The Ascendant: God Parent

The Ascendant lies east of the place of birth and one of the twelve zodiacal signs will be rising on the eastern horizon at the exact moment an individual is born. The Ascendant is the doorway and entry point of the personality and represents the basic mode of expression, and the Sun and Moon can only express their energy through the rising sign. The Ascendant describes how we approach life and the colour of the lens through which we meet new experiences. The sign and planets in the first house can describe our actual birth experience, and those early experiences and those of childhood, tend to colour the way we perceive the world.

Liz Greene describes the Ascendant as a gateway to life that is symbolic of the link between one reality and another, representing a new phase, new beginning, and “fresh start“. Some astrologers associate karmic meanings to the rising sign for that very reason. The rising sign is often referred to as the persona and mask we wear in social situations, although this often gives the wrong impression that the Ascendant is a superficial point in the chart. The Ascendant is usually much more obvious on first meeting than our Sun and Moon sign. The descendant in the natal chart lies opposite our place of birth and represents the unconscious side of the rising sign and is usually projected. These are the qualities that we are seeking to develop, but we are not consciously aware that this energy actually belongs to us.

Sometimes we are so close to the Ascendant (face) that we cannot always observe its characteristics directly. The Ascendant has an integrating influence over the personality and the rising sign presides over the whole birth chart, influencing the planetary house positions that set the horoscope wheel in motion. Usually the Ascendant sign is the first point an astrologer uses to begin chart interpretation.

We see people approach new situations in different ways. One individual may walk into a new situation with optimism, openness and positivity. Others approach situations with caution, fear and defensiveness and this can assessed by looking at the rising sign and planets in the first house. The Ascendant filters all our life experiences and the ruling planet of the sign rising at birth, acts like a kind of “God” parent. The modern day version of a god parent is to support the parents (Sun and Moon) and to act as a kind of mentor and guide to the developing child. It’s important to analyze the sign and house position of our ruling deity to see where our energies will be immediately expressed.

Saturn in Aries/1st House

With this position of Saturn there is an intense feeling of frustration around personal achievements. What may also be evident is a lack of self confidence and self-assertion. Saturn in Aries or in the 1st house may have suffered bullying taunts over appearance, which has knocked confidence. There is also a tendency to take life seriously and Saturn on the Ascendant may present a heavily guarded self-image. There is often a stiffness or awkwardness in the way you are. The personality can be self-contained and lack any real spontaneity. In younger years there may have been painful issues around expressing their identity. During childhood you may have never been allowed to express selfishness or develop a powerful self-will and confidence.

Saturn in Aries/1st house by Sherene Schostak and Stefanie Iris Weiss - Surviving Saturn's Return

"Astrologer Bil Tierney calls your syndrome "stage fright of the soul". It can cause you to suffer from deep depressions from time to time. Some Saturn in Aries have chronic bouts of depression. When you are constantly fighting with your inner nature, your desire to take off like a flame and go forth, the result can be sadness and longing. The energy of Saturn and the energy of Aries are really at odds with one another. Saturn tells you to sit down and calculate, to measure it slow. Aries tells you to charge off into the wilderness, screaming all your desires to the wind, or anyone within listening distance. It's not an easy fit, and it can make you feel as of you're being taken on a nausea-inducing ride. You might carry anxiety about spontaneity that cause you to plan everything out. You could be afraid to move and change, even to make changes you know will be good for you."

You need to develop an unshakable confidence and not overcompensate. You may be shy and anxious meeting new people, and throw up heavy defences to protect how vulnerable, exposed and anxious you feel underneath. Saturn can mask his fear and appear confident while hiding painful anxiety. Saturn in first house is often accused of being standoffish and unfriendly, or presenting a cold front. You may put a heavy lid on your natural instincts, and build walls of physical protection which prevents attack from a hostile world. Saturn here may also have issues around body image, and in extreme cases -self loathing.

