Aries♈︎

Aries is the first sign of the zodiac, the fire sign of beginnings. The Sun is in Aries from about March 21 to April 19. Aries energy is direct, brave and impatient: it wants to start, to lead and to find out by doing.

  • Courageous
  • Direct
  • Energetic
  • Competitive
  • Impatient
  • Independent
Dates
Mar 21 to Apr 19
Element
Fire
Modality
Cardinal
Ruling planet
Mars
Symbol
The Ram

The Aries personality

As the first sign, Aries is often compared to the first days of spring: sudden, bright and full of push. Its symbol is the ram, the animal that meets an obstacle head on. People with a strong Aries placement tend to decide quickly, say what they think and prefer action to discussion.

Aries is a cardinal fire sign. Cardinal signs begin each season and like to initiate; fire signs are warm, enthusiastic and driven by inspiration. Put together, that is the sign most associated with courage, leadership and a competitive streak.

Its traditional ruling planet is Mars, the planet of drive, desire and conflict. That is why Aries is linked with physical energy, sport, and a readiness to fight for what it wants, or for someone it cares about.

Aries in love

In relationships Aries is ardent and straightforward. It tends to fall fast, pursue openly and show love through action: planning adventures, defending a partner, making the first move. Games and mixed signals frustrate it.

What Aries needs is a partner who can keep up and who does not take its directness personally. Its challenge in love is patience: giving a relationship time to deepen after the thrill of the start, and listening as well as acting.

Aries at work

Aries does its best work when there is something to start, fix or win. It is drawn to roles with independence and visible results: founding a business, leading a project, sales, emergency work, sport, or anything with a deadline and a clear goal.

It is less at home in slow-moving organisations or long stretches of routine. Aries leaders motivate by example and expect others to move as fast as they do, so learning to delegate and finish what it starts is a lifelong theme.

Aries as a Moon or rising sign

Your Sun sign is only one part of your chart. With the Moon in Aries, feelings arrive quickly and need an outlet: you may feel calm again soon after a flash of anger, and you settle by doing something rather than talking it through.

With Aries rising, the sign was coming up over the eastern horizon when you were born. People tend to meet you as quick, bold and ready to go, whatever your Sun sign. You can find both placements by drawing your birth chart.

Strengths

  • Starts things others only talk about
  • Honest to the point of bluntness, so you always know where you stand
  • Recovers quickly from setbacks and tries again
  • Protective of people and causes it believes in
  • Brings energy and momentum to a group

Challenges

  • Loses interest once the exciting part is over
  • Acts before thinking, then has to repair the damage
  • Quick temper, though it rarely holds a grudge
  • Can treat every conversation as a contest
  • Finds waiting, routine and slow progress hard

Aries compatibility

Traditionally Aries gets on most easily with the other fire signs, Leo and Sagittarius, who share its enthusiasm, and with the air signs Gemini and Aquarius, who keep it interested. Cancer and Capricorn approach life very differently, which can mean friction or a strong balance. Real compatibility depends on whole charts, not only Sun signs.

Easiest matches

  • ♌︎Leo
  • ♐︎Sagittarius
  • ♊︎Gemini
  • ♒︎Aquarius

More effort, more growth

  • ♋︎Cancer
  • ♑︎Capricorn

Questions about Aries

What are the Aries dates?

The Sun is in Aries from about March 21 to April 19. The exact day it enters and leaves Aries shifts by a day from year to year, so people born near the edges should check with a birth chart.

What element is Aries?

Aries is a fire sign, along with Leo and Sagittarius. It is also a cardinal sign, the type that starts each season.

What planet rules Aries?

Mars, the planet of energy, drive and conflict, is the traditional ruler of Aries.

Which signs are most compatible with Aries?

Traditionally Leo, Sagittarius, Gemini and Aquarius. Compatibility is better judged from both people’s full birth charts than from Sun signs alone.