In this series, I’m going to break down each and every rising sign and every house of your chart, based on the rising sign. I’m going to be using whole sign houses, which is a house system where every sign is a separate house.
This isn’t so much of a breakdown, actually, and more of a synthesis. When you look at everything in a chart isolated and dissected, ultimately you’re not going to get much of a narrative about your entire chart. By relating every house back to your rising sign, you can understand your entire chart in a more holistic way.
If you’re not using whole sign houses already, I highly encourage you to apply it to your understanding of your chart. While Placidus is still the most popular house system being used, it’s actually more relevant to electional astrology than using your natal chart to understand your personal drives. Whole sign houses are more relevant when you use astrology to build self understanding.
Scorpio Rising, Taurus Descending: You're mine and I'm yours
The Taurus on the descendent means that Scorpio risings are possessive. Taurus’ mantra is “I possess, I own.” What does Scorpio rising own? You. That is, not you specifically but the three or so friends that Scorpio rising regards as “their people.” If you’re a Scorpio rising’s people, they will defend you to the death but they will also refuse to let you leave their lives. You’re a part of them now.
The Taurus seventh house feed the Scorpio first house. Only when Scorpio rising finds real support in the people they have around them can they take the risks that they need to take in order to deconstruct the very lens of their own identity. Scorpio risings can be quite intense in regards to how they frame themselves, constantly self doubting or finding ideological fault with their perspective. They need their people to be loyal because they need support—not to be shut down. Scorpio risings shut themselves down enough. They need people who can build them back up.
Sagittarius Second House, Gemini Eighth House: Gambler
No one takes as big risks with money as a Scorpio rising. Because Scorpio is the sign of speculation, this makes sense. A Sagittarius second house just means that, in terms of investments, Scorpio is thinking: “go big or go home.”
And this applies to all investments, not just money ones. Scorpio risings anticipate death because they’re incredibly aware of how all time is investment. They get nervous about spending too much time on something because they already see it as precisely that: an expenditure of time. Scorpio risings tend to hoard all of their resources, whether that be time or money or talent, and apply it in one risky, bold move on a singular pursuit. They’re here to do their life’s work, not to put their eggs in multiple baskets and splinter themselves.
Gemini on the eight house is a mind that works like a calculator, when it comes to estimating expenditures. Scorpio risings don’t believe in private property, will give you special possessions and buy things for you, but they’ll never forget anything that they’ve given to you. It may appear, when they’re super passionate about something, that they’re working in a chaotic way and putting everything that they have on the line but they’re not. They’re aware of exactly what the risks are and what they have at stake. Again, remember the reason that they put everything on the line isn’t because they’re not thinking. It’s because they’re always thinking about the urgency of it all in the face of oncoming death.
Capricorn Third House, Cancer Ninth House: Home is other people
The Capricorn third house makes folks with Scorpio rising pretty strict in terms of letting their friend groups meet one another. They might have their work friends, their friends from a certain retreat, their friends from back home, and their friends from a sports activity. They will not talk about people from one group to a person from another group. When the people from all of these distinct and compartmentalized areas of life come together, such as during a birthday party, Scorpio risings can freak out a little. They’re nervous about whether they’ve spilled any secrets or information about themselves to one group that they don’t necessarily want to spill into the other groups.
Cancer, on the other hand, is where things come together. A Cancer ninth house means that, even when Scorpio rising keeps their social groups quite separate, the person they are and the perspective that they represent within the groups is quite consistent. This is because they absorb and reflect the attitude and qualities that they find from each group. Even when Scorpio risings keep different communities separate, they’re not changing themselves to fit into each group. Rather, they’re letting the politics of each group affect them deeply so that they represent a transforming but not socially morphing version of themselves.
Having Capricorn third house and Cancer ninth house can also mean that Scorpio risings are conservative in terms of how they make and keep friendships. They might not desire that many friends all of the time or they might keep old friends around forever. They understand that friends transform them deeply and, even if two people aren’t in one place or seeing one another, the time they spent together is permanent. Through communal relationships, Scorpio risings are looking for home. They’re looking to belong somewhere.
Aquarius Fourth House, Leo Tenth House: Ironic distancing
The fixed sign cross puts Leo on the top of any Scorpio rising’s chart. This means that Scorpio rising project Leo qualities in the world. This Leo tenth house means that Scorpio risings represent themselves through artifice. Think Jack Smith or Andy Warhol—multiple layers of irony and camp and flamboyance. The Aquarius on the bottom of the chart means that the dramatic self presentation comes directly from a place of feeling quite alienated from the world. Fourth house is a foundational house—a fundamental house. An Aquarius fourth house is someone who feels fundamentally separate from the world.
A Leo tenth house is someone who wears a mask in the world all of the time. Under the mask, the Aquarius fourth house feels like there is no expression except dramatic expression, that all self expression emerges from artifice, and that displays of emotion distance oneself from their gut feelings.
However, Scorpio is a sign that deconstructs expression not because they’re antisocial but because they’re interested in the depth of feeling. They don’t trust sincerity because it’s too easy. They make every expression a huge project that they pour a huge amount of work into because that effort alone makes the expression more real. That’s the Saturn ruled fourth house, pushing them to make the effort. The reason why they put on a face all the time? They want you to earn their trust and they want you to want them to earn your trust as well.
Pisces Fifth House, Virgo Eleventh House: Selectively devoted
With Virgo in the eleventh house, Scorpio risings are super picky when it comes to who is allowed to be their friend or not. However, with Pisces in the fifth house, once they decide that you’re their people then they will give everything to you.
Sometimes, Scorpios risings conflate friendships with relationships that need certain and specific boundaries while confusing romantic relationships with the type of boundless love that only their fifth house can profess. This is because, for Scorpio risings, having feelings for someone is the taking on of the immense burden of trust. This can mean that romance becomes a kind of trigger for Scorpio risings—a signal that there need be no boundaries here. It’s important for Scorpio risings to refrain from understanding romance as a thing which dissolves all boundaries.
This same kind of dynamic can affect the way that Scorpio risings approach life goals and fulfillment. Because they require that they devote themselves in heart and soul to what they work on, they can close themselves off. They can close doors before trying things out because they understand that they need to only select things that they can be 100% dedicated towards.
Aries Sixth House, Libra Twelfth House: Secretly thinking about you
All Scorpio risings really want to do is to get whatever it is that they want to do alone and worry about the social ramifications later, when they’re in a private corner and can bounce ideas around in their head without having to voice them out loud.
This means that the social consequences of what they do are actually incredibly concerning to them but, because of their image as a person who doesn’t give a fuck about you, they don’t want to admit that. The reason they don’t necessarily want to work with people is actually because they get so emotionally entangled in every relationship. If they’re going to work with someone, they’re going to end up constantly thinking about interactions with that person, how they’re being perceived, what is a fair amount of work for each person, and the power dynamics present. So, Scorpio risings are just more efficient when they can tuck themselves in a room and function alone.
So, don’t be offended if a Scorpio rising tells you that they can’t respond to you or take you along when running their errands. A different rising sign might see it as no big deal but a Scorpio rising won’t want to because they’re already imagining different scenarios where they have to accomodate your needs and lose out on their own time table. They probably have plans to go to the post office, the grocery store, and shop for bed sheets in a span of two hours and they planned it this way so that they can hang out with you later.
