Have You Been Reading Your Horoscope Wrong Without Knowing?

Whether you’ve read a daily forecast based on your zodiac sign in a pop culture magazine, glimpsed at your stars in local newspapers, or searched for your big three on social media, horoscopes are universally sought out. Personal, intriguing, and sometimes surprisingly accurate horoscopes offer a glimpse into our connection with the cosmos. While most people read their horoscope for their star sign, there’s a better way to get the most accurate daily, weekly, and monthly readings. The secret? Reading your horoscope for your rising sign. This approach can make your experience more thrilling, accurate, and precise. Learn how to read your horoscope correctly, according to astrologers.

What Is a Horoscope and How Does It Work?

A horoscope is an astrological prediction crafted by astrologers to foresee future events. Horoscopes help you understand how the transiting planets influence different areas of your life. Reading your weekly horoscope is a great way to stay attuned to the constantly shifting energy of the stars. When horoscopes are written, astrologers use the ascendant, or rising sign, of the daily chart to align their predictions for each zodiac sign.

Sun Sign vs Rising Sign Horoscope: Which Should You Read?

You're more than your sun sign. The cosmic blueprint of your life can be found in your birth chart, a guide to your personal astrology based on the date, time, and place you were born. Your sun and rising signs hold equal importance in your birth chart and represent two sides of your soul. When it comes to reading your horoscope, however, you should start with your rising sign to see where the energy of a transit is playing itself out.

In astrology, your rising sign reveals how you experience the world. It also helps set up the houses in your birth chart, which are critical for understanding the themes, cycles, and patterns that will repeatedly appear in your life. Just as there are twelve zodiac signs describing “what,” there are twelve houses describing “where.” These houses delve into various topics and areas of life. It’s crucial for astrologers to have the correct layout of the houses for each sign to write accurate horoscopes.

Your rising sign also helps identify your chart ruler—the planet that holds the strongest influence on your life. Finding your chart ruler gives you additional insight into your lived experience, your karmic destiny, and how your sun sign feels unique from others. Whether or not you have extensive knowledge of the houses in astrology, don’t worry. All you need to grasp is one beginner-friendly concept to get started.

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Why Astrologers Write Horoscopes For Your Rising Sign

The reasoning behind your horoscope for your rising sign is that it aligns the most accurately with the planetary movements throughout your 12 houses. Your rising sign is the same as your first house of identity. They are one and the same. The first house is your life path and identity–it is you - literally, physically, and spiritually. Therefore, when astrologers write horoscopes, they place the said zodiac sign at the place of the first house. To accurately write a horoscope for Aries would mean placing Aries at the first house of identity, as it shows who the horoscope is even being written about.

How to Read Your Horoscope For Your Rising Sign

Rising sign horoscopes enable stargazers to observe how planetary movements through the signs, houses, and aspects influence their unique birth chart. By placing the emphasis on horoscope writing in the first house of identity, astrologers create a horoscope that resonates with the reader in a more dynamic and interactive way. The sign being written about is placed in the first house of identity. From there, astrologers can accurately consider the transiting planets, aspects, and houses for that zodiac archetype. This same horoscope-writing process applies to every sign. Whether it’s Taurus, Cancer, Leo, or any other sign, each is placed in the first house when its horoscope is crafted.

Reading for “your star sign,” aka your sun sign, doesn’t account for this more nuanced system. While most magazines, websites, newspapers, or articles don’t suggest reading for your rising sign, it’s actually more accurate in the long run. The reason for not sharing this info is simple: it could confuse astrology newbies. Reading for your sun sign keeps things straightforward for the average reader. But by reading for your rising sign, you’ll get your cosmic forecast the way the experts intended. And whenever you're ready to dive deeper, you can tap into the magic yourself by using a rising sign calculator to get started.

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