Greybeard
25-07-2011, 06:43 AM
What is the Ascendant in a horoscope. First let's see the science of the Ascendant.
The Ascendant (also known as the "horoscope" [anciently], or the Rising Degree [usually folks just give the sign; the degree is very important]) is the point where the eastern horizon of the place of birth intersects the ecliptic (the apparent path of the Sun around the Earth in its annual cycle). For simplicity we can say that the ecliptic and the zodiac are the same, although this is not exactly the case. So, if 13 degrees of Taurus (each sign of the zodiac is composed of 30 degrees....12x30=360, the full circle of the zodiac) sits on the eastern horizon at birth, then 13 Taurus is the Rising Degree, or Ascendant. We would say "Taurus is rising."
This point is "where the stars rise" above the horizon, passing from the unseen, invisible part of the sky hidden by the body of the Earth, into the visible. This point, the Ascendant, is "coming up"; if the Sun in our example happened to be at 13 Taurus, it would be sunrise. So the Ascendant is a symbolic "sunrise", or the "beginning" of the day.
Very well, we now know the basic astronomy. The Ascendant is a "turning point" because it clearly separates "night" from "day", that is, the invisible sky from the visible. Therefore, the Ascendant is one of the 4 Angles of a horoscope. The Descendant (cusp of the 7th House in the western quadrant house systems) is directly opposed to the Ascendant and is a second Angle. The two extremes of the meridian of the place of birth (where the zodiac intersects this plane) are the other two Angles -- the Midheaven or MC, and the Nadir or IC. The Angles of any horoscope are extremely sensitive and extremely powerful points: each of them is a "turning point" and when planets (after birth) come to them by direction or transit, critical life events are likely.
So let's see how we can interpret the Ascendant. Astrology works by analogy. We might say that what you see is what you get. The whole system is logical, but the logic is of a different sort than our everyday logic. But we can use common sense to interpret things in a horoscope. We can play a game similar to Freud's "word association" and get valid interpretations of what we see in a chart.
If the Ascendant is the actual point of beginning of the day (assuming the Sun occupies the rising degree) then we can call the Ascendant "The point of beginnings." We will expand on the basic interpretations given here a little further on. If the Ascendant is the place where things come up, then we can say that the rising degree and any planet close by are "what is coming up in the life". The definition of the Ascendant involves the eastern horizon; therefore we can say that this powerful point describes "the person's horizons in life." Therefore, the Ascendant shows one's "outlook", "perspective", or "point of view, standpoint". There are other interpretations we can derive from the facts we know about the Ascendant, but these will give us some idea of how we can go about interpreting this point.
If the Ascendant is the point of beginnings, it stands to reason that it should accurately describe the immediate conditions surrounding birth. It IS the moment of the first breath, the beginning of life as an independent organism. The point shows how a person will begin any life activity as well. And the destiny of anything is directly dependent on its beginnings. Here we see the superlative importance of the Ascendant. If it describes beginnings and the subsequent development of anything depends upon its beginnings, then this point Determines, in large part, the destiny or unfolding of the life. As we mentioned in the first paragraph, anciently and right through Renaissance times, the Ascendant was called "the horoscope"; it is only in more modern times that the term has been applied to the whole chart. This is another indication of the vital role played by this point.
On this basis alone, the Ascendant merits close study...particularly by those people who wish to use their horoscope as a guide to understanding their own life.
But the Ascendant offers us much more information than just the quality of life's beginning, or how we will begin any activity in life. If we look at the Ascendant as describing our life's horizons, forming our outlook or point of view, then we come to what is so often said about the Ascendant: it shows how we see life and others, and how they see us. In short, it is Jung's "persona". The term deserves some explanation. In ancient Greece the persona was the mask that an actor used on stage to depict his role. The audience saw the mask while the true identity of the actor remained hidden from view. Here then is Jung's "personality complex". This point of the horoscope (along with the Moon and to some extent the lord of the horoscope -- the ruler of the sign on the Ascendant) shows our personality, what we might call the ego complex. It depicts our role in life, that is our horizons. It is the face we show to the world as well as the filter through which we see what is outside ourselves. This self-created and basically unreal mask we use to show ourselves to the world plays a vital role in our lives. It allows us to protect our inner self from encroachment by the outer world, and permits us to get what we need from the world around us without significant damage to our more private and essential self. However, when a person identifies himself with his persona, or ego complex, he may find that his true self fades away, beyond his reach. He has adopted an illusion in the stead of his true being. In the process of spiritual healing it is very important that we recognize that we -- our essence and true self -- are not the ego. Self-awareness is the key in this process of recognizing the ego for what it is and keeping it in its proper place.
