Learning Astrology Basics with Harry Potter
An easy way to understand what really means the Sun in all Zodiac signs
If you love astrology, you’ll probably know a few things. Firstly, astrology is NOT the magazine’s horoscopes. Secondly, it’s more complicated than it seems. You may have been frustrated studying your natal chart with all the unintelligible figures, so, it would be a good idea to return to the basics: the sun in all constellations of the Zodiac. And why not study it with characters from our favorite stories?
In Harry Potter, we find the perfect example. J.K. Rowling must have known astrology quite well because her characters fit perfectly with their solar signs, and best of all, their lives and development show us how each sign has both its light and darkness side, something that we usually put aside.
Therefore, I will try to analyze all the signs of the Zodiac according to the characters of Harry Potter, highlighting both sides. Keep in mind that in my analysis I’ve used Pottermore data, as well as movies and books information.
Fire Signs:
Aries
- Weasley twins (April 1, 1978)
“You don’t want to bottle up your anger like that, Harry, let it all out.’
Born in April’s Fool, perfect for a couple of pranksters like them. Aries are often considered the “babies” of the Zodiac, due to their impulsive and unresponsive nature, because they love risk. Fred and George Weasley didn’t measure the consequences of their actions and always were very irresponsible in making jokes. For example, Ron acquired his phobia of spiders as a child, after they turned his teddy bear into one, even piercing his tongue with a prank pill. Nonetheless, they never were arrogant or cruel.
Well focused, they used their excess energy by helping others. Therefore, Aries are good leaders. They prove it perfectly by daring to teach the ruthless Umbridge a good lesson and encourage all Hogwarts to face injustice openly, not just in secret. They decided to leave Hogwarts and open Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, a prank shop that no one had ever dared to create before. When almost the entire Diagon Alley closed due to Voldemort’s return, they continued to maintain the clientele thanks to their unstoppable energy. I hope George has recovered from the loss of his brother more than us. Mischief managed.
Leo
- Harry Potter (July 31, 1980)
“Working hard is important. But there’s something that matters even more. Believing in yourself.”
It’s crystal clear that Harry doesn’t have a gift for words, his quotes are always more descriptive than inspiring. However, his life and actions make clear that he’s a sun in Leo. Pursued by fame since he was a baby, he always said he didn’t care about it. Of course, Leo loves being the center of attention, even if they don’t recognize this. Being famous helped Harry repair the self-confidence that his odious uncles and cousin took care of lower, so he owes fame a lot.
By poorly channeling his energy, his pride prevented him from telling the truth, seeing the reality, accepting that he was being mistreated or that his vision wasn’t the only correct one. Harry failed on multiple occasions, considering himself indispensable in the search for the Philosopher’s Stone, the Chamber of Secrets, and all the rest of the adventures. He was even manipulated to go rescue his uncle when it wasn’t necessary.
Being pure fire, Harry connected a lot with the heart and courage, but not so much with the mind. Leo must learn to control it, and Harry never did it at all, hence his ineffectiveness in Occlumency. Nor did he control the risks and consequences very much, and he spent complicated adolescence, letting himself be carried away by an arrogance very similar to his father.
However, as he grew, Harry improved. On the other hand, he was always very protective of his relatives, but without overprotecting them. Harry used his power to guide others, encouraging them to find their inner fire, self-affirm, the true mission of Leo. He didn’t have an easy life, but he managed to learn a lot from his energy. The peak of his life was when he meekly accepted death, for the love of others, and surpassed it. Finally, when he defeated Voldemort, he just affirmed himself, and his fame became more than deserved.
Sagittarius
- Rubeus Hagrid (December 6, 1928)
“I shouldn’t have said that”
Our good-natured semi-Gigant was adventurous, talkative, lover of the exotic and foreign trips and abroad, and above all, very clumsy. Sagittarians often have a good heart, but they don’t always measure their words, being too sincere and hurting others, even without wanting to. For example, when he fell in love with Olympe Maxime, he insisted on discovering if she was also a semi-giant, something that Madame Maxime was deeply upset to admit. Nor did he used to be very realistic, not being able to withstand injustices and often doing things outside the law if he was compromised with an idea — or with a dragon egg.
