What Is An Ascendant or Rising Sign?

Your ascendant, otherwise known as your rising sign, is the Zodiac Sign that was rising in the eastern horizon at the moment you were born.  To know what sign was rising you would need to know the exact time and location of your birth.  


It is believed that if the Ascendant falls closer to the beginning of the Sign, the stronger the effects will be felt in the individual. This is also held to be true if the Sun is in a weak position in the birth chart (such as if the individual was born at night). It’s also thought to be weaker when the individual is born towards the end of the Sign's Ascendancy, just before the next Sign appears.


The rising sign can also represent the environment and childhood influences since it is location and time specific.  Everything in your chart will be filtered by this sign.  

BIRTH CHARTS & NATAL REPORTS

"What is a birth chart?" you may be asking.  Well, it's basically a chart cast for the date, time and location of your birth.  It's a map of the heavens that shows the exact location of the sun, moon, and planets.  This is what the chart looks like...

The Earth would be in the center of the chart and the bold horizontal line to the left shows the sign that was rising over the eastern horizon at the time of birth - in this case the sign of Scorpio was making it's way up.