everything closely or remotely related to sex, such as ova, sperm cells, reproductive organs and the intimate relationship between two individuals. In areas such as this, human beings are encouraged to behave with dignity and better themselves. Passion undoubtedly rules in this area, but we must nonetheless exercise self-control by controlling our emotions and impulses, at least up to a certain point, in order not to be overwhelmed and not to behave inappropriately. Naturally, this is easy to say, but hard to do when passion sometimes leads us astray and off the beaten path or makes us lose control. To experience such wonderful pleasures, many people are ready to move heaven and earth with great craft and subtlety, while hiding their real intent… enough to lose their dignity! Naturally, it is always pleasant to show ourselves in our best light to the person we desire in order to offer an appetizing fruit to the beloved and to be out hunting for love. However, elementary rules such as good taste, decorum and ethics should be respected. We must behave with dignity to make sure that we do not regret approaches used, acts committed and, last but not least, false or broken promises. In any situation such as this one, we should think about the consequences of our actions by taking our responsibilities to heart and behaving honourably and with dignity. Hence, faithfulness in love readily becomes an issue to be debated: What happens after the “divine kiss”? What comes next in this new relationship? How will it end? Will it be faithful, exclusive love or just another prey later to be let down? In short, although appetites are voracious, intense and powerful in this area, we need to reflect before engaging in any sexual activity if we are to behave ethically and with dignity. The Sign of Sagittarius This sign is associated with philosophy, religion and spirituality. It is often represented by an arrow shot far into the air and to great heights. This sign refers to the higher spheres of human thought and it is conducive to discussions on philosophy and ethics. Overall, the sign of Sagittarius represents the search for dignity from every aspect for both man and woman. Generally speaking, freedom is valued highly by Sagittarians. They do not appreciate being told constantly what to do and how to behave down to the last detail. Individuals born under this sign relish their freedom and autonomy. Through this zodiac sign, there is an important lesson to be learned. To maintain personal dignity, self-esteem, self-confidence and joy in life, one should avoid being the captive of principles when they are exaggerated, inadequate or irrelevant. Not only should this captivity be avoided as such, but imposing overly stringent limitations and exaggerated constraints on ourselves and others should also be avoided. In short, we need the open air to breathe comfortably and open spaces to evolve at our leisure. There can be no dignity in human behaviour as such without considering one’s joy in life. We should fulfill ourselves completely and live in joy and happiness if we are to easily preserve our dignity. We should develop our talents and creativity and see our possibilities through. Setting personal challenges and having projects close to the heart is important. We should live the moment intensely, while anticipating wonderful moments to come! It is in this climate of personal joy, happiness, freedom, generosity, pleasure and radiance that dignity finds its best expression, within our hearts and in our relationships with others. The Sign of Capricorn In general, an individual’s radiance is based on a preparatory thinking process. To achieve our objectives, we must first determine what arouses our interest most. In addition, we have to determine the time and energy needed to do so, without overlooking the proper strategy to adopt in order to achieve our projects. In this area, preparatory reflection is a relatively slow process. Nothing should be rushed. We should proceed at our own pace as we try to see clearly within ourselves. Self-actualization requires that we first know ourselves. Dignity thrives when this process is conducted with respect for the self and for the others around us. In other words, the goals that we pursue and the objectives that we set for ourselves should be noble, rewarding and interesting for ourselves and the community. They should be worth achieving, and we should seek to achieve nothing less than interesting projects. To achieve complete self-actualization in society, we should aim high, hope to reach unparalleled heights and try to make the most of our abilities. In this lies the promise of a successful life and career. For self-actualization to last, it must only occur through honesty, grace and dignity. Naturally, climbing the social ladder entails effort, even sacrifice. Indeed, the time and financial means at our disposal are limited. We have to plan the appropriate actions to undertake and be persistent and determined to bring projects to successful completion at reasonable cost. Luckily, benefits are there to