#birth chart

Mercury in Sagittarius

Unconscious Expressing

Asleep fear: Losing the appearance of intellectual superiority. 

Result: You may jump to hasty conclusions. The rational mind can become lost in empty theories with no logic or facts for a foundation. These theories may then be unwittingly presented to others in a moralizing manner, from a platform of inflated expressions of pompous self-righteousness. 

Conscious Expression

When your attention is on clearly distinguishing emotionally biased thoughts from factual and logically based thoughts, you can relinquish the Sagittarius tendency of self-righteous mental isolation. Then you can communicate your inspired perceptions without any need to prove intellectual superiority. Your ability to uplift others is through opening two-way sharing and communication. 

–Jodie Forrest, Spiritual Astrology

Mercury in Libra

Unconscious Expression

Asleep fear: Not saying the right thing

Result: By looking to others for a reflection of immediate acceptance, communications can stop. Withholding honest interchange for fear of rejection leads to your mind being stuck in a swamp of considerations that bring indecision. If you withhold disclosing what is actually on your mind, you may lose your perspective, integrity, and perceptual balance.

Conscious Expression

When you focus your attention on your point of view and sharing your independent opinion, you can discover the spontaneous awareness of your impact when communicating with others. Concentrating on what needs to be said rather than on what you think other people want to hear can contribute to justice, truth, and balance required. You then may discover that you have a natural talent for diplomacy and communication that spontaneously restores harmony without compromising any sense of personal integrity.

–Jodie Forrest, Spiritual Astrology 

Mercury in Virgo

Unconscious Expression

Asleep fear: Indulging in the Virgo tendency to analyze and judge what is right and wrong in yourself and others creates endless categories in your mind. This makes it difficult to communicate in an orderly and confident way.

Result: This compartmental analysis of right and wrong might appear harsh, inadvertently alienating those close to you. Concurrently, in judging others you can pave the way for heavy self-criticism if you distort perfectionism in any way.

Conscious Expression

When you trust the universal, unseen order of things, you stop feeling defensive about how actions reflect imperfection. Through developing self-tolerance  you can accomplish a job with a sense of perfection but without applying the same high standards of performance to your personal life. By detaching from expecting perfection in your relationships and communications with others, you can be transformed to a new level. You will not have to be defensive with others since you no longer need to justify your humanness to yourself.

–Jody Forrest, Spiritual Astrology

Mercury in Leo 

Unconscious Expression

Asleep fear: Losing your dramatic impact and the loyalty of others.

Result: Expressing yourself in ways that appear dictatorial, arrogant, egotistical. This can produce one-sided communication, inadvertently implying that everything you have to say is more important than what anyone else has to say. This unbalanced communication can unintentionally alienate those closest to you.

Conscious Expression

Being open to noticing the effects you have on others shows you that the Leo dramatic ability to communicate can enhance or destroy what you are saying. This talent for communicating with a theatrical impact leaves a lasting impression, for good or ill. When the focus is on conversing with an awareness of shared humanity, you are able to inspire the ideas of others with creativity. By being aware of your love for others, you can instinctively express yourself in a way that inspires loyalty.

–Jan Spiller, Spiritual Astrology

Mercury in Cancer

Unconscious Expression

Asleep fear: Losing your emotional connections with others.

Result: Your rational mind can become dominated almost entirely by moods, feelings, and emotions. This inadvertently forces others to respond with either sympathetic indulgence or overt rebuff. Indulging in communications that demand the sympathy of others may expose you to unnecessary rejection.

Conscious Expression

When you focus on being aware of the sensitivity of others as well as your own, your ability to communicate goes beyond words. You can then reach out emotionally, sensitively, and empathetically in ways that are a true reflection of your caring for others.

–Jan Spiller, Spiritual Astrology  

Mercury in Taurus

Unconscious Expression

Asleep fear: Losing tangible support.

Result: From a rational point of view, this may lead you to repeat ideas and plans. This leads to an overstructured mind that gets tied up in a material or literal level of thought and stifles your creativity. Indulging in the tendency to resist ideas that are not your own can result in excluding others from assisting you  in achieving what you value.

Conscious Expression

When you are willing to communicate openly and to acknowledge that the ideas of others can be as valuable as yours, you discover that these ideas may actually transform and enhance your own. By using other people’s ideas as resources, your own concepts gain acceptance through the resultant transformation. By listening to others first and then communicating your perceptions–how their ideas can produce tangible results–your sense of self-worth is increased.