The rising sign shows us our "role in life", and in a general way depicts the major issues we will face during our lifetime. Scorpio rising provides what is probably the easiest-to-understand example of this, because with that sign on the Ascendant we can be quite sure, if not certain, that sex is in some way an issue in the life. There will also be issues of control, turbulent emotional conditions, and an urge toward purification. Thus, as we move away from the Ascendant and begin interpreting other horoscope factors, we will look for confirming or substantiating factors that repeat this theme. Details of just how sex or the other issues will manifest in the life become apparent.
The Ascendant also describes early childhood (beginnings) and the physical body, including its strengths and weaknesses, general vitality and so on.
The basic statements made by the rising sign will be modified by the condition of the lord of the horoscope. By condition I mean that planet's house and sign position, its motion (whether fast or slow, direct or retrograde), the aspects it beholds to other planets, the condition of the lord of the sign it occupies and other things. Also, any planets in direct major (and even minor) aspect to the Ascendant will play a very important role in its expression.
Let's take an example of how you can "read" your own Ascendant. We will use my Ascendant as the case study. I have the 13th degree of Cancer rising. The ruler of Cancer is Moon, so she is the lady (lord) of the horoscope. She is found intercepted in the 4th House in the sign of Libra. The midpoint of Moon/Neptune (that point halfway between the two planets) is exactly square the Ascendant -- Neptune is very powerful because of being within 3 degrees of the Lower Meridian (see "Angles" above). Additionally, Mars is in close applying sextile to the Ascendant from 11th House Taurus. There is no planet rising in the chart apart from Pluto who is a distant 22 degrees below the horizon, in Leo.
The presence of Cancer on the Ascendant says that I am timid, shy, retiring, reticent to put myself forward. Cancer is concerned with nurture, protection, mothering (and the mother), the home and family, emotional security and stability, conditions of dependence; these and other Cancerian concerns are apt to be issues in the life. The presence of both Moon and Neptune in the 4th House, which is related to Cancer (Cancer is the 4th sign) serve to emphasize and elaborate on these themes. Cancer is primarily concerned with Feelings, and both Neptune and Moon are also of this nature and are the only two planets found in an Angular House (the 4th), so are very powerful in this chart; in other words, the feeling/emotional nature is very strong and prominent. I am highly sensitive to surroundings. With Neptune on the Angle and Moon intercepted (interception occurs when a sign is found on no house cusp; the sign is "included" or "enclosed" between house cusps -- I have Virgo on the 4th cusp and Scorpio on the 5th -- and has no direct outlet for its energy) it is no wonder that my life can be seen as without roots (the 4th House is at the bottom of the chart, concerns home and family, and can be interpreted as the roots of your being -- and Neptune dissolves what it touches) and solitary. The enclosed (intercepted) Moon suggests that I am liable to cut my self off from the larger world. Cancer is very self-protective, due to a fear of criticism or ostracism, and thus becomes master of camouflage and building a hard protective shell. The square of Moon/Neptune's midpoint to the Ascendant gives me my very exceptional ability to see into and even through people almost instantly, dependably and accurately, without effort. It is primarily a defensive mechanism that developed due to early life circumstances. Those circumstances are also described by these elements of the horoscope, because both of these planets are in the 4th House (home, family) and directly affect the Ascendant (early childhood). We said at the outset that Cancer indicated issues of home and family, and we find that the 4th House is strongly emphasized and describes those issues.
The sextile of Mars provides a very highly energetic drive (when it is awakened), shows that I am very efficient and capable in dealing with the immediate, but very weak in maintaining effort for the long-term. The aspect gives courage in the face of danger, an objective outlook that modifies the subjective nature of Cancer, a strong and passionate will, and other things of the nature of Mars. The Red Planet also shows a strong drive to be independent and self-sufficient that affects my perspective on life and the way I go about things.
I suppose that if you have read this far you weren't totally bored. I hope that this essay will broaden your understanding of the Ascendant, and also help you in reading your own chart, or those of others. Most astrologers consider the predictive power of astrology its highest purpose; I would suggest that as a tool for self-understanding and spiritual healing and growth -- through self-awareness -- it attains to an even higher purpose.
