This phrase has become so much more common over the past few years. There were even times when I worked as a cashier that a customer would ask me if they could guess my sun or rising sign.

Some of my favorite conversations blossomed after those moments, as I would guess theirs too and we’d try to wrap our heads around what we had just learned about each other and why it did or didn’t make sense.

I LOVE how mainstream it is becoming to have a deeper understanding of astrology. There have been decades of time where a person’s “sign” has been understood as their sun placement. For a while that has been the common misconception: your core self is defined by your sun sign, so when you look at your horoscope that’s what it’s based on.

So to see this surge of societal curiosity to understand the language of astrology is so exciting!

But what they? Your big three are your sun, moon, and rising placements. Together these scrape the surface of your personality (in the astrological sense, at least).

What Makes Your Big Three Important?

Your sun, moon, and rising placements are considered your “Big Three” because many astrologers refer to them as some of the strongest influencers of your personality.

Now when I say personality, I really mean your most foundational outward and inward impression on other people. Your other planetary placements and their houses, degrees, etc. contribute to the meat of your personality and natal chart… the Big Three is just the first bite.

So starting off with these placements are a great way to start understanding your chart.

Before I get technical, these are the most basic understanding of each:

                Sun: ego, vitality, individuality, sense of self, conscious, divine masculine

                Moon: emotions, intuition, instinct, reactions, comfort, emotional security, vulnerability, unconscious, divine feminine

                Rising: self-expression, appearance, perspective, energy source, actions, how you start projects, decisions, childhood

Now let’s break this down further.

SUN

So your sun sign is the placement you probably already know. This placement is based on which sign the sun was in on the day you were born, and changes about every 30 days. Your exact birth time doesn’t matter so much for this planetary placement unless you were born around a cusp between signs. (Even so, you can’t go wrong having the most accurate birth time possible).

A huge misconception is that horoscopes are based on your sun sign, but actually they are mostly based on your rising sign! I’ll explain this later, but this is good to keep in mind if you’ve never found your solar horoscopes to be particularly accurate.

When looking at your sun sign in your chart, it represents your most basic sense of self. This isn’t to say that this placement will ring the most true to you as opposed to your moon, venus, etc.… rather it is your most conscious sense of self.

Considering the masculine energy of the sun bringing to mind a sense of action, you are likely to embody your sun sign in how you tend to function and go about daily life. It represents your ego and vitality.

The means of how you go about showing this sense of self are determined more by placements like your rising, mercury, and mars, but the basis of your individuality is based on your sun sign.

Some factors to consider if your sun sign still doesn’t resonate with you:

• The house your sun resides in (and its degree)
• Chart stelliums with an energy other than your sun sign
• Conjunctions that weaken your sun sign placement

Even after all those have been taken into consideration: your natal chart is not a concrete representation of your personality across time. Your chart represents potential traits and events across your lifetime, as your natal chart interacts with the daily movement of our solar system.

But there’s also so much information beyond your sun sign too!

MOON

For some reason, the moon is probably my favorite. There is something mystifying and inherently comforting about the energy of the moon. And as the sun represents the divine masculine, the moon represents the divine feminine.

With this maternal feminine energy, your moon placement represents your innermost needs, vulnerability, and intuition. So, it can predict how you feel secure emotionally, how you react, and how you process your emotions.

Now here’s what I love most about learning your moon placement: it teaches you what forms of self-care might work best for you. Understanding the way your stress manifests and how you can nurture yourself is immensely helpful, especially considering the importance of your mental and physical health!

One important thing to note is that the moon changes signs about every 2.5 days. Therefore, knowing whether you were born in the morning or night-time can be the difference between having a Virgo or Libra moon (and so on).

Some people say that this is the placement of your soul, or you in your most “true form”. To some extent, yes… but every component of your natal chart contributes to your most authentic self. The moon sign just happens to be how you process and convey emotions, which can be a crucial component of your personality that not everyone sees.

The house your moon sign resides in is also indicative of what areas in life are most likely tied to your emotions, but that’s for a future post. 😊

RISING

Ahh the rising sign. Now THIS placement is probably the most fitting (if you were only to look at one).

Your rising sign, also known as your ascendant, is the degree of the sign that was ascending on the eastern horizon at the time of your birth. Since this placement rules your first house (the house of self), it collaborates the rest of the houses with the signs that follow. Since the rising sign changes about every 2 hours, an accurate birth time is essential.

All in all, your ascendant is a CRUCIAL determinant of the energies your houses embody, and how you innately carry yourself. The reason this makes it the most accurate placement for your horoscope is because most horoscopes are based on house transits, and your ascendant determines the energies of your houses and the whole orientation of your chart.

One thing I did want to say: your rising sign is NOT your “mask”. Your ascendant is just as much an authentic part of you as your sun, moon, and other placements. Rather, it is the energy that strangers are most likely to pick up on before anything else because it predicts your most outward self-expression.

The prominence of your ascendant is conditional, as the way your sun and rising’s energies work together depend on how much they contrast, as well as the other components of your chart.

There is also a purity to this energy that can relate to how the individual carried themselves in childhood. The energy of your rising will come natural to you, especially since it’s an unconscious, innate energy. The rising sign lends insight into what energizes you… whether to make a decision or complete a project.

Even separate from the way you carry yourself and the appearance you have, your ascendant can predict your style choices and self-expression as well.

In a nutshell, your rising is your essence and appearance as an individual (considering both your looks and actions).

In Conclusion…

There is a lot to learn from your sun, moon, and rising placements as you begin to dive into your birth chart. If you take anything away from this post, these are the two points I hope you walk away with:

• The most accurate horoscope you will find for yourself will be based on your rising sign, so finding out what your rising sign is with an accurate birth time will help you resonate more with your natal chart.
• Learning your moon placement will guide you towards new forms of self-care that resonate with your emotions and the energy you need to release.