Birth Chart Points, Chiron, & Lilith

Welcome to a new birth chart basic, fam! If you’re new to the blog, welcome, and thanks for trusting me as your source of beginner astrology material.

In this series, we’re dissecting the birth chart into foundational basics, each new piece of the puzzle helps us gain clarity of the bigger picture of our blueprint: the birth chart.

Through this series, we’ve covered the lunar nodes, the inner + outer planets, the 12 zodiac signs, the 12 houses, the modes, the elements, and the major aspects! That’s a lot of ground covered but guess what? There’s still so much more to learn.

As I was looking through everything covered so far, I realized there were some miscellaneous basics left out of the given categories. There’s much more in the cosmos than just the planets, and we can learn even more from these elements. Since there’s a lot going on in space, I’m picking a handful of cosmic bodies to cover over the next few weeks. These are not just mixed bags of information, each point + asteroid + symbol packs its own powerful punch and that’s why we’re looking at their meaning today.

This week, we’re talking 3 major points in the sky: The Ascendant—rising sign, the Descendant, and the Midheaven. We’ll also be talking about the asteroid Chiron, the wounded healer, and Black Moon Lilith, our deeper shadow. All of these elements speak to how we navigate our external and internal understanding of self + how our ideas of ourselves and our traumas relate to ‘others’ or to the general collective.

The goal of studying + integrating our key cosmic points and our Chiron placement is to eventually heal + reveal our deeper wounds, become cognizant of the masks we consciously or unconsciously wear to protect our authentic selves and gain external acceptance, and how we navigate our reputation + true purpose, all while remaining true to our authentic nature and actively seeking evolution in the process.

It’s quite a bit to unpack, but we’re well equipped to understand these elements now that we know how their sign + house placements will influence our nature and how any possible aspects between them will trigger + elevate monumental moments on our path.

Let’s get into it!

The Ascendant—The Mask

On the cusp of the 1st House

For those of us regularly talking in astrological + new age spaces, we tend to introduce ourselves with our “big three:” our sun sign, our moon sign, and our rising sign—ascendant. Our ascendant is found on the cusp of our 1st house and can also be referred to as our rising sign.

The ascendant marks the eastern horizon at the exact moment we took our first breath. This is why our rising sign is our first impression on others; it was our first impression on this earth. Every placement in your chart can be shared with others. It’s the combination of placements and aspects that are as unique + layered as our true selves: our own blueprint of our soul.

In the context of the big three, we have the same sun placement as anyone born within a month of us anywhere in the world. We have the same moon placement as anyone born within a few days of you—or just a few hours depending on her timely movements—anywhere in the world.

But the rising sign is even more unique: only shared with those who were born in the same location within a few hours of us. Think of the rising sign as a veil we intentionally drape over our authentic selves in new situations + when we’re meeting new people. We may also slip on our ascendant persona as a defense mechanism to protect our authentic selves—for better or for worse.

If our ascendant sign is drastically different than our sun or moon signs, then it indicates that others must wait longer + dig deeper to truly connect with us. Some people may never be given access beyond that veil because this is a boundary we choose + have the right to control.

If our ascendant is similar to or the same as our sun or moon signs, we are perceived to be open books by the world—at least in how we externally interact with it.

The Descendant—The Other

On the cusp of the 7th house

The descendant is a point of the chart that opposes our ascendant sign. The ascendant is a point on the cusp of the 1st house: representative of self. Polarity plays a major role in how we understand the duality in ourselves + in the cosmos.

In polarity with the 1st house—ascendant—we find the descendant on the cups of the 7th house: representative of ‘other’ and our relationship to others. Like the lunar nodes, your descendant is the opposite sign of your ascendant placement. Thus, your descendant is the sign that was descending on the horizon at the time of birth.

A refresher on opposite signs in the zodiac

Aries is opposite Libra

Taurus is opposite Scorpio

Gemini is opposite Sagittarius

Cancer is opposite Capricorn

Leo is opposite Aquarius

Virgo is opposite Pisces

We perceive our descendant qualities as what we are not and we deny these qualities in ourselves but we are drawn to those same qualities in others. Often what we admire or reject as ‘other’ is a mirror for what we have within ourselves.

Sometimes, others may perceive us to be more like our descendant sign when we’re attempting to veil those qualities with our ascendant persona. Embracing the duality of how we express ourselves helps us integrate our opposing ascendant + descendant qualities.

Our descendant persona doesn’t just indicate a duality of self, it also indicates the qualities we will look for in our longest + deepest relationships. Remember that our descendant rules what we define as ‘other,’ and it is on the cusp of our 7th house: our relationships. “Opposites attract” is a long used, but not entirely true, explanation for who we find ourselves romantically involved with.

The polarity of our ascendant + descendant personas teaches us that what we often perceive as ‘opposite’ from us can actually be uncovered within us.

The Midheaven—The Ideal

On the cusp of the 10th house

We find the midheaven (MC) at the very top of our chart. The MC’s peak placement on the cusp of the 10th house makes it the most “public” point of our chart: our career, our reputation, our accomplishments and any of our actions in the eyes of society.

The MC tells us how our natural gifts contribute to the collective, who we show up as, and how we can impact humanity. Our ascendant + descendant placements are on the horizon and our MC marks the sign directly overhead at the moment of birth. This can be seen as a metaphor for who we can rise to be—in terms of our purposes and our duty within society.