Lessons to Learn

• Learn how to be naturally self-confident
• Assert your true identity
• Learn how to relax and project who you really are
• Try and let go of the anxiety
• Learn to lighten up
• Master the environment/Don't control it
• Don’t hide away
• Saturn won’t allow a false image or pretence, he is real
• Self-belief must to be developed
• Have the confidence to make things happen
• Go out there and challenge your limits

Pluto in Libra in the 1st House

Pluto in Libra is learning how to balance relationships and how to relate equally. It takes Pluto 248 years to complete a full cycle, so a large part of the population will have Pluto in the same sign. A whole generation of people will have Pluto in Libra between 1971-1984. The metamorphosing (Pluto) of relationships (Libra) is felt individually through each of the twelve houses. Pluto is the evolutionary cycle of birth, death and rebirth, it eliminates waste and transforms old energy into new forms. One of the most powerful lessons Pluto will teach us is: how to survive. Wherever Pluto is placed in the natal chart is where we may face Plutonian crisis such as abandonment, trauma, death and power-struggles.

Pluto in the first house of the natal chart symbolizes a powerful need for independence and self-discovery. However, Libra is this opposite of "self" actualization and the Libra generation are compulsive and obsessed with fair-trade, equilibrium and balance. "Am I getting a fair deal" is how we often sum up Libra but we also need to question whether we are being "fair". Pluto exposes superficiality and power-plays in partnerships. For Pluto in Libra in the first house this may produce an identity crisis and your identity is "compromised".

Distorted power plays in relationships (Libra) means that you need to re-balance the situation. Pluto is an all or nothing planet, and you can feel passionately engaged in a relationship, and equally you can feel nothing. If others attempt to control, manipulate and control your self-image, all hell breaks loose eventually. If self-growth is limited within relationships, fate will tear down all barriers. Pluto rising people are deeply private and even if they present an open and friendly manner, they control what they choose to reveal about themselves.

Pluto rules deep change and transformation, and re-building a new self-image, rising from the ashes of the old and taking a new form. This can be distressing and traumatic if you are pretty fixed on your old self-image. If there is something in the way you relate to others that is less than self-honest, Pluto exposes false facades, and roots out the real-self that hides behind the mask.Tiger Woods has Pluto in Libra in the1st house. Woods built a fortune around his powerful identity he had a public front of a golfing superstar and family man. It was revealed that he had been having numerous affairs with other women. And all the secrets that he had kept are now out in the open. The 'front' that he presented was for the survival of his marriage and his relationship with the public. Pluto works like a volcano and stores anger, secrets, resentment, until it eventually erupts and releases all that hot and fiery energy that has been laying dormant inside.

Pluto rising often have a series of incarnations. Their lives fall into distinct chapters, each of which has a recognisable beginning and ending. They are one way for a few years, doing a particular profession, wearing a particular kind of clothing, exhibiting a particular kind of personality, espousing a particular set of values. Then something happens - not always visible - and they become somebody completely different. They build a new personality out of the ashes of the old. The former life is gone forever, and something new starts which may go on for five or ten or twenty years. And the same thing happens again. By Liz Greene

Britney Spears is another powerful example of Pluto in Libra in the 1st house. In one whole sweep, she shaved off her hair in a bid for self-control. When she first emerged on the pop-scene she was tightly managed as a powerful money making commodity. Pluto in the 1st house will not be coerced by others and told how they should dress or behave. Self-transformation involved a complete overhaul of her appearance, but a whole transformation needs to occur inside and out for it to be complete.

"Don't let the negativity given to you by the world disempower you. Instead give to yourself that which empowers you." - Les Brown

Control, manipulation or abuse in close relationships may occur depending on aspects. Again, a balance needs to be reached and Pluto in the 1st house can be magnetically attractive and there is something deep and profound about the way they approach life. Pluto has a powerful persona and will sometimes need to withdraw from social contact. However, they are obsessively and secretly plotting developing to come back with self-empowered.