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Week Two (cont.)
The Rising Sign (aka The Ascendant)
THE RISING SIGN, OR ASCENDANT
The horizontal line across your chart represents the horizon at the time and place of your birth. The sign at the far left of this horizontal line is your Rising Sign (aka Ascendant). If you were born around sunrise, it's likely that your Sun will be the same as your Rising sign (see my chart) or close to the Rising sign. If you were born closer to Noon, your Sun would be near the top of your chart; those born around sunset have their Sun near the far right of the chart and those born near midnight have their Sun near the bottom of the chart. It's called the Rising Sign, or Ascendant, because the sign there represents the specific constellation that was ascending or rising over the horizon at the time and place of your birth. The signs of the zodiac all refer to vast constellations of stars and complex mythologies that have, over the ages, been broken down and streamlined into modern psychological interpretations.
Each sign, or Style, has its bright side and its dark side; it's brilliance and its shadow. Each and every sign, or style, exists within every astrology chart to convey a multi-dimensional model of The Self. This is why Sun sign identification alone can be futile and ridiculous. Astrology uses the number "12" as an ordering principle to organize the chaos of real life. Within this paradigm each of the 12 styles exist within each person as aspects of our humanity at various degrees of expression and latency. The symbols of the planets represent energies or forces that operate autonomously (they have a life of their own!) and often unconsciously (without our permission!) until recognized and integrated into consciousness.
Cardinal, Fixed, and Mutuable Signs and the Four Elements
See above diagram for the elements and modalities (fixed, cardinal or mutable) of your Rising sign. Here are the other modes and elements: Mutable = circulating, Cardinal = radiating. Fire = intuitive nature, Earth = physical sensation, Air = mental activity. Note: many popular Sun sign columnists use Rising Signs to calculate their weekly Sun sign horoscopes; next time you browse the astrology columns, try reading your Rising sign, instead of your Sun sign, and see if it's not more accurate.
Behavior, Acting Out, Attitudes of the Rising Sign
The Rising Sign begins and rules the First House of Self (or State of Being). It acts as a kind of personal signature of how you know life firsthand through personal experience through the five senses and in The Body. As such, the Rising Sign symbolizes an instinctive embodiment of the Sign and of any Planets (forces) in the 1st House of Self, or State of Being.
The Rising Sign represents the style by which you express your most direct experiences and can indicate an overall approach to life in general. As the Rising Sign becomes active and integrated, so your sense of selfhood increases. The term "selfhood" here should not to be confused for any kind of "self-image" but as an instinctive process of experiencing your consciousness in present time through The Body. Once you can grasp the nature of your Rising sign, you can understand quite a lot about yourself. Refer to the page on the 12 Signs as a reference.
The Rising Sign represents your own personal energy and also, how and what you experience as "most personal" to you. What could be more personal than how you experience your own consciousness through The Body. The Rising Sign can also indicate how we react to external stimuli by our behavior. How we behave expresses another attribute of the Ascendant or Rising Sign. When I need insight on behavioral issues -- "acting out", "attitudes", "posturing" -- I look to the Rising Sign. Each of the twelve signs convey distinct styles of self-expression, behavior and instinctive ways a person tends to move through the world (literally and figuratively) or even how they enter a room. As you develop a deeper understanding of the nature of your Rising sign, it can provide clues for staying in touch with what is most personal to you...a valuable asset while living and working in a rapidly depersonalizing society!