The Ascendant (also known as the "horoscope" [anciently], or the Rising Degree [usually folks just give the sign; the degree is very important]) is the point where the eastern horizon of the place of birth intersects the ecliptic (the apparent path of the Sun around the Earth in its annual cycle). For simplicity we can say that the ecliptic and the zodiac are the same, although this is not exactly the case. So, if 13 degrees of Taurus (each sign of the zodiac is composed of 30 degrees....12x30=360, the full circle of the zodiac) sits on the eastern horizon at birth, then 13 Taurus is the Rising Degree, or Ascendant. We would say "Taurus is rising."
This point is "where the stars rise" above the horizon, passing from the unseen, invisible part of the sky hidden by the body of the Earth, into the visible. This point, the Ascendant, is "coming up"; if the Sun in our example happened to be at 13 Taurus, it would be sunrise. So the Ascendant is a symbolic "sunrise", or the "beginning" of the day.
Very well, we now know the basic astronomy. The Ascendant is a "turning point" because it clearly separates "night" from "day", that is, the invisible sky from the visible. Therefore, the Ascendant is one of the 4 Angles of a horoscope. The Descendant (cusp of the 7th House in the western quadrant house systems) is directly opposed to the Ascendant and is a second Angle. The two extremes of the meridian of the place of birth (where the zodiac intersects this plane) are the other two Angles -- the Midheaven or MC, and the Nadir or IC. The Angles of any horoscope are extremely sensitive and extremely powerful points: each of them is a "turning point" and when planets (after birth) come to them by direction or transit, critical life events are likely.
So let's see how we can interpret the Ascendant. Astrology works by analogy. We might say that what you see is what you get. The whole system is logical, but the logic is of a different sort than our everyday logic. But we can use common sense to interpret things in a horoscope. We can play a game similar to Freud's "word association" and get valid interpretations of what we see in a chart.
If the Ascendant is the actual point of beginning of the day (assuming the Sun occupies the rising degree) then we can call the Ascendant "The point of beginnings." We will expand on the basic interpretations given here a little further on. If the Ascendant is the place where things come up, then we can say that the rising degree and any planet close by are "what is coming up in the life". The definition of the Ascendant involves the eastern horizon; therefore we can say that this powerful point describes "the person's horizons in life." Therefore, the Ascendant shows one's "outlook", "perspective", or "point of view, standpoint". There are other interpretations we can derive from the facts we know about the Ascendant, but these will give us some idea of how we can go about interpreting this point.
If the Ascendant is the point of beginnings, it stands to reason that it should accurately describe the immediate conditions surrounding birth. It IS the moment of the first breath, the beginning of life as an independent organism. The point shows how a person will begin any life activity as well. And the destiny of anything is directly dependent on its beginnings. Here we see the superlative importance of the Ascendant. If it describes beginnings and the subsequent development of anything depends upon its beginnings, then this point Determines, in large part, the destiny or unfolding of the life. As we mentioned in the first paragraph, anciently and right through Renaissance times, the Ascendant was called "the horoscope"; it is only in more modern times that the term has been applied to the whole chart. This is another indication of the vital role played by this point.
On this basis alone, the Ascendant merits close study...particularly by those people who wish to use their horoscope as a guide to understanding their own life.
But the Ascendant offers us much more information than just the quality of life's beginning, or how we will begin any activity in life. If we look at the Ascendant as describing our life's horizons, forming our outlook or point of view, then we come to what is so often said about the Ascendant: it shows how we see life and others, and how they see us. In short, it is Jung's "persona". The term deserves some explanation. In ancient Greece the persona was the mask that an actor used on stage to depict his role. The audience saw the mask while the true identity of the actor remained hidden from view. Here then is Jung's "personality complex". This point of the horoscope (along with the Moon and to some extent the lord of the horoscope -- the ruler of the sign on the Ascendant) shows our personality, what we might call the ego complex. It depicts our role in life, that is our horizons. It is the face we show to the world as well as the filter through which we see what is outside ourselves. This self-created and basically unreal mask we use to show ourselves to the world plays a vital role in our lives. It allows us to protect our inner self from encroachment by the outer world, and permits us to get what we need from the world around us without significant damage to our more private and essential self. However, when a person identifies himself with his persona, or ego complex, he may find that his true self fades away, beyond his reach. He has adopted an illusion in the stead of his true being. In the process of spiritual healing it is very important that we recognize that we -- our essence and true self -- are not the ego. Self-awareness is the key in this process of recognizing the ego for what it is and keeping it in its proper place.
