What’s the first thing you pick up on when you meet someone, astrologically speaking?
The textbook answer is the rising sign, but in practice that’s not always the case. The rising is what we put out for other people to see, it isn’t necessarily what get’s noticed first though.
I have noticed that different people are observant of different parts of the chart. Example, I see moon signs. When I meet someone new, as I am sussing them out I start to pick up on qualities that I later find out belong to their moon. I’ll ask someone “What’s your sign?” and they’ll come back with “Guess?” So I guess “Capricorn?” “No, I’m a Gemini.” So, eventually we look it up and BAM! Cap moon!
My Mom is straight up good at guessing the Sun. Sometimes I forget this and during the Winter Olympics we had an argument, like an actual argument over whether or not Johhny Weir was a Cancer or a Leo.
“Mom! That Tassel! It’s a hot pink tassel! He’s gotta be a Leo.”
“Nope. Cancer.”
“Seriously, why?!”
“Just is.”
So, during the commercial we looked it up: Cancer Sun, Leo Moon.
I tried to tell her we were both right but she had lost interest at that point. She’s a shiny chicken.
So, I’ve had this idea in the back of my mind for a while. I’m thinking its just a yin/yang-Sun/Moon thing. Until…
I’m sitting at a table being psychoanalyzed as part of a game. You remember that Scorpio guy from my class, right? Well, I’ve seen the charts of myself and two other people at the table and I start to notice a trend.
He describes Cherie as a militant force to be reckoned with. He describes me as a wounded healer. He describes Lin as a scientist.
Cherie has Mars conjunct the MC. I have Chiron up there. And Lin has Aquarius on the MC.
Hot Damn! Scorpio guy sees the midheaven! I find it even funnier that the thing he notices, the most public point of the chart is integral to his game in which he describes the person for an audience of their peers. This is why everyone agrees with his little assessments and enjoys the game. He is picking up on the public image in a public setting.
This idea is still in it’s nascent stages. I’ll be back when I think of more examples. In the meantime, do you have a thing you pick up on other than the Ascendant? Or maybe the Ascendant is your thing?
I see Mars… 🙂
I haven’t pinpointed what I see yet, but now I’m gonna be lookin!
I pick up on certain aspects, particularly mercury or mars square uranus. Something about their communication style tips me off (usually a feeling of not wanting to talk to them anymore). Also, I am always attracted to sun venus conjunct people no matter the sign so when I get that warm feeling, that’s often why!
Some risings I get a feel for… Can also often tell when someone has some prominent libra somewhere – easy to spot libran allure in the face/style.
Well.. I don’t know what it is I pick up.. but.. I pick up whatever is UNDER the mask it appears, all the hidden, vulnerable, wonderful, and fascinating parts of a person. Unfortunately, some people just don’t want to be “seen” like this.
(Now I’m thinking of “I see London, I see France..”)
I’m not sure what I see actually, since I don’t try to guess people’s signs. When I started running people’s charts for fun, I’d have a thrill finding their actual ascendant confirmed my impression of them. A friend of mine and my cousin both have Leo rising, which I got from her vivaciousness and fabulous mane of hair and my cousin’s habit of knowing everything in a superior fashion and lecturing everyone (he loved his university lecture class). I wonder what comes across online — Mercury?
I start with The Sun & take it from there…
@Nota… I think that’s a pretty good Theory ya got going there 😉
My Sister & I often argue if we’re guessing… now I’ll have to try & suss what it is SHE picks up on…. hmmmm
So Cool!
awesome post, nota!!!
i think i see the AC straight up—i’ve guessed more than a few.
I work with a girl who is into astrology too. When I told her it was my birthday early October, she said: “I though you were a Scorpio !!” I do have some Scorpio, but I think she has been seeing my Sun/Pluto conjunction there.
For me, it really does depend of the person. For instance, take my two Sadge colleagues. Another couldn’t be mistaken for anything but a Sadge. He doesn’t have any other planets in the sign, so I was certain he’d have Sadge Rising even before knowing his exact birth time. And sure enough, it turned out that he was born at dawn, so yes, he has Sadge Rising.
