The Rising Sign: Your Astrological Mask

I was looking for a book that would help me determine my adopted daughter's ascendant and this was it! I was blown away by the accuracy of descriptions of both overt and very subtle behaviors which distinguish persons of differing rising signs. Highly recommend.

I own many astrology books, and this is one of those staples of a complete library. Well written and insightful, it is a text you'll go back to again and again. A must have.

This is the most thorough book on the subject of one's Ascendent I have ever found. If a skeptic who's simply read one's sun sign description and thought, "that's not me" read this book, they would have to question their skepticism! Jeanne Avery takes each ascendent through all 12 houses, so we get a thorough picture of how it influences us in all aspects of our life. This is much more fine-tuned and expansive than just the sun sign! Additionally, she uses an ego-centered psychology paradigm (the name of it escapes me at the moment, sorry!) to explain how the ascendent affects our egos. For instance, some houses speak to our adult ego state, while others represent the inner child. She also includes not only the sign on the cusp of the house, but tells you how this sign affects you more particularly based on where the planet it rules is in your natal chart. This is one of the few astrology books that I have read that made me say yes, that's me, and now I know what I have to work on so that these issues affect me constructively and positively, rather than holding me back. It is best to read this book with your natal chart already completed. The quick-and-easy guide to your ascendent is as accurate as this kind of guide can be (which is shaky at best), but it's more reassuring to come to the book with this information already at hand. Plus you'll want to know where your planets are house wise, to get the full benefit of Avery's information.

Coming to grips with a good working knowledge of how to interpret the Rising Sign is one of the things my astrology students find the hardest to accomplish smoothly and professionally. I certainly don't mean the formula for interpreting each of the signs at the house cusp. That's child's play. I mean the pyschological function of the Rising Sign as a mask, its pivotal relationship to the 12th, 1st and 7th houses and its capacity to both attract and filter experiences from the outer world. I have always found Jeanne Avery to be a very entertaining writer, but I think the thing I like most about her "Rising Sign" book is that by the time a student finishes it, ifthey read it cover to cover or least sequentially through each chapter of the people they are interestedin, they will have had a good, thorough walkthrough on how to interpret and tie together an entire chart using the house by house by house method that Avery exemplifies. The glaring flaw in this book -- and I always wonder how it could have possibly been justified -- is that not only does it not take into account intercepted signs, it doesn't even mention that there is such a thing and that it could greatly affect a reading you give yourself or someone else using this book.

This book was recommended to me by a freind. I am a self taught astrology novice who found the material covered very useful. I have since lent it to many friends who have also broadened their knowledge of astology and have also become aware of the significance of one's rising sign.