For most of us when someone mentions Astrology to you, your first thought is perhaps the daily horoscopes you read in the paper and the knowledge you have of your own birth sign. What people are not so much aware of is that your Astrology is the blue print of your life, it is the hand book you lost on the way down!
How this Astrology works is through the interpretation of your Natal Chart. Your Natal Chart is a map of the heavens at the time of your birth, therefore no two Charts will be alike as this information is based on the TIME, DATE and PLACE of your birth, and as the planets move in relationship to each other every 4 minutes, it is extremely rare for any two Charts to be the same.
For anyone, and especially those on the spiritual path, your Natal Chart is an imperative guide and wealth of information to help you along your journey. I believe that when you truly know and accept yourself for the person that you are, then there is nothing you cannot achieve in your lifetime. Your Natal Chart gives you the insight into what makes you tick and react the way that you do to certain situations and people, and through this insight you can learn to let go of the Self and the ego attachment we have to our emotions. Your Natal Chart can also identify periods in your life when you are concentrating on particular lessons, and you can see how at these times there is always plenty of positive energy to use to learn from, just as there is negative energy there to refuse to learn from.
Through a series of articles I am going to introduce you to the different planets and the energies that surround them and how they affect you and your growth on the earth plane.
The Sun and your Ascendant are very much the backbone of who you are and how you are here to learn in this lifetime.
The Sun and Your Ascendant
The astrological sign that you are born under is what we call your “sun sign”, and this is the part of your astrological make-up that you are usually the most aware of. The sign of the zodiac that you have chosen to be born under is for a reason, 
and that reason is that it is under this sign and the energy that it represents, that you have chosen to look at yourself, your life and your lessons and how you will naturally go about learning and growing them in this incarnation. However, a lot of us will read about our sun sign and feel that it doesn’t really sum us up completely and that perhaps there is more. The reason for this is that we all have a sign called your “Ascendant” which is the planet and energy that is rising at the time of your birth, and this represents the other half of you. From the other articles that I have already written I have also made you aware of how many other influences there are in your life, but the Sun and your Ascendant are very much the backbone of who you are and how you are here to learn in this lifetime.
No two souls are the same, as there is no one way of being or doing anything that is right or wrong. We are who we are due to our own perspective and truth and that is why it is all such an illusion on the earth plane. Your Sun sign is designed to help you to grow by experiencing your life from a certain perspective with a particular view of what your truth is, and your Ascendant is there to keep it all in check, or to challenge it.
To illustrate this further I will use the example of a Cancerian Sun. This soul is born with a natural perspective that other people’s needs are more important than their own, and because of this Cancerian energy they also have the ability to feel a great depth of compassion and understanding for others. However, this soul cannot grow when it is caught up in what is best for everyone else, and not concerning itself in what is best for its own growth. So, a Cancerian is here to learn to use this Cancerian energy and depth of feeling to love themselves and give to themself as much as they can naturally give to others. What you perceive to be a strength can become a great weakness if you do not channel that energy positively.
