What does your Sun Sign, Moon Sign, Ascendant/Rising Sign really mean?

Most often when we think of the Zodiac signs, we consider our Sun signs according to our date of births. This is a western concept followed by tropical astrologers. In India, we follow Vedic/ Sidereal Astrology which is more specific and is based on the exact locations of the planets during the birth of an individual. Astrology is multi-faceted, it's not just about your Sun Signs, there are many more concepts which make it more precise and specific. Apart from Sun Signs, there are Moon Signs and Rising Signs as well.

Your personality is three-dimensional. It's based on your Sun, Moon, and Rising Signs. If you want to understand yourself better then you need to take all three into consideration.

Sun Sign- 

Your Sun Sign is based on the month in which you were born. It represents your identity and ego and gives the idea of how you express yourself in the world. Although it's a good way to predict certain traits and characters of a person, yet Sun Signs are not much specific. It's the sign in which the Sun was placed at the time of your birth. Since there is a difference in the calculation of birth chart between Indian and Western astrology so the placement of the Sun varies in both of these systems. In the birth chart, Sun represents your father and authority figures. Good placement of Sun will give you good favours from government and higher authorities. Sun is also considered as Aatmakaraka in astrology, the soul significator. It indicates how you approach life. Even though it's a better indicator of your likes and dislikes, still, your sun sign is not a good indicator as far as daily/ monthly/ yearly predictions are concerned. 

Moon Sign-

Your Moon Sign depicts your mind. It is the sign in which Moon was placed at the time of your birth. In a birth chart, it represents your mother and mental wellbeing. If Moon is placed positively in your horoscope, then it will bless you with mental peace and strength. Vedic Astrology gives more emphasis on the moon sign as compared to the sun sign. A special Moon Chart is also created from the Lagna Chart and this is called The Moon Chart (Chandra Kundli). Moon charts can be prepared from all the divisional charts to get more insights about the planetary transits and their effects. Daily/ Monthly/ Yearly transits of planets over different signs give better predictions when moon signs are taken into consideration. The Nakshatra of the Moon further tells about the nature of the person in profound detail. Moon sign plays a major role while finding compatibility with a partner. 

Ascendant/ Rising Sign-

Your Rising Sign or Ascendant is the sign of the constellation which was rising in the east direction at the time of your birth. The actual essence of your birth will be provided by your rising sign. It represents your physical appearance, health, longevity, career, marriage, and various other aspects of your life. To accurately know the Ascendant, you should know the time of your birth because the sign changes after every 15-30 minutes. The birth chart is the snapshot of the sky when you were born. And the sign that occupies the first house of your birth chart, is your ascendant. Good placement of ascendant lord will give strength to your Birth Chart. The regular planetary transits occurring in various houses of your horoscope can be precisely predicted from the ascendant. 

So the efficiency of signs in terms of prediction is-
Ascendant/Rising Sign > Moon Sign > Sun Sign