How the Ascendant in Aries shows
The first impression is drive. In a new group you state your opinion quickly, and when someone asks “who’s going first?”, people look at you. Waiting and lengthy coordinating are harder for you than taking a risk.
You start things with a move, not a plan: you try and correct along the way. Starting is easier for you than finishing.
In an argument — directness: you’d rather say something sharp than keep quiet, and you cool down just as fast.
This is manner, not the whole character. What Aries means for the Sun and the Moon — on the sign’s page: a person with the Ascendant in Aries most often has the Sun in another sign, and the descriptions add up.
How to check it on yourself
Each statement below may turn out to be false about you — that’s how it’s written. Check it against your past, and write your answer down before you compare it with the chart. The first item checks the calculation itself, the rest — the interpretation.
If the Sun in your chart is also in Aries
What should match. The birth time is no more than five hours from sunrise that day at the place of birth: at dawn the sign where the Sun stands rises over the horizon, and a sign takes no longer than three and a half hours to rise. This holds for places south of 62° N.
When it’s not about you. The birth time is more than five hours from sunrise (sunrise time for the city is in any sunrise calendar) — then the wrong time or the wrong city went into the calculation: check how they were entered.
First impression — blind
What should match. Ask three people who have known you for less than a year to describe their first impression of you in three words; don’t tell them your sign or chart. It’s a hit if at least two of them name a word from the list “quickness, directness, drive, boldness, sharpness,” a word with the same root or an obvious synonym.
When it’s not about you. No one, or only one of the three, named a word from the list — this isn’t about you. A hit proves little: such words describe many people, while a miss is an honest negative result.
In an argument with people you barely know
What should match. Recall your last three disagreements with people you’ve known for less than a year. In at least two you object out loud within the first minutes — and cool down the same day.
When it’s not about you. In two out of three or more you first keep quiet and say it later or not at all — this isn’t about you.
The Ascendant by date, time and place — in the calculator, along with the “if the time is imprecise” table. How we check the rest — the site’s method.
Descendant in Libra
The Descendant is the point exactly opposite the Ascendant, the start of the seventh house: partnership, marriage, contracts. With the Ascendant in Aries it’s always in Libra. In partners you’re drawn to tact, the ability to negotiate and smooth things over — what drive lacks.
Check. Recall the three people you were most strongly drawn to — falling in love or a close friendship, no matter how it ended. At least two of them are tactful people who can negotiate and smooth things over. If two out of three or more are as sharp and direct as you are when you first meet, the description of the Descendant isn’t about you.
The ruler of the Ascendant — Mars
The ruler of the Ascendant is the planet that rules its sign; astrologers call it the chart ruler. In whichever house of the chart Mars stands, that’s the area where this directness shows most. The house number is in the natal chart: the Ascendant calculator also shows it. How to read the ruler — in the article on the chart ruler.
Why the accuracy of the time matters here
In Moscow Aries stays on the horizon for 42 min out of the 23 h 56 min of a sidereal day. If the birth time was recorded with an error of even a quarter of that — 11 min — some of those born with the Ascendant in Aries actually have the neighboring sign: Pisces or Taurus. That’s why the calculator immediately shows which sign you get if the time is shifted by 15 and 30 minutes — and warns you when the degree is right at the border.