The other one gave me the most intensive Scorpio glaze I’ve ever witnessed (and I come from a family where especially men tend to have strong Scorpio) when we first met. So, I always knew there was some Scorp in the mix. In his case, I don’t know the Rising Sign, but he has a Scorp Moon. When he opened his mouth, and proved to be a quirky geek, I got Aquarius. He does have some, but most importantly, Mercury conjunct Uranus in Sadge. Sadge is somewhere there, but not that apparent.
Libra rising and too much Libra in the chart…I know it because I get very annoyed with those people..extremely annoyed…and I’m a Libra
I get Sun sign usually and Ascendant. Both. For example, with Johnny Weir, I knew he was a Cancer because he has Cancer eyes. Like WHOA. And I knew he has a Scorpio ascendant (which he is) because of how he plays with sex, gender, sexuality in his routines/life, and because how people either love him or hate him on sight, basically, or how people swing with regards to their opinion of him. I also knew that he had a Moon in Virgo because of his actual lack of sex life — (would make him too particular in what makes him feel safe to be random with his sex life). True facts. 🙂
But, here’s the thing, while I love that you used Johnny because I ADORE HIM, he’s got his Moon in Virgo, actually. Being Johnny, he revealed his birthtime as 4.02 pm in Coatesville, PA, on July 2, 1984. Which makes him:
Sun – Cancer
Ascendant – Scorpio
Moon – Virgo
Mercury – Cancer
Venus – Cancer
Mars – Scorpio
Jupiter – Capricorn
Saturn – Scorpio
Uranus – Sag
Neptune – Sag
A bit late addition but…
Wow, I don’t have a tv so I didn’t watch Olympcs. Most is either rigged and I didn’t want to volunteer my energy to their rituals. Anyway, I’ve just watched him on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F33kYMXdzvM
It’s quite someting. At such young age, he understood music in such depth and artistry. Also, Mars (rulership) in Scorpio in the 1st H must have really helped him to give him that passion and strength! When I saw his photo above, I thought immediately Scorpio, his ASC.
Also, if you see this video…he is so scorpio.
I’m wondering if he was one of the Russian ballet dancers in the past life to have such flare for elegance in movement and understanding of everything like costume, music and showmanship etc.
Interesting to see what he will produce in the future.
I’m hooked on him now.
If you describe a person to me, I’m good at guessing their Sun. Like if you tell me someone eats standing up, or other sorts of details, I can infer their Sun sign..
But in person, I see the Ascendant and Mars, mostly.. Especially if they’re certains ones. (Like I’m better at guessing the second half of the zodiac mars, rather than the first half. Wonder why… )
I have just spent the last…well, however long since I posted my comment scrolling through Johnny Weir’s Twitter posts trying to find this! LOL!
!/JohnnyGWeir/status/2431567187
Sea, I’m curious, what sign eats standing up?
I see Moon and Mercury.
This is an interesting one for me, Nota.
See, Uranus is at the end of my 1st house; it is also trine my MC. So, I appear to other people as wierd.
My Asc is also trine my Sun: Scorp rising, cancer sun. Add a face as round as a full moon and it’s easy to guess my sign!
Basically, I present quite consistently and uniformly: wierd round-face.
I see Pluto.
and I can always tell when people have Mars in Cancer. That sticks out to me…big time!
Hi Nota,
Great post! I’m with you, I REALLY see or pick up one’s moon for whatever reason. Interesting.
Had no idea about Johnny Weir. Rkkggg posted he has a Virgo moon, but LEO fits so much better! There’s gotta be some serious flare and drama in his chart regardless.
As a Cancer Sun, Leo Moon myself- I think I want to keep Johnny Weir that way too, at least in my heart<3
Sea,
Who eats standing up? Is it ARIES?! I know a couple and they eat standing or on the go…
Nota,
My post is missing?
Whatever. Great post today! Ok, I’m with you, I see and pick up one’s MOON<3
The only thing I can usually pick up on is if someone has a strong Pisces or Leo flavour in their chart.
OK maybe this is weird … I don’t ask people for their birth info, so I have no idea what I see. I am going to have to keep an eye on this so when I find out info later, I can do trend analysis or something.
I actually think I see the Moon too. I’ve guessed, and got it wrong – what I thought was their Sun sign has turned out to be the Moon. I notice it more, it seems a prominent energy. I feel that the Moon sign is more important to me in synastry too.