Look to your MC to better understand your aspirations and the nature of your ambitions. If you are unsure about your own purpose—which is 100% allowed and common—take note of the sign placement of your midheaven. Research the nature of that sign and use what you find to start asking yourself how those characteristics resonate with you...how they feel.

Your personal calling to up-level, your path toward your purpose, can only be decoded by going within. Make that exploration one of joyful curiosity. Release the egoic spiral of how you “should” show up or who you “need” to be. We are not told who we are or who we’re meant to become. We feel it. We embody it.

How does the midheaven placement feel to you? Are there any pings of interest or tingles of creative energy in your body as a response to this information? Those are signals of the paths you should wander. Give yourself permission to experiment with your purpose. There is no wrong way to engage with your midheaven, just begin to trust that the good feelings will take you where you’re meant to go—that’s intuition, baby.

Chiron—The Wounded Healer

Sign: No sign rulership

Governs: shame, pain, deep wounding within us

Orbit: 51 years—2 to 9 years in each zodiac sign

Chiron is an asteroid that hangs out between Saturn and Uranus. It may be comforting to know that we all harbor our own trauma + wounding in our chart, therefore, in ourselves. Looking at chiron’s place in our chart helps us understand our programmed wounding and use that understanding to initiate the healing process—within ourselves and within others who are grappling with similar trauma.

The sign placement of chiron on our chart tells us the nature of our wounding. Understanding the characteristics (flaws, strengths, habits, influences) of each of the 12 unique zodiac signs is the first step to unlocking what chiron is calling us to heal. As an example: Chiron in Leo indicates possible wounding + sensitivity around how you express your authentic self. Where could insecurity or shame be keeping you from confidently stepping into your worth and sharing it with others?

The house placement of chiron in the chart indicates where we may feel separate or disconnected from the herd—misfit energy. This area of your life will stimulate or awaken your programmed wounding as a calling to get out of your comfort zone and a demand for a personal evolution to take place in that space. As an example: chiron triggering your 2nd house would manifest through what you value and your self-esteem. Chiron triggering the 6th would manifest through your relationship to habits and routines.

Like any foundational piece of the birth chart, it is possible for us to over exert or under utilize the placement of our chiron. Too much energy from chiron results in the projection of personal trauma that could manifest as overstepping boundaries with others or forcing healing onto others while ignoring healing your own wounds. Rejection or avoidance of our trauma could cause us to reject and or resent others who have similar wounding.

The balance is simple (but not easy): healing ourselves will ultimately allow us to hold space for others and to use our new found resilience to support their need for healing.

Black Moon Lilith—The Shadow

Black Moon Lilith is a point in the birth chart that works as a direct line to our shadow: what we suppress, what makes us feel shame, what we hide to avoid any rejection or judgement from ourselves or from others.

Lilith’s sign and house placements indicate where we may be self-destructive, where extreme behaviors can cause us to spiral and remain in low self-worth ways of thinking + being + acting. Owning our shadow aspects is a valuable step toward the reclamation of our own power. When we shine the curious light of self-actualization on our inner landscape, we cannot have the lighter parts without the darker parts showing up as well.

Avoiding the discovery of our shadow would mean avoiding looking within entirely and missing out on the full spectrum of who we are + who we can become.

“You cannot numb yourself to one experience without numbing yourself to everything else. You cannot disregard sadness without also making yourself immune to happiness. This is to say, it’s healthier to experience everything, the good and the bad.”

— Brianna Wiest, 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think

Look to the lilith placement in your chart to learn where you will need to focus more intently on healing and integrating your shadow. Know that these areas may feel tender and scary to identify at first, but the shadow can only begin to fade as we learn to embrace it.

I’d like to say thank you for following the birth chart basic series this far. Remember that mastering astrology is a lifelong practice and this series is meant to be an introduction to a much longer + deeper journey of research ahead. Revisit the previous birth chart basics (all linked at the end of this post) and take a look at the other resources I’ve provided to get you started in your astrological exploration.

Is there a link between who you want to be perceived as, who you deny yourself to be, and the traits you’re consciously or unconsciously repressing? How can you integrate more of your shadow into your practice in order to initiate the healing process and further expand? How has your midheaven been guiding what you’re reaching toward externally?

These are not questions we need to answer today. In fact, we’ll likely be asking ourselves these questions for the rest of our lives. What works for us now may not work as we grow, so it’s important to be consistently questioning + updating our internal practices and our external ambitions as we evolve over time.

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you know that the call to shed what no longer serves us is a key step in almost any spiritual up-leveling. As we get to know ourselves and accept ourselves, we’ll find that our most authentic nature has existed within this entire time. We work to uncover, organize, integrate, or shed all of the elements within our soul’s blueprint in hopes that the movement + shedding will reveal the truest version of self.

Drop me a DM on instagram and let me know what you’re learning about your public facing masks or your internal facing shadows. If you’re not ready to share that info with others, that’s one hundred percent allowed. Let your healing begin within, let your healing begin in secret. Your birth chart + your soul blueprint can stay between you and you, so long as that relationship is honest, healthy, and sustained.

Stay safe, stay present, stay curious.