Walking
into the room, I was both amused and surprised when Pat Morton - a gifted
Middle Tennessee intuitive, clairvoyant, and medium - resolutely proclaimed:
"There's two of him, there's two of him."
Yep!
Without knowing it... this incredibly gifted medium had immediately
picked up on and intuited my Gemini (the Twins) Ascendant. She picked
up on what the ancient Greeks and Romans referred to as our guiding
"daemon"
or "genius."
In
a nutshell, the Zodiac sign on the Ascendant represents the "outer
package," "image," or "persona" that you
regularly display to the people around you. The Zodiac sign located
on the Ascendant has historically been thought of as a much more
personal point than the Zodiac sign the Sun is located in.
The
Ascendant aids us in answering the question: "who am I in this world?" The
Ascendant acts as an "I am filter" through which we process all
of our life experiences...
The
Most Usual Suspects
So what do most people (that aren't lucky enough to be psychic)
first see when they initially meet you? In attempting
to determine what the ancient Greeks and Romans may have been referring
to as our guiding "daemon"
or "genius," there are actually several likely suspects.
-
As
already mentioned, traditionally, most astrologers will inform
you that it, indeed, is a rule of thumb that other folks (psychic
or not) will tend to first "see" your Ascendant
(persona) sign. The
Ascendant is that part of us that people first see when they're
getting to know us. It reflects the natural ways we tend to act
and behave.
-
However,
a good number of astrologers will then qualify this by saying
that the Ascendant sign is modified by any planets that are located
directly on the Ascendant and/or then also to a lessor degree
by any other planets aspecting your Ascendant.
-
Then
some astrologers might tell you that it's actually the ruling
planet of your Ascendant sign that most often shows up.
-
Then,
yet, other astrologers will tell you that it's initally the good
old Midheaven (social persona) that folks first see.
Generally,
the Midheaven is a point on your birth chart that reflects your
public "reputation" and/or how you'd like to be known or seen
by others. The
Midheaven tells other folks something about who you are while
they're still approaching from a great distance.
-
Finally...
many astrology enthusiasts, not bound by all the pesky infernal
traditional rules that astrologers feel so necessary to consider,
will often swear up and down that they can see and identify the
person's Sun Sign. (Granted... many Sun Sign Leos tend to have
luxurious manes of hair and many Sun Sign Scorpios tend to have
penetrating, intense eyes...)
Yep!
As there are no cast in iron answers to this question, each
of these different rules of thumb are indeed important to look
at
and consider
as
potent possibilities.
Oh
Yeah... The Midheaven
Oh yeah... and before you write off the suggestion of
the Midheaven... I can tell you that my Midheaven is located
in the "smoke and
mirrors" sign of Pisces ruled by Neptune (imagination, fantasy,
mysticism, illusion, and deception).
I
can't begin to tell you just how many total strangers
walk up
to me absolutely 100% convinced that I'm their long lost cousin
Fred. For those that I'm not their cousin
Fred, these strangers are absolutely certain that they've
met me before (when I'm absolutely certain that they haven't).
This
illusory "smoke and mirrors" Pisces sort of thing occurs
on a regular basis.
I'm
not exactly sure just how many 6'3" male
Latinos, sporting a pony tail and silver beard, are walking
around
the rolling hills of Tennessee...
but it couldn't
be that
many...
So
Dr Z... What's The Point?
The real value in knowing how other folks first see us is
that it can potentially provide us with deeper insight into who we
are and how we relate to others in our environment.
Truth
is... most of us walk through life while remaining really rather
clueless about how other people see and experience us.
Postscript:
The
Dog and Pony Show of Determining Physical Characteristics
For the most part I tend to shy away from the popular concept of
determining one's physical characteristics based on the birth chart.
-
In
the first place, in our incredibly culturally/ethnically diverse
world, one generally has to engage in a significant amount of
adaptation to the traditional descriptions (still commonly used
today) that were originally written by white European astrologers.
-
Secondly...
although there's obviously a certain amount of truth to
it all... I just don't see any real and lasting value in
doing
it. Most often when it's done, it's for purposes
of engaging in a little razzle dazzle.
Related
Dr Z article:
Castle
of the Psyche - Better understand the Ascendant
and Midheaven as illustrated through the story of the Castle.
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"There's
two of him, there's two of him."