How can you guess someone's Ascendant???

I know that in order to get an accurate chart for a person it's always safest to ask them for their birthtime. But, as it so often happens, you either don't want to ask them or they simply don't know their birthtime.

I have been trying for a while to figure out the rising signs of my dad and a dear friend of mine. I started reading all kinds of descriptions of the respective rising signs, but I just couldn't seem to figure out what their Ascendants might be. It feels like the better you know someone, the harder it gets to guess their rising signs, because you simply know what they are like underneath their mask and you kind of mix their outter and their inner personality.

Now, does anyone of you have any advice on how to guess someone's Ascendant???

I would be very grateful for any help I can get with this!!!

I generally do not think it is a good idea to attempt to guess an individual's Ascendant and use the resulting approximate birth time to create a chart--the time could result in a completely inaccurate chart.

Although physical appearance is a popular method, there are so many astrological factors that can alter one's facial features or body structure from the general characteristics of the Ascendant sign, even when you are confident of the birth time! For example, I have an Aries Ascendant yet I am not at all tall or wiry--my Moon, although located in the sign of Aries as well, has greatly influence my appearance bestowing me with a somewhat pale, round face and a feminine body.

If you know the individual's Sun and Moon signs, you can visit Astrofaces and attempt to see which individuals with this combination look most like your father and dear friend and see what Ascendant sign is listed. However, I must warn you that this is an unreliable method, for even individuals with the same Sun/Moon/Ascendant combination can look much different from each other due to other astrological factors.

Your best bet is always to search for the birth certificate or contact the hospital or facility in which the person was born, which often keeps more detailed records than are recorded on the birth certificate, particularly older ones.

Arian Maverick

I agree that it isn't wise to guess, though by a fluke I have been very successful guessing, especially at parties when I am meeting someone for the first time.

Also, when I met my husband his parents were on holiday and I was able to guess his birth time within 4 minutes (confirmed by his mother upon their return) just based on my perception of his personality and our interaction.

One way I've found to find the ascendant of a client who may not ever have access to his or her birth time is to have the person compile a chronology of significant events/dates in his or her life and then compare that to the outer planetary ingresses into new signs, along with the stations retrograde and direct in the different signs.

Though I use the angles a lot in my consultations and have seen a modern astrologer calculate the exact rising degree using only Uranus transits, I recommend using whole sign houses for this process because then when a planet makes an ingress into a new sign, it is also making an ingress into a new house, which makes it easier to notice the different topics of life affected as soon as the ingress occurs.

I pay particular attention to the ingresses of Jupiter and Saturn into the signs on their respective 12 and 29/30 year cycles to watch for prominent themes when they move into different signs each time.

It can also be valuable to pay attention to the Venus and Mars retrograde periods and what topics appear to be effected when they station in different signs/whole sign houses.

Hope that's helpful...

Guessing Ascendants are easy. There are many books out which describe the physical characteristics of each Sign and you can easily match them up. I find traditional much better than modern descriptions. I have a few books on my website which offer this as well as more;
http://antiquus.50webs.com/Library.html

Although, if you do get a birthtime and want to check it, I suggest rectification. Its quite a simple process (although other places will charge you insane amounts of money for the exact same thing (100-300$+ ive seen)). This can be found also at my site (for free);
http://antiquus.50webs.com/Birth.html

I hope that helps you with your discovery!

I found this in another thread, posted by Bob, which seems relevant here:

A new Moon birth will have the Lot of Fortune around the ascendant and a full Moon birth will put it around the descendant. (a good rectification tool).

It feels like the better you know someone, the harder it gets to guess their rising signs, because you simply know what they are like underneath their mask and you kind of mix their outter and their inner personality

Click to expand...

Agreed! I find it difficult to "simplify" and separate their "persona" from their whole "person". I use astrodienst, and have a whole bunch of charts for which I don't know the birth time. I have my theories for each, but I leave all of them set as "birth time unknown", and just look at them as a chart without houses. The problem with guessing is that if you do get it wrong, you've created this false, but very persistent impression of them and of their charts. It's hard to "unassume" once you have assumed someone is a (whatever) ascendant, with all of their planets in the Northern hemisphere, or whatever!

Thank you everyone for your input so far.

I did check out Astrofaces, but I don't think it's safe to base your guess of a person's Ascendant soley on their physical features. I mean, it's been my personal experience that people usually don't look the way they should according to their rising sign. For instance, my own rising sign is Pisces ... I very much act like a Pisces Ascendant, but that's about it. According to Elbert Wade's descriptions a Pisces Ascendant is supposed to be small with large eyes and have a doll-like face ... and I don't look like that at all (I don't have any planets in my 1st House that would affect my appearance).

Anyway, I guess I will have to do some more research on this matter.

Astrofaces includes a Sun-Moon-ASC match. Did u check that? You are right though, the Ascendant isnt the only contributor to the physical appearance. His lord, strong or weak in placement may also determine this. Also, any Planets in (or in Aspect to) the Ascendant/first House determine this as well.

I know physical features aren't the only determinative factor of Ascendant sign, but I thought I should add something more to my post than what I had originally written.

There are many downfalls of Astrofaces, one of which is that there is no way to see which planets (if any) are conjunct the Ascendant or placed in the first house. My birth certificate gives me an Aries Ascendant, yet besides the somewhat reddish tinge to my blond hair, I don't think I look anything like a typical Arian--the Moon conjunct my Ascendant dominates my appearance.

I would suggest creating a chart with various birth times and see which one seems to fit the person the best, although this cannot by any means guarantee accuracy. Yet if you cannot access the natal data, it's really the only method I can think of, unless you attempt chart rectification.

Arian Maverick

Arian

Chart rectification is actually quite simple. I have the three main methods on my website;

http://antiquus.50webs.com/Birth.html

Check your time with that. They are very accurate. It takes a little math but if you follow the charts it works.

I have attempted the chart rectification methods you have described on your site, yet I am a bit skeptical because I have researched Trutine of Hermes and the Animondar of Ptolemy before and they do not always seem to yield an accurate result.

Arian Maverick

Some authors state one is favorable above the other but I believe that all three should work. I have used them to test my own birth time and they have confirmed the exact time. The main problem is in the clairity describing the methods. A lot of authors are not very clear (especially for beginners) on the method itself which I believe can lead to a lot of false (and frustrating) results. I have attempted to descibe the method as basic as possible so everyone can use it. Try out the two you are skeptical about on your own birth time and see if its accurate. Thats the only way to know.

theres a book called "the only astrology book you'll ever need" it comes with a disk and so far it's guessed everyones ascendant that've I've put in

This question of the rising sign is very interesting. I have found that one may have the ascendant sign of the Sun of one of the parents. We can guess sometimes by the physical characteristics. I am still not sure of my father for instance because a planet in the first house will overide any rising sign. Sometimes we get clues by the type of person that they are married to and get a handle on their 7th house and then look to the polar opposite. If we know the sign of the partner then the opposite sign can be on the 1st.... There are those people who can rectify charts and get a good idea of the rising sign that way. Time, date and place of of birth is crucial for a proper individual chart interpretation as near as possible.

Claire

I agree with the 1st House/7th House thing ... I've noticed with several people that they do attract people who have at least two personal planets in the sign their Descendant is in. For instance, I have Pisces rising, and I noticed that a lot of the people that are important in my life have at least two personal planets in Virgo.