Role playing

An easy one for you today: where someone’s ascendant falls in your chart gets emphasized in your interactions with them. Said another way: the degree and minute of another person’s ascendant relative to your chart energizes that particular area of your chart. Remember: people are permanent transits. Also remember: you need EXACT birth times of other people in order to put this theory into practice for yourself.

Most of the time, someone else’s ascendant degree will just energize a house in your chart, so you will find yourself naturally doing things that are overseen by that house. When I was learning astrology and beginning to practice it, I can’t even begin to tell you how many Sagittarius risings I came across. Sagittarius is mostly my 9th house of intuition and discovery of foreign information. It's also about teaching information that is mind-broadening (teaching rote information is a 3rd house affair.) As good Sagittarius risings, they listened open-mindedly to the information I had to offer.

Sometimes, though, someone’s ascendant will conjunct one of your natal planets, and let me tell you, to that person, you will BE that planet (I’d say within about 5 degrees, because I am stingy with my planetary orbs). For example, my first boyfriend had Venus conjunct my ascendant. This was mutually beneficial because my existence activated his Venus, but to me he *was* Venus. I see this a lot in synastry (the term for chart comparisons to examine relationships) and it makes me smile.

Amusingly, I have a cousin whose ascendant conjuncts my Mercury…and my ascendant conjuncts his Mercury. Cousins are a Mercury-ruled relationship, anyway. When we’d be in the same town, which happened about twice a year, we’d chatter away incessantly (Mercury) until we ran out of things to talk about, and then we’d start teasing each other and/or playing tricks on each other (still Mercury).

I attract a lot of Virgo risings, and Virgo is my 6th house, which, among other things, is critical thinking. Vigo risings have Pisces on the descendent, so they’re expecting some sort of whimsical fairy and they get…me…being a wise-ass. Like, they want me to help them space out (Pisces) or save them from something (Pisces!) and instead, I’m standing around pointing out inefficiencies. I have Pisces planets so I *can* activate fairy mode when I feel like it (are there fairies who are assholes?), but mostly, I just question whether what they’re doing is efficient or tease them for being so fixated on stuff. They love me until they don’t.

This works for good or for ill, so it may explain why you have great relationships with some people and fraught relationships with others (if their ascendant conjuncts your Saturn or Pluto, for example, or if their ascendant lies in your 12th house).

Important note: ascendants don’t give out energy, they only receive it. So I think what happens in this exchange is the other person’s ascendant pulls focus into the house of your chart it falls in. That’s my theory. But it works. Take a look at your nearest and dearest and you’ll see what I mean.