What Is Taylor Swift’s Rising Sign? An Astrologer Investigates

Everyone has a favorite celebrity they can’t help but keep tabs on — and I’m certainly not alone in wanting to know what is going on with Taylor Swift. But I’m not interested in which person she’s dating or even when the next album is going to be released. (The answer is almost always October.) I’m talking about wanting, or maybe even needing, to know one of the most important questions about her as a person: What the hell is going on with her birth chart?

Swift is probably the most famous Sagittarius alive (born December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania). However, her unconfirmed birth time means her rising sign, the sign that sets up the entirety of her birth chart, is a mystery. The two most popular theories among fans and astrologers alike is that she’s either a Capricorn rising or a Scorpio rising. And while I acknowledge that Swift is undeniably Saturnian thanks to her Capricorn stellium, I’m a firm believer that the “Mastermind” herself is a Scorpio rising. So, does a scorpion sting when fighting back? Let’s look at the evidence.

For starters, Swift has a very earth-and water-heavy chart despite her fiery Sagittarius sun. More than half of Swift’s planets fall on the Cancer and Capricorn axis, and a Capricorn rising birth chart would place that energy directly across her first house (image and perception) and seventh house (romantic relationships). This might explain why Swift seems to struggle with finding love amidst her fame and career. It would also place Chiron (hidden emotional wounds) in the realm of relationships. While that all seems to fit nicely with the narrative surrounding Swift’s tumultuous love life, I can’t overlook the fact that the Capricorn rising theory would firmly place Saturn in her first house of self-expression.

Saturn is infamous for its ability to constrict and delay anything it touches, which is why it seems unlikely that someone who found fame and financial success at such a young age would have this placement. It makes more sense for a savvy business woman like Swift to be a Scorpio rising, which would place her Capricorn stellium (including Saturn) in the second house of material goods and finances, opposite the eighth house, which governs your relationship with other people’s resources.

This placement would explain Swift’s need to become financially knowledgeable very early in her career — and shows her struggle for financial independence from the powers that be later in life. It would also place her Cancer moon (emotional center) and Jupiter (luck and expansion) in the hands of her investors’ benevolence and financial support. If we look at how Swift’s career has played out from the beginning, Saturn transits have been present at many key moments in her career success, which worked just fine for her — until it didn’t.

At 14 years old, during her first Saturn opposition, Swift signed a music publishing deal with Sony/ATV and became the youngest signee in the company’s history. A Saturn opposition occurs between the ages of 14 and 16, and signifies the first time teenagers feel empowered by the cosmos to challenge authority and establish their own voice. In Swift’s case, her Saturn opposition occurred right around the time that country music was falling out of favor with younger audiences. Bejeweled in rhinestones, glitter, and fringe, Swift came onto the scene and changed the landscape of country music forever.

At 20 years old, during her Saturn square, Swift won her first Grammy for Album of the Year for Fearless. This is the time when you strike out on your own and try to make a name for yourself as an adult for the first time. During a Saturn square, most people start to have a crisis of identity or feel as though they have to reinvent themselves to be taken seriously. Fresh off her very first Album of the Year, Swift spends the next decade redefining her musical stylings, lyrics, and commercial image in order to maintain her relevancy in an ever-changing music landscape. This is a period of time where Swift enjoys a lot of commercial success and push-back from the industry insiders, which acts as foreshadowing for what comes next.

At 29 years old, during her Saturn return, Swift lost ownership of her master recordings when her label sold her discography to Scooter Braun. Your Saturn return is a period of time when the reality of your dreams comes fully into view. There’s no more running from the truth. And the only way through is figuring out how to manage the future on your own terms. In Swift’s case, she made the difficult decision to walk away from all of the work she’d put in since the age of 14 in favor of having full creative freedom and financial control of her future.

Having this activation occur across her second and eighth houses makes the most sense considering all of these transits relate directly to the financial funding of her dreams. And it’s no coincidence that despite her hardship to have full ownership of her work, Swift has managed to seize an unprecedented level of financial success, cultural influence, and creative freedom since her Saturn return ended in December 2020. This would mark a bittersweet end to the struggle she’s faced over the years to be seen as a legitimate player in the game — not just another fading star.

Ask me what I learned from all those years

Ask me what I earned from all those tears

Ask me why so many fade, but I’m still here

A Scorpio rising would also explain why the public clamors to know everything about her personal life. (Because let’s be real, people are actually obsessed with her.) A Scorpio rising birth chart would also indicate that Mars and Pluto rule over her chart — both of which are in crucial placements for fame. Mars on her ascendant would explain her focused work ethic, as well as how polarized people are by her mere existence. And Pluto in the 12th house exudes a very commanding, powerful, and authoritative energy; with Swift, people either love her or hate her.

Having a chart ruler in the 12th house or near the ascendant, especially if it’s Pluto, can be a key indicator of someone who experiences blurred lines with power and issues with parasocial relationships. They themselves may become a messianic or idolized figure to a degree they never anticipated or desired. A Capricorn rising would place Swift’s Pluto in Scorpio in her 10th house of career; however, the Scorpio rising would place Pluto in her 12th house of hidden enemies and secrets. It might seem like a subtle distinction to make, but it’s important to note that the true obsession the public has isn’t with Swift’s work or her career — it’s with learning “the truth” about who she is under her glamorous pop persona, to the point of invading her life and privacy. As an astrologer, that energy falls well within the bounds of the 12th house. It would also explain why, no matter how much of her personal life Swift shares with fans and the public, everyone wants more.

However, the simplest but most compelling evidence for the Scorpio rising birth chart comes from Swift herself, who has often said the thing she’s most proud of in her career are her song lyrics. Writing songs and crafting them well is poetry in its own right. And having a Scorpio rising would place Taylor’s midheaven, which governs legacy and career, in Virgo: the sign that rules the written and spoken word. Not only that, but having a Virgo midheaven would also form several strong sextile placements to Swift’s Capricorn stellium in the second house of finances, meaning massive potential to financially benefit from her work as a writer. (Book deal when?)

Of course, the true irony of this deep-dive is that we’ll never know the truth about what's hiding in Swift’s birth chart unless she decides to share it. And if she is a Scorpio rising like many suspect — I’m sure she’s happy to leave us all wondering.