You Were Born for This

by Chani Nicholas

  What has been validated about the nature of your relationship to a parent? Does this validation give you permission to heal? Does it give you reason to give thanks for a particular parental relationship or to move on from the painful memory of one?

  After finishing this section, take care of yourself. Give yourself nourishment. Be kind to your body for the rest of the day. Remember that it is the physical manifestation of your soul’s purpose and respect it accordingly.

  V

  The Third Key

  Your Ascendant and Its Ruler

  Your Motivation for Life and the Steersperson of Your Ship

  Your Ascendant is the exact degree of the zodiac that was rising up over the eastern horizon at the moment you took your first breath. Because of this, your Ascendant is incredibly personal to you—the most personal point in your chart. The degree of the zodiac on the eastern horizon changes every few minutes, so the more exact you can get about your time of birth, the more personal the information you can glean from your Ascendant.

  The Ascendant point is always in a sign, which is also referred to as your “rising sign.” For example, if your Ascendant is in Sagittarius, you have Sagittarius rising. The nature of the sign that was on the eastern horizon as you entered the world symbolizes your motivation for being here. It tells us what gets you going, gets you out of bed, and sets you on the quest of life.

  As Demetra George teaches in her book, Astrology and the Authentic Self, the Ascendant speaks to what we want to be known for. Fire rising signs—Leo, Aries, and Sagittarius—are motivated to, and want to be known for, taking action. Earth rising signs—Capricorn, Taurus, and Virgo—are motivated to, and want to be known for, building in a practical and steadfast way. Air rising signs—Libra, Aquarius, and Gemini—are motivated to, and want to be known for, their ability to communicate and exchange ideas. Water rising signs—Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces—are motivated to, and want to be known for, creating and sustaining emotional bonds.

  Because each sign is ruled by a planet, so is your Ascendant. The planet that rules your Ascendant is called the Ascendant ruler. It tells you what direction your life must take. It is, as Robert Schmidt described it, the “steersman” of the ship of your life. For example, if your Ascendant is in Aries, then the ruler of your Ascendant is Mars, because Aries is ruled by Mars. In other words, Mars is the steersperson of your ship.

  The Rulers of Each Sign

  Aries is ruled by Mars

  Taurus is ruled by Venus

  Gemini is ruled by Mercury

  Cancer is ruled by the Moon

  Leo is ruled by the Sun

  Virgo is ruled by Mercury

  Libra is ruled by Venus

  Scorpio is ruled by Mars

  Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter

  Capricorn is ruled by Saturn

  Aquarius is ruled by Saturn

  Pisces is ruled by Jupiter

  To understand your Ascendant and how it shapes your motivation for life, it is helpful to explore the following four features:

  What is your motivation for life? (What sign is your Ascendant?)

  Who is influencing your motivation for life? (Do you have any planets in the same sign as your Ascendant?)

  Who is steering the ship of your life? (What planet rules your Ascendant?)

  What area of your life are you being steered toward? (What house is your Ascendant ruler in?)

  Knowing what motivates us is half the battle to being happy. If we know that part of our particular motivation is to express and acknowledge deep emotional states of being, why would we waste another moment chastising ourselves for being sensitive? If we know that we are motivated in part by taking courageous action, why would we forsake our true nature by trying to be demure, aloof, or conservatively rule-abiding?

  Radical self-acceptance means understanding that we were made exactly as we were meant to be. There is no part of us without a purpose. There is no excess in how we are put together. There was no mistake made here.

  As you learn about the sign of your Ascendant, your Ascendant ruler, and the house your Ascendant ruler is in, notice what comes up for you and which parts of yourself you automatically judge, which you accept, and which you wish you were not.

  Key Points to Remember about Your Ascendant and Ascendant Ruler

  The Ascendant is the exact point in the sky that was on the eastern horizon at the moment you took your first breath. It is determined by your time, date, and location of birth.

  The Ascendant is a point. The sign that your Ascendant is in is called your rising sign.

  Your Ascendant is your motivation for living and what you wish to be known for.

  Your Ascendant ruler is the planet that rules your Ascendant and rising sign.

  That planet is the steersperson of the ship of your life.

  The house that your Ascendant ruler is in tells you what area of life you are being steered toward.

  * * *

  CHECK IN WITH YOUR CHART

  * * *

  FINDING YOUR ASCENDANT

  Look for this glyph in your chart.

  This is your Ascendant.

  The Ascendant is always in the 1st House, the slice of pie on the left-hand side of your chart with the number 1 in it. The sign that it is in is your rising sign.

  What is the sign of your Ascendant?

  My Ascendant is in the sign of .

  The planets in the same sign as my Ascendant are . (Remember that you may not have any.)

  Which planet rules your Ascendant?

  The ruler of my Ascendant is .

