How to Find Your Setting Sign
Your setting sign, which is better known as the descendant, is not commonly understand by those who just dabble in astrology. This is the sign that was setting on the Western horizon at your moment of birth. It is opposite to the ascendant (also known as the rising sign) and is on the cusp of the seventh house of the horoscope, which rules marriage and partnerships. The setting sign can clue you in to what kinds of qualities you search for in a partner and how you act in relationships.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Find the exact time and location of your birth. This may involve digging up your birth certificate, contacting the hospital where you were born or giving your mother a phone call. Make sure that the time of birth is to the minute, or at least as accurate as possible. Estimates such as "sometime around noon" can skew the result. Rising and setting signs completely shift from one placement to the next in only a couple of hours, and if you are on the cusp between two signs, being off by even a few minutes can result in an inaccurate sign.
-
2
Enter your birth information into an online horoscope calculator. Reference charts are found in the backs of many astrology books, but using an online calculator will determine your signs with much greater precision and is especially helpful while determining rising and setting signs.
-
-
3
Locate your ascendant, or rising sign, on your birth chart. In the circular horoscope that you see, there will be a horizontal line dividing the chart in half. The left end of this point represents your rising sign, while the right end of this line points to your setting sign. The outside ring of the horoscope should be divided into sections that partition the boundaries of the twelve signs of the zodiac, and will usually be denoted by their symbol. If you can read these symbols, simply see which section the right point of the horizontal line falls within. This is your descendant.
-
4
Locate the word "Ascendant," "Rising Sign" or the abbreviation "AC" if you are not able to read the horoscope chart. Horoscopes will often come along with a typed summary of all of your main signs, but descendants (setting signs) will most likely not be included in this summary. However, you can determine your setting sign if you know your rising sign.
-
5
Find out what sign is opposite to your rising sign, and you will have your setting sign. If your rising sign is Sagittarius, for example, you can simply look up what this sign's opposite is, which in this case would be Gemini. You can also simply count six signs away from your rising sign to land at the setting sign. For example, start at Sagittarius, then count six signs after that (Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus and Gemini). If your rising sign is in 27 degrees of Sagittarius, your setting sign will be in 27 degrees of Gemini.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Once you know your setting sign and its degree, you can look at a partner's birth chart to see if he has any signs in conjunction with your setting sign (in the same sign, and generally within 10 degrees). This suggests the relationship has great potential.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images
