Have you ever stopped to wonder what determines your Birth sign? What exactly does it mean to be a Libra, an Aries, a Leo, or anything in between?
To put it simply, the answer is your Rising Sun, not the physical event, but the Astrological coordinates that tell what was the predominant sign/planet at the moment of your Birth.
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The Great Wheel In The Sky
To better understand this, imagine that the Zodiac is a great wheel encircling the earth, following the path of the sun. This wheel is segmented into twelve houses, and when a house is on the eastern horizon – it is considered to be in “The Ascendant.”
While on this particular spot in the sky, that sign is at the height of its influence, and its energies will be tied to whom you grow up to be and the events that happen throughout your life.
It will also be the premise that determines the position of all other cusps of life idiosyncrasies, which work into the very patchwork of who we are.
Your Sun Sign
When looking at your Natal Astrology Chart, you will find your Sun sign as the one upon which the first house cusp falls.
The coordinates that determine your Ascendant are not just based on the day and hour of your birth; they are also dependent on where you were born.
Due to the Earth’s format, the position of heavenly bodies will always be relative to the angle of observation.
It would also be fair to say that the sun is also a reflection of how we see ourselves.
This is contrasted by the Moon that is representative of our sub-conscious, that part of us that is without our knowledge.
The use of the Moon also indicates the changing nature of our inner self that adapts to our mental state and situations in our lives.
It’s only fitting then, that most people normally talk about Astrology only in terms of their Ascendants, after all that is what it was made for.
As the predominant sign in our lives, it will govern our day to day events – and how we react to them; to a certain extent, it will also govern who we grow to become.
Some Astrologers describe it as the mask you wear in public to protect your deeper conscience from prying eyes, though that is not particularly fair.
The Sun is anything but an act of deception, people will see it even if they don’t know you, it’s not something you can emulate.
It might only be the surface of who you are, but it still the very first thing people will notice about you, even when you are not aware of their observance. It’s not your mask; it is your face.
The reason why the Rising Sun is such a prestigious position has to do with the fact that within Astrology, it is the point where the Zodiac and Earth are the closest.
It is utmost point of intersection between the personal houses and the celestial bodies moving above.
Your Ascendant sign represents who you are to the world, your behaviors, how people perceive you, if you were a painting, it would be the frame that defines your shape.
Which means it does not paint the whole picture of who you are, as the position of other heavenly bodies will also influence you.
In Practice
If you were born with your Sun in Aries and the Moon in Pisces, you would combine the confidence and competitiveness of one, with the emotional depth of the other, though when people look at you, they might not see your sensitive side.
The position of every single planet on the Zodiac at the moment of your birth plays a small part in shaping who you are and writing your story.
You might think this is deterministic, but Astrologers tend to believe your rising sign is a way to represent how you are shaped by the world around you while still maintaining a semblance of individuality.
It’s not necessarily a matter of being born a Leo, but rather, becoming one by interacting with your parents, teachers friends co-workers, you grow into it as time goes on.
This, combined with the fact that the Zodiac is always on the move, shifting the ascendant every few minutes, makes it, so everyone is born unique – an individual, even if they share signs.
And even if you meet other people of the same ascending sign, they were born at a different place and time, under different circumstances and different stars.
Even twins who are born on the same day but seconds apart will have this small window of time translate into a completely different astral map.
This means you might be completely different from someone who has the same sign as you and share a lot with someone that has a supposedly opposite one.
Planetary Possibilities
At the core of the topic – Astrology is the idea that we are as varied and complex as the dance of planets above us.
Indeed, you have a sign for every single body in the sky, the planets, the stars, the asteroids, all of them have a little piece of wisdom to share with those who seek to study them.
More importantly, all of them are determined by your Rising Sun, which is the foundation of your Natal Chart, the centerpiece that puts everything else into context.
Even if you are not someone that believes in Astrology, it’s hard to dismiss the underlying benefits of assisting with self-knowing and psychological analysis.
Never thought about twins being astrologically different since they are born just a little bit apart from each other.