What is My Rising Sign?

A lot of people have asked me to teach an astrology workshop, class, or course annnnnnd it’s coming - but until then I thought it would be fun to do mini lessons on some of the terms I use most frequently in the forecasts or when working with a client individually.

The first thing we’re going to talk about is the rising sign because I mention it multiple times each month.

A Rose by Any Other Name

One of the reasons people get confused with astrological terminology is because there are so many flipping terms that mean essentially the same thing.

All of these words are used interchangeably(ish):

• Rising Sign: The sign that is home to the point on your chart known as the ascendant.
• Ascendant - This is what I usually say in my forecasts if I don’t say ‘rising sign’ but it is actually a specific mathematical point that tells you the exact sign and degree that were on the eastern horizon when you were born.
• First House - The ascendant marks where your chart begins. This is important because it is the starting point for the houses.
• Hour Marker - What dudes who translated the original Greek tend to say…or they use the actual Greek term which I’m not even going to attempt. 

When people use any of these words they are basically talking about where your chart begins.

Your Map of the Sky

Your birth chart is a unique map that shows how the planets were arranged from the exact perspective of the location you were born at the time of your birth.

That’s why knowing your exact birth time is SO important. Without it, we only know the general location of the planets but not what houses they fall in or any of the mathematical points (such as the ascendant) that are vital in making astrology work properly.

You know how skeptics of astrology will say something flippant like - how can you know everything about a person just by knowing what sign they are?

The answer is - you can’t.

I can know some very general things with your date of birth and those things will probably still blow your mind if you’re a complete skeptic but the only way *any* astrologer can tell you anything truly predictive or insightful is with your birth time.

If you don’t have that, it just doesn’t work. It’s like trying to solve an equation without all of the information.

The Secret to Horoscopes

Most people who are introduced to astrology via a modern horoscope will have a dreadful experience and conclude astrology doesn’t work. The reason for this is they are reading the horoscope for their Sun sign and not their Rising Sign.

Your Sun has a very specific and important job in your chart and life which we can talk about later. But it is NOT the basis for how horoscopes are written. The way a horoscope or astrology forecast or whatever cute name you want to call “making predictions based on current planetary positions” works is by looking at what houses those current planets fall in.

For example, we place Aries in the first house and then look at where all of the planets are located in that chart. Houses tell us topics of life so we can make general predictions for what Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury and the rest of the planetary gang are doing for anyone who has Aries Rising. Then we do it eleven more times with all of the other signs taking a turn in the first house.

Will they be 100% accurate for every single Rising (or whatever) sign? No, because it’s kinder astrology. If you want super accurate then you need more information about the individual chart BUT even kinder astrology works really well. Just like kinder English works just fine but graduate-level English works better (hopefully). That’s why when you want more detailed information about yourself, your life, and the people in your life, you work with an astrologer - like me :)

People will say you can read a horoscope for your Sun or rising sign because of a technique called derivative houses. I don’t say that because I don’t think reading your Sun sign works especially well for predictive purposes without a whole lot of other information. 

How to Find Your Rising Sign

Now that I’ve hopefully convinced you that the rising sign is important, you may be wondering how to find out what your rising sign is. Fortunately, it’s a lot easier now than it was before the age of computers. You only need three pieces of information:

• Date of Birth
• Time of Birth
• Location of Birth

If you don’t have these, you may be able to find them on the long-form birth certificate that you can request from the state where you were born. The National Center for Health Statistics maintains a list of who to contact in each of the US states since there is no federal database. Simply select the state you were born from the map and the relevant contact information will be provided.

If you were born outside of the United States, you can find out who to contact by visiting the Visas section of the US Department of State. Countries are listed alphabetically in the left menu bar. Once you’ve pulled up the country scroll down and open the Birth, Death, Burial Certificates section for the appropriate contact information.

Once you have the information, you just need an astrology calculator. I recommend an app such as the free version of Time Passages from Astrograph which is available on both Android and Apple devices.  The best sun, moon, and rising sign calculator online is available from Astro-Seek which has a crazy number of cool things you can do and learn.

If the information is not on your birth certificate or otherwise available, there is a workaround. You can work with an astrologer to rectify your chart. That just means they fiddle with the time until the houses are aligned with your experience of the world. I usually do this by looking at where the eclipses are falling to begin with and then I fine-tune it from there.

This works really well *but* it doesn’t give you the exact degree and therefore isn’t as reliable for some of the more technical strategies like Zodiacal Releasing. Fortunately, there’s still a massive amount of useful information you gain access to with a rectified chart. 

Until next time, my wish for you is the clarity that comes from gaining a new perspective.

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License:  Rustic Ballad by Alexander Nakarada