Rising Sign
Determined by the moment you're born, the rising sign is as specific to you as the manner in which you exited the womb. This placement always falls in the first house of the birth chart, and determines the orientation of the rest of the houses. Like the steering wheel of a ship, it orients your journey. The qualities of your rising sign may be the ones others notice about you upon first meeting.
Sun
Ancient astrology: The instrument by which to see the soul. Signifies kingship, authority, mind, intelligence, father, master, friendship. Rules the head, the heart, and the nerves.
In the birth chart: Signifies identity and life purpose; the core sense of self and the path you travel in your lifetime. Consider your sun placement the orchestrator toward which the other placements in your chart are oriented. Your sun placement is your ego, your pride, the qualities you are likely to be defined and remembered by.
Moon
Ancient astrology: The reflection of solar light. Signifies your physical life, body, the mother, conception, appearance, goddess, possessions, gains, expenditures. Rules the stomach, breasts, and the breath.
In the birth chart: Signifies instinct and emotion; early childhood influences, intuitive responses and feelings. Your moon placement can describe your relationship to mother, or the person who played a maternal role in your life. It signifies the type of nurturement you received early on, and the type you may still give yourself. It plays a role in close relationships, and feelings of safety and wellness.
Mercury
Ancient astrology: Produces those who acquire considerable reputation. Signifies obstacles in undertaking, long-lasting punishment, secrets, restraints, sorrows, accusations. Rules the legs, the knees, the tendons, the bladder.
In the birth chart: Signifies communication and education; the voice itself and the manner of expression. Your mercury placement reveals how you express your ideas, connect to the outside world through communication, and decipher the information you learn and receive.
Venus
Ancient astrology: Desire and love embodied. Signifies mother, nurse, merriment, friendships, companionship, marriages, refined arts, music, beauty and form, masters of art. Rules the neck, face, lips, nose and reproductive organs and parts.
In the birth chart: Signifies pleasure and beauty; how it is felt, defined and sought. Your venus placement directs your desires, determines what pleases your eye and how you navigate one-to-one relationships. This placement reveals where your appetite for conflict is least, and where jealousy or vanity may play into your life.
Mars
Ancient astrology: The representation of voilence and war. Signifies exile, estrangement, sex, loss of good things, lies, anger, fighting, seperation of friends, inflamations, wounds. Rules the head and the rear end.
In the birth chart: Signifies action and energy; the nature of competition, courage and sex. Your mars placement reveals your strength of will, your appetite for competition and how you release energy. It relays sexual habbits and interests, and where and how you exhibit bravery.
Jupiter
Ancient astrology: Signifies alliances, knowledge, justice, authorities, governments, brotherhood, inheritances, freedom, wealth, stewardship. Rules the outter thighs, feet and womb.
In the birth chart: Signifies good fortune and opportuniy; where luck finds you and excess abounds. Your jupiter placement reveals where enthusiasm is most excessible to you, and where and how confidence and opportunity are weaved into your journey. It can suggest how and when you overdo it--what pleasures and habits you may enjoy too much at times. This placement articulates the moral and ethical codes you most jive with, and the principals you abide by in certain spheres of life.
Saturn
Ancient astrology: The granter of knowledge and judgement. Signifies speech, education, writings, interpretation, calculations, youth, play, theft, community, messages.
In the birth chart: Signifies authority and boundaries; where you can be organized and committed, and the areas of your life that may improve with experience. Your saturn placement reveals the authorities that have been impressed upon you, and where inner authority can ultimately be developed. This placement knows the consequences of a boundary-less existence, and serves as a time master and strict teacher.
Uranus
Ancient astrology: Uranus was not discovered until 1781.
In the birth chart: Signifies intellect, innovation, instability, abrupt changes, and liberation. Your Uranus placement may reveal the area of your life you tend to play rebel, or approach unconventionally. What uranus touches can have a habit of abruptly shifting, reinventing itself. It sheds light on what you've been called to approach with a mindset outside of the maintstream.
Neptune
Ancient astrology: Neptune was not discovered until 1846.
In the birth chart: Signifies the area of our life that most readily lends itself to spiritual escape, where you may experience confusion and disillusionment. Represents imagination and dessolution of boundaries. You may find yourself offering up service or sacrifice to the area that this planet inhabits. Neptune can make murky the area it rules.
Pluto
Ancient astrology: Pluto was not discovered until 1930.
In the birth chart: Signifies life and death, power, and intensity. Usherer of transformation and metamorphosis. Your pluto placement can reveal the area of your life where you may be subject to shame or taboo or where you find yourself easily generating concentrated effort. You may be drawn to dive deep into the underworld of this area of your life, or you may experience intense passion surrounding the themes pluto touches. While pluto delivers intensity to the realm it sits, it can also be what brings about necessary metamorphasis and rebirth at different times of your life.
