Your Ascendant and, like, Your Vibe
This Friday 4/28, is Astrobitch! the comedy show! If you’re in Chicago, IL head to the Color Club Tavern in Irving Park at 7:30 for our Taurus Season lineup! Mention Astrobitch weekly and get $5 off your ticket at the door!
Has a friend ever told you that they thought you hated them before you became friends despite that not being the case at all? Do you find yourself becoming an unwilling therapist for people you barely know like that? Have you ever wondered how you come off to people? For those of us who lack self-awareness (✋) the ascendant can be a big help in seeing ourselves from the eyes of others.
To get your ascendant or rising sign you have to know your birth time, so text your mom because your dad sure as hell doesn’t know.
Personally, I am plagued by RBF (Resting Bitch Face). Most people are afraid to approach me before they get to know me. Or feel judged. Or intimidated. Can you guess my rising sign? If you guessed Virgo you’re correct. In my experience, Virgos are usually seen as intimating but honestly, we’re just anxious as hell. Our chart ruler is Mercury which rules Virgo. Mercury is a fast-paced, fast-moving planet and those of us under its rulership are thinking and feeling at light speed. Most times, I’m not even thinking about other people I'm too busy worrying if I’m standing weird. If I am thinking about other people, I admit, I am judging. Moreso reading. Mercury is analytical, it seeks to understand. That might read as intimidating for people who aren’t used to being so thoroughly observed.
For a long time, I was upset when people misunderstood me. I felt like I was judged without anyone ever saying a word to me. This could be a Virgo thing or a black woman thing or both. The point is, on the outside the message I send is: “Don’t talk to me I am reading your very soul and it makes me want to fucking gag.” Not my intention to say the least but also…yes. So I had a choice to make: actively change my demeanor to be more inviting or accept it and stay the way I was. Of course, most things are best done in the middle ground. My Virgo bitchiness has kept a LOT of bullshit out of my life while many of my friends who people would call nice, had people (men especially) thinking, my friends wanted their attention when really they didn’t. “Teach me how to be a bitch,” they would ask me. I kind of view being a “bitch” as a superpower now. I have a wall between my true self and the self I present. Only people who can scale it have access. And those too weak to even try, crumble at one sharp glance.
I view the rising sign as a mirror for the native. It’s important to see how you come off so you can attract when you want a repel what you don’t. We all have elements of all 12 zodiac signs in our charts. You have it in you to draw from these different sign characteristics. Need to be a bit softer, look at your Libra house for ways to access it and bring it to the forefront. Need to be a bit more assertive? Aries and Capricorn are great places to start.
Maybe it's my heavy mutable placements, but I don’t think humans are supposed to stay one consistent way. We embody the process of life, adaptation. Using Astrology we can pull from different parts of ourselves to adapt to the world around us. Some parts of yourself you foster and grow. Other parts you let die and fall off like a useless limb. Perhaps you put something more durable and useful in its place?
This may be my 8th house sun talking but transformation makes life worth living. Shall I grow gills or wings this year? Will a powerful roar or soft whisper lead me down the path to which I am drawn? As the sun sets on my life, I look forward to seeing the final result of my evolution. A creature created from my active choices and desires, perhaps the truest expression of my immortal soul.
What impressions do you give off? Do you like the way you come off to other people? What parts of yourself would you like to strengthen? What parts of yourself do you think you are best left behind? What would you replace it with?