Scorpio Ascendant

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.


Scorpio Ascendant people have a lot of presence. There is something about them that tells the world that they are not to be pushed around. Their manner commands respect, and in some cases, fear. Scorpio rising people can be quiet or loud, but they always seem powerful and determined.
You either love or hate Scorpio rising people— they are rarely people who go through life unnoticed. In fact, some of them are confused when faced with the fact that they get such strong reactions from others. They seem to look right through people, seeing through superficiality. This can be quite intimidating to some, and intriguing to others. Scorpio rising people, in their dealings with others, look for answers by reading between the lines. Surface details are discarded when they are getting a feel for people and situations around them.
Scorpio rising people value their privacy so much, it can border on paranoia. They have a strong need to control their environment and are experts at strategy. Rarely people who will blow their chances with impatience, they plan out their moves carefully and deliberately, relying on their awesome ability to feel out others and situations.
Scorpio rising natives are drawn to down-to-earth, natural partners. Reliability in their partner is very important. They generally look for complete commitment and have little patience with flighty partners. Celebrity examples of Scorpio Ascendant include Sean Penn, Martha Stewart, Prince, Ed Asner, Susan Dey, Chris Evert, and Penny Marshall.

The characteristics of Scorpio Ascendant described above are modified by planets conjunct the Ascendant, planets that aspect the Ascendant, and the position of the ruling planet of the sign on the Ascendant. For example, a person with a Scorpio Ascendant with its ruling planet, Mars, in Sagittarius will respond to the environment a little differently than another person, also with a Scorpio Ascendant, but whose Mars is in Capricorn. (Note that Scorpio has two rulers, the other being Pluto, which is very slow-moving). Similarly, a person with a Scorpio Ascendant who also has Saturn conjunct it will "behave" differently than someone with a Scorpio Ascendant who does not have that aspect in their natal charts.

The point that was on the eastern horizon at the moment of your birth is called the ASCENDANT, or rising sign. While the Sun describes your conscious direction and current life focus, and the Moon your subconscious predisposition and past, the Ascendant indicates a way of being that transcends and embraces past, present, and future. It describes the way you engage and merge with the outer world and how you bring through into life the energies depicted by the Sun, the Moon, and the rest of your birth chart. Everything is filtered through the Ascendant from an esoteric point of view. It indicates your soul's function and thus a key part of your destiny.

You have keen animal instincts, a deeply instinctual and passionate nature, and access to forces that can be used for healing and regeneration - of yourself, other individuals, or society. Strong-willed and powerful in a quiet understated sort of way, you are always a force with which to be reckoned. You know intuitively where another's pain or weakness lies, and can thus be a natural healer - or a terrible enemy, if your energies are directed toward conflict. Learning to trust and follow your instincts, and to focus your will upon positive intents, are keys to fulfilling your highest destiny. Your ruling planets are Mars and Pluto.

Scorpio Rising and Mars in Pisces. Your Mars is in the imaginative, dreamy, visionary, spiritually-open sign of Pisces, suggesting your ability to access altered states of consciousness or dream-time quite readily. The use of images through visualization or art, for instance, is a primary source of healing for you. Water, baptism, birth, cleansing rituals are key elements. Intoxicants of any kind (especially alcohol) can be your downfall, leading to a feeling of confusion and aimlessness or powerlessness. You have pronounced psychic sensitivities which can be developed and used to evolve your own life as well as others'.

Scorpio Rising and Pluto in Sagittarius Your Pluto is in Sagittarius, revealing a need to cleanse, revise, and expand your beliefs about the nature of life. Dogmatism and zealous, one-sided convictions need to be shed in order for you to fulfill your highest purpose.

"You have already taken a few steps on the spiritual path, and you have dedicated your life to your spiritual nature to some degree. The intense desire nature within you continues, however, to pull you toward the physical expression. You constantly find yourself at a turning point between pursuing a material desire and following a more spiritual inclination.
You have the capacity for major changes in your life. Others may find your decisions remarkable, as you can take a 180 degree turn with relative ease. Each of these major shifts brings you closer to understanding the unfolding plan of your spiritual life. At this time you may appear to be motivated only by material desires, but each turning takes you further on the spiritual path. If you look back, you can see that your decisions have all blended into one direction. You see the logical unfolding of spirit woven into seemingly disjointed actions and decisions.
First you test your physical appetites with food, sexual desire and physical comfort. These may become rather boring. Ambition and the desire for power increase the emotional thrill and the momentary pay-off. At the third stage you tackle mental challenges of spiritual pride. If you can transcend all three levels, you then function from a more spiritual base. You cease to seek physical emotional and mental thrills for their own sake, and use your personal power to transform your own life and to help others.
You face a tall order if you are to make spiritual progress. You need to remember your own beginnings as you seek success in any of your endeavors, spiritual or otherwise."

"You are very strong-willed and proud, but intensely private and not easy to know well. Behind your quiet exterior lies a great deal of emotional depth, sensitivity, complexity, and also fierce determination. When you want something you go after it rather quietly but insistently and wholeheartedly - and you usually get it.You are not a person who lives lightly or superficially. You want to live passionately and intensely and are not averse to challenge, danger, or to facing the darker side of life - human pain and struggle. You function well in crisis situations and often seek them out, for you enjoy the feeling of living at full capacity.You are very intuitive about other people and especially about their unspoken feelings and hidden motives. You usually have strong, immediate gut reactions, either positive or negative, which prove to be correct. You approach life very instinctively and are not always fully conscious of why you feel or act as you do. You also have a very strong affinity with animals - an acute sensitivity and a nonverbal kind of rapport with them.In relation to others, you are rather cautious, sometimes even suspicious, until you get to know and trust them - and trust doesn't come easily to you. When you commit yourself emotionally to someone, be it friend or lover, you are intensely loyal and devoted to them and you also expect the same kind of unwavering, undying loyalty in return. If you are ever betrayed by someone you care deeply for, you are capable of hating and retaliating with as much fervor as you once loved. Nothing is done halfway. In fact, you are intensely involved and often jealously attached to whatever you care about, be it person, idea, or cause. There is definitely a streak of emotional fanaticism in you.Because of your natural reserve, others may see you as something of an enigma. You are quite self-protective and often defensive. You are also very magnetic, especially to members of the opposite sex."