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The Ascendant:
Revealer of our Soul's Purpose
by Candy Hillenbrand
Have you ever wondered whether there might be more to the Ascendant than a
mere description of the physical appearance, the persona, the mask, or the
manner in which we project ourselves into the world? How often have you
encountered a client whose personality does not seem to match the
traditional description of the Rising Sign? A Leo rising client, for
example, who lacks confidence, or an Aries rising person who is not
particularly assertive or outgoing, or a Sagittarius rising person who has
difficulty being adventurous?
In Esoteric
Astrology, drawn from the teachings of theosophist Alice Bailey, and
further simplified by Alan Oken, the Ascendant is the key significator of
the Soul's Purpose. How could this be? How could one system define the
Ascendant as little more than the mask we wear, while another defines it
as revealer of our deepest spiritual purpose and potential? Which is
right?
I suggest
that both are right, and that when we begin to interface our
well-understood 'traditional' astrology with a more 'soul-centred'
approach, we will see emerging a clearer picture both of the nature of
spiritual purpose and the manner in which it is expressed.
It is a
tenet both of traditional and esoteric astrology that the Ascendant is
symbolic of the moment of birth. It is the point of incarnation, of the
entry of the soul or being onto the physical plane or the cross of matter.
The Ascendant is that which is ascending, rising and commanding. It is
supreme, a symbol of the seed which is our Self or Soul; of the acorn
which will grow into the big oak.
In this
sense, we can easily see how Esoteric Astrology should depict the
Ascendant as the calling, the mission, the purpose, and a signpost to the
reason for our incarnation and indicator of those qualities which we most
need to develop in this lifetime. Indeed, the Ascendant qualities are not
tried and true at all. This is not simply the persona or the mask, but the
soul shining through the persona. The persona or personality is the
vehicle for the soul and its greater purpose. So here we see that the
empirical evidence of traditional astrology is still valid. And we can
bring the esoteric (soul-centred) and traditional (personality-centred)
approaches together at this point by acknowledging that it is the soul,
the spiritual essence, which is projected through the persona at the
Ascendant.
According to
Bailey's system, the Sun symbolises the present (the path of the
integrated personality); The Moon symbolises the past (the path of
instinct, karma, heredity) and the Ascendant symbolises the future (the
path of the soul).
Even in a more 'traditional' approach to astrology, it is recognised that
the Ascendant points to qualities which are in the process of development,
which challenge us, which force us to grow, and which serve to bring
together the rest of the chart. Liz Greene has this to say about it, in
her usual eloquent style:
"There is
something very profound about the way in which the Ascendant works to
bring about the dichotomy of Sun and Moon. This sign seems to embody a set
of values or a range of life experiences which always rise up to challenge
us, and to which we must respond through both the instinctive wisdom of
the Moon and the conscious goals of the Sun. Life keeps hitting us over
the head with Ascendant issues, and through developing the values of the
rising sign, inwardly as well as in our behaviour, we gradually strengthen
the Sun and Moon, and discover that they can operate together with the
Ascendant as unifying link". [1]
As the
vehicle for the expression of our purpose, I tend to see the Ascendant as
the outlet or channel for the merging of the energies of the Sun and Moon.
Perhaps it is here at the Ascendant where the potential for the divine
inner marriage (of Sun and Moon) can take place; a marriage of yin and
yang, of unconscious and conscious, past and present. In Jungian
terminology, this sacred inner union is known as the coniunctio.
To summarise,
the qualities of the Ascendant sign describe the future direction of the
soul, what we are growing towards, and new qualities that we are
developing. From a soul-centred or transpersonal perspective, the sign on
the Ascendant indicates how we can best express our personality gifts to
extend beyond ourselves to make some contribution towards the greater
whole. The house position of the esoteric ruling planet of the Ascendant
indicates where these gifts and qualities are best expressed.
NOTE
[1] Greene, Liz & Sasportas, Howard, The Luminaries, Samuel Weiser, Maine,
1992, pp. 192-3.
Copyright © 1997 by Candy Hillenbrand
All Rights Reserved
This article was first published in the Southern Star, Oct 1997, Vol. 27,
No 10.
http://www.aplaceinspace.net/Pages/CandyAscendant.html
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