–Jan Spiller, Spiritual Astrology

Mercury in Aries

Unconscious Expression

Asleep fear: Losing the visible impact of direct and authoritative communication. 

Result: You cease to communicate successfully with others. You may tend to speak in ways that appear aggressive, overbearing, and almost militant. This challenging, intimidating attitude toward the audience can result in alienation and misunderstanding.

Conscious Expression

When your attention is on communicating in a way that inspires others to act, your natural sense of combat is turned into a creative, stimulating interaction. By focusing on inspiring  others, you are able to express yourself in ways that awaken them to new perceptions of their immediate circumstances. By becoming aware of their reactions, you can know in advance the impact your communication will have. This awareness of the other person leads to successfully gaining the Aries sense of freedom for assertive expression.

–Jan Spiller, Spiritual Astrology

Aries -The First Sign of the Zodiac

Aries symbolizes the very first spark of creation. It rushes to activate, as if the coming into being of everything else depends upon it. This is hardly surprising, with all four of its key concepts expressing positivity.

The sign of the early Northern spring, Aries is like the seed bursting out from its pod, oblivious to danger and not knowing whether it can be sustained by the unfamiliar, alien environment in which it finds itself. Its great courage has the force of a bulldozer to break new ground, or a machete-wielding pioneer cutting through virgin jungle. Not that the energy of Aries is always so brutal or lacking in forethought. As embodiment of renewal, Aries can also express the gentle, powerful promise of an innocent newborn lamb, taking its awkward first steps.

Aries is at its strongest when easing back and focused, when tempering its actions with intelligence. Unfortunately, it is often easier for headstrong Aries to express its immature and reckless side, leaving behind a trail of faded enthusiasms. Uncomfortable with making emotional judgments, Mars-ruled Aries can go to war on the slightest provocation, justifying its hasty actions on the grounds that there is no time to ask questions.

Aries is  heroic, at one with the cutting edge of danger and the entrepreneurial side of business. Arian confidence empowers everyone with whom it comes into contact. All but the most timid will be encouraged to follow Aries - initially at least. For unlike Scorpio, the fixed water sign also ruled by Mars, Aries works in bursts that can leave others unsatisfied. Aries can push people into decisions that may not ultimately be in their best interest, and the Arian urge to press ahead into pastures new may leave them in the lurch. Action needs to be followed through in order to create the strong base from which pioneering efforts are to be sustained. This is where the next sign, Taurus comes in.

–Roy Gillett, The Secret Language of Astrology

Pisces Rising

The Symbols:

This person has come into the world wearing the mask of the Mystic, the Psychic, the Contemplative or the Visionary. Other images for Pisces Rising include include the Priest/Priestess, the Meditator, the Illusionist, or the Dreamer.

Less than optimal responses to this Ascendant might include the Space Cadet, the Fragile Flower, the Addict, the Ungrounded One, or the Burnout.

The Style:

This Ascendant is particularly complex to describe in modern Western terminology with its typically external orientation, so we’ll spend some extra time here.

A man or woman with Pisces rising has reached an evolutionary stage where he or she must present a gentle, expansive, compassionate face to the world. Virtually essential is the development of what’s usually considered a mystical sensibility: that there is a fundamental, underlying unity to all existence and a spiritual equality to all sentient beings, and that there are far more dimensions of reality than the ones we see on the evening news. Those attitudes need to ooze out through a Pisces Ascendant’s pores. Those attitudes are usually easier to maintain if they’re supported by a regular meditative-like process, some sort of non-damaging altered state.

Basically, this meditative process has two steps. The first step is disengaging the ego’s or personality’s attention from the outside world and putting it on hold, so that we can cease to identify the ego as the totality of our being. the second step is turning the attention inward, so that we can observe ourselves as consciousness as well as personality. If we do the first step with doing the second, then we daydream, lose track of time, forget things, or may deliberately numb the personality in less that healthy ways. Alcohol and drugs are two possibilities for such numbing. However, any behavior that becomes addictive or compulsive–eating, sleeping, sex–and that leaves us in a trance-like, more or less numbed state without our taking the second step of observing our consciousness, can function as a substitute for this meditative process.

How can a Pisces rising person enter this process in a healthy way? Meditation is one method, but so are: creativity in which we can lose ourselves; prayer; contemplation; quiet time; inner work; watching sunsets; doing yoga; “runner’s high;” mind-body centering techniques, etc. As I’ve heard a yoga teacher say, “Almost anything can function as a meditation, as long as you maintain awareness of what part of you is performing that action and of what part of you is watching yourself perform that action.” Such behavior helps a Pisces Ascendant maintain an outer style of warmth, compassionate, gently humorous attunement to others.