The mission of the Sagittarius is to understand the true nature of freedom, which is not always far away from us. Hagrid, after the incident with Aragog and the Chamber of Secrets, ended up finding freedom in a small hut. He later had other hard tests regarding freedom, such as the time he was locked in the Azkaban prison after the Chamber of Secrets was reopened, and he endured stoically. Furthermore, he always dedicated himself to fighting not only for his freedom but for others, especially for magical creatures, whether his brother Grawp, the hippogriff Buckbeack or a blast-ended skrewt.
The Sagittarius sign is represented with a centaur, and precisely, Hagrid developed a beautiful friendship with all the Hogwarts centaurs, which no one another managed to approach. Being the guardian of the keys and lands of Hogwarts is also very symbolic since Sagittarius is the philosopher, guardian of knowledge and teaching.
As an expert in caring for magical creatures, Hagrid was a typical Sagittarius teacher: carefree, with crazy ideas, something reckless but excellent in his subject, also a great storyteller. He was a great advisor and confidant of the protagonist trio, as he might seem not as academically trained as others, but Hagrid was drenched in experience and, therefore, wisdom. For all these reasons, there’s no Hogwarts without you, Hagrid.
Water Signs:
Cancer
- Dobby (June 28)
“Dobby has no master. Dobby is a free elf, and Dobby has come to save Harry Potter”
Cancer is considered the most emotionally immature sign of the three water signs, but Dobby had an impressive personal development, vibrating from the lowest to the highest Cancer side. When we met him, his excessive concern for Harry got him into a lot of trouble. Dobby, the house-elf, represents the archetype of Cancer, the overprotective mother. Surely, he had to think he was doing Harry a favor, but he didn’t do it at all, for he didn’t trust Harry’s courage, belittling him.
Surely, unconsciously, he was asking to be valued for his care and help, searching for being rewarded and loved, very typical of the lower Cancer side, but also understandable because the life of the house-elf is a hard life of abuse. As a servant of the Malfoy family, he had even been conditioned to injure himself when he did something wrong.
Only when Harry freed him from his master Lucius Malfoy, Dobby began to shine. He dared to experience freedom and promised Harry not to save his life again, because Cancer has not come to save anyone, but to nurture them to move forward, alone. In the end, he learned to support his friends to help them fulfill their purposes, without depending on them, even sacrificing and making their death make sense.
On the other hand, he struggled to encourage other house-elves to fight for their freedom, as well as to feel worthy of a salary and decent work. This is a merit if we consider that all the house elves had a mental program that made them vibrate in the lowest part of Cancer, something that Dobby far exceeded.
Scorpio
- Sirius Black (November 3)
“We’ve all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That’s who we really are.”
Scorpios usually have a very bad reputation in the Zodiac because they are full of darkness. Introverts and mysterious, they also tend to be very attractive. Sirius Black was no exception, and he taught us that we need to look our shadow straight ahead, without fear, to integrate it. He didn’t have an easy family and was rejected for his ideals, since he was odd, sorted into Gryffindor.
However, Scorpios tend to live in hard situations, which allow them to die and be reborn multiple times. His adolescence must have been the happiest period of his life, although he wasn’t very well focused at that time, choosing to be arrogant and rebellious, also standing out as the most sarcastic among his friends. Shortly after he left his home, he joined the Order of the Phoenix and became Harry’s godfather. He was the only one who began to suspect that there was a traitor in the Order of the Phoenix, followed by his good intuition of Scorpio, although he was mistaken.
