How do others see you? What do you “lead” with?

In the astrological chart, the Rising Sign (also called the Ascendant) is the part of your Primal Triad that influences the first impression you make.

The Ascendant helps you organize an outward, social personality. In a sense, it represents your style—which includes how you dress, speak and represent yourself upfront. 

Based on the zodiac sign that was coming up over the Eastern horizon at your moment of birth, the Ascendant is the “sunrise” of your chart. And since the Sun rules the essence of who you are, this is the world’s first taste of that. 

Well...kind of. You see, your Ascendant may be in a wildly different zodiac sign than your Sun or Moon sign, which can cause people to misread you or miss out on who you “really” are as a person. Or, it could be in a similar (or the same) sign as your Sun or Moon, causing you to signal those parts of yourself with twice the intensity.

You could think of the Ascendant as your personal publicist, even a savvy PR person who edits out certain details of your story that aren’t appropriate to lead with. This celestial “spin doctoring” is why some astrologers describe the Ascendant as the “mask” you wear. It doesn’t always advertise who you authentically are—at least, not in full.

The Ascendant can reveal:

• How you dress
• Your style of speech
• The people you feel most at ease around
• Your built-in icebreaker, how you may respond to small talk (or not!) or connect with people best
• The environments and hobbies you may gravitate toward
• What makes you feel centered and at ease in the external world (or goofy and disconnected when you don’t follow it!)
• Your “winning hand”—the social role you play 
• What gets you over the finish line or through a long day

‍