What Is the Difference Between Your Sun, Moon, and Rising Sign?

One of the most confusing things about reading a birth chart is telling the difference between the sun, moon, and ascendant. Of all the placements in astrology, they are the most abstract. The ascendant is your personality. The sun is the story you tell yourself about who you are. The moon is your soul.

How are these things different? To explain, I'm going to use Hobbits from The Lord of the Rings.

How are the sun and ascendant different?

In the beginning of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien tells us that Hobbits share a common nature. They love food and drink and the good green earth. They are simple people who are excellent gardeners but prone to laziness. They try to stay out of trouble and avoid going far from home.

After describing Hobbits this way, Tolkien almost immediately introduces a collection of hobbits who don't seem to fit the stereotypes at all. We meet Bilbo, the adventurer, and Merry and Pippin, the trouble-makers.

Bilbo breaks the cardinal Hobbit rule to never leave the Shire, and he goes on two wild adventures, making himself infamous to his neighbors for breaking the rule to avoid leaving the Shire. Merry and Pippin steal mushrooms and dance on tables at pubs, entertaining and infuriating their neighbors with their refusal to stay out of trouble.

Despite these differences, though, Bilbo and Merry and Pippin are still Hobbits. They love the things Hobbits love and are drawn to a Hobbit's life. Their essential Hobbit-ish nature is only altered in subtle ways by their personalities.

Merry and Pippin are attention-seeking, and, for them, the simpleness of Hobbit nature slides toward stupidity, but it is their Hobbit-like love of food inspires them to cause trouble, and their Hobbit-like love of drink that leads them to make mistakes.

Bilbo is proud of his food hoard and his lovely house under the hill, both essential Hobbit qualities, but he has a restless personality that gives him the desire to see distant places.

In astrological terms, the essential nature that the Hobbits share (love of food, drink, comfort, and home) is like their sun sign.

The way that their personalities alter the way that they express their essential nature is their ascendant.

What is the moon in astrology?

As the ruling planet of the night, the moon is hard to see. It isn’t flashy like the sun or expressive like the ascendant. It is best seen indirectly in your style of nurturing and self-care.

One of the most prominently lunar characters in The Lord of the Rings is the Hobbit Sam. While all of the Hobbits love food and drink and physical comfort, it is like a security blanket for Sam. He is the only one who bothers to carry a heavy supply of food and a cooking pot into the wilderness. He suffers more than the others from the deprivations of life on the road.

While the preferences and tendencies that make the Hobbits Hobbit-ish are part of all of the Hobbits’ identities (their suns), for Sam a Hobbit’s life is essential for his feelings of safety and care. Feeding people and making them comfortable are the way he shows care for others, and they are key to his happiness.

You might say that Sam is a Hobbit in his sun and moon.

What is the astrology of Hobbits?

Personally, I would say that all of Hobbits have Taurus suns. Sam has a Taurus sun and moon. Bilbo is a Taurus sun with Sagittarius rising, and Merry and Pippin are Taurus suns with Leo rising.

But, then, I'm a Taurus with Leo rising, so I could be wrong.