His life changed when he was betrayed by Peter Pettigrew, and accused of murder, he had to live in Azkaban prison for twelve years. Then, he developed an obsession to kill Pettigrew, until Harry convinced him not to kill his old friend. Not surprisingly, death, sex, and the occult energies are always related to Scorpio and they often go too far on these issues.
But Scorpio is one of the strongest signs of the Zodiac. While the other prisoners went crazy because of the dementors, he stood firm in his innocence, remembering the injustice. Therefore, no dementor could absorb this unpleasant memory, and he managed to maintain sanity. Once he escaped from Azkaban, he was the only one who taught Harry the true nature of shadow.
Sirius became more prudent and realistic as an adult. Never in life, he could enjoy freedom again, but he regained the love of his godson, his friend Lupin and never, even in the worst of situations, lost his dignity. He died as a hero, having fulfilled his life mission, disappearing behind the veil of death. He enlightened his relatives in the darkest moments, as only a true Scorpio would do.
Pisces
- Ron Weasley (March 1, 1980)
“Why spiders? Why couldn’t it be “follow the butterflies?”
Ron is a Pisces who has hardly worked his energy. The badly focused Pisces are like Ron, sinking into fears, traumas, and emotional chaos, seeking advice, support, and perpetual attention. Despite being Harry’s best friend, he has been envious of him many times, when he felt displaced, and yet he was always forgiven by Harry.
Ron didn’t also connect with Piscean's mysticism, and he wasn’t spiritual at all, since he focused a lot on the material world, traumatized by his lack of money. Nor do I think he found himself, always lost in the shadow of Harry and even choosing the same job as him, auror. Pisces are often lost in their fantasy worlds — either of unicorns or butterflies — and are usually disconnected from reality /spiders for long periods. Ron wasn’t very fanciful or imaginative but his dreams of greatness and triumph were always here since he saw his reflection in the mirror of Erised, not letting him connect with reality, from which he constantly wanted to flee.
Emotions weren’t his cup of tea either, fitting in a teaspoon, as Hermione pointed out. Ron simply was overflowed. For example, he made Hermione jealous and hurt her instead of confessing that he loved her. Most of the fans think it was a bad idea that Hermione ended up choosing him because he wasn’t worth enough for her, but they don’t make such a bad couple. Pisces is the opposite sign to Virgo, so at least he was able to complement her, helping Hermione to live in chaos and lose his fear of not having everything under control.
In any case, Ron was a very lucky boy, although he was also funny, with a good heart and he showed his bravery by helping Harry defeat Salazar Slytherin’s Horcrux locket. Also, he ended up working with his brother at Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, a job more fitted for him.
- Another Pisces to highlight: Remus Lupin (March 10, 1960)
Remus was unlike Ron, a very well-focused Pisces, perhaps because his condition as a werewolf made him learn to control the chaos of Pisces as a child. In fact, the wolf represents the subconscious part of the human being, and Pisces, ruled by Neptune and the 12th house, accentuates this. Lupin is considered the best Professor of Defense against the Dark Arts because he helped both Harry and his companions overcome their fears, acting as a healer, the highest part of the Pisces.
Air Signs:
Libra
- Minerva McGonagall (October 4)
“Welcome to Hogwarts!”
With her, it was never a good idea to behave like a babbling, bumbling band of baboons because the Libra, ruled by Venus, controls elegance, manners, beautiful things, and good taste.
Libras often show indecision if they have multiple options, but she was decisive and constant, for example, in her faith in Dumbledore. On the other hand, this sign tends to repress conflicts to achieve harmony, externalizing anger uncontrollably. Minerva felt anger over injustices, obviously, but in my opinion, she always controlled herself.
We know that as a young woman, she suffered the consequences of having a mother who hid his magical aptitudes to his Muggle father for many years. She repeated this pattern later, falling in love with a muggle, but finally, she abandoned him, fearing to confess that she was a witch and spoiling her reputation, a decision she always regretted. She proved not to understand well what the Libra represents, because showing you as you really are is much more important than appearances, and knowing how to behave.
