The Ascendant is the sign rising on the horizon at the moment of our birth—it’s the 1ST HOUSE. This is why a location and birth time is crucial in casting an accurate birth chart. Mine is in Aquarius ♒︎
Often called the rising sign, it provides information about what our incarnational intent is, and how we filter and project our energies into the world.
Your SUN is what you desire or want from life…and your rising sign reveals the style in which you obtain those desires. The sun is how you your own personal value, its placement indicates what you want and expect of yourself. Your rising is the role you were assigned in life and the way you naturally interact with the physical world. Both are you, they’re just different facets of our being.
Your ascendant is where you sit. It organizes your houses, and thus the “style” of your life, and way your physical body manifests. Your Sun, is your life’s energy. Including your life’s path, how you light up the world, your vitality, and your sense of self. So where the ascendant is the body, the Sun is the health of the body. Or the life energy that animates that body. Take it a step further, and your planet of highest degree is Your Archetype. Or your role, soul’s purpose, what you are learning in this life, and who you are going to become as a person. The moon is how you receive and think about all that.
Your DESCENDANT, then, is the shadow.