Are You A Virgo Rising? Here's What That Means For Life, Love, Career & More

You may know your sun sign in astrology, but your rising sign can clue you in to how you show up in the world—and how other people perceive you.

Your rising sign, also known as your "ascendant," is the zodiac sign that was rising over the eastern horizon the moment you were born. Where your sun sign relates to the position of the sun relative to the astrological year (i.e., you were born during Leo season or Taurus season), your rising sign relates to the position of the sun relative to the time of day. (The sun spends about two hours traveling through each sign every day.)

Your rising sign reveals how you interact with the world, from your appearance to your attitude to the first impressions you make on others. For example, an Aries sun with a Virgo rising will likely exhibit Virgo-like traits you wouldn't expect from typical Aries energy, or will even physically look more like a Virgo.

Your rising sign also determines where your first house of identity falls in your chart (your ascendant is always your first house), which sets the stage for the rest of the houses in your chart.

According to astrologer Molly Pennington, Ph.D., the thing to understand about Virgo risings is they're always thinking about the details that make up the big picture—and planning those details out to a "T."

There's a stereotype about Virgo risings being perfectionists, which is true to a degree. While some Virgo risings might not be clean freaks, for example, their perfectionism comes from these folks' keen sense for how things could be improved. This can certainly translate to an orderly home, but for many Virgo risings, mental organization is even more important.

For this bunch, the devil truly is in the details, with Pennington noting that details drive their whole identity or personality. "This is kind of their modus operandi, the way they operate," she explains. They're like information catalogues or human encyclopedias, constantly gathering data with a critical eye.

The sign of Virgo is also associated with agriculture, Pennington adds, and when you think about the details and planning that go into collecting your final harvest, it's a perfect representation of the devotion to detail that Virgo risings hold dear.

When it comes to relationships, Virgo risings are dutiful and caring partners—but sometimes the way they show care can seem more like criticism.

As astrology expert Evan Nathaniel Grim recently explained to mindbodygreen, finding partners that you treat like fixer-uppers tends to be your downfall. You're a natural-born problem-solver, after all, but it doesn't bode well to continuously analyze your lover's flaws.

As such, he says, you want to look for someone who's reliable and has skills you respect and admire, whether that's their professional career or their intelligence. "They have to be useful, and they have to be helpful and considerate, but they also have to encourage the Virgo to be more graceful and kind to themselves and not try to fix everything," Grim says, adding, "Typically acts of service is Virgo's love language."

And according to Pennington, in terms of compatibility you tend to fare well with the other water signs. Not only does your sign form a sextile (AKA a positive aspect) to Cancer and Scorpio, but your astrological opposite, Pisces, is sometimes known as your astrological soulmate.

Oppositions can be challenging, she adds, but with a Virgo-Pisces duo, you two can balance each other well. And further, the water signs can offer an emotional depth, richness, and safety that helps your emotionally reserved nature open up a bit more.

In astrology, the career zone of your birth chart is the 10th house of public image and destiny. For Virgo risings, Pennington notes, this is usually going to be ruled by Gemini.

That means Gemini-like qualities are more at the forefront when it comes to the mark you're meant to leave on the world. And being the other sign ruled by Mercury, Gemini's energy is something you're already pretty familiar with. (Think data collection, analysis, attention to detail, and critical thinking.)

As Pennington tells mindbodygreen, some careers your might associate with this energy include writing, teaching, or anything to do with words. Even coding makes sense for a Virgo rising, as a computer language of its own.

As aforementioned, these people are like walking encyclopedias, so they need a job where they can put their bring brains to work.

They make great project managers, thanks to their attention to detail and their ability to improve existing systems. But Virgo risings are also naturally collaborative. "Virgo risings can be swayed or moved in a way that's harder for fixed signs, so compromise and change is easy for them," Pennington adds.

Virgo risings care deeply about the people in their life and want to do whatever they can to look out for others and help—even if that means setting high expectations for themselves and everyone in their home.

But with boisterous Sagittarius residing over the fourth house of home and family for most Virgo risings, Pennington says you'll have to learn to loosen the reigns a bit.

You're a naturally nurturing and caregiving personality (with Pennington noting you're even associated with animals and pets and all of the tending that they constantly need). "Virgo risings just have these guidelines or practicality, even if it can come across as fussy to other people" she explains.