Ruled by Jupiter, Pisces is fertile and generative. As a water sign, Pisces is constantly intuiting the emotional experiences of others, and because it has access to the cures, it feels compelled to address the wounds of those who aren’t ready to heal.
When distorted, your Pisces Ascendant may garner you the reputation of being a martyr, without boundaries, structure, or a direction. Charming your way out of responsibilities, your Pisces Ascendant’s likability can work against your need to develop discipline. Ruling the feet, Pisces will need to find a way to ground themselves in the world and not give in to the temptation to swim away.
Affirmations
I go with the flow while honoring my needs.
As I witness you, I am better able to witness myself.
Reflection Questions
What about this description of Pisces resonates with you? What about this description motivates you?
Do you find ways to escape from situations that are uncomfortable, boring, or overwhelming for you? How does this help you? How does it hinder you?
Do you have the ability or propensity for shape-shifting, depending on the situation that you are in? Do you tend to lose yourself in others? Are you overly susceptible to absorbing the emotions, moods, and issues of those around you?
Planets in the Same Sign as Your Ascendant
Who Is Influencing Your Motivation for Life?
In addition to understanding the meaning and implications of your rising sign, understanding the nature of any planets that are present in your 1st House is also important when trying to understand your motivation for living, your expression of that motivation, and what you want to be known for. This is because the Ascendant is in—and is synonymous with—the 1st House.
The 1st House is the only house in the chart solely dedicated to you. It is the house of body, self, appearance, and identity; therefore any planet in the 1st House will be woven into your personality in a very intimate and obvious way.
In general, planets in the 1st House will have extra strength and will have a major impact on how you express yourself. Not everyone has planets in their 1st House. If there are no planets in your 1st House, fear not. It isn’t rare or unusual to have houses that are empty of planets. In fact, it’s impossible to have a planet in every house. If you do have planets in the 1st House, remember that they have an enormous impact on your identity, appearance, mannerisms, and physical experience.
For example, if you have a fun-loving, faith-driven, optimistic Sagittarius rising, and you also have a stern and stately Saturn in Sagittarius in the 1st House, this changes the nature of how you’ll express that Sagittarius rising. No longer unleashed upon the world in its raw and extreme state, your Sagittarius rising now has to pass through the filter of Saturn, so to speak. With this combination, you still want to be known as someone who is inspired and action-oriented (Sagittarius), but also as someone who is disciplined, responsible, and autonomous (Saturn). Saturn in the 1st House is reserved. Sagittarius rising is anything but. Therefore Saturn in Sagittarius in the 1st House needs to find a way to inspire others, demonstrate its ability to act on its intuition, and show up as someone who does so with great self-discipline.
Each planet in the 1st House will vie for control over how you express yourself. If you have multiple planets here, you may notice that you’ve got to juggle a great many paradoxes in your personality.
In general, any planet in the 1st House is going to be active in your lived experience. The closer in degree (especially within 3 degrees) to the Ascendant, the more active the planet will be in your life.
Astrological charts, just like the humans and situations that they represent, will be paradoxes. You might have a Libra rising with Mars in Libra in your 1st House. How do you keep the peace and initiate relationships (Libra rising) while being a self-directed warrior (Mars in the 1st House)?
This is the rub of being human.
Dr. Angelou had Neptune in the 1st House. Neptune is the planet of transcendence, escapism, idealism, and fantasy. Neptune in the 1st House can give the person who has this placement a certain otherworldly effect. Any planet in the 1st House is going to feature prominently in the person’s life, wanting to be expressed through the vehicle of the self (1st House). In this case, Neptune influenced the way in which Dr. Angelou’s Leo Ascendant expressed itself, adding an ethereal quality to her persona.
Because Neptune erodes boundaries that inhibit connection, we can consider how it may have helped Dr. Angelou’s work and personality feel so resonant with so many. Her autobiographical novels are poignant, timeless, and full of depth and meaning, but were often criticized as not always being chronologically correct. Someone with Neptune in the 1st House may be more concerned with leaving the right impression, feeling, and vision than being precise about dates, times, and details.
Now it is time to choose your own adventure. If you have any planets in the 1st House, please skip ahead to read about that planet. If there are no planets in your 1st House, go to the next section to read about the planet that rules your Ascendant.
Who Is Influencing Your Motivation for Life?
Do You Have Any Planets in the Same Sign as Your Ascendant?
SUN IN THE 1ST HOUSE
The Sun in the 1st House will give your personality extra vibrancy and an ability to shine. You need to live out your life’s purpose through being yourself and mastering your self-expression. Having the Sun here means that you were born around sunrise, that you have the same Sun sign as you do rising sign, and that you carry forth the energy of daybreak in your personality.
