In the chart I posted the other day of the birth of Austin, Texas, we can find the ascendant:

:

The letters AS denominate where the ascendant in the chart is. In this chart, it is in Taurus.(Look for the red number 1) Why do we want to know this? The ascendant is the "main driver" of the astrology chart. It is the type of action the native will take when an action is required. It often indicates the physical appearance or the "head/face" of the native. In Vedic astrology, chart types are derived from knowing the ascendant. It is a quite important piece in a nativity that can tell you what a person will do. With Taurus in the first, this chart says that the native would be likely to be motivated by matters of security. Sometimes this takes the form of physical wealth or beautiful seeming possessions. A Taurus disposition tends to be thick-necked and dark- haired with full lips. Taurus presides over the neck area, but since it is in the first house here the neck and head are likely to be seen as more like "one thing"--hence the "Thick neck".

Equally, the darker side of this can mean going too much of physical goods or beautiful things or treating things as possessions that are not possessions, like people. The self is in focus with the Ascendant, but more in the regard of the martial drives of a person and not necessarily their will. A person can be "driven to do something" via Mars that they do not especially "will" which would usually fall in the fifth house. The Ascendant describes the drive.