Earth · Mutable · ruled by Mercury
Virgo rising
A Virgo ascendant is the 2nd most common of the twelve at the latitude of London, where Virgo spends 171.3 minutes on the horizon each day and collects 11.93% of births. It sets the mask, the four angles of the chart, and Mercury as chart ruler.
What Virgo rising is read as
Virgo rising is the most-common ascendant in the northern hemisphere and one of the least dramatic: neat, observant and slightly reserved, a manner that assesses before it commits. The traditional reading gives the first house to Mercury, so the mask is analytic — it notices the thing that is one degree out of place and mentions it about half the time.
The gap between the mask and the person
People meet the assessment and read it as judgement. The Sun behind a Virgo ascendant is frequently far warmer than the first impression allows, and this is the ascendant most often described as improving on acquaintance.
Virgo as a Sun sign is a different reading again, and the big three together are what most descriptions are actually built from.
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Computed for each latitude
How common a Virgo ascendant is
Virgo crosses the horizon in 171.3 minutes at 52°N — 11.93% of the day, 3.34× what Pisces takes there, and 2 of twelve. The reason the signs are uneven is on the calculator page.
| Latitude | Minutes rising | Share of ascendants | Rank of 12 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equator | 111.3 | 7.75% | 11 |
| 20° N — Mumbai, Mexico City | 128.2 | 8.93% | 6 |
| 35° N — Los Angeles, Tokyo | 143.9 | 10.02% | 3 |
| 45° N — Toronto, Milan | 158 | 11% | 4 |
| 52° N — London, Berlin | 171.3 | 11.93% | 2 |
| 60° N — Oslo, Saint Petersburg | 193.4 | 13.47% | 4 |
| 64° N — Reykjavik | 209.4 | 14.58% | 3 |
The chart a Virgo ascendant builds
With Virgo first, the other three angles follow without a choice being made, and Mercury becomes the chart ruler.
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 Virgo rising says about your birth hour
Given a Virgo ascendant, your Sun sign fixes the hour — the method, and its margin, is on the calculator page.
If your birth time is approximate
Virgo 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 Leo rising or Libra 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: Leo rising, Libra rising and Pisces rising.
The same sign elsewhere: Virgo as a sun sign, Virgo horoscope today, Virgo compatibility and earth signs.