Sun sign astrology only became a mainstream cultural phenomenon in 1930 after a British newspaper called the Sunday Express published a horoscopic profile for the newly born Princess Margaret.

A closer look

Sun sign astrology only became a mainstream cultural phenomenon in 1930 after a British newspaper called the Sunday Express published a horoscopic profile for the newly born Princess Margaret. Before this brilliant marketing stunt by astrologer R.H. Naylor, calculating a full natal chart was an incredibly tedious mathematical process reserved for the wealthy or the hopelessly occult-obsessed. Naylor simplified the entire ancient tradition down to just the sun sign so he could sell mass-market columns to gullible readers, officially birthing the modern tradition of skimming the back of a glossy magazine to find out if you will supposedly come into money or find true love before the end of the current fiscal quarter