I might not be able to even guess at the Sun or the Asc but I usually get a feel of the Moon, at least the element, if not the exact sign. I’ve been known to guess Venus too. But I’m strangely oblivious of the Sun usually.
Rachel: “I see Pluto.
and I can always tell when people have Mars in Cancer. That sticks out to me… big time!”
I usually pick up on Pluto too – and Scorpio energy – although I’ve only recently learned that’s what I was picking up on! Pluto close to the Asc or ocnjunct Sun or Moon is pretty obvious.
But I tend to see the dominant sign and it’s not always the Sun. I’m good at certain signs – Leo, Aqua and Cancer mainly. I’ve along way to go before picking up accurately across the board.
Rachel could you elaborate please on the Cancer Mars and why it’s so obvious? – I’ve got one!
Rkkggg,
Thanks for posting that. I’m going to go take a look at Johnny’s chart again. I absolutely adore him as well. I’m caught in his Pluto tractor beam.
The first time I saw him I thought “What a Showman!”
I’m pretty sure I see Mars.
I knew a woman once who just would not shut up… her texts came thick and fast and left me reeling with ‘omg not another one’. I was surprised to find she was a Scorpio Sun because I had thought she was a Gemini… but I discovered she has Gemini Mars.
My best friend has an aura that comes in the door before her… she’s so ‘in your face’ at times that I was sure she was an Aries. Turns out she’s a Gemini but has Aries Mars.
I pick up where they are vulnerable and compensating for it.Don’t know what that is though.
Nota, you’re a GENIUS.
I’ve always wondered why I never pick up on sun signs…but I can suss out Saturn signs and major Saturn aspects like it’s nobody’s business. A gal I know with an Aries stellium in her chart is near-psychic at guessing sun signs, but it’s a skill that’s always eluded me.
I never connected the dots to hypothesize that different people might “see” different things…but it makes perfect sense.
Rkkggg and Xenia,
LOL! I shouldn’t have written that – it’s part of a longer story. I had a lot of other clues, too, but the thing that tipped the scales was the fact that she ate every meal standing up. I said she must be an Aquarian, and that turned out to be right. It wasn’t an astrological conversation (those are the best, when people are just describing others and talking)…
It’s just interesting to think that what I can get from a person’s natural descriptions of another varies so much from my direct perceptions when I meet a person, astrologically speaking. I’m not as good at discerning sun signs in person. For that, I’m always going with the ascendant or mars… haven’t thought about the Midheaven, though. Now I’m going to try to follow up on that possibility.
Sea!
So waterbearers eat standing because they are pouring water! LOL. =) Too fun.
*smiles*, Xenia!
*stands with PD and BP*
I pick up on dominant influence (most aspected planet or stellium energies) and where people are wounded / what they’re hiding or compensating for. Every once in a while I can pull a sun-sign out of my hat (Look, Rocky!), but not often. 😉
I see the moons signs when i’m guessing sun signs, so I guess I’m a moon sign person as well. I thought I was just horrible at guessing sun signs in the beginning, then I started checking the rest of the planets…hot damn its the moon!
Lately if I try really hard I can figure out most of a chart, I love it its so complex! But it can be really draining.
i’m with Shannon i don’t ask people for their birth info.. i think i’ll start asking tho after i’ve made an assessment 😉
on the other hand without any info, i think Neptune just likes me to see shiny happy people all the time!
I’ve noticed with my Pisces moon I’ll absorb and identify the moon signs of others first, while my friend with the Pisces rising is adept at pinpointing their risings right off the bat. I assume this is due to the sensitive nature of Pisces.
I walk like a Leo, act like a Scorpio and sort out my mess like a Virgo… I wonder what people see… lol
I see Venus, almost every time. It’s my ruling planet, and, well, I can tell what people like. Strangely enough, I am almost never right about Mars placements.
I see Mars.
This is interesting. I cannot tell someone’s Sun sign to save my life.
What I am immediately assessing when I first meet and get to know someone is whether they have any “personal Libra” – the personal planets, North Node, and a few other personal markers.
Perhaps because I have a strong personal Libra signature myself. And I value such. Therefore seek it and have a pretty good nose for recognizing the qualities and behaviors involved.