Water · Fixed · ruled by Pluto (traditionally Mars)

Scorpio rising

If Scorpio was on the eastern horizon when you were born, Scorpio is your rising sign: the first thing read in a chart and the last thing anyone needs to be told about you. At 52°N it occupies 11.91% of ascendants, 171 minutes of each day, ranking 4th of twelve; the chart ruler that comes with it is Pluto (traditionally Mars).

Scorpio Rising: The Ascendant, and How Common It Is

What Scorpio rising is read as

Scorpio rising is described in every old text as the ascendant that gives nothing away. The first impression is contained: steady eye contact, few gestures, and answers that are accurate without being open. Mars traditionally rules the sign and Pluto in modern practice, and both readings agree on the same surface — controlled, and aware of being read.

The gap between the mask and the person

The containment is read as intensity whether or not anything intense is happening, which is why this ascendant collects strong first impressions in both directions and rarely neutral ones.

Scorpio as a Sun sign is a different reading again, and the big three together are what most descriptions are actually built from.

Computed for each latitude

How common a Scorpio ascendant is

Scorpio crosses the horizon in 171 minutes at 52°N — 11.91% of the day, 3.33× what Pisces takes there, and 4 of twelve. The reason the signs are uneven is on the calculator page.

Latitude Minutes rising Share of ascendants Rank of 12
Equator 119.3 8.31% 7
20° N — Mumbai, Mexico City 133 9.26% 4
35° N — Los Angeles, Tokyo 146.1 10.18% 2
45° N — Toronto, Milan 158.4 11.03% 2
52° N — London, Berlin 171 11.91% 4
60° N — Oslo, Saint Petersburg 194.6 13.55% 2
64° N — Reykjavik 215.9 15.03% 2

The chart a Scorpio ascendant builds

With Scorpio first, the other three angles follow without a choice being made, and Pluto (traditionally Mars) becomes the chart ruler.

First house — the ascendant Scorpio: how you arrive
Fourth house — the roots Aquarius on the fourth
Seventh house — the descendant Taurus: what you look for in a partner
Tenth house — the midheaven Leo on the tenth: the public role
Chart ruler Pluto (traditionally Mars) — read for its own sign and house

Whole-sign angles, as the tradition assigned them; a timed birth chart places the midheaven by degree and can move it a sign either way.

Computed from the rising speeds at 52°N

What Scorpio rising says about your birth hour

Given a Scorpio ascendant, your Sun sign fixes the hour — the method, and its margin, is on the calculator page.

Sun in Aries about 8.2 hours before sunrise
Sun in Taurus about 9.2 hours before sunrise
Sun in Gemini about 10.6 hours before sunrise
Sun in Cancer about 11.2 hours after sunrise
Sun in Leo about 8.6 hours after sunrise
Sun in Virgo about 5.7 hours after sunrise
Sun in Libra about 2.9 hours after sunrise
Sun in Scorpio born within the hour either side of sunrise
Sun in Sagittarius about 2.8 hours before sunrise
Sun in Capricorn about 4.9 hours before sunrise
Sun in Aquarius about 6.3 hours before sunrise
Sun in Pisces about 7.3 hours before sunrise

If your birth time is approximate

Scorpio holds the horizon 171 minutes at a stretch at 52°N, so a quarter of an hour of doubt is harmless. One sign either way is Libra rising or Sagittarius rising — another ruler, another set of angles. The calculator returns every sign the recorded time allows; without a time at all, the moon sign is the placement that still holds.

Either side of it on the horizon: Libra rising, Sagittarius rising and Taurus rising.

The same sign elsewhere: Scorpio as a sun sign, Scorpio horoscope today, Scorpio compatibility and water signs.