Aries Zodiac Sign

The Aries zodiac sign is the first sign of the zodiac, symbolized by the Ram (♈︎). In the tropical zodiac the Sun is in Aries from about March 20 to April 19, US Eastern Time; the exact start moves by a day between years. Astrology describes Aries as a Cardinal Fire sign ruled by Mars.

Aries at a glance

• Dates (usual): March 20 – April 19 (US Eastern Time)
• Symbol: The Ram
• Glyph: ♈︎
• Element: Fire
• Modality: Cardinal
• Ruling planet: Mars (traditional and modern)
• Polarity: Positive / masculine (yang, active)
• Opposite sign: Libra

Born near the start or end of Aries? Check your Sun sign in your birth chart

Aries begins when the Sun reaches the First Point of Aries, its position at the March equinox, and ends when the Sun reaches 30° of celestial longitude, the first point of Taurus. A calendar year and the Sun's yearly circuit are not the same length: Earth needs about 365.24 days to go around the Sun, so the equinox usually arrives about six hours later than the year before. A leap day resets the drift: February 29 makes that year's March equinox fall about eighteen hours earlier than the previous one.

From 2020 through 2030 in US Eastern Time, Aries starts on March 20 in eight years and on March 19 in three. Its last day is April 19 in nine of those years and April 20 in two. Exact start times from NASA JPL Horizons ephemeris data:

Born on a change day? Then your birth time and place decide your Sun sign. Each sign runs from its 0° point up to, but not including, 30°, so at any moment the Sun stands in exactly one sign. People often call these "cusp" birthdays, yet the Sun never splits itself between Pisces and Aries, or between Aries and Taurus.

Time zones add one more wrinkle. A change shortly after midnight Eastern Time is still the previous calendar day in Pacific Time, and an evening change in Eastern Time has already rolled over to the next date in UTC. To check, enter your birth time and city in the birth chart.

Astrologers read the Aries sign through three ingredients: Fire as its element, Cardinal as its modality and Mars as its ruler. Aries opens the first month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, which is why practitioners call it cardinal, the modality tied to action. Fire places it in the active, expressive polarity it shares with Leo and Sagittarius, and the sign heads the group of four personal signs. Mars rules it, and the Sun is considered exalted here, a dignity the tradition compares to an honored guest. Put together, the picture is of a sign that moves first and sorts out the details later.

Astrology is an interpretive tradition, not a scientifically validated method, so hold the sketch below up against your own life and keep only what fits.

Strengths in the tradition

• Initiative (Cardinal): Aries is read as the sign that takes the first step: volunteering to start the project, making the call, trying the new route before everyone has agreed on it.
• Candor (Fire, active polarity): Astrologers associate the sign with saying plainly what it wants, so other people seldom have to guess where they stand.
• Nerve (Mars): The tradition pictures Mars-ruled Aries stepping into a tense situation instead of waiting for it to blow over.

Challenges in the tradition

• Impatience (Fire and Mars): Slow approvals, long lines and drawn-out explanations are described as hard for this sign to sit through.
• Thin follow-through (Cardinal): The thrill of launching something can fade once the work turns into upkeep.
• Deciding solo (Cardinal and Mars): The urge to move first is read as a habit of making quick calls alone, which can leave other people feeling skipped.

The sign's symbol is the Ram, and its glyph is ♈︎. Both the Latin name Ariēs and the Greek Kriós mean "ram." In Greek mythology the ram behind the symbol is Chrysomallus, the flying ram that rescued Phrixus and Helle, the children of the Boeotian king Athamas, and that provided the Golden Fleece. Despite the similar names, Aries has no link to Ares, the god of war, beyond the sign's association with the planet Mars.

The zodiac itself took shape in Babylonia some 2,500 years ago, during the so-called "Age of Aries." Greek astronomers later fixed the start of the zodiac at the vernal equinox, and Ptolemy, writing in the 2nd century, recorded their convention of always calling that point "the first degree" of Aries. Counting from the equinox makes a zodiac tropical, the kind Astrolivo uses.

The sign and the constellation of the same name have since parted ways. Precession of the equinoxes, a slow shift whose discovery is attributed to Hipparchus around 130 BC, carries the equinox point backward through the stars. Tropical signs, tied to the seasons, and the constellations, which the sidereal zodiac follows, drift apart by about 1.4° per century. Since Babylonian times the March equinox point has moved from the constellation Aries into Pisces, so the tropical zodiac sign Aries now lies within the constellation Pisces.

In relationships, astrologers read Mars-ruled Cardinal Fire as direct and quick to act on interest: suggesting the first plan, naming a problem out loud. A partner who likes time to think may find that pace hard to match. On compatibility, astrology talks about element and polarity, not promises: Aries shares Fire with Leo and Sagittarius, and its active polarity with Gemini, Libra and Aquarius.

At work, the tradition ties Cardinal Fire to launching things: opening a new account, getting a pilot off the ground, handling the problem that landed on the desk this morning. Clear ownership and fast feedback fit that picture; long maintenance stretches and slow sign-off chains are read as a drag.

Aries profiles like this one describe the Sun sign, the focus of simplified, popular sun-sign astrology. For most birthdays the date alone settles your Sun sign; if you were born on a March or April change day, your birth time and place decide it, as explained under Aries dates above.

A full chart holds much more than the Sun. The Moon in Aries is a separate placement, read for emotional needs. The Ascendant, or rising sign, is the degree of the ecliptic rising at the time of birth. Take an example chart with the Sun in Aries, the Moon in Capricorn and Libra rising: astrologers would weigh a fast-starting core against an Earth Moon linked with action in the material world, and an Ascendant in the sign opposite the Sun.

To see your Sun, Moon and rising sign side by side, enter your birth date, time and city in the free birth chart calculator; no sign-up is needed.

Before Aries comes Pisces, the twelfth and last sign of the zodiac. After it comes Taurus, the Venus-ruled second sign, which begins at 30° of longitude. The whole wheel is on the all zodiac signs page.

FAQ

When does Aries start and end? In the tropical zodiac, usually March 20 to April 19, US Eastern Time. From 2020 to 2030 it starts on March 19 or 20 and ends on April 19 or 20; the table above gives exact 2025–2027 times.

Which planet rules Aries? Mars, in traditional and modern Western astrology alike. Classically, Mars rules Scorpio as well.

Is Aries a fire sign? Yes. Aries is one of three Fire signs, along with Leo and Sagittarius, and its modality is Cardinal.

How this page was made

Prepared by the Astrolivo editorial team from the Wikipedia articles Aries (astrology), Astrological sign, Planets in astrology, Zodiac, and Astrology and science, with the Sun's ingress times taken from NASA JPL Horizons ephemeris data, and fact-checked against those sources. Astrological meanings are presented as readings of the tradition.