in Astrology, denotes the horoscope, or the degree of the ecliptic which rises upon the horizon at the time of the birth of any one. This is supposed to have an influence on the person's life and fortune, by giving him a bent and propensity to one thing more than another.

In the celestial theme, this is also called the first house, the angle of the East or Oriental angle, and the significator of life. Such a planet ruled in his ascendant: Jupiter was in his ascendant, &c. Hence the word is also used in a moral sense, for a certain superiority which