If the rest of the chart is more linear, bold, harsh or self-contained, this Ascendant is meant to soften this person’s presentation and help it be warmer and more flexible. If the rest of the chart is mild, subjective or imaginative, the Ascendant is meant to reinforce it, give it a transpersonal dimension and help it express itself. In either case, this rising sign’s demeanor should convey the message: “Here is a person who gets the ‘cosmic joke:’ that everyone is a combination of soul and personality, of consciousness and ego, and that the posturings of people who don’t know that yet are best approached with sympathy and humor if possible, rather that with anger and judgment.”

If the childhood circumstances were rough, stronger people with Pisces rising may have an extra tendency to retreat into a well-defended fantasy world as their “altered state,” until they learn that such retreats can carry dangers all their own. More fragile people may retreat into addictive behavior. The may also or alternatively reproduce the ambiance of the traumatic childhood in situations that are eerily reminiscent of it, until they recognize that Now is not Then–for Pisces rising, reality and time can be very fluid–and that they can make better choices now.

–Jodie Forrest, The Ascendant

Aquarius Rising

The Symbols:

This person has come into the world wearing the mask of the Individualist, Rebel, Genius, or Truth-Sayer. Other images include the Non-Conformist, Mutant, Inventor, Alien or Geek. Less than optimal expressions of this Ascendant’s energy might include the Weirdo, Sociopath, Crackpot, or Flake.

The Style:

In some ways, this is the hardest Ascendant to describe, because someone responding  really well to Aquarius rising expresses it in such an utterly unique way that it’s hard to foresee or predict.

This man or woman has reached an evolutionary stage where he or she should present an original, unconventional and highly individual face to the world. Development of the abilities to question authority and automatically follow the crowd is essential. Life should be confronted with as much independence as possible, independence of mind, heart, will and spirit. People wearing the mask of the Rebel need to make sure they’re fighting the War of Aquarian Independence in the right place. If a symbolic battlefield is chosen instead–such as the office dress code–Aquarian Ascendants can simply look difficult, contrary or “different.” Meanwhile they’re avoiding the real issue, which is that they’ve succumbed to parental pressures to choose a job that doesn’t suit them and never will.

If the rest of the chart is relationship-oriented and empathic, the Aquarian Ascendant is intended to keep this person from dissolving into the partner, family, or friends. If the rest of the chart is lively and playful, the Aquarian Ascendant is intended to help this person express his or her unique vision. If the rest of the chart is strong and driven, the Aquarian Ascendant is intended to help reinforce this person’s pursuit of his or her own goals. In any case, this Ascendant should convey the message: “Here is someone who’s not cut from the same cloth as anyone else on this planet, who is very much his or her own person, who follows the proverbial different drummer.”

If the childhood environment was unpredictable, particularly if one or both parents chafed, even unconsciously, at the responsivities of parenting, people with this Ascendant may have reacted a few different ways. They may have detached from the family emotionally or otherwise, either because they didn’t get good enough modeling from that family about how to be close, or because they expected the other shoe to drop and their ambivalent parents to disappear at any moment, or both. If the family was particularly chaotic or dysfunctional, this Air sign Ascendant can carry a “wired,” high-strung, vigilant energy, as if expecting a nasty surprise at any moment. Even with a good childhood, the match between the temperament of the Aquarius Ascendant and that of the rest of the family is often poor, and the Aquarius rising person can feel as if his or her parents might have taken the wrong baby home from the hospital. In any case, even if it was safe to belong to that family, something about Aquarius rising people didn’t fit into their childhood environment. They do well to learn that “being different” doesn’t necessarily mean being lesser or worse, that the don’t have to feel like the outcast or the misfit everywhere in their adult lives, and to value their uniqueness.  

–Jodie Forrest, The Ascendant

Scorpio Rising

The Symbols:

This person has come into the world wearing the mask of the Psychoanalyst, Hypnotist, Shaman or Detective. Other images for Scorpio rising are the Occultist, Sorcerer, Spy or Hospice Worker. Less than optimal manifestations of this Ascendant might include the Intensity Junkie, the Manipulator, the Brooder or Gollum (from The Lord of the Rings).

The Style: 

This Ascendant is complicated, so we’ll spend some extra time here. 

