What Does Your Lagna (Ascendant) Reveal About You?

The Lagna or rising sign is the most important in Vedic Astrology after Moon and is equivalent to the importance of Sun in a birth chart. It is considered to access the way you portray yourself in public and the way people around perceive you. This can be different than your Moon sign or Sun sign which can be entirely opposite in nature or same. This helps in understanding the emotional or mental complexes of a person in ‘who they are’, ‘how they feel’ and ‘what they show’- thereby defining the three aspects of a personality.

The rising sign changes roughly every 2 hours. Two births on the same day can therefore fall in different Lagnas or at different degrees in the same Lagna. Moon is the next fastest moving entity in the zodiac belt after the rising sign, changing sign every 2 and 1/4 days. Sun, as we know, moves from one sign to another in a span of thirty days – known as the Sun Sankranti or Solar Ingress.

• Lagna denotes the start of a life journey. It’s your physical entity and rightly defines your physical appearance, your brain, your basic intellect, personality, and nature.
• The sign that was rising at the time of your birth along with many other factors including the nakshatra it was falling in, the planets posited in the first house, the planets aspecting it as well as the overall strength of the first house decide the traits of your Ascendant and the significations of the first house are modified accordingly.

Strength of Lagna as per Vedic Astrology

To assess the Lagna, a Vedic Astrologer must scan the following elements:

• Degree of Lagna - whether Lagna is in Rashi (Zodiac Sign) or Nakshatra Gandanta (Constellation).
• Nature of the sign falling in Lagna - whether movable, fixed or dual sign and the tattvas (elements) based on whether fire, earth, air or water element is predominant.
• Lord of Lagna.
• Strength of the planets posited in Lagna and the others aspecting it.
• Yogas (planetary conjunctions) involving Lagna - whether Lagna is in Pap Kartari or Shubh Kartari Yoga or is involved in any other benefic or malefic yogas.

Discussing the above factors further - Lagna in gandanta is a sign of weakness of one’s physical body. Similarly, Pap Kartari Yoga indicates some kind of bondage. Mahatma Gandhi’s Lagna is in Pap Kartari Yoga indicating the sufferings he had on account of fasting and confinements in jail during the struggle for India’s Independence.

Lagna & Your Temperament

The element of the Rising sign has a definite bearing on the key characteristics of a person, particularly the temperament. Taking an example here: Aries, Leo and Sagittarius Lagna – all three are fire signs. Within this set of three Rising signs, Aries is a movable sign lorded by Mars, the aggressive planet full of energy. Each Zodiac sign contains 3 constellations and each of them depicts a certain character trait and temperament which can vary from the rest. Thus, those with similar Ascendants too would have vastly different temperament from each other.

The Ruling Planet of Your Ascendant

Lagna Lord or the planet ruling the Lagna is highly significant. If the Lagna Lord is strong, the person is dignified and recognized in society. For Libra Ascendant and its Lagna lord posited in the sixth house where it gets exalted, it denotes the mark of strength. Such a person doesn’t fear the oddity and tries to rise above all situations. Consider the case of Aries Lagna with Lagna Lord in the sixth house aspecting Lagna. Such a person is straightforward and takes the bull by the horns.

Lagna & Your Health

The overall strength of Lagna defines your health situation as well. As Ascendant signifies your physical being. All the factors discussed above have a bearing on the health of a person. Lagna holds a great importance in the field of Medical Astrology too. Lagna also denotes the power to recover from health ailments. Sun is the Karaka or the indicator of Lagna. Sun is the life-giving energy and, thus, rightly is the Karaka or the indicator of Lagna. An affliction or weakness of Sun suggests the areas of weakness in the body.

You may like a Detailed Horoscope Reading, which interprets each of the twelve houses of your horoscope, including your Lagna. Health Profile reading is another interesting and useful report you may consider.

For a free analysis of your horoscope, click here.