Astrool Ascendant (Rising Sign)
The sign coming up over the eastern horizon at the moment you were born: your outward style, your first impression, and the starting point of every house.
Definition
As the Earth turns, every sign of the zodiac rises over the eastern horizon once a day. The degree rising at your birth is the Ascendant (AC, ASC); its sign is your rising sign. It is the cusp of the 1st house and the left-hand point of a standard chart wheel.
What it describes
The Ascendant is the doorway of the chart: how you approach new situations, the impression you give before people know you, physical style and the body itself. The planet that rules the rising sign is your chart ruler.
Why it needs an exact time
A new sign rises about every two hours, faster for some signs at northern latitudes. Being off by even 20 minutes can change the Ascendant degree enough to move house cusps. If you do not know your time, rectification works backward from life events to find it.
Ascendant and Descendant
Directly opposite the Ascendant sits the Descendant, the cusp of the 7th house of partnership. Together they form the self–other axis. In Vedic astrology the Ascendant is called Lagna.
See it in your own chart
Astrool calculates your full birth chart, not just your sun sign, and writes your daily, weekly and monthly readings against it.
Common questions
Is the rising sign the same as the Ascendant?
Yes: the rising sign is the sign the Ascendant falls in.
Does my rising sign change if I move?
Your natal Ascendant never changes. A relocation chart for another city shows a different one, used to read how life might feel there.