Imagine you’re on a blind date with someone who knows you’re a brilliant, groundbreaking and incredibly skilled and perceptive psychoanalyst, or forensic pathologist, or FBI profiler. How comfortable do you think your date feels? You know that your date knows this about you. How comfortable do you feel?

A man or woman with Scorpio rising has reached an evolutionary stage where he or she should present a penetrating, intense and probing face to the world. To minimize the possibility of others’  negative reactions to such a mask, the development of a certain level of psychological awareness of oneself and others is essential here.

Basically, someone with Scorpio rising does well to realize that he or she tends to have a powerful unconscious mind. What does that mean? Material from his or her unconscious floats up into this person’s awareness more frequently than in people who don’t have a lot of Scorpio, Plutonian or eighth house energy in their birth charts, and who can therefore better repress whatever “shadow” material makes them uncomfortable–ambivalent or inappropriate feelings, painful memories, insights about people’s Freudian slips and unconscious motives, etc. Although Scorpio Ascendants can have their blind spots, they can be far more perceptive about  their own shadow functions than the average person is. Although they are by no means always right, Scorpio Ascendants can often be very perceptive about other people’s shadows, too, as if this rising sign came equipped with psychological X-ray vision.

if someone with a Scorpio Ascendant is unaware that not everyone’s “vehicle” is also equipped with these in-depth psychological sensors, then he or she can attribute all kinds of motive to another person that simply aren’t in that person’s conscious thoughts. After a few too may accusations of suspiciousness or of having their minds in the gutter—”How could you say such a thing?”–Scorpio Ascendants may start keeping their thoughts to themselves. Although developing some discernment and discretion before they speak can be a good thing for these people, emotional isolation never is. Scorpio is a water sign, and water wants emotional connectedness. Scorpio rising benefits from relationships of cathartic and transformative emotional intensity, where they have a partner for their explorations of the psychological underworld. They need their trusted intimates’ perspective on their inner landscapes, lest they blow some of their own issues out of proportion.

For Scorpio rising, life should be confronted with honesty , intensity, a commitment to deep self-awareness, and a willingness to examine all taboos. That doesn’t mean to break all of them. It just means that no area of life or death should be bared from the laser-sharp scrutiny of this Ascendant.

Taboos are usually assigned to such psychologically charged material as sex, death and the afterlife. This is why kids are told not to discuss religion, the neighbors’ divorce, or their uncle’s cancer diagnosis at their parents’ parties. People with Scorpio rising need some intimates with whom there are no taboo subjects–and they do well not to overuse that X-ray vision with the rest of us.

If the rest of the chart is sensitive and cautious, this Ascendant is intended both to protect this person, and to advertise for the sort of partners who can truly understand him or her. If the rest of the chart is strong and vivid, this Ascendant is intended to express it and to give this person depth and honesty. If the rest of the chart is that of a thinking type or a pragmatic type, this Ascendant is intended to help this person stay in touch with his or her own feelings and with those of other people. All of these types need to be aware that the intensity of their Scorpio masks can seem to convey the desire for a deeper intimacy than they may actually want or should have with everyone whose paths they cross. In such cases, cultivating the ability to use a lighter self-presentation sometimes–more humor, less eye contact, fewer charged topics of conversation, etc.–can be very helpful. In any event, this rising sign’s demeanor should transmit the message: “Here is someone who sees deeply into people, who demands frankness and can grasp secrets, and who probably has a few of his or her own.”

If the childhood environment was either chaotic, or spent with parents or family members who themselves had powerful unconscious minds and turbulent feelings, then a Scorpio Ascendant with a strong psyche may have felt that he or she had to understand a parent or parents very thoroughly in order to make a deep impact on them. Such an impact may have felt imperative for the Scorpio rising child to achieve, just to capture enough of the parents’ attention to get the child’s needs met–placating an angry parent, cheering a depressed one, etc. However, Scorpio rising children may also have felt that too much notice from a parent or relative might engulf them emotionally or psychologically. In that event, they may have blurted out an occasional home truth in self-defense. They may have been shamed or even punished for verbalizing their perceptions, and may have learned to hide them or even doubt them.

How close was so close  that the Scorpio rising child would feel swallowed alive, and how far away was either too far away to get his or her needs met, or too far away to observe and guard against a relative’s potentially problematic behavior? Such was the dance that people with Scorpio Ascendants might have needed to learn. Can you imagine how vigilant these people might have therefore had to be, and how much discernment about others they may have had to develop?

