The Ascendant (or rising sign) is often considered the mask one wears when meeting others. Perhaps it is most aptly thought of as the automatic responses to one's environment. The Ascendant shows our natural defenses and how we cope with day-to-day issues. The energies of the sign and condition of the Ascendant are most overt and obvious to others. The Ascendant shows an individual's first, natural reaction to new people and situations.

Aries

You express your vital energy in a very cut and dried way, you do not resist taking the driver’s seat and you may come across as arrogant. Charging ahead also implies hurting yourself and being suddenly overcome by doubt. As a result, your courage, your honesty, your enthusiasm and your straightforwardness may turn into aggressiveness, rebellion and vulnerability that no one ever suspected. Fortunately, the level of your energy is very high and your instinctive and pugnacious side will not leave you helpless for too long and will set you back on the often perilous road to conquest and glory.

With this Ascendant, you come across as courageous, enthusiastic, dynamic, quick, extroverted, direct, warm, impulsive, adventurous, bold, and competitive. But you may also be gullible, dominating, self-centered, impatient, foolish, thoughtless, childish, irascible, reckless, primary, with a foot in mouth disease.