I have been reading Howard Sasportas recently and came across a technique I quite fancy. He briefly mentions the rising sign as a baby bird hatching from its shell. What kind of a bird is this? How does this bird hatch from its shell? These are the questions the sign of the ascendant answers, showing how you approach new things. I thought it’d be a fun exercise to do a write up on the signs and their bird’s hatching personality, so here it is! Feel free to comment, message, or respond with your own creative interpretations.

Aries rising: You almost violently peck away at the shell surrounding you, eager to see what that brightness is on the outside- eager to see what the ‘outside’ actually is! You break open the shell and immediately jump out, feeling spiky pine-needles under your feet, step up the edge of the nest, and burst into the air, ready to explore the world!

Taurus rising: You know its time to break open your shell but you’re warm and you’re unsure of what you’ll find. You can feel yourself crushed against the edges and know you can’t stay much longer. You worry about your safety. You realize your tummy is rumbling. You decide to break open the shell with steady punctures to the same side. The world is bright. You scream for food and your mother shoves crushed worms down your throat. You feel the cool breeze on your feathers. Maybe this isn’t so bad…

Gemini rising: You can hardly wait to burst out of this shell, you can’t stop thinking of all the possibilities that the outside has to offer! You start to peck. The light that shines through the cracks delights you so much you start to sing. You hear your mother singing back. You peck yourself to freedom and take in the colors, the vast assortment of sounds. You thought you’d be satisfied seeing the outside, but you are more curious than ever.

Cancer rising: You know you have to leave your shell, but the thought of it makes you want to cry. You secretly fear you will never find the comfort of your shell again. You refuse to leave. Eventually, you grow so large you break open your shell. You cry because the air is so cold and the sky is so bright. Your mother curls up next to your side. The light seems more bearable and the warmth is better than you ever thought possible. You feel like you can do anything!

Leo rising: You wait until sounds around your shell quiet, and you know it’s your time. You peck yourself out of your shell, opening your wings as if embracing the world. The others in the nest look at you in awe. You know how to make an appearance. The sun shines through your feathers just right and you feel like the king of the world.

Virgo rising: You peck once in the lower left corner of your shell, once in the lower right, and three times at the very top, creating a hole perfectly big enough to fit yourself through. You leave the shell, wipe off the remnants, and shake yourself off.

Libra rising: You hear the chatter outside your shell and excitedly peck yourself out of it, eager to join the others. You know it’s the right time because they are all out of their shells already. You wobble your way over to the other birds, stand directly in the middle of two of your siblings, and learn how to chirp with the rest of them.

Scorpio rising: You’re extremely apprehensive about leaving your shell. There seems to be something not right ‘out there.’ Even though you hear your other siblings, you have a feeling they will all start to shriek any second now. You realize that whatever danger is out there, they can’t handle it on their own! You burst through your shell with one fierce peck. Everything seems okay. You start to relax…but keep a sharp piece of your shell near by ‘just in case…’

Sagittarius rising: You peck three times, then twice, then a couple more, and eventually you are free. What does this mean? Freedom? You ask your mother. She tries to feed you a worm. You try to explain that you don’t have time for such trivialities but she insists. You take the worm, choke it down, then fly into the air without any goodbyes. There’s too much to explore, too little time to explore it!

Capricorn rising: You weigh the pros and cons of leaving your shell. Cons, you will no longer be warm, you are unsure of what is out there, you are actually kind of scared (you take that back, you’re never scared). Pros, there’s so much more potential outside of your shell as inside there are zero. You decide to make the leap. You peck yourself out of your shell, slowly, and deliberately. You observe your surroundings and decide how you are going to manipulate them to your benefit.

Aquarius rising: You have no reason for pecking in random intervals at the shell around you, but you find yourself doing it anyway. There’s a peck there, three pecks here, you take a short break and ponder what a strange process birthing is. You eventually end up outside of your shell covered in million tiny pieces. You see your siblings on the other side of the nest trying to share a worm. You wobble over and cut it into equal pieces and you all share together happily.

Pisces rising: You don’t even need to peck open your shell because it melts away around you. The nest melts away too and you find yourself floating in the warmth of the sun you never knew existed until that day, and you wonder how you got there, quickly lose the thought, and just enjoy the moment.