In adulthood, this dynamic may translate into wanting to probe into others but not be too deeply probed oneself. Scorpio Ascendants with a less healthy ego structure and a chaotic upbringing may repeat a dynamic of alternately feeling overwhelmed and invaded by intimacy, trying to shut it out completely, or accepting it only if they can control it. But true intimacy works best as a two-way street, so a Scorpio Ascendant may need to choose partners who are more stable than their relatives might have been, and to allow such people to get and stay closer than the Scorpio Ascendant may initially find comfortable. 

–Jodie Forrest, The Ascendant

Virgo Rising

The Symbols:

This person has come into the world wearing the mask of the Craftsperson, the Analyst, the Worker, the Details Person or the Growth Ninja. Other images for Virgo rising include the Perfectionist, the Servant, the Critic, the Apprentice, or the Health Nut. Less than optimal manifestations of this Ascendant might include the Faultfinder, the Drudge, the Slave, the Hypochondriac or the Self-Saboteur. (Apologies if some of these terms are unwieldy, but simpler ones wouldn’t convey their full meaning.)

The Style:

This Ascendant’s dynamics are sufficiently complicated that we’ll spend some extra time here.

This man or woman has reached an evolutionary stage where he for she should present a practical, can-do, detail-oriented, humble but not servile face to the world. The development of honest self-appraisal and a dedication to self-improvement are essential . Life should be confronted with honesty, humility, self-awareness, and a bedrock decision to like oneself enough both to allow oneself to grow, and to claim the right, fulfilling work.

If the rest of the chart is fiery, passionate, and demonstrative, the Virgo Ascendant is intended to help these people not get too full of themselves. If the rest of the chart is highly inward and emotional, this Ascendant is intended to help this person use meaningful work as a tonic to prevent too much self-absorption. If the rest of the chart is serious and analytical, the Virgo Ascendant is intended to develop and express those qualities. In any case, this rising sign’s demeanor should convey the message: “Here is someone who’s mastered a craft or a skill and can use it in a commonsensical, helpful way. Here is someone with a keen eye for detail, but even though he notices all the flaws in everything around him, he has enough healthy self-esteem not to need to pump himself up by putting others down all the time.”

In childhood, these people were extremely sensitive to any real or implied criticism from their family or their environment in general. Meanwhile, all kids need toilet training, get sick, spill milk, and make messes and mistakes; that just goes with being a kid. But if the Virgo Ascendant’s family was unreasonably picky, squeamish or punitive about such matters, a more sensitive person can have decided there was something wrong with him or her, and not see that it was his or her behavior that bothered a family member. Virgo Ascendants may internalize such decisions about themselves as low self-esteem.

As adults, this dynamic, if unexamined, may continue , and the Virgo Ascendants may try all the harder to be perfect, out of fear of continued criticism and punishment that was all out of proportion to the “offense.” A hardier person with Virgo rising, who learned to shut out negative feedback in order to survive childhood, can become defensive about any and all criticism, no matter how appropriated or constructive and no matter what the source. Both  types do well to turn that analytical Virgoan eye to their own upbringing. Perhaps, because this Mercury-ruled Ascendant benefits from lots of communication, they might compare their upbringing to that of other people, to help them recognize where their own family’s standards, expectations and reactions might have been extreme. Then it will be easier for the Virgo Ascendant to stop applying those unrealistic standards either to themselves or to others.

–Jodie Forrest, The Ascendant

Cancer Rising

The Symbols: 

This person has come into the world wearing the mask of the Nurturer, the Healer, the Mother, or the Sensitive. Other images for Cancer include the Invisible One, Old Mother Hubbard, the Hobbit, the Rememberer or the Homebody. Less than optimal manifestations of this Ascendant might include the Smother-mother, the Clingy One, the Hypersensitive One, or the Crybaby.

The Style:

As with all water signs, this Ascendant is complex, so we’ll spend some extra time here.

Cancer doesn’t mean biologically female, but this is the sign of the archetypal feminine, the archetypal Great Goddess, the lunar counterpart to the Leonine Sun God. Think of Cancer as the epitome of “yin” energy, that which is nurturing, receptive, and fertile–and dark, mysterious, inward and unpredictable.

In prehistoric societies now lost in time, before we knew that sex led to babies, we might well have associated the creative function with women, who mysteriously brought forth children from their own flesh and blood. When not bearing children, and before the age of artificial lights, it’s likely that women’s cycles tended to attune themselves to the approximately twenty-eight day cycle of the Moon.

