Fixed stars and the Ascendant: conjunctions

What does it look like when a star is conjunct your Ascendant? With visual aids, a gif, a suggestion for divination and example charts.

On a recent Q&A, someone asked “How would you say stars conjunct the Ascendant manifest?”—such a juicy question.

Photo by Cristofer Maximilian on Unsplash

Before I get into my reply to this question, a few definitions! What are we actually talking about? What is one’s natal Ascendant?

What is the Ascendant?

The Ascendant is The Moment. While the zodiac sign of the Ascendant might take an hour or two to shift, the Ascendant degree changes minute to minute, and that is why having a birth time as precise as possible is key.

If you’re an astrological beginner, you might know this already, but still have a vague idea of what the Ascendant is physically speaking compared to like, the Moon. When I first started learning astrology, “the zodiac sign rising in the East” sounded a little abstract to me, not truly clarifying of what the Ascendant is.

I’ve found that visual aids help tremendously for me to wrap my head around something, so here we go!

A place of emergence

Below is my display in Starlight software: you can see a “regular” wheel chart on the left, and on the right is a constellation map, representing the whole sky at that same moment. In that constellation map, everything in green is below the horizon, while the dark part is the sky¹.

You can see on the left that this is a 12° Leo rising chart². The zodiac we use in this type of wheel charts is a representation of the ecliptic—ecliptic being just a fancy name for the Sun’s apparent path in the sky. On the right, this path is the bright magenta-pink line that’s slanted across.

Let’s take a closer look at the Eastern horizon, where the Ascendant degree is.

Closer still.

You can see where the horizon, in green, intersects with the Sun’s path, the pink line: there’s a red mark labeled “As”. That’s the Ascendant degree!

That might still look a little abstract, so let’s put that in movement. This is a gif made with screenshots, at 5-minute intervals³.

So, when we stop at the end of this gif, here’s what the wheel chart + skymap looks like:

You can see the Ascendant degree on the left has moved to 22° Leo. I’m hoping this helps conceptualise the Ascendant degree!

The Ascendant is about the sky being in movement from the Earthly point of view, and constellations + zodiac signs emerging after being invisible under the horizon line. This is why the Ascendant is considered a place of life: it’s the place where stars rise to visibility, and the place of dawn⁴.

Special degrees on the Solar path

Now, let’s come back to our original Ascendant for this example—12° Leo. Say a person is born at this very moment, in that very location. This makes their Ascendant degree, 12° Leo, conjunct a particular star, Acubens of Cancer, because Acubens is projected at 13° Leo.

[Note that this is distinct from having the star Acubens literally rising at the horizon line (which on that day, happens when the Ascendant degree is at 17° Leo). This is a key difference between fixed star conjunctions and fixed star parans. Both are interesting to study and take into consideration for astrological purposes in my experience. In this article, I’ll focus on Ascendant conjunctions, that is to say, the Ascendant being on a sensitive degree on the Sun’s path, regardless of whether the star is physically rising on the horizon line or not. I have another article coming up soon about stars on the rising angle!]

Colleague Maeg Keane wrote a fantastic article to introduce fixed star conjunctions, which I highly recommend if you haven’t yet read it. Here’s a beautifully poetic extract from the freely accessible portion of it:

Astrologers project a star’s location onto the ecliptic as if it was sitting on it. It’s as if the ecliptic is a screen upon which stellar light is projected. It’s sensitive! It picks things up! The ecliptic becomes a necklace of holographic stars across which the planets move. You can see how this works by drawing a line from Alphecca to the ecliptic. You land pretty close to where the Moon is.

When you think about a planet conjoining a fixed star, you can think of it like the planet, the wandering one, is visiting a realm of specific starlight. Alphecca sends Alpheccan rays to the belt of sensitivity, and the Moon, in this case, is touched by these rays, wrapped up in them while she is on Alphecca’s part of the track. There she prays at an Alpheccan temple, holographic though the temple may be. The Moon drinks up Alphecca’s wine and honey. The Moon is embedded with this perfumed, dancing star, and will not get free of it until she moves to the next star realm.

And so the Sun’s gold road sings like a harp string, vibrating with the stars and their stories, and the planets must visit each one as they move along. In this way, the entire sky gets to the planets, and through the planets, the entire sky reaches you, right where you read this.

Getting started with fixed stars ✨ on The Gleaming Feast

Now that we’ve got context for what the Ascendant is, as well as the concept of a fixed star conjunction, let’s see how we can interpret the Ascendant conjunct a particular fixed star.

A stellar note at the Helm

The Ascendant is nicknamed “the Helm” in some ancient astrological texts, and I really like this image. So you might wonder what it means that a star is marking that steering place! Well, one thing is for sure; it is pretty influential. A star conjunct the Ascendant will bestow its qualities. The person will embody this star to some degree. We’ll see the star’s themes come alive as related with the themes associated with the Ascendant and the first whole sign House: identity, sense of self, physical appearance, embodiment, etc.

Photo by Loik Marras on Unsplash

It might not immediately be obvious what this means for you, regardless of your knowledge level when it comes to fixed stars. Frankly, the stars tied to my Ascendant really took a while to “click” for me, more than stars related to other parts of my natal chart. Seeing yourself can be challenging sometimes!

These are also themes that will unfold in different ways over the course of your life, it’s very layered! Identity is not super static, is it? You’re going to evolve as years go by, and different facets of the star marking your Ascendant might come to the fore as you go.

It’s worth spending time with that star, pondering the variety of ways in which it can express. I don’t recommend sticking to one-liners that are easily found online (or even in certain books) which might promise something very clear-cut. Your self-expression and embodiment is probably way more complex than that, right? Even if some of the “cookbook” delineations can put you on the right track, or give some interesting food for thought, stopping there would be a shame.

Divining on it

My approach to fixed star astrology is not just rooted in researching with example charts⁵. While I love to compile data and contemplate other people’s natal promises, I am also all about chatting with stars and gathering stellar gnosis directly. I have received many hunches (that were later confirmed by data) through simply divining. Asking the stars, “How do you show up in people’s lives?” or “What would I benefit from exploring right now?” and letting them tell me.

And you can do that for yourself, too! If you’re using to divining with cards, this is a simple suggestion for a spread to explore the role of a star conjunct your Ascendant. You can use these questions for another divination method if you wish, or ask a trusted diviner to draw for you! This is open source, although I’d appreciate you crediting me if you work with this spread and discuss it elsewhere, and I certainly would love to hear about it if it’s helpful too!

Spread: A fixed star conjunct your Ascendant

1. How can this particular star’s role be described as pertains to my identity & sense of self?

2. Which boons, gifts and blessings is this star conferring through my Ascendant?

3. Which of the challenges I face might be indicated by this star conjunct my Ascendant?

Of course, you can draw several cards for each question if you feel a pull to do so, add some clarifier questions, etc. Feel free to play with it so it fits your needs!

Example charts

Now, let’s look at some example charts to get a better idea of how a star conjunct the Ascendant degree can show up!