reward us for having achieved our goals. Lastly, it should be emphasized that in order to achieve a project, others must be set aside. In short, we must be highly selective in this area. We cannot bring too many projects to a favourable completion at once for want of enough time, money or energy. Considering that we are human beings, we are certainly entitled to devise a host of projects in our minds. However, we should establish our priorities and undertake only the projects that will allow us to better fulfill ourselves and share the benefits with others. The Sign of Aquarius Aquarius is an altruistic sign. It symbolizes friends, among other aspects. Friends should be chosen carefully because we may spend a great deal of time with them. We may also invest ourselves significantly in our social life. We generally enjoy good times with our friends. They are often a source of joy, enjoyment and the small pleasures in life. They even provide us with sound, useful advice. This is why they have to be chosen wisely. Their advice is often quite valuable because they are somewhat disinterested, particularly when advice is given freely. Good friends do not expect to receive money or anything else in return for their help or advice. Their advice is all the more valuable because they know us well. At times, they know us even better than we know ourselves. They have a relatively objective view of us, which can help a great deal along life’s path. Nothing is better than good, unbiased, right, useful, beneficial and relevant advice, particularly when really needed! Therefore, it is imperative to choose friends properly. They must be worthy of our interest and the time that we devote to them. It is relatively easy to choose good friends when, in our heart, we believe that we are entitled to rub shoulders with worthy, positive and radiant people who are full of joy and happiness. In fact, we are entirely free to choose the friends we like, just as they are free to choose us as friends. Follow interesting relationships based on common tastes or converging interests. Such relationships are also based on free, personal choices. Freedom requires that we believe ourselves worthy of joining friends and, in return, we should require from our friends that they also be worthy of rubbing shoulders with us. We hope that you spend wonderful times and precious moments with your friends in good spirits while experiencing joy for life! The Sign of Pisces Pisces is a water sign. It represents the sea as a vast expanse of water. Oceans cover the largest surface area of our planet. The expanse of water is almost infinite, at least at the human scale. Being alone out on the ocean provides a unique opportunity to reflect and meditate, since the sea stretches towards the horizon in every direction. In such a setting, the sea may be seen as far as the eye can gaze in all directions. Then when we look up, we see the sky as far as the eye can see. We find ourselves at the centre of an infinite space stretching in every direction, both up and down. This privileged situation fosters an intimate contact with nature and the cosmos. This contact is also conducive to self-awareness. It provides the perfect opportunity for practising meditation. Through meditation, we become aware that we were created with a brain, intelligence and a soul with which to appreciate the universe. Hence, we become aware of the greatness of our thoughts and appreciate the universe offered. Meditation is experienced in dignity. We realize that we are practically alone in the world to appreciate the power of our thoughts and the scope of our universe. Through our entire being, we become aware that human beings shine as the Sun in this universe. Naturally, we do not necessarily need to go to such lengths as travelling to the middle of an ocean to admire the cosmos, to meditate on our existence or to clear our mind. One need only lay down on a bed at night with the lights off and in relative silence. Nothing is better to rid our mind of all sorts of disturbing, irritating or unpleasant emotions. By freeing our mind of bad impressions or memories, we can start anew, recharge our batteries and feel renewed in order to pursue our journey under better conditions. Indeed, when we listen to ourselves in a relatively calm setting, bad emotions free themselves from the brain and can be replaced with positive thoughts. Then, we can find appropriate solutions to our problems. We become less emotional, calmer and more serene. As a result, our self-confidence is enhanced. We understand better what we are experiencing and what is going on around us. May you enjoy rejuvenating meditation! Conclusion In short, we certainly have a vested interest in achieving self-actualization and in considering ourselves as worthy individuals in a wide range of areas. We should consider ourselves worthy of shining like the Sun. Acknowledgements: * Rachel Elie (author) * Benedict Elie (author) benedict600@hotmail.com * Aimée LeBreton (translator) acdaimee@hotmail.com * Published by COSMIC PATTERNS SOFTWARE kepler@astrosoftware.com