What’s Your Rising? How to Unlock the Secret of your Ascendant
Back in the ‘70’s the old pick up line was ‘What’s your sign?’ From an astrological point of view the better question might have been ‘What’s your rising sign?’. You may be one of those people who go around saying ‘I’m not your typical Cancer/Virgo/Aquarius . . .’ and chances are the qualities you don’t think are typical of your Sun sign are those of your rising sign or ascendant. Your ascendant is important as in astrology it sets the position of the houses in your birthchart which enables a professional astrologer to see not only which areas of your life are affected by planetary transits but also to give you extremely accurate timings of these events. This is why so much emphasis is placed on the ascendant and why astrologers want to know not only your time of birth but the place where you were born – both of which determine which sign of the zodiac was on the horizon at that time – and this changes every two hours.
Your rising sign will usually express itself a little differently than if the Sun were in that sign. If your rising sign and your Sun sign are one and the same which means you have the Sun in your 1st house then the difference is that you exhibit even more of that sign’s characteristics than normal. We call this a ‘Double’. So, if you had say a Sagittarius Sun and a Sagittarius ascendant you would be a Double Sagittarius. If the ruling planet of the sign is also in the first house – say you were a Pisces with a Pisces ascendant and Sun and Neptune in Pisces in the 1st you would be a TRIPLE Pisces.
Usually your rising sign is the face you show to the world and how others see you. It is the first impression they have of you. Your Sun sign is the essential ‘you’ which may not always be what people see. So, to understand how you are perceived by others and how you come across your rising sign is a powerful self-actualisation tool as we are not always aware of the impression we are creating. Knowing what your rising sign is allows you to ‘showcase’ your best side. After all – we never get a second chance to make a first impression.
So, what can you do if you don’t know your rising sign? Some countries do record the time of birth on your birth certificate and even if we don’t have that chances are mum or dad remember the time of our arrival. However, for some of us that information isn’t possible to access. Perhaps we were adopted. We could have been born in a country where births took place in primitive conditions. Our mothers may have undergone a C-section and not remember due to anaesthesia or sadly, mum may no longer be around for us to ask her. There are several ways to discover your rising sign. There are a few sites on the internet with multiple choice quizzes that claim to be able to identify which sign is your rising. However, I would recommend that you take several of them and see if one answer comes up consistently. They usually however do not give you the exact time – just what your rising sign is most likely to be.
To really determine your time of birth the easiest way is to consult a good kinesiologist who should be able to pin-point this for you. The other option is to consult an astrologer who specialises in what is known as a Chart Rectification. What happens is that the astrologer will ask you to give him or her dates of key events in your life – usually things such as the start of a significant love affair, passing an exam, winning a significant job, marriage, the birth or a child or a sibling, a divorce (either yours or your parents if this took place), your first trip overseas, the death of a loved one or a break up – life changing events we may have experienced. From these the astrologer ‘works backwards’ from where the planets are right now to where they were, how they were affecting your natal planets at the time and therefore what houses they had to be in. From this they can determine what your rising sign is and also what time you made your appearance as even a couple of minutes either way can make a difference sometimes of years as to when major events will happen.
If you already know your rising sign then take a look at my Put Your Best Face Forward – Turn On The Power of Your Ascendant which explains just how to make the most of your rising sign.
