Whenever a nice, attractive horoscope comes your way, the first thing you do is probably look at your Sun Sign – that sign you have always said is your sign. All you need to know is your birthday, and you know your Sun Sign. However, your Sun Sign isn’t everything. And, when it comes to knowing about what the future may have in store, looking at your Rising Sign may be far more valuable. This is so because, while your Sun Sign says a ton about your personality, it says less so about your future. Sure, when it comes into contact with other planets, it may influence your destiny. However, if it doesn’t, you won’t have much indication of what the stars have in store for you. The Rising Sign, on the other hand, sets the stage for all of the planets and the two Luminaries. There’s always something happening when you look at your Rising Sign, because it’s the key to look at your entire chart.
Your rising sign is the sign that was at the Eastern horizon where you were born at the moment you were born. You can calculate your Rising sign if you know your birth city, birthdate, and birth time (the more specific, the better). The Zodiac sign at the Eastern horizon changes every couple of hours or so, that’s why getting an exact birth time is important.
Astrology understands your life as if it were a cake. It is a cake with twelve slices. Each of the slices represents a different area of your life. Your Rising Sign tells you about the first Zodiac sign in the first slice of the cake, thus revealing the order of all the Zodiac signs after it. If you have a Pisces rising, then Pisces is the first slice of the cake. The next, the second slice or House, is Aries, the third is Taurus, and so on. If you know that you have a Pisces Rising and you know that Jupiter is moving into Aries, then you know that Aries is the second slice of the cake, or your Second House, which represents money and assets. Jupiter, in turn, is the planet of good luck and expansion. So, as long as Jupiter is situated in this slice of the cake, you will experience good luck when it comes to money.
Some planetary transits bring in good news, others bring in not so great news, and some bring a mix of things both good and bad. Venus and Jupiter generally bring good news. Mars brings mixed things, as it will energize that area and fill you with willpower to do what needs to be done there, but it can also attract anger and even aggression or accidents. The Moon varies depending on which phase it’s in. The Full Moon invites you to let go of what’s no longer serving you, and the New Moon is a great time to manifest as it brings in the energy of new beginnings in whatever area of life it is taking place in. The Sun makes you focus on any area of life it is on. Mercury can help you communicate better (or worse if it’s retrograde) in whichever area of life it’s currently placed in. Saturn brings about difficulty and limitations.
Those are the fastest moving planets. Other planets like Uranus, Neptune and Pluto take slower to move signs, so they are only important when they reach key mathematical points in your birth chart or when they form relationships with other planets.
Going with the flow of the energy that’s available for each area of your life will help you achieve the results you want in a more seamless way and avoid making mistakes by acting in ways you later regret. For example, if you’re a Scorpio rising and Venus moves into your seventh slice of cake (or House) of partnership and serious relationships, you’ll have better luck on dates than when this House is empty. If, on the other hand, Saturn moves into Taurus in your Seventh house, that brings a shortage of potential suitors and you will have to work hard to woo any eligible people you meet.
Let’s look at another example. Suppose you’re a Capricorn rising who wants to conceive. The slice of the cake that represents children is the Fifth (Fifth House), and the Fourth house is also important because it represents motherhood. In the case of a Capricorn rising, their fifth house is Taurus and the Fourth is Aries. Some positive signs to watch out for would be a New Moon in Aries or Taurus, because conceiving is a new beginning, Jupiter for the expansion of the family moving into either Aries or Taurus, and so on. Some negative signs would be Saturn in Aries or Taurus, and your chances may get better once this planet moves to Gemini, which in your case would be the sixth house of health and habits.
Another example would be a Gemini rising who wants to change career paths. A desirable thing for this person would be for Venus or, better yet, Jupiter, to move to Pisces in their tenth house of career. Even something more minor like Mercury (direct, not retrograde) moving into Pisces or a New Moon in Pisces can give this individual some energy to figure some important things out regarding their next step in their career. Saturn can be a tough teacher, but it can be beneficial in the long haul when it comes to career, so having Saturn in Pisces in this case is not such a bad sign.
Does all of this mean that you can never look at your Sun sign to know your future? No! The Sun can indeed tell you some things about your future. Like we said previously, the Sun sometimes comes into contact with other planets, and this can influence your fate. We can explore it further at some other point, because some planets make harmonious pairings and others don’t depending on where each one is located at the time and the nature of each planet. An example would be the Sun coming into contact with Mars. If they form a harmonious relationship, you’ll feel a surge of energy and willpower. If it’s more on the tense side, it can make you more prone to accidents or having issues with rage (or with other people’s rage). However, the Sun doesn’t come into contact with other planets all the time. When you look at your Rising sign, there’s always something going on.
In short, if you want to use Astrology to get to know your future, looking at your Rising sign will give you more information as to what to expect in the next period of your life than looking at your Sun sign. This is so because by knowing your Rising sign, you can know which Zodiac sign rules which area of your life. So, when a planet moves to a new sign, you’ll know what to expect in that area of life. You can still find out about your future by looking at your Sun sign, but it’ll only give you information when it comes into contact with other planets.