The rising sign (or ascendant) is the east point in a horoscope from which the celestial bodies appear over the horizon. It can be any one of the 12 signs at all times of the year.
The rising sign suggests something about your physical body. And physical bodies to survive at some point must undergo the trial of birth to survive. The rising sign symbolizes the nature of the beginning of your unmediated interaction with your birth environment.
Your sign rising in the east is the first sign that works through you as a separate being. It symbolizes your body, but as you develop other qualities, it soon develops into a kind of mask. Like the body, the rising sign is our first impression on others and where we need to go first to actually start anything new.
The rising sign is an integrator symbol. It is where the great energy of the unified self can be directed as one, as they had to be when being born. When people talk about the need to get their stuff together, what they are reaching for is a healthier expression of their rising sign.
Learn about your rising sign by having an All About You reading.