Your soul is indicated by your Rising sign (Ascendant). This is the sign that was rising on the horizon at the time of your birth and, as the dawn of your life, it is considered by soul-centered astrologers to be the most important sign in astrology, precisely because it indicates your soul’s path, purpose and expression.
“The soul is the reality lying behind the persona, the mask of the soul. It is the soul or higher self that comes first, as does the Rising sign. The Rising sign, the soul and the soul’s purpose are therefore one and the same”
– Errol Weiner, Transpersonal Astrology
Your soul is on an unfolding journey in which it eventually passes through each sign. Your journey through the 12 signs of the Zodiac is described by the Tibetan Master in Alice Bailey’s “The Labours of Hercules: an astrological interpretation“. At each ‘stage’ we can see that the soul is growing and developing.
Some astrologers suggest that the soul spends up to eight incarnations in each sign, in which case we can see that it would take the soul up to 84 incarnations to complete one cycle through the Zodiac. It’s not a simple linear progression from A to B, the soul’s journey is more complex than that, but for our current level of understanding it’s a good analogy.
Your Rising Sign can therefore give you a sense of what your soul has come to do in this lifetime:
ARIES RISING: THE ARIES SOUL
If you have Aries rising you are here to inspire others with Divine ideas. Your challenge is to tame your mind, cultivate your intuition and cultivate self-awareness to the point where you can distinguish Divine inspiration from the needs and drives of your own personality.
TAURUS RISING: THE TAURUS SOUL
If you have Taurus rising you are here to release personal attachment and develop your senses for their highest purpose: to lead you to freedom, liberation, illumination and eventually enlightenment. Because Taurus resonates with peace, you tend to relax once you have all your creature comforts around you. Your biggest challenge is to not become complacent, and stay awake!
GEMINI RISING: THE GEMINI SOUL
If you have Gemini rising you are here to teach right human relations. To do this you have to ‘marry’ the head-mind and the heart-mind and deeply understand relationship as the interplay of light. Because Gemini is so curious you are interested in everything, so your biggest challenge is to stay focused on your soul path and not become distracted by mundane affairs.
CANCER RISING: THE CANCER SOUL
If you have Cancer rising you are here to find your inner light, keep it lit, and flow greater degrees of compassion into the world. Because Cancer is the sign of mass consciousness, you feel the fear of the masses. The biggest challenge for you is not succumbing to fear but to allow it to move through you and become transmuted into compassion.
LEO RISING : THE LEO SOUL
If you have Leo rising you are here to usher in an era of heart-centered leadership. Your biggest challenge will be to not become identified with your actions. You are NOT what you do. There is a real self, and a false self, and it is your job to figure out which is which. Once you do this you align with your soul purpose and your life becomes an expression of Divine Will.
VIRGO RISING: THE VIRGO SOUL
With Virgo rising you are here to be of service by flowing pure Divine love into the world through your work. Your biggest challenge is to not become discouraged and disheartened by the imperfection of the mundane world, which could leave you feeling anxious and critical. The perfection you seek is the perfection of the soul. Let go of ideas of how things ‘ought to be’ and flow your love anyway.
LIBRA RISING: THE LIBRA SOUL
If you have Libra rising you are here to bring in greater degrees of harmony and balance into the world through right relationship. In your case this comes from a deep understanding of the relationship between all things: including people and the beautiful planet we live on. Your biggest challenge is finding the balance between self and other in your own relationship. You matter as much as others. Not more, not less. Finding the point of balance which honors both is part of your life’s work.
SCORPIO RISING: THE SCORPIO SOUL
If you have Scorpio rising you are here to transform darkness into light through your own journey. I’ve never met a Scorpio soul who had an easy life. You are learning about energy and how to flow energy in ways that are beneficial to all concerned. It often feels like your life is one big struggle, but it is a struggle which makes you stronger, and comes at the appropriate time. Like a chick pecking it’s way out of an egg, it’s time now to hatch. Your biggest challenge is to not get caught in confrontation but to transmute the energy of any potentially volatile situation, which transforms you and lifts you to your highest potential.
SAGITTARIUS RISING: THE SAGITTARIUS SOUL
If you have Sagittarius rising you are here to uplift humanity through the revelation of truth and wisdom. To do this you have to know truth for yourself, the deeper spiritual truth that lies beyond mind and mental concepts. Since Sagittarius is the sign of the philosopher you love to think and formulate philosophies to guide our way of living. Your biggest challenge is to release all man-made mental concepts, go beyond opinions and philosophy, and discover the underlying truth of your existence.
CAPRICORN RISING: THE CAPRICORN SOUL
If you have Capricorn rising you are here to express your vocation for the greater good. Our ‘vocation’ is our spiritual calling, you are here to listen to your spiritual calling and make the sacred manifest in the world. At the highest level the Capricorn soul is an engineer of light, you have an innate knowing of alchemy and how to manifest heaven on Earth. Your biggest challenge is to use your talent and energy for spiritual purposes: to aspire to spiritual heights rather than becoming lost in the trappings of worldly wealth and achievement.
AQUARIUS RISING: THE AQUARIUS SOUL
If you have Aquarius rising you are here to flow the dual waters of love and life into the world in ways that benefit humanity. Your biggest challenge will be to get out of your head and into your heart. The spiritual energy of which we speak flows through the heart and, as the fixed air sign, Aquarius is very much a sign of the mind. It is too easy for you to be lost in ideas. When you access the power of your heart you will use your mind as the vessel, the vase of Aquarius, through which you steadily direct the love and light that flows from your heart.
PISCES RISING: THE PISCES SOUL
If you have Pisces rising you are here to flow universal love into the world. The biggest challenge for you is to create appropriate boundaries, and not take things personally. Because you can feel what others feel, it is easy for you to take on other people’s feelings. It is important for you to realize that everything you feel isn’t yours, and that other people are responsible for their own feelings. Allow others to learn their own lessons, and stay in the place of love. This way you become a ‘spiritual pacemaker’, striking a heart-tone that others can follow.
Whether you will experience and actualize the full spiritual potential of your Rising sign or not, depends upon your level of consciousness. If you are spiritually asleep, you will naturally experience the qualities of your Rising sign as an inherent part of your personality. As you awaken to your spiritual purpose you will feel a quickening, experiencing the subtle stirrings of your soul’s calling, through your Rising Sign. The Rising Sign bridges the worlds between sleep and awakening.
There is more explanation and discussion on this topic in the Living Soul Astrology Program
