Aries

Aries is the first sign of the tropical zodiac, the thirty degrees that begin at the March equinox. The Sun spends about a month in it, at the start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and of autumn in the Southern. Astrologers count Aries as a fire sign and a cardinal sign, one of the four that open a season, and the tradition makes Mars its ruling planet.

This page is for people born with the Sun in Aries and for anyone curious about the sign. It keeps two kinds of statement apart: the dates and the stars are astronomy and can be checked against the sky, while the descriptions of character report how astrologers have read Aries for more than two thousand years.

The sky

In 2026 the Sun entered Aries on 20 March 2026 at 14:46 UTC and left it on 20 April 2026 at 01:39 UTC. The cusp moves because the year of the seasons is almost six hours longer than a common calendar year. Each entry therefore comes that much later than the one before until a leap day pulls it back, so in 2028 the Sun enters Aries on 20 March 2028 at 02:17 UTC, which in New York is still the evening before.

The sign is defined by the seasons, not by the stars. Because Earth's axis slowly wobbles, the constellation Aries has drifted about 24 degrees from the sign since the zodiac was fixed, and at the equinox the Sun now stands in front of the stars of Pisces. As for the ruling planet, Mars crosses Aries three times between 2025 and 2030, staying about five and a half weeks each time, and it does not turn retrograde there. Astrologers read those weeks as Mars at home and at full strength.

Character

Astrologers describe Aries as the sign that moves first. In the tradition's picture you decide quickly and would rather correct a wrong choice later than wait for a perfect one. When the train is late, the Aries response is to look for another route before the announcement has finished, and most of the irritation that follows is about standing still.

The tradition is just as clear about the cost. It reads Mars as the planet of heat and friction, and astrologers describe the Aries temper as sudden but short. You usually say what you think at the moment you think it. You may also have forgotten an argument by dinner while the other person is still going over it, and astrologers count that gap among the sign's real difficulties.

A blank page suits the sign, because starting is the part astrologers say Aries enjoys most. The middle of a project is harder, especially the third revision or the week spent waiting for someone else's answer. Compliments land best when they are about something you have just done, and praise for patience tends to fall flat, since the tradition does not count patience among the sign's gifts.

In love

In love the tradition describes Aries as direct. You are likely to show interest early and plainly, and to suggest a second meeting before the first one is over. Astrologers say Aries loses interest in anything that feels like a game of waiting for the other person to call.

Conflict follows the same pattern. An Aries would usually rather have the argument at the kitchen table tonight than live with a silence that lasts three days. That honesty is useful, but the tradition also warns that you can win arguments you did not need to have. What helps most, in the astrologers' account, is a partner with a full life of their own, and on your side the habit of asking one more question before offering a solution.

At work

At work astrologers link Aries with the beginning of things, such as a launch or a first draft, and with the difficult phone call nobody else wants to make. You tend to move fast and to be at your best near a deadline or in a crisis, and you may lose patience with meetings that end without a decision.

The tradition also ties the sign to trades through its ruler. In the seventeenth century the English astrologer William Lilly listed soldiers, surgeons, smiths and barbers among the people signified by Mars, all of them occupations that involve iron. The weak point astrologers name for Aries at work is the long middle of a project, after the novelty has worn off and before anything is finished.

The body

In the old scheme that maps the zodiac onto the body from head to feet, Aries rules the head. The Roman poet Manilius set the scheme down in the first century, and late medieval almanacs drew it as the zodiac man, with a ram at the head and fish at the feet. Astrologers link this with the image of a ram that meets every obstacle head first. It is a symbolic map and not health advice.

With other signs

Aries and Libra. Libra is the opposite sign, and the tradition reads the pair as an attraction between two different speeds. Aries decides first and adjusts later, while Libra weighs the options and the people involved. One partner may have booked the trip while the other is still comparing hotels.

Aries and Leo. Leo is another fire sign, and astrologers count it among the easiest company for Aries. Both like to act and both enjoy being noticed, so plans get made quickly and evenings out tend to go well. When there is friction, it is usually about who gets to lead.

Aries and Cancer. Cancer stands three signs from Aries, a square, which the tradition reads as friction. Aries says what it thinks at once, and Cancer can take a blunt remark to heart and remember it for weeks. The pairing goes better when Aries slows down and Cancer says plainly what it needs.

The myth

The ram in the sky is the golden ram of Greek myth. In the version recorded by the mythographer Apollodorus, Athamas, a king in Boeotia, had two children, Phrixus and Helle, with Nephele, whose name means cloud. Their stepmother Ino wanted them gone. She had the seed grain parched so that nothing grew, then persuaded the messengers sent to Delphi to report that the famine would end only if Phrixus were sacrificed to Zeus.

As Phrixus stood at the altar, Nephele sent a ram with a golden fleece, a gift from Hermes, and it flew off with both children on its back. Helle fell into the sea at the strait later named the Hellespont after her, today the Dardanelles. Phrixus reached Colchis on the Black Sea, sacrificed the ram to Zeus and gave its fleece to King Aeetes, who nailed it to an oak in a grove guarded by a sleepless serpent. Jason later sailed to fetch that fleece, and Eratosthenes and Hyginus say the ram itself was placed among the stars.

The constellation

The constellation Aries is small, and its main stars form a short, bent line between the Pleiades and the Great Square of Pegasus. The brightest is Hamal, an orange giant about 66 light-years away whose name comes from the Arabic word for a lamb or ram. From the Northern Hemisphere, Aries is best seen in the evening sky of November and December, when it stands high in the south a few hours after dark.

Questions people ask

What are the Aries dates?

The Sun is in Aries from about 20 March to about 20 April, and the exact moments shift by up to a day with the year and the time zone. In 2026 it is there from 20 March 2026 at 14:46 UTC to 20 April 2026 at 01:39 UTC, and in 2027 from 20 March 2027 at 20:25 UTC to 20 April 2027 at 07:18 UTC.

What is the Aries ruling planet?

The tradition gives Aries to Mars, and modern Western astrology keeps that assignment. Astrologers read Mars as the planet of action and conflict, and they describe Aries in much the same terms. In the traditional scheme Mars also rules Scorpio.

What element is Aries?

Aries is a fire sign, together with Leo and Sagittarius. It is also a cardinal sign, like Cancer, Libra and Capricorn. The Sun enters one of these four signs at each equinox and solstice.

Which signs are compatible with Aries?

The tradition counts the other fire signs, Leo and Sagittarius, as the easiest matches, and the air signs Gemini and Aquarius as friendly ones. Libra, the opposite sign, is read as a strong attraction between different temperaments. Cancer and Capricorn, the squares, are the pairings astrologers expect to bring the most friction.

Am I an Aries if I was born on 20 March?

It depends on the year and the time of birth. In 2026 the Sun entered Aries on 20 March 2026 at 14:46 UTC, so a birth before that moment has the Sun in Pisces and a birth after it has the Sun in Aries. For other years the same check works with that year's entry time and the birth time converted to UTC.