  The ruler of my Ascendant is in the sign of .

  The ruler of my Ascendant is in the house of .

  * * *

  Sign of Your Ascendant

  What Is Your Motivation for Life?

  What Sign Is Your Ascendant?

  The sign of your Ascendant tells you the style with which you will find your way through this earthly experience. When we look to Frida Kahlo and Dr. Maya Angelou to see how their Ascendant informed their motivations in life, we get a glimpse as to what inspired them to become artists and activists. Both Kahlo and Angelou were born with Leo rising, which means their motivation was to self-express, to perform their inner experience to the world, and to enter into life in a dramatic, captivating manner that would draw attention to what they did. Leo is a fixed fire sign that has an intensity, strength, and power to it. Kahlo embodied this in her hundreds of self-portraits. Dr. Angelou, similarly motivated to creatively self-express, did so through her poetry, novels, essays, dance, television, movies, music, and scholarly work, which were recognized with numerous awards.

  Now it is time to choose your own adventure. Please skip ahead to the sign of your Ascendant, your rising sign.

  ARIES RISING

  If your Ascendant is in Aries, you’ll want to be known for your ability to launch into action. With great courage and little consideration for consequences, your Aries Ascendant needs the experience that only risk can reward you with. As a cardinal fire sign, Aries Ascendants need to headbutt their way into life. Much like impact helps the skeletal system to build bone density, crashing into things every now and again can build a kind of resilience that your Aries Ascendant will appreciate.

  Aries rules the head and face. Having your Ascendant in this sign may make this area of your body prominent, prone to issues, or sensitive to touch. Just as your mascot, the ram, is in need of a worthy opponent, so are you. Though others might read your style as aggressive, your way of being in the world is straightforward. Be it in love, work, or leisure, your Aries Ascendant needs a little edge to stay interested.

  Aries, ruled by Mars, will make you want to prove yourself through engaging in stressful, courageous acts that test your ability to struggle and emerge triumphant. You’ll most likely be known for being an independent and assertive force of nature that will persevere or make whomever gets in your way suffer for doing so. This part of you needs you to apply your energy, othe
rwise it will backfire. When distorted, your Aries Ascendant can act like a match to the world’s steady stream of gasoline.

  Affirmations

  I trust the intuitive responses I have to life.

  Every time I risk my reputation to follow my truth, I feel fortified.

  Reflection Questions

  What about this description of Aries resonates with you? What about this description motivates you?

  Where in your life do you regularly take actions that other people consider courageous?

  What do you tend to get competitive about? When does your competitiveness help you better yourself? When does it contribute to painful separations in your life?

  TAURUS RISING

  If your Ascendant is in the fixed earth sign of Taurus, you’ll want to be known for your ability to stabilize available resources in order to make something beautiful and long-lasting out of them. Your Taurus Ascendant knows how to bring beauty into form. Ruled by Venus, planet of love, relationship, connection, pleasure, and people-pleasing, Taurus knows how to build a love nest that lasts. Ruling the neck, throat, and shoulders, your Taurus Ascendant may want these areas especially adorned with kisses, intoxicating elixirs, or bedazzling jewels.

  Taurus’s fixed nature makes you known for your stubbornness but also your ability to ground and manifest the potential that passes others by. Your Taurus Ascendant will remind you and others how to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. The sway of a tree branch. The sway of a hip. The sway of a sweetheart.

  Your Taurus Ascendant naturally gathers others around you as you provide generous amounts of grounding nourishment. Taurus is generative, and the more you feel aligned with your own generativity, the more at home you are. Taurus is here to produce what it can from the land that is its life, cultivating good conditions for future growth over many seasons.

  When distorted, your Ascendant can trick you into thinking it is safer to try and control, possess, or force life in a certain direction. Taurus is slow to anger, but once you’ve been pushed to your brink, your raging bull is hard to rein in.

  Affirmations

  I’m motivated to develop what feels generative, abundant, and stable.

  My persistence carries me to each and every finish line meant for me.

  Reflection Questions

  What about this description of Taurus resonates with you? What about this description motivates you?

  What do you tend to spend your life building, working toward, or solidifying?

  When does wanting and needing comfort, security, or pleasure impede your ability to experience new things?

  GEMINI RISING

  Gemini is a trickster, mischief-maker, magician, salesperson, reporter, and gatherer and giver of information. Gemini could sell a broken wand to a wizard if it wanted to.

  Having your Ascendant in this mutable air sign means that you’ll want to be known for your ability to run relay races around any other news source. One of your great inspirations is to exchange facts, fictions, tidbits, and tantalizing morsels of meaning that you have been able to curate. Gemini has a story to tell everyone it meets.

