Chart Ruler in Astrology: Unlock Your Cosmic Identity

In this article, I want to teach you how to find your chart ruler, the meaning of the chart ruler, and why this important planet is one you should take note of in your birth chart.

Table of Contents

• What’s my chart ruler?
• Chart Ruler Meaning
  • Tied to your Ascendant
  • Helps shape your personality
• Two Chart Rulers
• Chart Ruling Planets

What’s my chart ruler?

Not sure which planet is your chart ruler? No problem! Follow these steps to figure it out:

1. Gather information about your birth

The Ascendant is the same as the line, or cusp, of your 1st House. To get accurate house placement in your birth chart, you need to know your birthday, but also your birth time down to the minute.

Another piece of information you need is the city you were born in.

2. Use astrology software

Computers have made the life of an astrologer so much easier! Put your birth information into astrology software and it will instantly draw your chart.

There are free tools, such as Astrodienst, that will draw your chart for you.

3. Find your Ascendant, or 1st House cusp

Your 1st House cusp, or boundary line, will always land on the left side of your birth chart.

This line has another name, the Ascendant, and the sign of the Zodiac that this line sits in is called your rising sign.

Take note of what sign of the Zodiac your 1st House is in.

In the example chart below, you can see that the cusp of the 1st House, their Ascendant, is sitting in Leo ♌︎.

4. Figure out your chart ruling planet

Each sign of the Zodiac has a ruling planet, and the ruling planet of your rising sign is your chart ruler.

Find your rising sign in the table below to reveal your birth chart ruler!

Rising Sign	Chart Ruler
Aries	Mars
Taurus	Venus
Gemini	Mercury
Cancer	The Moon
Leo	The Sun
Virgo	Chiron (modern), Mercury (traditional)
Libra	Venus
Scorpio	Pluto (modern), Mars (traditional)
Sagittarius	Jupiter
Capricorn	Saturn
Aquarius	Uranus (modern), Saturn (traditional)
Pisces	Neptune (modern), Jupiter (traditional)

Did you find more than one planet listed as your chart ruler? No biggie.

I’ve got you covered and explain what this means for you at the end of the article.

5. Locate your chart ruler in your chart

Now you know who your chart ruler is, so the last step is finding where this planet is ruling from in your natal chart.

Go back to your astrology software and pull your chart back up.

Find the glyph representing your chart ruling planet in your chart to see what Zodiac sign and house your chart ruler is placed in. 

Going back to our example chart from above, their rising sign was Leo which means that their chart ruling planet is the Sun. In their chart, their chart ruling Sun sits in Aries in the 9th House.

Your chart ruling planet, influenced by its Zodiac sign and house, will add more detail to how you express your Ascendant. But what does that mean, exactly?

Chart Ruler Meaning

Many astrologers feel as though the chart ruler is a close second in importance to your Sun, Moon, and Ascendant when doing a chart reading.

• Adds to your sense of self
• Contributes to how you view the world
• Helps to shape how others see you

But to understand why your chart ruler is significant, it helps to get a good grasp on the role your Ascendant plays in your birth chart and life.

Tied to your Ascendant

Your Ascendant describes the way you interact with the world and how others see you.

It’s the filter through which you interact with the world. 

Some astrologers call your Ascendant your social mask or personality, and while this is true, there is more to it than that. 

It is both how you view the world and how the world reacts to you in return. 

For instance, if you view the world as full of battles, a place where you will have to fight for what you want, then that viewpoint will shape your behavior. 

In return, others will react to you as someone with ambition, maybe even aggression at times, who is courageous and takes life by the horns. 

You get what you give.

So what role does the chart ruler play in this?

Helps shape your personality

You can think of your chart ruler as an extension of your Ascendant, adding more influence to this “mask” you wear for the world.

In his book “The Inner Sky,” one of my favorite astrologers, Steven Forrest, refers to your chart ruling planet as a “focalizer,” helping to determine the overall impression of the chart.

The Zodiac sign and house your chart ruler sits in will add more complexity or dimension to your outward persona that has been set up by your Ascendant. 

Your chart ruler is like another filter layered on top of your Ascendant that adds more to your character, needs, and motivations in regard to how you see and interact with the world.

Because your ruler is tied so closely to your sense of self, the position of your chart ruler can affect how comfortable you are in your own skin. 

The position of your chart ruler could influence you to feel at peace with who you are and how the world sees you. 

But, its placement in your chart could also create an inner struggle where you feel as though you fit in or are not comfortable with who you are.

So what if, in the table of planetary rulers above, you found that your Ascendant sign has 2 planets that rule it? What does it mean if you have 2 chart rulers?

Two Chart Rulers

The reason that some signs are ruled by two planets is that some of the planets, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are pretty recent discoveries in human history, and astrology is multi-millennia old!

Signs with two rulers have a traditional ruler, one that has been used for ages, and a modern ruler, one that has been more recently found.

But how do you deal with two chart rulers?

It really is a matter of preference. Some astrologers use only traditional rulers, some use only modern rulers, and some use both!

To use both, you simply find both of the rulers in your chart and add detail from both of them to the reading of your Ascendant. Two chart rulers just adds another layer of detail to your “mask.”

Chart Ruling Planets

If you want to dive deeper into your chart-ruling planet, we’ve got your back!

Click on your chart ruling planet in the table below to find out more about the planet that rules your natal chart, and how that planet through the signs could help to shape the way others see you!