Libras will always make you feel good, even if they just met you because they are the perfect diplomats. Minerva was a very misunderstood teacher because she was considered severe, but she wasn’t really. She was simply fair, as a true Libra, and this doesn’t usually please students. Libra, a symbol of harmony and symmetry, is the balance that never leans toward anyone, and she demonstrated it, managing to be impartial with her students and not showing favoritism.
In addition, although other signs have a special appeal, the most handsome of the Zodiac would have a touch of Libra, so this is an extra point for those who receive energy from this sign. Dumbledore’s may have style, but also Minerva.
Aquarius
- Luna Lovegood (February 13)
“Don’t worry. You’re just as sane as I am”
I feel she’s the character who better channeled the energy of her Sun. Being ruled by Uranus, Aquarius people are the “crazy” of the Zodiac and nobody understands them. Sometimes, Luna wasn’t very present in the real world, preferring to live in her world of nonsense, although that didn’t happen too much.
Luna expressed so well the originality of the Aquarius and had a shrewd mind open to all kinds of hypotheses. Although she ended up being a magizoologist, Luna represents the archetype of the genius and mad scientist, and her character makes an excellent critique of the science of our real world. Luna suffered people’s criticism for her strange looks and tastes and also for defending the existence of magical creatures in which no one believed, curiously, in a world where everything is possible. Luna was objective, critical, and had no problem expressing things as they were, without frills, but not as sharply as a Sagittarius would.
Another aspect of the Aquarius that people understand very badly is friendship. Aquarius, ruled by home 11 — groups and friends —, is usually described as a very sociable sign, but it isn’t true. Aquarius accepts everyone, can see humanity equally, as a whole, but they don’t tend to be accepted by everyone. How will Luna have as many friends as crazy she was if Aquarius is misunderstood? Luna was only accepted by Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville.
However, an Aquarius is strong and shouldn’t worry about this, as happened to Luna, because her life mission was to transcend the mind and its traps. And she did.
- Another Aquarius to highlight: Gilderoy Lockhart (January 26, 1964)
He was quite the opposite of Luna, so his example is good to represent everything bad about an Aquarius. Aquarius turns dangerously between the thin line of genius and haughtiness, but Lockhart simply opted for the second option. His levels of manipulation reached such a point that he should have a deep fear of creating his ideas, so he dedicated himself to stealing others' wonderful stories. However, an Aquarius is not silly at all, and Gilderoy left no loose end. So that no one discovered him, every time someone told him an amazing story, he erased the memory of who had told him, and that’s how he became a famous writer. This demonstrates the coldness and emotional disconnection of the Aquarius, which badly focused, is only able to admire his reflection and observe others with arrogance like Lockhart did. He became one of Hogwarts’ worst professors by focusing his classes on his life and glory, which were also nonexistent. Likewise, we see how unlike Luna, who used her eccentricity to express what she felt inside, Lockhart used it to made himself noticed. As expected, he ended up mad at the St Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries and we don’t know if he came to recover.
Gemini
- Draco Malfoy (June 5, 1980)
“Honestly, if you were any slower, you’d be going backward.”
Draco is a very bad example of Gemini because there’s almost nothing good in him. Also because of him, a lot of people hate and misunderstand Slytherin. Draco, well-focused, should have been a cheerful, adaptable, and objective character, as well as a great communicator, as Gemini is ruled by Mercury. But we will never see this.
On the contrary, Draco was dragged by his family’s conditioning, so he had to develop a deep fear of expressing his true self. Draco also had a lot of trouble with his duality, because for a bully in Hogwarts is hard to show a good side. He only showed it on one occasion: Moaning Myrtle claimed that Draco was sensitive, without fear of showing his feelings. He must have felt very alone in Hogwarts, for his friends were stupid, they didn’t have his quick and intelligent mind. It would have been an honor for him to be next to Harry Potter, but he rejected him at the first moment.