Reflection Questions
Do you feel especially motivated toward self-expression? How has this manifested in your life? How would you like it to?
Do you receive feedback that you have a strong persona or personality? How does this make you feel?
Are you very energetic or physically strong? What does this help you to accomplish?
MOON IN THE 1ST HOUSE
The Moon in the 1st House will give you an added sensitivity to life, a changeability, and possible moodiness. To embody the Moon is to always be in flux. Since the Moon is a reflective surface, you may have an ability to mirror others—an irresistible quality to possess most of the time. Everyone yearns to feel reflected, seen, and acknowledged. Having the Moon in the 1st House helps you to connect with others by way of reflecting them.
Reflection Questions
Do you tend to be known as someone who is emotionally receptive, caring, sensitive, and changeable? What do these qualities help you to do in life? What do they make difficult at times?
Do you notice that your moods impact your physical energy a lot? What helps you move through difficult feelings?
Does the shape of your body or your style tend to fluctuate greatly? Can you appreciate these changes just like you can appreciate the different phases of the Moon?
MERCURY IN THE 1ST HOUSE
Mercury in the 1st House is not only well placed because it is in the 1st House, but it is doubly blessed because the 1st House is the place of its joy. Mercury in the 1st House will make communication and exchanges with others central to your identity.
Reflection Questions
Are writing, communicating, teaching, learning, or the magical arts a big part of your identity or what you are known for? Which of these crafts are you particularly skilled at? When did you first come to understand that you were?
Do you tend to consume a lot of information, have a strong mind, or possess the ability to communicate with great clarity? What do you do with this talent?
Is your style changeable? Do people often not recognize you from one day to the next? What does your versatility open up access to?
VENUS IN THE 1ST HOUSE
Venus in the 1st House will promote a pleasing persona, one that focuses on attracting what it wants and needs through graciousness, beauty, and creativity. Venus’s main job is to come together with others in a pleasing and harmonious way, so this b
ecomes a part of your personality and its agenda. Venus in the 1st House is a blessing; the only potential curse is not being able to ask for what you need for fear of upsetting others.
Reflection Questions
Are you motivated to create connections, beauty, and love? How do you do so?
Are you known for being approachable? What does this bring you? When does it tend to overwhelm your system? Is it hard for you to refuse people?
Do people tend to like you without you doing much? Do you often attract attention, solicited or not? What does it impede in your life? What does it help?
MARS IN THE 1ST HOUSE
With Mars in the 1st House, you will be known as someone who needs to fight, with or without a cause. This placement is a little easier for those who are encouraged to be brave, challenging, and action-oriented. Mars’s positive attributes get a chance to thrive if you have been applauded for your independence. Courage reigns supreme if you have Mars in the 1st House. Mars is the warrior, and a respected warrior functions differently from one that is misunderstood or, worse, condemned for its fighting spirit. When Mars runs up against difficulty (e.g., in a difficult sign, or in a difficult aspect to Saturn), it finds conflict easily and resolution with greater challenge, making life a lesson in conflict resolution for you. Mars in the 1st House may also signify that you have some kind of inflammation in the body that needs to be tempered, cooled, and calmed.
Reflection Questions
Are you known for taking risks? What does this reputation mean to you? What does life feel like when there are no appropriate risks to take?
Are you more motivated the more action you take? What generally motivates you to take action?
Are you drawn toward doing what others deem brave? Does this sometimes result in you being told that you are divisive or argumentative? What do you do with that feedback?
JUPITER IN THE 1ST HOUSE
Jupiter in the 1st House will magnify your impact on the world. Jupiter is big. It makes itself known and in the 1st House will give you the same impact. It’s a planet that creates more of whatever it touches. It can give you an unstoppable buoyancy or appetite for life when in the 1st House. This can give you a reputation for having a physical prominence, a bombastic laugh, a spirit of generosity, a spirituality, and an abundance or opulence that precedes you. Jupiter can be quite excessive and in the 1st House can create a desire for great quantities of whatever interests you.
Reflection Questions
Are you known for your generosity? What do you find this brings you, teaches you, or opens up for you?
Do you tend to bring an abundant sense of goodwill, creating your own luck wherever you go? Where did you learn this? What do you learn from doing so?
Are you known for your knowledge or interest in healing, medicine, or wisdom traditions? What do you do with these talents?
Are you driven to manifest abundance in the world? What kind of abundance? What makes you feel most abundant?
