Solar Zodiac · The Sun's Path
Aries
“First to move, and it thinks about it afterwards.”
Polarity: positive · Modality: cardinal · Element: fire · Ruler: Mars
Aries is the opening sign, ruled by Mars, and everything about it follows from going first. The instinct is to act while other people are still framing the question, which produces genuine courage and genuine impatience from the same source. Aries is direct to the point of bluntness, competitive without much malice, and honest largely because deception takes longer than saying the thing. The constellation is the ram of the golden fleece, sent to carry two children away from a plot against their lives. It got Phrixus to safety, and it lost Helle on the way, which is why the strait she fell into was called the Hellespont for the next two thousand years. Aries also used to hold the spring equinox, and astronomers still call that point the First Point of Aries out of habit, though precession has dragged it into Pisces. The sign that everything is measured from has already moved on. In practice an Aries starts things: businesses, arguments, friendships, holidays that nobody else would have booked. They recover from setbacks faster than anyone and they rarely learn the lesson the slow way, because they are already in the next attempt. The cost is a trail of beginnings, and a temper that flares hot, spends itself completely, and leaves them baffled that anyone is still upset an hour later.
Aries Dates
The Sun is in Aries from March 21 to April 20.
The boundary moves by a day or so from year to year, because the solar year is not a whole number of days. If you were born within a day of either end, check your birthday against the finder rather than the table.
Aries Ancient Zodiacs
Every sign an Aries can be, one for each year of the Chinese zodiac.
- Kangaroo: Aries Rat, “Built for forward, and physically unable to reverse.”
- Swordfish: Aries Ox, “Unstoppable drive behind a point that never dulls.”
- Cougar: Aries Tiger, “Still, then instant, then already somewhere else.”
- Falcon: Aries Rabbit, “Waits, and waits, and then is simply already there.”
- Peacock: Aries Dragon, “Arrives in full colour and refuses to apologise for it.”
- Salamander: Aries Snake, “Walks out of the fire and grows the missing part back.”
- Moose: Aries Horse, “Enormous, unhurried, and absolutely not to be blocked.”
- Hare: Aries Goat, “Quick starter with a soft heart and a straight line to run.”
- Gorilla: Aries Monkey, “All that strength, and almost none of it ever used.”
- Phoenix: Aries Rooster, “Burns it down, and is the first thing standing after.”
- Hyena: Aries Dog, “Misjudged on sight, and right about the thing anyway.”
- Boar: Aries Pig, “Warm, hungry for life, and charges rather than runs.”