The process of waking up each morning and composing ourselves for a new venture into the world is no less momentous than the process of emerging from infancy. The importance of the Ascendant in astrology derives from the anxiety which underlies the confidence of those entries. Furthermore, the augmentation of that anxiety by the fear of its recognition explains the aura of the Shadow symbolised by the Descendant.

Whatever the truth of those assertions, there is a connection in astrology between the horizon and the frontiers of consciousness and engagement with the world. I must admit that both ‘horizon’ and ‘consciousness’ are nebulous concepts to me, and so I entertain all sorts of demarcations of each ventured by those in the business.

Accepting that an ascending body, sign or constellation has a particular power, I would just like to point out that stars and planets, just like people, are not visible simply because they are there. Can a persona be invisible? I suggest that visibility is the first requirement of horizons.

Tomorrow is the heliacal rising of Jupiter. How its longitude relates to Ascendant, Equatorial Ascendant and House is fuzz.

PS. I went to a lot of trouble five years ago to quantify sky brightness and starlight extinction in Melbourne twilight, and I was able to make frequent accurate predictions of first and last visibility of stars and planets, factoring in Sun altitude, azimuth difference, visual magnitude, atmospheric conditions and light pollution. I suspect that accuracy to be going the way of all flesh. Tomorrow we shall see.