SATURN IN THE 1ST HOUSE
Saturn in the 1st House is tricky, as it means that you are asked to embody the planet of boundaries, discipline, and rejection. Saturn can certainly lend you professionalism, maturity, and a desire to develop yourself into something substantial, but can also lead you to dismiss what brings joy and abundance. Because the 1st House is the body, Saturn in the 1st House can slow you down, inhibit your movement or create a stiffness in the body. Responsibilities may feel more like a burden than a stepping-stone toward self-development (at least at first). Saturn in the 1st House can create a kind of austere, serious, remote, and cool style or tone to your personality or appearance. Here, Saturn wants to help you learn self-mastery, honoring age and the wisdom it brings.
Reflection Questions
Do you tend to feel a constriction in your body or tension in your muscles? What helps you loosen up?
Do you often tell people no? Do you feel like you have more than your share of responsibility or feel driven to set boundaries with others? In what ways does this become taxing or burdensome on your system?
Are you motivated to become a master at what you do? How so? Do you work hard at developing your authority? What gets in your way when trying to do so?
The Modern Planets
Remember that Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto aren’t rulers of signs in traditional astrology and therefore aren’t in “good or bad” condition in any particular sign. They are extreme, but not as personally relevant. These planets move so slowly that generations of folks with the same rising sign will have these outer planets in the 1st House.
URANUS IN THE 1ST HOUSE
Uranus in the 1st House breeds unconventionality. It makes you a little more disruptive, eccentric, and electric. Uranus is an exciting influence, as you never know what it will change next. You need to find ways to direct your energy so that you can effectively disrupt what is out of date and in need of innovation.
Reflection Questions
Are you motivated to disrupt systems that seem illogical to you? What usually happens as a result?
Are you or have you ever been someone who is (or who is seen as) a rebel without a cause? What has this done to your self-perception?
Are you able to change your life’s direction, take big risks, or reinvent yourself out of the blue? Write about some of the times that you have done so. What have these changes been able to open up space for?
Do others find this aspect of you exciting, invigorating, or agitating (especially if they need consistency and adherence to social norms)? How do you usually deal with the feedback?
NEPTUNE IN THE 1ST HOUSE
Neptune in your 1st House lends you the ability to connect to many people. This planet makes boundaries porous and can erode your own. It can imbue your personality with an incredible imagination and an ability to shape-shift and be many things to many people. With Neptune here, you can easily lose yourself in the fantasies others have of you. Often overwhelmed by the needs and emotions of others, Neptune in the 1st House can require that you learn how to enforce your personal boundaries. Neptune can lend a glamorous and transcendent nature to you, which can further others’ fascination with you.
Reflection Questions
Are you known for your compassionate presence, your innate sense of what others are going through, and your ability to merge or mesh with whomever you are around? What about these attributes are helpful? What about them causes you difficulty?
Does your versatility sometimes make it hard for you to know what you want, or has it at certain times in your life made it hard for you to know who you are? Describe a couple of instances.
Is creativity, spirituality, and being of service to others grounding and centering to you? Where in your life are you doing this in a way that helps you feel reenergized?
PLUTO IN THE 1ST HOUSE
Pluto in the 1st House lends you a depth and personal intensity. Pluto can create obsessive personality traits that can be redirected toward in-depth study, investigation, and the facilitation of one’s personal power for good. Pluto wants to plunge into the depths of life, and with Pluto in the 1st House, you may require activities that invoke many a transformative experience.
Reflection Questions
Are you known as someone who is constantly reinventing yourself? What initiates these transformations?
Are you known as a powerful person? How do you channel your power into creating positive change in the world?
Are you someone whom others have a powerful, cathartic, and possibly healing experience around? Do you ever feel like folks stick around for as long as they need to be healed and then move on? Do you ever feel that others lean on you for strength instead of doing the hard work of developing their own? What have these experiences taught you in terms of taking care of yourself?
Do you tend to attract influential people to you? Have you had many extreme experiences as a result? Write about a couple of them.
Planet That Rules Your Ascendant
Wh
o Is Steering the Ship of Your Life?
What Planet Rules Your Ascendant?
If we want to know what kind of journey we must go on in order to feel like we are living our life’s purpose, we need to know which planet rules our Ascendant. The planet that rules the sign of your Ascendant is the planet that steers your life’s direction in one way or another.
Each planet has a specific job to do: the Sun self-expresses, the Moon reflects and emotes, Mercury communicates, Venus creates beauty and builds relationships, Mars defends and protects, Jupiter expands through optimism, and Saturn builds structures and erects boundaries.
If we want to know the nature, the energy, and the emphasis of the driving desire of our life, the planet that rules our Ascendant will tell us as much. If we want to know the challenges and gifts that lay along our path, this planet will point to what we cannot ignore.
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