I will never forget the day I had an epiphany about my ascendent (rising sign)! Maybe you have heard about this aspect of astrology, especially at a party. People with some basic knowledge of astrology will say “Do you know your big three?” That means, your Sun, Moon, and… rising!
What does that mean? It is the sign that was rising at the time of your birth. This is really cool, because if we look at it on a map, we can see that in a particular place on the map, for example, Colorado, that the zodiacal signs are rising every 2 hours (roughly) on the horizon! So, that is why the place and time of your birth is so important. We can glean so much more information about what makes you unique, because not one chart is the same, even for twins (you can ask me about that another time and we can chat).
I am a Taurus rising. If I think about some of the qualities of Taurus, such as: wants to be rooted, own land, is sensual, and connected to plants and nature. How this has played out in my life is thinking about how much I loved the outdoors as a kid. However, I never lived in a single place for more than a year, once I moved out of the house. This has to do with aspects in my chart, so there is more than the rising. However, it got me thinking: I can connect to the love of land, but did not want to work it myself. This is the key point of the rising sign: it is rising within you (as Gemini Brett would say). Basically, I take that to mean that you are learning how to be your rising sign. Other aspects of your chart come more easily, such as your sun. I had to learn how to take care of my land, how to stabilize, how to save money, how to produce my own resources. Those are the lessons of Taurus, and you have Taurus somewhere in your chart.
So let’s chat about your big three. I think you will find it enlightening!