After meeting your brother for the second time, your friend says, “Wow, he’s such a nice guy! Like a really, kind, caring soul, isn’t he?” Inside you’re thinking, “Well, yes… Kind of. I don’t know. I guess so?” It can be conflicting because you know that he does have these traits and he is a kind person, but that doesn’t really describe him to you. That’s not the real him that you know. This is your brother’s Ascendant showing up.

Your Ascendant, also called your Rising sign, is the outer you. It’s the version of you that other people see when you first meet. It’s the you that most often shows up in public social settings; at the dentist, a job interview, or on a blind date. It’s the mask you wear to the outside world and how you come across to others. Whether you’ve been aware of this or not, your Ascendant is the sign that essentially drives your outer personality and is most likely how others perceive you.

Where the Sun is your true essence and the Moon is your inner emotional world, your Ascendant is what you project outward. And just as with the other planets in your birth chart, your Rising sign will be coloured by the specific Zodiac sign it resides in, giving you the qualities and characteristics of that sign.

For example, if your Ascendant is in the structured and authoritative sign of Capricorn, you likely come across as capable-others probably take you seriously and you may feel responsible and driven to maintain your composure. Whereas, if your Ascendant is in the dreamy and intuitive sign of Pisces, you may be labeled as romantic or whimsical-you most likely approach things with a more “go with the flow” attitude and like to keep your options open.

I like to think of our Ascendant as who we have learned to be-it’s the part of our personality that adapts to the environment and situations we encounter, while our Sun and Moon signs are who we truly are inside and what we feel.

“...many of us may also discard some of our Rising sign traits if they weren’t particularly helpful to us and begin to shine more through our Sun sign.”

Your Ascendant can also reveal a lot about how you grew up, your role in your family and the conditioning you received and integrated into your personality. This sign’s placement can provide insights into the behaviours and coping mechanisms you developed in your early years. Maybe you acted as a caregiver to those around you, perhaps you had to “step up” and take control of situations, or maybe you were the baby of the family and given free range to do as you pleased. Your Rising sign can reflect the qualities that your family applauded you for as a child, or your reaction to challenging (or wonderful) circumstances growing up.

As we age and many of us examine our true selves and motivations more deeply, we may shed many of the learned beliefs and behaviours that were put on us growing up from our family, friends, communities, religion or society as a whole. And with this shedding, many of us may also discard some of our Rising sign traits if they weren’t particularly helpful to us and begin to shine more through our Sun sign. This may be a conscious choice in changing our patterns, or perhaps a more subtle shift in how we cast our energy outward as we let go of these projections.

The Ascendant is also known as the Rising sign because it is the sign that was rising on the Eastern horizon in the exact location and time that you were born. In this way your Ascendant is very personal to you, as someone born on the same day and even at the exact same time, but a few kilometres away, can have a completely different sign than you.