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Rising sign

Aries rising

A direct, early-moving way of meeting the world: you arrive before you have finished deciding to, and you would rather act and adjust than wait and plan.

What Aries rising is like

The Ascendant is the sign on the eastern horizon at birth, and it describes the body, the bearing and the first move. With Aries there, the first move is quick. People with Aries rising tend to walk fast, decide fast and speak before the sentence is fully formed. There is a bluntness to it that reads as honesty to some and as impatience to others, and often the person is aware of both readings and has stopped apologising for either.

The temperament is competitive without necessarily being combative. Aries rising likes a clear goal and a short runway; long deliberations, committee decisions and rules that exist for their own sake drain it. It is at its best when it has something to begin, and at its worst in the middle stretch of a task when the novelty has gone and the finish is not yet in sight. Anger comes up quickly and usually goes just as quickly, which people close to an Aries Ascendant learn to allow for.

Physically the sign is associated with the head, and with a forward tilt: a strong brow, a habit of leading with the face. The Descendant falls in Libra, so partners tend to be the ones who bring balance, tact and the second opinion the Aries Ascendant did not ask for but needed. The lesson of the chart is often to learn what the other side has to say before the decision, not after.

The chart ruler: Mars

Mars rules Aries, so its condition in the chart tells you how the Aries energy is spent. Mars in a fire or air sign and well aspected gives a clean, effective drive; Mars in Cancer or Libra, or under a hard Saturn aspect, gives the same urgency with more friction, and a person who has had to learn patience the hard way. The house Mars occupies shows where the action goes.

The whole-sign houses for Aries rising

With Aries on the first house, each following sign takes the next house in turn. In the whole-sign system (the oldest, and the one the traditional techniques use) that gives:

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