If someone were to ask you for your “sign”, you would most likely reply with a one-word answer like “I’m a Saggitarius” or “Oh, it’s Pisces”. While this isn’t wrong, it might come as a surprise to find that there are multiple placements (twelve, to be exact) that make up your entire astrological profile, with each planet representing a specific aspect of you or your life. These can be found by mapping out where exactly the planets were when you were born — which is done so by unlocking your birth or natal chart. What you need in order to calculate your natal chart is the date, time, and place of your birth. Websites such as Cafe Astrology or apps like Co-Star will automatically formulate a birth chart on your behalf once the aforementioned information is provided.
While every planet rules varying sectors of life, the three main and most basic placements are your Sun, Moon, and Rising. These are the key players in your birth chart and the ones that are placed more liberally in the celestial recipe of making you – you! Keep in mind that all of these placements are interacting with each other and composing you as a whole, so any given sign’s traits can be displayed in a plethora of ways, it’s all dependent on each person due to the fact that every birth chart is unique.
Your Sun Sign
This is the one everyone is the most familiar with and what is referenced the most when discussing daily horoscopes or astrological traits. Simply saying “I’m a Libra” is almost always a reference to your sun sign, and if you’ve ever dipped your toes into the world of astrology, you might know some of the basic traits of your sun sign, like Tauruses’ practicality or Scorpios’ ambition. As most of us are aware, the Sun is the center of the solar system, so the traits and qualities found in your sun sign is a description and a reflection of your center and the core traits of yourself. Your sun sign as a placement describes what some of your most prominent personality traits are as well as describing how you are on the day-to-day.
There are fire signs, which include Aries, Leo, and Saggitarius. Fire signs are, well — fiery! Filled to the brim with self-assurance and enthusiasm, you can definitely spot a fire sign when you see one. The elemental opposite of fire is water, which can be seen in the stark contrasts between fire signs in the signs of Cancer, Scorpio, or Pisces. Governed by their emotions, water signs tend to be more intuitive and sensitive to the world around them and the people they interact with. While water signs are free-flowing, earth signs like Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn are humbled with two feet planted firmly on the ground. And lastly, there are our clever, empathetic air signs — Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius. Due to their curiosity and over-analyzation of everything around them, air signs are the ones I personally would advise going to when you want any kind of problem solved.
Your Moon Sign
While your sun sign represents how you present yourself to the world, the moon encapsulates the more shielded parts of the self. Akin to the lunar phases, your moon sign outlines the sides of yourself that are more hidden: deeper emotions, habits, and your responses to diverse situations.
In general, the basic traits of the signs in the sun placement can be related to the moon, however, they are manifested differently. Fire sun signs are bursting with energy, and that same intensity can be seen with fire moon signs’ impulsive reactions with little thought given before action is taken. Water moon signs are ruled by their intuition and sensitivity and are similar to those with a water sun sign. Those with their moon in an earth sign are aware of their environment and want material needs fulfilled in order to feel grounded, while air signs completely erase the emotions from the moon’s placement – so you see how these are alike but can also be direct contrasts of one another.
Your Rising Sign
Although it doesn’t correspond to a specific planet, your rising placement (also known as your ascendant) is what sign was rising on the eastern horizon when you were born. This placement relates to how others perceive you and additionally, how you present yourself. Labeled as your “mask”, your rising sign can be what people see when they first meet you, as well as play a role in the first impression you leave on them upon your initial introduction.
For those who have a fire ascendant, some people might think of you as someone who has that signature fire-sign self-assurance with a blunt manner of speaking. The rising placement can also be described as how one reacts to their environment which is shown in water signs with how easily influenced they are by it. Earth ascendant signs are interesting due to their split interests: to be down-to-earth while simultaneously being materialistic. Alternatively, if you have an air rising, you are generally seen as friendly and have no qualms about self-expression.
Humans are too complex for just one sign to describe an entire group of people, so to take your sun sign as your astrological tell-all only sheds only the slightest sliver of light into your cosmic make-up. While your sun, moon, and rising placements are the main rulers in natal charts, you can do a much deeper dive into what all the planets represent and how you can see them in yourself. So stop asking what a potential partner’s “sign” is — shoot your shot and ask for their whole birth chart to truly figure out your compatibility with them!