Astrological Houses: The First House in Brief

The First House is defined by the rising sign or Ascendant. The First House of an astrological horoscope is you. Every twenty-four hours, all 360° of the zodiac (divided into twelve signs of 30° each) rise on the same point in the east where the Sun rises. At the moment of birth, the degree and sign of the zodiac which is rising in the east defines the eastern point of the horizontal line of the horoscope. This is known as the rising sign, referred to as the ascendant because it is ascending into the sky. This is also known as the 'cusp' or your First House, but let's not complicate things at the moment. We'll simply refer to it as the Aacendant.

When we look at a map, we typically place north on the top, leaving east on the right. In astrology, this isn't necessarily so. In ancient times, our ancestors would lay under the stars to study them. Often, the best position to do this would be with the feet pointing south. This places the east on the left. So, to our ancestors, the sun rose on the left (east) and set on the right (west). So, when drawing a modern horoscope, we place east at the left, which places north at the bottom. It may seem a little strange, but it's important for understanding horoscopes and birth charts.

The degree of your ascendant is very important in the understanding of your horoscope. Its importance is only slightly less than that of the sun and the moon. The ascendant symbolizes how we project ourselves into this world. While our sun sign describes how we look out at the world and our moon sign describes our emotional patterns and habits, the ascendant describes how we appear to ourselves.

It is as if we are each a movie projector. The sun is the source of light, but the glass of the bulb is colored by the sign of the zodiac that the sun was in at the moment of birth. The moon acts as a mirror that concentrates the light, colors it again with the sign that the moon was in at birth, and then reflects the concentrated light through the projector's colored lens, the ascendant.

A person looking casually at this projector will see only the picture colored by the ascendant. A deeper look will reveal intricacies that are not readily apparent to most people. Just knowing the characteristics of your ascendant can help you better understand how you interact with the people around you. If your ascendant is very different from your sun sign, it would explain why people seem to think you act so differently from the way you think you're acting.

If you're born close to the time of sunrise, then your ascendant will be the same as your sun sign, leading to a 'double'. You'll be a double Aries, double Pisces, double Capricorn, or whatever. These people are not misunderstood as much, with the exception of Scorpio, who almost always seems to be misunderstood. A 'double' may find that the horoscope in the newspaper will be eerily accurate, since most of these are written for 'doubles'.

The First House of an astrological horoscope is very clearly all about you. Only you were born at the exact moment and place of your birth. Even twins are not born at the same moment and will have slightly different birth charts. So, the sign of your First House is associated with your appearance, especially your head and face. It is also connected to your personality, your outlook on the world, your abilities, and your actions.

In astrology, every house is ruled by a planet and a sign. The house will share many of the qualities of both the planet and the sign. The First House is ruled by the planet Mars and the sign Aries.