Astrology 102: Rising, Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars Signs...Your Personal Planets

Everybody's familiar with astrology. At least a little bit. Everybody may not subscribe to it, but everybody has probably heard some variation of "What's your sign?" That last question typically applies to your sun sign, which is the position of the sun at the exact time and day you were born. I'm about to break down six major sign categories that heavily affect your personality and energetically fuel aspects of what make you...YOU.

Three of these signs make up your "big 3," and they're your sun sign, rising sign (or ascendant), and moon sign. There are three more planets that heavily influence who you are and how you may express yourself; they are your mercury sign, venus sign and mars sign. All six of these signs affect your sense of self, perception of things, emotions, communication, appearance, style and ambition. The concept of astrology and its affect on us has been around for centuries and for a reason. Let's get into it!

rising sign is a personal planet — Rising sign (ascendant)

The Rising Sign (Ascendant)

This personal planet is the first impression you present to the world.

Your first impression. Your outer self. Think of your rising sign (also know as your ascendant) as the first layer of the onion that is you. I also think of it as a mask we present because you may or may not relate to it at various stages of life. Now, if your rising sign happens to be the same sign as either your sun or moon sign -- or both, then you resonate with its energy heavily because it's more concentrated. Your rising sign is the default gear you operate from in new situations and encounters.

It's the lens through which you view the world and vice versa. Your rising sign informs how you perceive the world (your view of self), how you're perceived by the world (how you relate to others revealed through your descendant), and how you generally move through life (house placements in chart). If you don't come across as a quintessential version of your sun sign, your rising might have a lot to do with that because it's likely a different sign with a different kind of energy.

Sun Sign

This personal planet is your ego and identity.

Your core. Think of your sun sign (also known as "your sign") as your essence. This is you in a nutshell. This is your soul. This sign heavily colors your personality and influences your path in life. This is the sign everyone readily recognizes and knows the most about, compared to the other personal planets (like your mercury, venus, and mars). That's because the main info you need to find your sun sign is your date of birth, so narrowing down the month and day of your arrival in the world lets us know what sign the sun settled in. It represents your self-expression.

Moon Sign

This personal planet is your emotional response and shadow self.

Your internal emotional side. Your inner self. If the sun rules over your confidence and vivality shown to others, the moon rules over your innermost feelings and shadow self hidden from others. Your instinct and intuition plays out in this area. How receptive are you? What's your mood? What does your intuition tell you? How do you process feelings? Your moon sign reigns over this territory. Your moon sign informs how you respond to people, situations, and circumstances emotionally and innately.

Mercury Sign

This personal planet represents your communication and thinking.

Your mental prowess. Mercury rules communication and represents how you process information and exchange ideas with others. It's all matters of the mind. How do you organize your thoughts and make sense of the world? The planet known as the messenger has a lot to do with this area.

Venus Sign

This personal planet represents your aesthetic and romantic style.

Your love language and attraction. This sign reveals your style in romance, aesthetics, love, pleasure, joy and preference for traits in partners. It influences your appearance and how you present yourself. Venus also deals with the arts and what captures the eye. Think luxuries, refinement, and what pleases the senses. Va-va-voom!

Mars Sign

This personal planet represents your ambition, aggression and sex drive.

Your motivation. This planet represents your drive and natural instincts. Think: passion, anger, aggression, and war or fighting. How do you assert yourself and fight for your desires, beliefs, others and/or yourself? The sign your Mars falls into carries an energy that reveals how you do these things and compete. Your Mars sign influences how you go about getting what you want. The placement of Mars in your natal chart (as in what house it's located) offers key information about what you may have a drive for in this lifetime.

Check out a deeper dive into these planets and how a given sign influences this energy in your natal chart in future posts.

Are you familiar with your natal chart?