Astrology
Ascendant (Rising Sign)
Definition
The zodiac sign that was rising on the eastern horizon at the exact moment of your birth — also called the rising sign — which marks the start of the first house and shapes how you meet the world.
The ascendant — commonly called the rising sign — is the zodiac sign that was rising on the eastern horizon at the exact moment and place of your birth. It marks the cusp of the first house and sets the orientation of the whole chart.
Where the sun sign is often read as your core self, the ascendant is closer to your outward manner — how you meet the world and how the world first reads you. Because it shifts roughly every two hours, it depends entirely on an accurate birth time, and it’s one of the details that separates a full natal chart from a generic sun-sign horoscope.
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