Aries

What this is

Aries is the first sign of the zodiac, cardinal fire, the ram that breaks the year open. It is the Sun's exaltation and the home of Mars, so it carries the warrior's signature: force applied at the very start of a thing, before deliberation has time to soften it. Where the wheel begins, Aries begins it.

What it governs

Aries governs the spring ignition, the opening 30° of the ecliptic from the vernal equinox, and on the body it rules the head and face. Mars is its ruler and the Sun is exalted here; Saturn falls and Venus is in detriment, so patience and diplomacy lose their footing in this season. It presides over first moves, declarations, and the campaign's opening risk.

Its properties

Its colour is scarlet, its metal iron, its stone bloodstone or red jasper, its number one. The upright temperament is courage, directness, the honest want stated plainly; the shadow is the impulsive strike, temper that arrives before reflection, the word said before it was weighed. A Sun here lights with a direct, almost selfish flame and rewards the first true sentence; a Moon here moves feeling as fire — the first reaction is the truest and also the rawest, and the body wants to walk it out. Mercury rides in on horseback, Venus draws her sword and pursues hotly, Mars is in his own pure domicile, Jupiter blesses the beginner, and Saturn (in detriment) teaches restraint without cowardice.

Where else it appears

The same note sounds in many skins: Aries is the ram-headed Amun-Ra of Egypt and the Mars of Rome, the iron and scarlet of the smith-god, the Geburah-side heat of the Tree pouring into action. Where the Tarot draws The Emperor and the warrior 2-3-4 of Wands, where alchemy names iron and Mars with the same glyph, where the herbalist reaches for nettle and the warming peppers — these are one face turned through different glass. The first cut of the ploughshare and the first word of a campaign are the same gesture.

Where you meet it on the Oracle

On the Celestial Sphere you meet Aries as the Sun-sign of those born in its season and as the Moon's or any planet's tenancy on a given day. When the Sun stands in Aries the dashboard reads the ignition season — start what can only be started now. A Moon in Aries colours the day's feeling-weather quick and unconcealed; the Oracle will tell you to spend the heat in motion rather than hold it. Read a planet in Aries as that planet wanting to move first and ask questions later.

Why it matters

Aries matters because every wheel needs a first turn, and the first turn is the hardest to take without proof it will work. The sign asks you to declare a direction out loud before the evidence is in. What you leave unstarted through this season carries the weight of the whole zodiac by the time the Sun reaches it again.

Correspondences

planet

Mars

element

Fire

zodiac

Aries

number

1

colour

Scarlet, the red of fresh blood, struck iron

metal

Iron

stone

Bloodstone, red jasper

tarot

The Emperor (IV), Mars rules the 2, 3, 4 of Wands