Descendant

The Descendant is the degree of the zodiac that was setting on the western horizon at the moment and place of birth. Astronomically, it is where the ecliptic crosses the western horizon, and it always lies exactly opposite the Ascendant: if Aries 10° is rising, Libra 10° is setting. Together the two form the horizon axis of the chart.

The cusp of the seventh house

The Descendant marks the beginning of the Seventh House, which Lilly called the angle of the west. It is where the Sun sets each evening, and so the point where what was visible passes out of sight. Planets close to it are angular and strong; Lilly ranked the seventh house third among the twelve.

What it signifies

Where the Ascendant describes the self, the Descendant describes the other. Traditionally it shows marriage and partners, contracts, and open opponents. Modern astrologers read it as what a person seeks and meets in close relationships: the qualities that attract them in a partner, and often the qualities they find hardest to recognise in themselves and so tend to meet in other people. Howard Sasportas wrote of the Descendant and the seventh house as the place of projection, where what we are not yet conscious of in ourselves is encountered through others. Its sign, the planets near it and the ruler of that sign all add to the picture.

Why the birth time matters

Because it is tied to the Ascendant, the Descendant moves just as fast, about a degree every four minutes on average, and changes sign roughly every two hours. Without a reasonably exact birth time it cannot be known, and neither can the house of partnership.

Reading it

The Descendant describes a pattern in how a person relates and what draws them, not who they will choose or whether a partnership will last. It inclines towards certain meetings; what grows from them is shaped by the people involved.

Related

• Ascendant, the opposite angle
• Seventh House
• Libra and Venus, the seventh sign and its ruler
• Imum Coeli
• House system