As a badly focused Gemini, Draco dispersed his energy, fleeing from the depth and wasting his great investigative capacity, falling into gossip and prejudice, the least elevated part of the Gemini. In addition, in his student years, he seemed to be a drama expert, as it is often said that Gemini is the sign of the actors. Malfoy always exaggerated his situations to manipulate and achieve his hidden purposes, although somewhat grotesquely, nothing refined. For example, when he pretended to be hurt by Buckbeak to get him sacrificed and thus damage Hagrid.
Deep down, insecure, he blew in perfectly with the personality of his father Lucius, never really showing up his true self. When Voldemort commissioned him to kill Dumbledore, he sank into misery, being uncomfortable with the mission and ideals of the Death Eaters, something he emphasizes in demonstrating that he was not able to kill, but was able to cover up his nemesis Harry. In my opinion, Draco and his family were in love with the idea of evil and its glamour, but they hadn’t had enough courage to embrace it. Draco was only a victim of his situation but still, he’s a wonderful character, full of shades.
Earth Signs:
Capricorn
- Severus Snape (January 9, 1960)
“Well, it may have escaped your notice, but life isn’t fair”
Snape is one of the best characters of Harry Potter, although not the most focused, due to the hard life he had to live and what it meant for him to lose Lily, his eternal love.
Capricorn is the sign of the old, of emotional and spiritual maturity. They usually are rejected because they’re ruled by Saturn, the planet of time, solitude, melancholy, and structures. Because of that, they are constantly showing us what it’s like being an adult: accepting responsibilities. Snape is concerned with teaching that life is as it is, hard, and therefore we must be strong to endure it. He was the only one who taught Harry not to idealize his loved ones, showing him who his father really was.
As a teacher, he imposed respect and was severe, because mediocrity isn’t the key to success. The problem is when a Capricorn sinks in duty, in righteousness, forgets to enjoy life and its pleasures.
Capricorns are not comfortable demonstrating their affection openly, but this requires also great control, which surely explains his talent for Occlumency because only someone like him could close his deepest mind to others.
Also, Capricorn is considered the sign of the father. Snape, son of a witch and Muggle's father, had a very bad relationship with him, apparently an abuser who never showed affection for him. That is why the Capricorn people usually must learn to find the masculine energy of the father within, and learn to defend and prosper themselves alone.
However, his love for Lily allowed him to be the true hero of the story, becoming a double spy and protecting Harry Potter until the day of his death. This also made him face situations as hard as killing the only man who had trusted him, Albus Dumbledore.
He looked like the villain of the story, dying in disgrace. When Harry saw his memories after his death, he became one of the most beloved characters of the saga, because that moment showed us the deeply emotional part of the Capricorn, hard to get sometimes. Snape did not have the glory or time to enjoy what he built, but he fulfilled his life mission.
- Another Capricorn to highlight: Lord Voldemort (December 31, 1926)
Capricorn is also the sign of the tyrant, as Voldemort was. This happens because badly focused, this sign imposes its criteria on strength and misunderstands responsibility, focusing heavily on ambition and excessive power, the dark side of the Capricorn.
Taurus
- Horace Slughorn (April 28)
“When you have seen as much of life as I have, you will not underestimate the power of obsessive love”
Taurus represents the Earth in its purest state, so this sign controls the elements. That’s why he was an excellent potions professor. Despite this gift, if Taurus loses in the comforts and pleasures of life, they can become anchored in immobility, being the most fixed and constant of all the signs of the Zodiac. Horace Slughorn went through these denser phases on many occasions in his life. When we met him he is transfigured in an armchair, a sign of the immobility he was going through, hiding from Voldemort’s Death Eaters.
Taurus also tend to accumulate excessively, developing attachment to what is considered safe, whether they are objects — Acromantula venom —, relationships, emotions, or beliefs. Therefore, this sign must learn to release. In fact, in the sixth book, Harry and Dumbledore take a whole year to get the information they needed about Voldemort and he refused to share until the very last moment.
