To have light, you must also have darkness. To have joy, you must also experience sadness. This duality of human nature is, at its core, what makes us human. Our shadows aren't a bad or negative thing — they're just part of that balance.
For the most part, when people look to the signs and stars, they want to find some sense of personal identity, some redeeming qualities or explanations that make them feel understood and seen. There is so much celebration of the "good" qualities of the 12 sun signs, but what about the shadow sides and "bad" traits of each sign that illustrate how powerful, and maybe even healing, the dark side can be?
Let's take a look at each of the zodiac signs to learn a little bit about the dark underbelly of each one, the parts which usually get tucked away because cultural conditioning tells us those qualities are somehow unacceptable. Remember that even though these things may be generally labeled as weaknesses or "bad" traits, they're simply things for you to be mindful of and potentially use to grow. (Also remember that your sun sign is just one small piece of your full astrological profile, aka your birth chart.) Just because a particular characteristic is called out here doesn't necessarily mean you embody that quality, that it's a permanent part of your personality, or that you need to change. In the end, we're each beautiful, whole humans as we are — shadow sides included.