Until relatively recently in modern astrology, it’s been all too easy to dismiss the Moon and the yin territory that it rules, just as it’s been all too easy to dismiss the feminine. We would do well to remember that some of the earliest astronomical and astrological records were of the Moon’s cycle. The Sun rules the day and is predictably invisible at night. The Moon, who rules the night and the dark, is sometimes visible during the day and sometimes invisible at night. Yin energy is cyclical, too, sometimes dark and sometimes full, just as the Moon waxes and wanes and changes speed. The Moon rules over fertility and birth–and over the dark, the night, the real and imaginary creatures who walk there, and the ultimate night of death. As a midwife once told me, “Death is always present at birth.” Perhaps that’s one reason, apart from the Moon’s phases, why many lunar goddesses have more than one face: maiden, mother, crone.

The Moon rules the high and love tides of our oceans and of our emotional lives, whose karmic imprints we all carry. It rules the body’s automatic systems: digestion, endocrine, etc., all the bodily functions that aren’t under the conscious control of the mind. The Moon rules the fluids of which our bodies are mostly composed. It rules caves and the chthonic energy associated with them. It rules our ancestors and, I suspect, whatever known or unknown influences they have in our lives.

Just as people with Leo rising wear the Sun God’s energy and all it implies of archetypal kingship or even the godhead metaphorically imprinted on their faces, people with Cancer carry the full fluctuating weight of the Moon Goddess upon theirs. Someone with a Cancer Ascendant has reached an evolutionary stage where he or she should present a gentle, caring, tender and reflective face to the world. Remember that one of Cancer’s traditional symbols is the Crab, a delicate creature with a hard exoskeleton that helps it survive. A person with this Ascendant needs some “shells,” some protective mechanisms, some deflector shields. The development of enough discernment to know when to raise the shields and when to lower them is crucial. Otherwise, people with Cancer rising can go through life either inappropriately defended and defensive, or so open and vulnerable that they become codependent or are repeatedly hurt and manipulated. Years ago, I heard the astrology Richard Idemon call dysfunctional Cancer “the breast looking for the baby or the baby looking for the breast.” To that image I would add “the barnacle:” someone who’s shut down behind what could become a PermaShell, usually after bouncing back and forth between those breast-or-baby extremes and not yet integrating them.

People with Cancer rising should face life with imagination, receptivity, the full development of their feeling function and of a rich inner life, and as open a heart as possible consistent with their emotional survival. The fuel of whatever strengthens the feeling function and feeds the imagination and makes it fertile. The terrain is anywhere one must navigate by feeling, intuition and patience rather than by logic.

If the rest of the chart is self-contained and analytical, the Cancer Ascendant is intended to soften this person and help him or her be more aware of the feeling side of life. If the rest of the chart is creative or psychologically oriented, the Cancer Ascendant is intended to help give this person access to deep inner sources of self-awareness. In any case, this rising sign’s demeanor should convey the message: “Here is a sensitive, imaginative, empathic and supportive person, who may be quiet or unavailable at the moment, but these still waters run deep.”

If no one provided adequate nurturing in the Cancer Ascendant’s childhood, this person can become “the baby looking for the breast” and keep searching for someone to play mother, so that he or she can at last be the baby. On the other hand, these people may instead become “the breast looking for the baby” and mother everyone else, all the while ignoring their own needs, perhaps because it’s too painful to feel how those needs aren’t being met, or perhaps because they’re unconsciously hoping to get some mothering back eventually. Another reaction to inadequate early nurturing may be to give up on every finding any at all, and to withdraw–the “barnacle”–behind the Cancer shell. Such people may be very focused on themselves and on meeting their own needs, while those of others are given short shrift. If the childhood was chaotic, traumatic or dangerous, people with this rising sign can become extremely shy, cautious or self-protective. All of these types would do well to learn about healthy self-nurturing, aided by their own powerful feelings and potentially rich and fertile inner lives. Then it’s easier to relate to the outside world from a position of emotional strength and wholeness, rather than need or lack. 

–Jodie Forrest, The Ascendant

Gemini Rising

The Symbols:

This person has come into the world wearing the mask of the Perceiver, the Communicator, the Observer and the Storyteller. Other images include the Questioner, the Journalist, the Student and the Information Junkie. Lover level manifestations include the Trickster, the Eternal Adolescent, the Chatterbox and the Pedant.

