The Descendant

Think of the people you are drawn to again and again, the qualities that attract you, or exasperate you, in partners and close friends. Often they are qualities you do not easily show yourself. That is the Descendant: what you meet in the mirror of other people.

The Descendant is the point where the western horizon cut the zodiac at your birth: the sign that was setting, like the Sun at dusk. It is always exactly opposite the Ascendant.

What the Descendant describes

• What you seek in a partner.
• What you meet through close relationships.
• Open rivals and the people who challenge you.
• Qualities you are learning to own through others.

The angles are the most personal points of a chart. Two people born on the same day share most of their planets' signs, but if they were born a few hours apart or in different places, their angles differ.

The setting sign

Here is a less-known detail. Because the Descendant is always opposite the Ascendant, your rising sign and your "partnership sign" are always a pair: Aries rising with Libra setting, Taurus rising with Scorpio setting, and so on. Astrologers have long noticed that people are drawn to partners who embody their setting sign, the half of the axis they do not show first.

What is rising in your chart?

Your Ascendant and Midheaven, calculated from your exact birth time and place.

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