ascendant doesn't fit

My mom finally found her birth certificate so we could see what time she was born. While we were on the phone I was looking it up in an astrology book to see what her ascendant sign was. She was very close to the edge of Sagittarius and Capricorn so I read both to her.
It actually looked like she would be Sag but when we read about it in the book it didn't fit very well, but the Cappie did (extremely well).
Now though I've got on the computer and put it through an astology site to find out for sure - it tells me her rising sign is Sagittarius???? It doesn't fit with her though at all!!!
I don't understand ???

Random thoughts would include if you got the time zone correct?

Is the location correct,

Is it very close to the end of Sag, where are the other planets?

This is just food for thought, I do not expect answers.

planets

aspects between the ascendant and planets could influence this. My rising sign is one like your mother's, in some books it says I'm a libra, others say virgo. the astro programs say virgo.
like you, I read both, and I sounded more virgo. In fact when others guess, they say virgo. But I also have 3 planets in virgo, a conjunction with pluto and uranus in virgo, trine with moon and mercury and sextile to neptune. moon and mercury are in an earth sign like virgo, so the Earthly influence is heavy. check on the aspects, and double check the time.

Faunabay,

I agree with Autumn, check the time zone, latitude/longitude and everything else.

Planets near or on the ascendant will "color" the ascendant sign differently, for example, I'm a Leo ascendant, but have Pluto conjunct the ascendant and do appear more Scorpio than Leo (and I despise attention, which is a real desire of Leos'!)

Sagg ascendants can be tall with long legs, loud, active, lovers of animals, good sense of humor...

Cap ascendants can also be tall (ruled by Saturn), but more reserved, business oriented, sometimes a rather thin, long face.

AG

I agree with Autumn MoonFire and AG above in checking things. As you say the birth is very near the Saggitarius/Capricorn cusp - it could also be an error in the recorded birth time. Doctors/midwives don't necessarily look at their watches the moment the first breath is taken (the correct time for calculating the Ascendant) and as a sign rises in approximately two hours that's one degree every four minutes. If they made a 10 minute error in 'guessing' the 'exact' time of birth then this could account for the discrepency.

Also as AG says planets on or within 2 to 3 degrees of the Ascendant make a difference to how we project ourselves. I'm in a similar situation to AG with Leo rising but Saturn a couple of degrees from the Ascendant. Very few people would put me down as Leo - I can see the characteristics, but they tend to be kept in check by Saturn. I certainly don't have the self confidence of a Leo, at least outwardly, Saturn as the planet of doubts and fears is always there to tell me things might go wrong! However it has helped me take a more disciplined an planned approach to life and paid off in that way.

Regards

Minderwiz

OK, I did some more research and found that the book I was reading at the time doesn't really fit in the description. But I had gone to astro.com to find the exact ascendant and their description matched better - still not exact but much easier to see.
I did have the right information. It was just the book I was reading at the time didn't fit vey well.
But the Cappie stuff does fit pretty well also. And she is close to the the line - definitely in Sagittarius but close to Capricorn.
As I'm just beginning to learn more about astrology I'm not knowledgable about the degrees and where and how that all applies so couldn't talk about this in anyway that would make sense.

I'll bet anything there are some close planets in cap in that first house...

OK, I went back and printed up the actual chart (I do better with visuals LOL)
She is just barely in Sag. I mean the line separating Sag. from Cap. is just! below her ascending line!!! So no wonder it's hard to see which one fits better.
AutumnMoonFire, she actually doesn't have any planets in her first house. She doesn't have any planets in her 1st, 10th, 11th and 12th houses. So all of her planets are spread out in the 2nd through 9th houses (most - 3 - in the 8th, everywhere else is either 1 or 2)

I may say something stupid, but couldn't there be something special in her 10 house?
Or what about her MC?
Her Saturn?

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