The Style:

This man or woman has reached an evolutionary stage where he or she should present an alert, articulate and perceptive face to the world. The development of objectivity and ability to process lots of information are essential. Life should be faced with curiosity and open mindedness. If the rest of the chart is highly sensitive and subjective, the Gemini Ascendant is intended to give it some objectivity and some protective coloration. If the rest of the chart is more earthy and/or fixed, the Gemini Ascendant is intended to help it loosen up. If the rest of the chart sparkles and scintillates, this Ascendant is intended to help express it. In any case, this rising sign’s demeanor should convey the message: “Here is an inquisitive, articulate person who notices everything, who can think on his or her feet.”

If the childhood environment was chaotic, it can be particularly difficult for a Gemini Ascendant to trust his or her perceptions and to sort out where the truth and the solid ground lie. Such a person may even be uncomfortable in an non-chaotic environment, until he or she does some psychological excavation work and realizes why, and that a more stable setting can be good for him or her. If the family refused to communicate, a stronger person may grow up starved for an audience, any audience, willing or not. A more fragile person may so fear or expect to be ignored that he or she may hesitate to speak. All of these types do well to learn that real communication is honest and is a two-way street, or it isn’t truly communication.

–Jodie Forrest, The Ascendant

Sun in Capricorn

The Sun creates effectively and unsympathetically. The natural ambition of Capricorns to achieve important objectives makes them determined and methodical workers who set out to complete what they begin. This sense of responsibility puts them under pressure and they may not suffer fools gladly. They may also become caught up in their own self-importance. But if their goals are focused there is nothing they cannot master and bring to a successful conclusion.

Moon in Capricorn

The Moon reacts realistically and demandingly. Responses to the approaches of others may seem reserved, even distant. Relationships become easier with proper boundaries established, and with shared objectives in leisure as well as work. The natural caution and sense of responsibility of those with a Moon in Capricorn can be reassuringly supportive, but they should beware of imposing prior conditions that become barriers to the development of relationships.

–Roy Gillett, The Secret Language of Astrology

Sun in Sagittarius 

The Sun creates expansively and over-optimistically. A need for action and a fascination with the unknown urge Sagittarians out of their immediate world. Most will go as far as they can to explore foreign lands or new philosophies. Never happier than when figuratively or literally in motion, they love sport and anything that tests the edge of what is possible, but they may say yes too easily and too often. Focusing on the greater good keeps Sagittarians steady.

Moon in Sagittarius

The Moon reacts generously and permissively. Those born with the Moon in Sagittarius love to encourage others, finding their ideas and experiences stimulating. They take pleasure in never knowing what other people will find out next. They enjoy going to places with people, providing they do not take over their lives or cramp their style. They need to check from time to time that they are doing the right things for the right reasons. 

–Roy Gillett, The Secret Language of Astrology

Sun in Scorpio

The sun creates intensely and indulgently. Those born with the Sun in Scorpio are greatly stirred by the idea of being in the thick of things in every way imaginable. They are drawn to discover all intimate secrets, from personal affairs to the mysteries of the entire universe. A constant temptation to over-indulgence, these Scorpio powers are more beneficially and satisfactorily employed to counsel others through periods of emotional or physical pain.

Moon in Scorpio

The Moon reacts passionately and intimidatingly. People with the Moon in Scorpio embrace life and engage deeply with others. Whether these others react with excitement or alarm indicates if such involvement will be a help or hindrance. As the Scorpio Moon is in fall, emotional connection and possessiveness can become uncomfortably and vindictively entangled. The way to avoid this is to make intimate contracts, without being selfish.

–Roy Gillett, The Secret Language of Astrology

Sun in Libra

The Sun creates harmoniously and unimaginatively. Librans are convinced that the best things happen when people and situations are comfortable and harmonious. They endeavor to make peace between people by seeing every perspective, aiming for fair treatment for all sides. With the Sun in fall here, it is important not to accept second- or even third- best for the sake of a “quiet life.” Librans must have the courage to maintain their own goals in life, too.

Moon in Libra

The Moon reacts peacefully and over-accommodatingly. The reassuring manner of people with the Moon in Libra seeks to ease the impact of sudden events and other peoples’ dramas. They are never happier than when keeping life on an even keel. While living in peace is important, they must avoid becoming trapped in someone else’s view of what peace means. Just sitting around is mere stagnation. Genuine peace actively creates space for good things to happen.

–Roy Gillett, The Secret Language of Astrology

Sun in Virgo

The Sun expresses precisely and hyperactively. A conscientious need for everything to be properly considered ensures a healthy Virgo’s life is industrious. With insight Virgos analyze all they consider to be the necessary details, arranging things systematically. They are ideally suited to editing and administrative organization, but need to beware of overworking. Unnecessarily high standards and too much petty detail can obscure easier solutions.

