Closeness in love can reveal nuances that did not appear at the first meeting. The Ascendant takes us back to that first image and to what each person shows of themselves when relating to others.
The birth chart is divided into twelve sectors called houses. Each house relates to different areas of life. It is interpreted from the meaning the system in use gives it, the sign that corresponds to it, its ruling planet, the planets that occupy it and the aspects those planets form.
The Ascendant is linked to the first house and to the sign rising over the eastern horizon at the moment of birth. In this reading, it speaks of the image we project and of a way of presenting ourselves to the world that we keep affirming throughout life. The Ascendant sign thus completes the reading of the password when you try to understand your partner.
In my experience, the Ascendant can express itself as a way of protecting ourselves and of making contact with our surroundings. Sometimes it seems to reinforce the traits of the natal sign; at other times, it covers them with a different behavior. So someone may show a first appearance that does not immediately reveal their most intimate way of feeling or acting.
As we grow up, we need to love, to be loved and to feel seen by our parents. To win that recognition, we try to understand what the adults expect of us, even though our reading does not always match what they feel or want.
Within this approach, a Capricorn Ascendant may be associated with the attempt to grow up early and take charge of one’s own life. A Pisces Ascendant may seek recognition through service; Libra, through conciliation; Cancer, through creating a world of fantasy; and Virgo, through the effort to be impeccable from childhood. These are ways of interpreting adaptation strategies, which must be set against each person’s actual history.
That protective personality can end up hiding our needs. A defense that once seemed to help us can later produce the opposite of what we were looking for.
Both the needs and wounds of childhood and those of the adults around us take part in this process, as do social and cultural models and those of the media.
The Ascendant represents that first face before the world and the immediate response to what happens. Astrological tradition also links it to features of physical appearance; in this reading I focus on its role within the couple relationship.
Any natal sign can be combined with any of the twelve Ascendants. To know it, you need the birth data and, in particular, the time of birth. Each of the twelve possibilities has its brief description.