Aries

Excerpt from Degrees of the Zodiac:

ARIES (March 21 - April 20) is a cardinal sign and as such it represents the beginning of a season of the year. Aries, however, represents not only the beginning of Spring but also the beginning of the growing season. As far as Astrology is concerned, it is the beginning of the year. Each year, of course, represents a new cycle for humanity. No year is exactly the same as the last year. Yet, each new growing cycle begins with Aries and the Spring.

Aries represents beginnings, but we have to look further into the chart to find what it is that is beginning. We begin life at birth. We normally begin school at six years; five or six years later we begin Junior High or Middle School; two or three years later we begin High School and so it goes through life. But the Aries person is on the first round of some kind of development. Aries may be ahead of the rest of humanity if it has mastered the particular round of lessons the rest of us are working on at a lower level. Or, it may be at the beginning of what some of us have already completed. The fact remains that Aries is always breaking new ground. Because of this, it is concerned primarily with itself and its relationship to the newness around it.

All of us have all the signs and all the planets influencing some part of our lives. We all have Aries somewhere in the chart and wherever it is, it indicates a point of beginning for us. We tend to make any fresh start in the area where Aries is located. For instance, if Aries falls on the 4th house cusp we may return to the home and mother to launch out again when we have completed a task or have failed and are forced to start over. Any planet located in Aries is characterized by energy and thrust. With either Sun or Ascendant in Aries, we look to ourselves to make a new start. We study ourselves to make a new orientation. This, at times, may appear as selfishness; however, no matter the level, we must always straighten ourselves our first. Someone born with an Aries Sun may have an influence equally strong in Pisces which is the last sign of the Zodiac and which would indicate that, while there is a beginning on one level, the individual is also seeing the final stages of something else.

Aries, ruled by Mars, provides the basic energy or life-giving start. Planets in Aries stimulate this kind of action according to the nature of the planet. Aries is also associated with the head which encases the brain and from this Aries gets a fair share of intelligence and mental ability. Also, because it wishes to travel fast and its mental ability is uppermost, it brushes all non-essentials aside and goes straight to the point. It functions with a mental alertness which is sharp and seldom fails to hit its mark. Because of this, it is not very adaptable to social conditioning. It wants to be liked but hates to stand on ceremony. The basic characteristic of Aries is action. This should be a basic consideration along with the particular degree a planet is found to occupy. If a planet is located in the sign of Aries, you must blend the general nature of Aries with the nature of the planet, as well as the more specific nature the particular degree adds to the influence.