What is "to be in the ascendant"

Ascendant \As*cend"ant\, n. [F. ascendant, L. ascendens; p. pr. of ascendere.]

1. Ascent; height; elevation. [R.]

   Sciences that were then in their highest ascendant.
   --Temple.

2. (Astrol.) The horoscope, or that degree of the ecliptic which rises above the horizon at the moment of one's birth; supposed to have a commanding influence on a person's life and fortune.

   Note: Hence the phrases

   To be in the ascendant, to have commanding power or influence, and

   Lord of the ascendant, one who has possession of such power or influence; as, to rule, for a while, lord of the ascendant.
   --Burke.

3. Superiority, or commanding influence; ascendency; as, one man has the ascendant over another.

   Chievres had acquired over the mind of the young monarch the ascendant not only of a tutor, but of a parent.
   --Robertson.

4. An ancestor, or one who precedes in genealogy or degrees of kindred; a relative in the ascending line; a progenitor; -- opposed to descendant.
   --Ayliffe.