Rebecca Brents - Sun Moon and Ascendant

We're delighted to feature the articles of Rebecca Brents, an excellent astrologer and editor of EnchantedSpirit, one of the largest circulation metaphysical ezines on the internet. Meet Rebecca at EnchantedSpirit and get acquainted with a fantastic online ezine resource for all areas of spirituality and metaphysics. Rebecca Brents writes on a wide variety of spiritual and occult subjects, including astrology, tarot, metaphysics and self-improvement.

Your Sun, Your Moon, and Your Ascendant
Just What's Going On Here?

The short answer to this question is: Your Sun sign tells about your basic ego, your Moon sign tells about you emotional inner self, and your Ascendant tells about your outer presentation to the rest of the world.

If you want to know more ... read on:

There are three main components an astrologer considers in developing a quick thumbnail sketch of your personality. Astrologers call these three points in your horoscope the Sun sign, the Moon sign, and the Ascendant -- or "Rising sign." The fact that there are three of them goes a long way toward explaining why not everyone born under the same Zodiac sign is "just alike."

Your Sun Sign

The Sun symbolizes your basic personality. The Zodiac sign it is in describes the "essential qualities" of your character. This sign is also the easiest one to find. You probably already know it. It's what you mean when you tell someone "I'm an Aries," or "I'm a Capricorn," or "I'm a Pisces."

This astrological symbol describes the qualities of your central ego, your individual self-expression, and your personal identity. Astrologers consider that your Sun sign describes your core personality ... and many will say it is the most important sign you have, although that's not entirely correct. The Moon sign and the Ascendant sign are just as important -- although they are impossible to accurately determine unless an astrologer actually casts your horoscope and looks at the information it contains.

Information based on your Sun sign alone is "better than nothing," but it is also seriously incomplete. Forecasts based on your Sun sign will tell you what is happening with regard to your ego, your self-image, and your personal development out in the world. But that's not all you are ... not by a long shot.

Your Moon Sign

To an astrologer, the Moon symbolizes the part of you that reacts automatically and from force of habit to experiences in the world. In fact, you may identify very strongly with this part of yourself ... and feel it is who you really are on the inside. (If you feel the "common knowledge" about your Sun sign qualities often don't describe you completely ... this could be one of the reasons why. Your Moon Sign qualities could be very different from your Sun sign qualities -- and you may be responding to or expressing those.)

The part of you described by your Moon sign is composed almost entirely of emotional energy. Whether you let it show on the outside or not, you are very aware of this energy. It operates in all areas where matters of family, security, and your feelings are involved. It is likely the self you most often show to people you are comfortable with and "familiar with" yourself.

Information based on your Moon sign is essential to creating a more complete and well-rounded picture of you as an individual spirit. Forecasts based on your Moon sign will tell you what is happening in your inner world where you really live about things that are very important to you personally. You will quite likely relate to readings involving your Moon sign energy much more directly than those based on your Sun sign alone.

As I said, both are important in describing experiences in your world and with you as an individual spirit, but the only way to determine your Moon Sign for sure is if an astrologer (or computer program) casts your horoscope -- and tells you. The Moon changes signs every 2 1/2 days ... and depending on the day you were born, its power will influence the qualities of your Sun sign tremendously.

Your Ascendant Sign

The Ascendant is also called the "Rising Sign" of a person's chart. Astrologers use the two terms interchangeably. It is literally the sign that was rising on the Eastern horizon of the sky at the time you were born in the place where you were born. This is why it is essential to have both a birthplace and a birth time in order to cast a completely valid Natal Chart.

All twelve signs of the Zodiac rotate across the sky in the course of a day. Therefore the sign that is ascending … literally "rising" … on the eastern horizon changes every two hours. And your Rising Sign ... or Ascendant Sign ... depends on the exact time you were born!

Only if you were born within two hours one way or the other of sunrise will your Ascendant Sign be the same as your Sun sign ... and it is completely independent of your Moon sign. Yet this third key component of your personality, will usually give the most valid information about who you appear to be to other people and how you take on the world!!

Your Ascendant sign describes your temperament, your outward mannerisms and behavior, the personality you put "on public display." It is the part of yourself you are most willing for other people to see in casual, impersonal situations. Changes here will explain why even people born on the same day as you ... will have very different personalities, different strengths and interests, and different life experiences.

Forecasts based on your Ascendant sign are likely to be immediately recognizable in describing the events and focus of your life and immediate future. These contain perhaps the most important and valid information you can receive from a "general" astrology reading ... about what explicitly is happening in your life. In this way, your Ascendant sign information is even more crucial, important ... and applicable than your Sun sign information.

But there is no way to tell you your Ascendant sign information without a birth time ... and place. Sorry. There just isn't.

Rebecca Brents writes on a wide variety of spiritual and occult subjects, including astrology, tarot, metaphysics, and self-improvement. She publishes the extensive online new age Ezine, The Enchanted Sprite on her website: Enchanted Spirit.