The rising sign shows us our "role in life", and in a general way depicts the major issues we will face during our lifetime. Scorpio rising provides what is probably the easiest-to-understand example of this, because with that sign on the Ascendant we can be quite sure, if not certain, that sex is in some way an issue in the life. There will also be issues of control, turbulent emotional conditions, and an urge toward purification. Thus, as we move away from the Ascendant and begin interpreting other horoscope factors, we will look for confirming or substantiating factors that repeat this theme. Details of just how sex or the other issues will manifest in the life become apparent.
The Ascendant also describes early childhood (beginnings) and the physical body, including its strengths and weaknesses, general vitality and so on.
The basic statements made by the rising sign will be modified by the condition of the lord of the horoscope. By condition I mean that planet's house and sign position, its motion (whether fast or slow, direct or retrograde), the aspects it beholds to other planets, the condition of the lord of the sign it occupies and other things. Also, any planets in direct major (and even minor) aspect to the Ascendant will play a very important role in its expression.
Let's take an example of how you can "read" your own Ascendant. We will use my Ascendant as the case study. I have the 13th degree of Cancer rising. The ruler of Cancer is Moon, so she is the lady (lord) of the horoscope. She is found intercepted in the 4th House in the sign of Libra. The midpoint of Moon/Neptune (that point halfway between the two planets) is exactly square the Ascendant -- Neptune is very powerful because of being within 3 degrees of the Lower Meridian (see "Angles" above). Additionally, Mars is in close applying sextile to the Ascendant from 11th House Taurus. There is no planet rising in the chart apart from Pluto who is a distant 22 degrees below the horizon, in Leo.
The presence of Cancer on the Ascendant says that I am timid, shy, retiring, reticent to put myself forward. Cancer is concerned with nurture, protection, mothering (and the mother), the home and family, emotional security and stability, conditions of dependence; these and other Cancerian concerns are apt to be issues in the life. The presence of both Moon and Neptune in the 4th House, which is related to Cancer (Cancer is the 4th sign) serve to emphasize and elaborate on these themes. Cancer is primarily concerned with Feelings, and both Neptune and Moon are also of this nature and are the only two planets found in an Angular House (the 4th), so are very powerful in this chart; in other words, the feeling/emotional nature is very strong and prominent. I am highly sensitive to surroundings. With Neptune on the Angle and Moon intercepted (interception occurs when a sign is found on no house cusp; the sign is "included" or "enclosed" between house cusps -- I have Virgo on the 4th cusp and Scorpio on the 5th -- and has no direct outlet for its energy) it is no wonder that my life can be seen as without roots (the 4th House is at the bottom of the chart, concerns home and family, and can be interpreted as the roots of your being -- and Neptune dissolves what it touches) and solitary. The enclosed (intercepted) Moon suggests that I am liable to cut my self off from the larger world. Cancer is very self-protective, due to a fear of criticism or ostracism, and thus becomes master of camouflage and building a hard protective shell. The square of Moon/Neptune's midpoint to the Ascendant gives me my very exceptional ability to see into and even through people almost instantly, dependably and accurately, without effort. It is primarily a defensive mechanism that developed due to early life circumstances. Those circumstances are also described by these elements of the horoscope, because both of these planets are in the 4th House (home, family) and directly affect the Ascendant (early childhood). We said at the outset that Cancer indicated issues of home and family, and we find that the 4th House is strongly emphasized and describes those issues.
The sextile of Mars provides a very highly energetic drive (when it is awakened), shows that I am very efficient and capable in dealing with the immediate, but very weak in maintaining effort for the long-term. The aspect gives courage in the face of danger, an objective outlook that modifies the subjective nature of Cancer, a strong and passionate will, and other things of the nature of Mars. The Red Planet also shows a strong drive to be independent and self-sufficient that affects my perspective on life and the way I go about things.
I suppose that if you have read this far you weren't totally bored. I hope that this essay will broaden your understanding of the Ascendant, and also help you in reading your own chart, or those of others. Most astrologers consider the predictive power of astrology its highest purpose; I would suggest that as a tool for self-understanding and spiritual healing and growth -- through self-awareness -- it attains to an even higher purpose.