Astrology 101 — The Ascendant

I’ve started a series of posts about foundational astrological concepts and decided to begin with the Ascendant, also referred to as the ‘Rising Sign.’

The Ascendant refers to the zodiac sign that was located on the eastern horizon at the exact time you were born. Just like the sun rises in the east each morning and moves across the sky before setting in the west (as viewed from our perspective on Earth), the signs are constantly circling around the sky. Each sign occupies the ‘rising’ position for approximately 2 hours a day.

When you look at a birth chart, the Ascendant is the starting point of the chart, and provides the anchor point for the rest of the 12 houses of the chart to unfold. Symbolically, this makes sense, as we associate the sunrise with the beginning of a new day. In the case of a birth chart, it’s the beginning of a new life. Because the Ascendant changes so quickly, it is important to have an accurate birth time to provide the fullest interpretation of the birth chart.

So what does your rising sign mean? It is the cusp of the first house, which is associated with our self – our physical body, our identity, and our awareness as a unique individual. So one interpretation of the Ascendant is that it’s the first impression we give off, or how we appear on the surface. Some say it’s like a filter, the lens through which everything else inside of us – all the rest of the planets in our chart – get out. And that’s true. But it’s more than that.

When you think of the concept of a filter, part of its role is filtering what gets out, but it also filters what gets in. And that is the dual role of the Ascendant. It’s how we appear, but it’s also how we take in the outside world and assimilate it into ourselves, how we make sense of what is beyond us – like a scout venturing out into the wild and bringing information back to the village. In this case, the village is the rest of the planets in our chart. The Ascendant is a bridge - it's the moment when we pass between the womb and the world, where we are seen, and see, for the first time. And we carry that imprint with us for the rest of our lives.