  Ever inquisitive, you are motivated by the search for intellectual stimulation and social connection. Your Gemini Ascendant will always try to see the situation from both sides, wanting to be not only comfortable with but inviting of contradictions, duality, and paradox. Charismatic to no end, your powers of persuasion will have you fluttering around the impermeable until you find a sliver of a crack to slip through.

  Your Gemini Ascendant may be known for raising more questions than answers. Stasis is never the point. Forever in motion, the sign symbolized by the twins is happier when in dialogue than when in cemented certainty.

  Gemini rules the arms and hands, as well as the lungs, as every good communicator needs the wind to carry forth its message. Gemini’s ruling planet is Mercury, who retrogrades three to four times a year, journeying into the underworld. Changing directions. Needing to rethink things. Reviewing its options. Transforming through the process of mental purification. You might find yourself mimicking the journey of your ruling planet. When distorted, your Ascendant can appear inconsistent and ungrounded, causing others to doubt your intentions.

  Affirmations

  I am hardwired to exchange what I have with those around me.

  I am as reflective as I am inquisitive.

  Reflection Questions

  What about this description of Gemini resonates with you? What about this description motivates you?

  Are you known for your ability to communicate with others? What inspires you about gathering information and dispersing it in your own way?

  How does curiosity drive your daily life?

  CANCER RISING

  Feeling is Cancer’s forte. Cancer initiates us into our need to connect. To release the tears stuck in our ducts. To address our most neglected selves. Cancer creates security and safety through emotional bonds that feel or are familial.

  If your Ascendant is in this cardinal water sign, you will be known for your ability to care for your cohorts, friends, and family members, initiating them into the realms of the heart.

  Creating connection through intuiting and meeting the needs of others, your Cancer Ascendant will remember how your loved ones take their tea, how they feel about their parents, and what kind of color their eyes are when they’re not happy. Cancer loves to feed and be fed, ruling the stomach and breasts.

  Cancer holds memory. History. Ancestry. Tenacious beyond what might be healthy, your Cancer Ascendant will hold on past the expiration date of an experience.

  Ruled by the Moon, your moods fluctuate. Luna is constantly blooming, releasing, and being reborn, revealing your need to be in a continuing cycle of death and rebirth. The Moon reminds us of how important it is not to get overly committed to one state or another.

  When distorted, your energy can run moody, melancholy, and morbidly attached to the past. You may be overly sensitive and prone to taking things personally. The symbol for Cancer is the crab, whose hard shell can come off as defensive despite the most tender of underbellies.

  Affirmations

  I am motivated to feel and be felt.

  I give care where I know it is appreciated and desired.

  Reflection Questions

  What about this description of Cancer resonates with you? What about this description motivates you?

  Do your moods tend to impede your ability to be consistent in how you show up in the world? How do you manage this? Do you become overly defensive when you feel unexpectedly vulnerable? What helps you when this happens?

  Do you enter the world sussing out who needs to be taken care of? How do you feel when you’ve been helpful, nurturing, or loving to others? How do you manage your expectations of others?

  LEO RISING

  With no shame in shining, Leo knows that any performance is, at its core, a spiritual act. The actor gets up on stage and allows the human condition, in all its glory and its goriness, to come forth in service of the whole. We need a true reflection of our pain, beauty, and burdens. It’s healing to witness someone else go through what we ourselves deal with. This is Leo’s gift.

  Ready to make the crowd roar with laughter, your Leo Ascendant, like its planetary ruler, the Sun, is born to be the center of the situation. This fixed fire sign has you famously expressing yourself and thus drawing attention your way. Others in your presence, knowingly or not, will become the audience to your performance. Your Leo Ascendant needs to be appreciated, loved, and adored for whatever it is that you are offering.

  Leo rules the heart and spine. Your swagger stimulates the system. Raising heart rate. Increasing blood flow. Playful and spontaneous, your Leo Ascendant will be known for your love of drama and the power of a good entrance. Like the nobility its planetary ruler (the Sun) signifies, Leo is quite comfortable in a crown.

  This sign distorted becomes obsessed with itself. Egomaniacal, domineering, and self-absorbed tendencies co
nstellate in Leo’s lair. The lion, ever prideful, can lash out when provoked. Exuding a powerful presence, you’ll need to learn what stages your Leo Ascendant wants to set aglow.

  Affirmations

  I allow myself full self-expression.

  I am here to let my light shine while enjoying the brilliance of those around me.

  Reflection Questions

  What about this description of Leo resonates with you? What about this description motivates you?

  What do you generally receive attention for? Is it positive? Negative? Do you admonish yourself for needing a certain amount of recognition, love, applause, or appreciation?

  What do you most want to be known for? What do you most want to be celebrated for? Are you known for having a playful demeanor? Is that important to you? Are you known for being a diva? Is that important to you?