Verified answer

Rising Sign = whatever sign was rising on the eastern horizon at the moment of birth, as seen from the location of birth.

The actual degree of the sign (every sign is 30 degrees wide) is called the "Ascendant".

And no, they don't affect looks.

The Ascendant indicates the "appearance" of our SOCIAL personality. The mask we put on and hide behind when we are in a social situation where we are not totally comfortable. And the less-comfortable we are, the more we use this mask. And as we start to become comfortable, the mask drops off . .unless we have a planet IN the First House.

The confusion comes from the misinterpretation of the word "appearance" .. which refers to the personality/mask and NOT to the body.

But often, out of a list of 20-30 physical features, someone MIGHT have ONE of them in their appearance.

But never enough to guess their Rising Sign from how they look. For instance, my husband has Libra Rising, and has a cupid's-bow shaped mouth. Nothing else looks like Libra on him, though.

But a good astrologer CAN often guess the Rising Sign of someone they are just meeting for the first time, based on their mannerisms. Because our "social mask" IS our meeting mannerisms.

No reason being proud to be a Leo. Nothing wrong with Leo . .not at all. But it's not an accomplishment that you achieved. You have no role in being a Leo.

Besides, everyone has Leo SOMEWHERE in their natal chart.

UPDATE:

As far as how you get along with another person, astrologically, you have to look at the "synastry aspects" and NOT at the signs. And it has to be a specific person.

So this is how you do it:

This site does free synastry comparisons between two individuals:

https://horoscopes.astro-seek.com/synastry-chart-o...

BUT first you must have, for BOTH of you:

(1) the day, month, year of birth

(2) the EXACT minute & hour of birth (not a rounded-off time)

(3) the name of the place of birth (city/town or nearest town)

You cannot do ANY accurate astrology unless you are working off the timed natal chart for THAT individual.

The astrology chart describes. It doesn't denote "influence" or that the planets affect anything. The rising sign, it's ruler's position, aspects to it's ruler, etc can reveal certain physical characteristics. It cannot produce a photograph. Every Leo rising female does not look like Marylin Monroe, who had Leo rising. I know an astrologer who rectifies charts, i.e. attempts to determine the birth time, by using physical characteristics to start. The temperament can also be used for broad physical characteristics.

The ASC is the body, therefore, what the body looks like, broadly speaking can be described by the ASC. Keep in mind that our bodies change over time, but the natal chart does not. Trying to describe even adolescents with a chart is tough because their development isn't complete. People tend to gain weight as they age, go bald, and some people take care of themselves and others don't. All of that affects looks. But short or tall (compared to others of your ethnicity, family etc), narrow faced or oval faced, broad boned or narrow, well muscled (without going to the gym) or poorly defined, can pretty much be determined by the chart.

Body descriptions in the past were used to confirm birth times. If a tall sanguine type came for a reading and the chart data showed a stocky choleric type, the astrologer would probably try to rectify the birth time. William Lilly, the famous 16th century astrologer, used to convince the skeptical by telling people where the moles and scars on their bodies were in areas that were hidden by clothing and in those days, clothing hid everything.

Also, and think about this for a moment, most people until relatively recently, didn't really know what they looked like. Mirrors were insanely expensive and pretty much reserved for royalty. Others checked out reflections in ponds or in the rare window. You can look in a mirror.

Can I have my 4 TDs, now?

Failed your science classes I see. Or attended Hogwarts.

Why do you look like your parents? Think the body starts changing to match astrology stereotypes in the womb or out of it?

Why do you have any belief in astrology when it fails far more tha it succeeds?

No, your date of birth has no effect on your looks. That's all genetics.