Interpreting your Heliacal Rising star
What's a Heliacal Rising star, how can you figure out which one is yours, and what does it mean, taking Sirius as an example.
If you’ve heard a little about fixed star astrology, you might be aware of the concept of a Heliacal Rising star.
Defining Heliacal rise
What do we mean by “Heliacal Rising” to begin with?
“Heliacal” (from Late Latin hēliacus, from Greek hēliakos, from hēlios, Sun) as an adjective is defined thus1:
Of or relating to the Sun, especially rising and setting with the Sun.
Emerging from the light of the Sun, or passing into it; rising or setting at the same, or nearly the same, time as the Sun.
Pertaining to or near the Sun; especially the first rising of a star after and last setting before its invisibility owing to its conjunction with the Sun.
The heliacal rising of a star or a planet refers to when this sphere appears at Sunrise, effectively announcing dawn. For planets, the first apparition as heliacal rising star is also referred to as phasis.
Making an apparition: a position of power
Phasis is considered a triumphant phase in a planet’s cycle. Consider that it means that henceforth, this planet will rise before the Sun, which is considered advantageous. There’s sort of an “early bird gets the worm” logic to it. In the case of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, it also means that as distance between them and the Sun furthers, they will be in superior aspect to the Sun (as well as Mercury and Venus since they never stray very far from the Sun), which is undoubtedly considered a position of power2. I made you a gif to illustrate:
A fixed star’s Heliacal rise
What about fixed stars? The heliacal rising phase sees them take on a strong calendar role. You might have heard about ancient Egyptians placing huge importance on the moment when (brightest fixed star in the sky) Sirius became Heliacal Rising star, as it heralded the flooding of the Nile.
While fixed stars move extremely slowly in the zodiac, contrary to Venus, the Sun or the other “wandering stars”, they still go through phases over any given year. If you’re a stargazer, you surely know that some stars are visible only part of the year: where I reside, for instance, winter is the time to watch out for Orion, while in summer we can see glorious Scorpius.
As announcer of the Sun, the Heliacal Rising star presides over the day. This apparition comes after a period of being invisible during the night; this is the first time in a while that the star appears as visible in the sky. This has been conceptualised as the star having walked the path of the underworld and now emerging into human affairs more prominently. Dawn is often conceptualised as the rebirth of the Sun, and I see the Heliacal Rising star as being reborn as well as midwifing the day.
Note that there are different ways of calculating this phenomenon. Brady’s method is one, but other people focus more on actual visibility, so the dates you can find online might differ. As far as natal astrology goes, I have found Brady’s computation to track without doubt. If you’re looking up heliacal rising for ritual purposes and visibility is important to you3, experimenting with different methods is probably a good idea!
Delineating Heliacal Rising stars
When it comes to delineation, it will depend on the star, obviously. You can give a general definition of what a square aspect is like, but how you interpret a given square will depend on the planets involved! In order to figure out how your Heliacal Rising star expresses, you need to understand this star’s purview.
Differing reputations
It’s worth noting that while we might easily find supportive-sounding delineations for, say, Aldebaran as Heliacal Rising star because this star’s reputation is overall pretty positive (sometimes even dubbed the most auspicious!), delineating Heliacal Rising stars that have a more challenging reputation might not come as fluidly.
This brings me back to what I was sharing in a previous article about relating to the Spheres and how we might get side-tracked by shadows:
I consider it an excellent exercise and enactment of astrological wisdom to think about factually helpful facets of the Spheres, and envision what that can look like for you. So you have Algol presence in your chart. Where can Algolian qualities be helpful, nurturing, potently transformative for you? I promise there’s an answer to that question. Ask for it. Let it wash over you, carry unneeded fears away, reveal to you what you can actually be justifiably worried about, and hold you through it as you do what you need to.
The Heliacal Rising star as primordial guide
In the case of Heliacal Rising stars specifically, you might consider what seems to guide you when you feel lost; what brings you back to center; what you consider fundamental, foundational, to your values and philosophy. It’s alright if you don’t have it all figured out—I think getting to know your Heliacal Rising star(s) better can help a lot, in that regard.
Here are my suggestions for doing so, followed by an example: Sirius of Canis Major.