Astrology… Whether you believe it or not, you can hardly help but consult your horoscope when the opportunity arises. Especially since in recent years, the discipline has probably been on the rise.

“Astrology is very very old, explains Sophie Hérolt-Petitpas, astrologer. The first traces of its practice date back to at least 3000 BC, around the same time as the invention of writing. But the one we use today is more inspired by the Greeks.”

For the specialist, this tool, long confined to its pseudo “divinatory” function, would above all be a valuable means of getting to know oneself better.

“There has been a recent rapprochement between psychology and astrology, and it has now become a tool for self-knowledge, even in a sense, for personal development”, continues Sophie Hérolt-Petitpas. “Every day, for example, I do ‘astro journaling’, that is to say, I will look at what is in the sky like transits, lunar cycles, and other things, in order to to see how my birth chart, which is fixed, will be affected”, illustrates the astrologer.

And to make good use of the teachings of the stars, you must first establish your birth chart. It lists the position of each star when we were born, and can give us valuable clues about our personality, our expectations and our blockages, in great detail. Because no, in terms of astrology, there is not only the “sun” sign! Moreover, according to Sophie Herolt-Petitpas, ignorance of our star chart can explain why some people do not “recognize” themselves in their sign.

It is in this sense that Sophie Hérolt-Petitpas has developed her latest book, AstroCoach (published September 29 by Webedia Books), in which she gives keys to deciphering her own theme, “without going into the technicality of astrological calculations , sometimes off-putting,” she says.

“The idea was to start with themes, to give practical information to readers, to allow them to decipher their theme according to several themes; creativity, family memory, love, vocation…”, states the specialist.

And to break some of the most common clichés around astrology, we asked the astrologer to list us the qualities, faults or “hidden” personality traits of each sign. “Each sign has a share of shadow and light, and some signs have a bad reputation, sometimes wrongly… But others hide their game well!”, says Sophie Hérolt-Petitpas.

Discover this “hidden side” of each member of the Zodiac in our slideshow.