Tracking the Sun
Quick hacks to help keep track of planetary movement
What’s poppin? It’s your girl Christydabull, your local Taurus coming with another post for those who love astrology. If you’re new to my content, take some time to read through my work and heavily consider following (or subscribing) to my Substack for more Astrology content. I’m also accepting Anonymous Astrology questions for my column that I will be responding to on the monthly basis, so do keep your eyes out for the scoop. You are able to ask me any astrology question that you want; Spill the tea, or keep it simple, either way, your question will get answered in some sort of fashion. I highly advise you to describe me some scenarios that you want to look into more, in an advice column style, but if you just have astro questions, that is perfectly fine as well. Here is the link to the form and now…Let’s jump into the post now, shall we?
Keeping Track of the Ascendant 101
If you have seen your birth chart, that is literally a snapshot (screenshot) of what type of time the sky was on during your birth. We can look at astrology chart’s as a clock, especially if you’re trying to figure out where the Sun and/or what the current ascendant is.
The birth chart moves in two different directions, so that concept can be confusing. This is why visual aids exist to show you exactly what I mean.
The Ascendant and the planets on the chart are moving clockwise. Once the ascendant moves past 29°, it resets to 0° moving on to the next sign in Zodiacal order.
The relevancy of this information is so you can figure out where the Sun is depending on what time of day it is. There are a couple of rules, or perhaps observations I’ve made. Once you keep these facts in mind, then you’ll be able to always find out what house the Sun is located in relation to the ascendant.
Rule #1: Know the Directions of the Chart! It’s important!
The Cardinal Directions are North, South, East West. We see these on a compass or a regular map to understand which direction we are looking in. This chart, however, does the opposite because of the Earth’s perspective to the Sun. The 1H is East, the 10H is South, the 7H is West, and the 4H is North.
“The Sun rises in the east and sets in the west” yes, this applies to the birth chart as well.
Rule #2: Know the angles and what time it translates to when the Sun is on them
The picture below gives a rough estimate on the time according to the position of the sun.
The Sun rises around 6am and set’s around 6pm. Reminder, these are estimated times…when you check your phone, the Sun may rise at 6:30am and set at 7pm that day. Surely time is adjusted when day light savings happens.
6am-6pm are represented by the 1st House and the 7th House. Otherwise, the Asc-Dsc line.
Thus, 12pm (10H) would be where the sun is at its highest and 12am (4H) would be the sun at its lowest.
Small note: Houses 1-12-11-10-9-8-7 are the day side of the chart, an ode to knowing sect!
Rule #3: Keep track of what zodiacal season it is
As long as you can keep track of the zodiacal season, you will always know that the Sun rises as that current sign.
Since it’s still Aries season, at 6am it will be an Aries rising. As the Sun moves throughout the day, you should be able to know what house the Sun is traversing through at that moment.
Soon it will be Taurus season, so at 6am Taurus will rise. When the Sun sets at 6pm, Scorpio would be the Ascendant, as the Taurus Sun is setting below the horizon.
Example: if it is 12 o’clock, then we know that the Sun is in the 10H. Cancer would be the Ascendant at that time because Sun in Aries is in the 10H.
Rule #4: Look at the Sky!
When in doubt, please look at the sky! I don’t recommend looking directly at the Sun, as you will damage your eyesight, but when it comes to astrology, we have to remember that the sky tells the story in real time.
I went to a festival last weekend and I randomly thought…hmmm the Sun has to be in the 8th House right now. I already knew what direction the Sun was going as it was heading West to set. It wasn’t at its highest, but it wasn’t near the horizon yet, it was in-between the two.
It’s those little facts that we have to remind ourselves we have the ability to track the movement of the planets in real time. You can figure out what the ascendant is if you keep these steps in mind. Usually, when I’m talking to other astrologers, we like to pull a time to see what’s rising. This helps us place where the planets are and helps us observe the patterns of what’s going on in that moment.
This was a shorter post, however, I got some other projects cooking up to be available soon. Be sure to subscribe to the blog if you’re interested in all things astrology because I am your girl, Christy, your local astrologer here to give you the information and answer the questions. Comment below if you have any questions or just let me know you enjoyed the post! Until next time:
~ Christydabull