But Slughorn was also an intelligent teacher, who valued talent and had a good eye to find it. Obviously, being ruled by Venus, he valued beautiful things, art, and glamour. Hence his interest in the Slug Club, in which he periodically brought together the young promises of Hogwarts, which, in effect, all of them ended up triumphing.
Slughorn was carried away by favoritisms and wasn’t very partial. But, on the other hand, he was like every Taurus, nice and helpful. Thanks to this, Harry and Ron were able to take Potions in their sixth year, as his admission criteria were much less demanding than Snape’s. The object that represents him the most, the Felix Felicis potion given to Harry Potter, symbolizes this good humor and affability that characterizes all well-focused Taurus.
Slughorn ended up redirecting his energy of perseverance, demonstrating which side he was in the final battle of Hogwarts. Thus, he redeemed himself and became a hero, clearing Slytherin’s bad fame, just as Snape did.
Virgo
- Hermione Granger (September 19, 1979)
“Your saying it wrong. It’s Wing-GAR-dium Levi-O-sa, make the “gar” nice and long.”
The most talented and hardworking witch of her year, Hermione, began vibrating with the lowest part of the Virgo. She was excessively worried about being perfect and showing that she was worthy enough to enter Hogwarts despite being born in a muggle family. Bad focused Virgo's delay on exaggerated righteousness and don’t tolerate mistakes. In addition, they work too much, without understanding that this means worse performance. This happened to Hermione when she chose all subjects of her third year in Hogwarts, fearing incompetence, which caused her extreme tiredness and unnecessary stress.
Virgos are reasonable and pragmatic, which helps others to be more realistic, but Hermione was an extremist and seemed unable to dream and flow. This is seen in the inability she had to connect with the subconscious and intuition, rejecting Divination from the first moment. Therefore, at first, Hermione had a misconception of wisdom, rejecting experience and basing everything on books, and fearing her loss of control.
But someone has to be reminding us that the details are there. Of course, saying GAR and O differently matters. If not, why only did she manage to fly the feather in the whole class, or why only she discovered the secret of Rita Skeeter? She was the thinking head of the trio, who saved them on multiple occasions from failure in their missions or from just passing the exams. Without her capacity for order and detail, they would have achieved nothing.
When Hermione set aside righteousness, she displayed her full potential and focused on the highest part of Virgo: service. Hermione gave everything to help Harry defeat Voldemort, bypassing his parents and even his beloved Ron. In addition, it’s good to highlight her role as an activist for the rights of house-elves, since the creation of her organization S.P.E.W. — The Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. She didn’t succeed at all when she created it because she was perhaps too ambitious in her approach, but she never gave up. This passion served her later in her work in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, improving the situation of the house-elves a bit.
Of course, this doesn’t end here. You can try to analyze other characters that I haven’t explained, such as:
- James Potter (Aries)
- Neville Longbottom and Ginny Weasley (Leo)
- Bill and Charlie Weasley (Sagittarius)
- Dudley Dursley (Cancer)
- Molly Weasley (Scorpio)
- Sybill Trelawney (Pisces)
- Arthur Weasley and Lily Potter (Aquarius)
- Pomona Sprout (Taurus)
- Dolores Umbridge and Percy Weasley (Virgo)
Sadly, we don’t know exactly Dumbledore’s Zodiac sign — probably Leo — but meanwhile, we can remember one of his best quotes, which perfectly represents the true purpose of astrology, not to dictate the future, but to guide and advise us. How you use the energy is already your decision, because,
“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”
Needless to say, I don’t support the latest J.K. Rowling’s tweets and polemic about trans women. Sometimes, it’s very difficult to separate the artist and the art, but as Daniel Radcliffe said, “if you found anything in these stories that resonated with you and helped you at any time in your life, then that is between you and the book that you read, and it is sacred”.
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