Many people are familiar with astrology and are aware of their Sun Sign and the personality traits that are attributed to that sign. Many also read their daily horoscopes, which are based solely on the astrololgical positions of the day in comparison to their sun sign........this is what I call "Bubble Gum" Astrology.
To really begin to understand Astrology, which is a SCIENCE, totally based on MATHEMATICS, you need to have what is called a NATAL CHART produced. There are many, many free sites on the web that you can run your Natal Chart on to begin your lessons in Astrology. If you call me I can give you a very intensive free site to begin your journey into personality analysis with Astrology.........
What is a Natal Chart? A Natal Astrology Chart is produced by mathematically calculating your sidereal time at birth using your birth date, longitude and latitude of the location of your birth, and your time of birth. The formula used produces your sidereal time at birth in order for you to produce an exact snapshot of the planetary positions at the moment of your entrance into our wonderful world.
The Natal Chart is a picture of the horizon at the moment of your birth. The first significant mathematical product of the calculation of your chart is your "Rising Sign" or "Ascendant". Before I get into what this means, allow me to describe exactly how a chart is presented and read.
A Natal Chart (there are thousands of different types of charts), for our purposes we will assume that when I use the words Astrology Chart in this blog we are referring to the Natal Chart, is presented as a circle cut into 12 pieces, or "Houses". Each house controls a certain aspect of your personality, some of your houses will be empty, and some will contain planets.
In Astrological Terms, there are nine major planets we consider the placement of (there are also nodes and asteroids, but the average Astrology Novice isn't ready for that yet), so we will stick to the nine initial planets placed, which are The Sun, The Moon, Mars, Venus, Mercury, Neptune, Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto. Each of these nine "planets" (the Moon is considered a planet in Astrological Interpretation) also controls certain aspects of your personality.
Each planet is residing in a certain "sign" at the time of your birth. There are twelve signs and there are twelve Houses in your chart. Each house has a natural ruler and also has a ruler based on your Astrology Chart.
Ok, so back to the Rising Sign or Ascendant. This is the sign that was on the Horizon at the moment of your birth. The Ascendant will rule the first house in your Astrology Chart. So, you can be a Sun Sign Aquarius and have any of the twelve signs (including Aquarius), as your Rising Sign. For purposes of example we will use Gemini here as the Ascendant. Your birth time is what is used to set your rising sign. Each subsequent House will be ruled by the signs in order of Astrological Chronology, so Rising Sign of Gemini equals First House ruled by Gemini, Second House ruled by Cancer, Third House ruled by Leo, Fourth House ruled by Virgo, Fifth House ruled by Libra, Sixth House ruled by Scorpio, Seventh House (Descendant) ruled by Sagittarius, Eighth House ruled by Capricorn, Ninth House ruled by Aquarius, Tenth House ruled by Pisces, Eleventh House ruled by Aries and Twelfth House ruled by Taurus. This sets the "Wheel" of your individual Astrology Chart.
Now, all nine planets are residing in certain Astrology Signs at the moment of your birth. For instance, you could have The Moon in Pisces, that would place it in your Tenth House, and you have the Sun in Aquarius, so you have a Ninth House Sun, you may have Venus in Aquarius (Ninth House), Mars in Aquarius, Pluto in Virgo (Fourth House) and so on.
The ruler of each of your Houses is analyzed and the position of each of your planets is analyzed along with, now it gets deeper, the ASTROLOGICAL ASPECTS (the degrees you measure between planets), between each and every one of your planetary positions.
This is the SCIENCE of ASTROLOGY.
If your head isn't spinning by now I will take Lesson One a little further and share with you that your Sun Sign rules your inner personality, it is the core of your being, and it is what you are at a soul level, however your Rising Sign is the sign that controls your OUTWARD PERSONALITY. It is the first impression that you make on people, it is who people "think" you are, but not the "inner you".
For example, have you ever known a person, known their sign, and thought "Geez, that woman is nothing like an Aquarius, they're supposed to be intelligent and altruistic and withdrawn, unemotional and cold, and she is the warmest, most outgoing person I know." What you are seeing is that your Aquarian friend is extremely likely to have a Gemini Rising sign, someone who is extroverted and seeks to make friends, make you feel comfortable, very unlike the aloof Aquarius descriptives you read. What is very important to understand is the person's entire chart, where is the Venus (how you love), where is the Mars (how you anger), where is the Moon (how you emote), etc. etc.
I will write more on this later, but I want you to try to grasp the concept of the chart, the Sun Sign and the Rising Sign before we get into further detail.
Your First House rules your Outward Personality. The sign residing on the First House is how the world views you. Any planetary placements in your first house will also intensify that outward personality.......
More on this subject will be blogged on a regular basis.
Brigid Bishop
Copyright © 2007 Brigid Bishop
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Originally Posted 3/2007