Moon in Virgo

The Moon reacts fastidiously and dismissively. When Moon is in Virgo, the natural inclination is to improve everything to perfection. Only if projects are tangible, or based upon a methodical structure and system of rules, can it be clear whether or not something is right. If it’s not, people with a Virgo Moon work at it until it is. As they are uncomfortable unless everything is as it should be, their associates may find them difficult to satisfy, even picky.

–Roy Gillett, The Secret Language of Astrology

Sun in Leo

The Sun creates radiantly and self-centeredly. The joy of self-expression associated with this sign makes being with Leos a blessing. With Leo around it is much easier to see life as bright and positive, to take risks, play, be generous, create and make amazing things happen. However, Leos do not tend to serve or sacrifice, others benefit chiefly by just being around them and their positive energy. For their part, Leos should remember that they may not always be right.

Moon in Leo

The Moon reacts innovatively and egocentrically. When people born with the Moon in Leo spot a chance to enjoy themselves, their eyes light up like a child’s. They are quick to suggest new ways to have fun. Unlike those with the Moon in other signs, they tend to draw attention to themselves and encourage others to join in. At family celebrations, they are happier when it is left to them to decide what is needed - the proceedings seem to go better that way!

–Roy Gillett, The Secret Language of Astrology

Sun in Cancer

The Sun creates nurturingly and cautiously. Those with the Sun in Cancer cannot do enough to care for and protect others, especially family and others who are close to them, nursing them, cooking for them or just relaxing with them beside the fire. Providing they feel emotionally secure and in control, they will draw on remarkable hidden depths of healing, but they should always tread carefully. If they feel threatened, they will close up and hide away, or lash out preemptively. 

Moon in Cancer

The Moon reacts intuitively and anxiously. Feelings may be so “ahead of the game” that ideas and words can create more problems than they solve. Just being accepted and cared for, and caring for others in return, is enough to feel complete. People with Cancer Moon flourish if threatened considerately in familiar, comfortable surroundings. They will attack to defend themselves if they feel their foundation is threatened and they cannot find somewhere to hide.

–Roy Gillett, The Secret Language of Astrology

Mars in Scorpio

Mars in Scorpio indicate people who express themselves and pursue their desires passionately, intensely, deeply, penetratingly, insightfully, and with precise control. Scorpio martial energy is giving, investigative, responsive, incisive, sensitive, compassionate, healing, and determined, and produces investigators, investors, healers, surgeons, and businesspersons. Scorpio’s passions are expressed powerfully, precisely, concentratively, purposefully, commandingly, manipulatively, sometimes secretively, and are sensually motivated. Scorpio Mars seek profitable return, satisfaction, and gratification from their giving or investing and appreciation of the value of their perceptive insight. If Scorpios cannot find a transformative, cathartic outlet for their energy, their investments will be self-serving and can become resentful, jealous, condemning, or vindictive. 

Traditionally, Mars in watery Scorpio is not well placed because here passions learn of power and of the alchemical processes of transformation that either serve Divine potential and healing or selfish desires and detrimental behavior, and temptation is the major issue. Scorpio Mars makes for a vitality and drive that is focused, hard working, calculating, passionate, encouraging, and persistent. 

–Shiva Das, Divine Love Astrology

Mars in Libra

Mars in Libra indicates people who express themselves and pursue their desires gracefully, conscientiously, diplomatically, and responsibly. Libra martial energy is responsive, fair, accommodating, controlled, upright, defensive about social issues, disliking of conflict, and produces politicians, negotiators, peacemakers, and diplomats. Libra’s passions are expressed sensitively but vacillate between active and withdrawing, peaceful and belligerent, rational and impassioned, grateful and perturbed, composed and vehement, calm and fervent, cooperative and opposing. Libra Mars seeks respect and that others learn the importance of mutual respect, cooperation, and coexistence. If Librans cannot find harmony and equilibrium, they can become detached, agitated, and severe in their in their judgments, justifying of punishment or fighting for justice or peace, and insistent and reliant on strict protocol and propriety. 

Traditionally, Mars in airy Libra is in its fall because martial energy is acquiescent rather than initiating, and responsive or reactive rather than creative. Libra Mars makes for a vitality and drive that is hesitant, considerate, diplomatic, and socially motivated, but changeable, unresolved, and conflicted. 

–Shiva Das, Divine Love Astrology