What's that on the horizon?

[my_starz]

At the end of my last post, I pointed out that there were 61,917,364,224 (nearly 62 billion, or for the mathematically inclined, 12 to the 10th power) possible ways for the sun, moon, and major planets (called luminaries in astrology) to be distributed throughout the dozen zodiac signs in creating natal charts. Today, I'm going to kick that up by another power of 12 (12 to the 11th power: 12*12*12*12*12*12*12*12*12*12*12), causing the total number of possible charts to increase to 743,008,370,688. That's over 743 billion unique arrangements -- far more than enough to demonstrate that each person who ever lived, or will live, is reflected in the Universe by a pattern of stars and luminaries completely unique to their individual nature.

While it takes an entire year for the Earth's revolution around the sun to cause each of the twelve signs of the zodiac to 'frame' the sun, creating what we know as the sun signs, the rotation of the Earth on its own axis only takes 24 hours, so a different zodiac sign (whether actually visible at that time of day or not) appears on the eastern horizon every two hours. The zodiac sign that is on that horizon at the time and place of your birth is called your rising sign, or ascendant. This is a key factor in a natal chart, for multiple reasons.

The more obvious characteristic of the rising sign is that it is, in effect, the doorway to our personality: its traits are the ones others most readily see in us, often more clearly than we are able to see them ourselves. Along with our sun sign, and to a lesser (and more hidden) extent the position of the moon, the rising sign establishes the foundation of our character.

Less obvious to those around us, but even more crucial to astrologers in interpreting a natal chart, the rising sign sets the starting point from which the twelve astrological houses are calculated, those houses being:

• personality


• material values


• communication


• origins


• pleasure and creativity


• daily routine


• intimate relationships


• material losses


• spirituality/philosophy


• career


• friends and acquaintances


• 'beyond the personal'

Once again, we have a field of twelve parts through which the luminaries are distributed, adding variety and divergence far beyond that given by their static placement within the zodiac alone.

In the words of all-too-many late-night infomercials -- but there's more! There's still yet another entire set of variables that can be read from someone's natal chart, and I'll go into those in my next post. Thanks for coming along for the ride!

Comments

Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I think the rising sign is interesting because it indicates an outward expression or first impression. Sometimes that makes unexpected combinations with the sun sign.

Me, I'm Aries with Libra rising -- which can really startle people who expect the tight focus and opinionated nature of Aries. I can be opinionated about BOTH sides of an issue!

[rix_scaedu]

I feel behind the eight ball already - my mother has only ever given our birth times as a general timing e.g. breakfast, morning tea, etc.
I think I'm the breakfast one, but I'm not sure...

Well...

[ysabetwordsmith]

There are people who don't know their birth time or place very precisely. It's pesky, but there are still some things that can be done. You might make a guess at the time, and see if that produces a chart that makes sense for you. If it doesn't, test other charts for nearby times.

Re: Well...

[thejeopardymaze]

A recent book out on modern rectification methods has come out, but I think you can also take some good guesses via the hellenistic profection methods.

[thejeopardymaze]

I always suggest getting access to your birth certificate.

[rix_scaedu]

I think I have a copy, but not immediatley to hand.

[thejeopardymaze]

I just remembered, I downloaded another Ben Dykes lecture recently, I thought it was interesting that while ancient astrologers did recognize the rising sign as part of the outward personality, the state of the 10th house and its domicile ruler indicated how you are viewed in the public sphere, less emphasis was put on the ascendant for that one-unless the 10th house ruler was in there (but which one? Triplicity ruler? Domicile? Exaltation? etc. Hopefully I'll be able to purchase more trad materials soon).