Aries

Aries covers the weeks from about 21 March to 19 April and begins with the spring equinox, when day and night are of equal length. It is the first sign of the zodiac, a fire sign ruled by Mars, and the tradition describes it as bold, quick and made for first steps.

The constellation and its story

The twelve signs were first drawn up in Babylon, where by the fifth century BCE astronomers had divided the sun's path into twelve equal parts. Their name for this figure was LU.HUN.GA, "the Hired Man", a farm labourer. The Greeks turned him into a ram.

The ram of the Greeks had a golden fleece. When the children Phrixus and Helle were about to be sacrificed, it carried them away through the air. Helle fell into the sea at the strait that took her name, the Hellespont. Phrixus reached Colchis on the Black Sea, where the fleece was hung in a sacred grove, until Jason and the Argonauts sailed out to bring it home.

Aries is small: a short, bent line of stars between Pisces and Taurus, led by Hamal, the brightest. About two thousand years ago the sun stood here at the spring equinox, and astronomers still call that point "the first point of Aries". Since then the slow wobble of the earth's axis has moved the equinox into Pisces. The sign still starts at the equinox, as Ptolemy fixed it, while the sun now stands in front of the Fishes for most of it.

Element and planet

The four elements come from Greek philosophy: fire, air, water and earth, the roots of all things according to Empedocles. Aristotle gave each two qualities, and fire is hot and dry: flame, light, the first spark. Aries stands with Leo and Sagittarius as a fire sign, and it is "cardinal", a sign that opens a season, here the spring. The tradition describes fire signs as warm and outgoing, and Aries as brave, direct and impatient to begin. These are old character sketches, not facts about anyone born in spring.

Aries is ruled by Mars, the red planet, named for the Roman god of war. In the old system Mars rules two signs, Aries and Scorpio. In this tradition Mars stands for drive and courage, the push it takes to start something.

The stone

In The Curious Lore of Precious Stones (1913) the American mineralogist George Frederick Kunz gives bloodstone as the stone of Aries. It is a dark green chalcedony speckled with red. The Greeks called it heliotropion, "sun turner", and Pliny describes it in his Natural History. A medieval Christian legend tells that the red spots are drops of blood that fell on green stone at the foot of the cross.

Bloodstone is also one of the two March stones on the American jewellers' list of 1912. Like that list, the table of sign stones is modern, gathered from older lore.

Colour and scent

Aries is often associated with red, the colour of Mars, and with the scents of pepper and ginger: dry, sharp and warm, a spice that tingles before it rounds out. These are modern associations.

Our Aries fragrance oil is made by Ancient Wisdom: 10 ml in a night-blue box printed with the sign and its dates, for the oil burner only. The maker does not list the notes of each blend, so we will not invent them. It comes in our bundle The Twelve Signs, with an oil burner and tealights.

The Sign Candle for Aries, also by Ancient Wisdom, is hand-poured soy wax in a midnight glass, with notes of pine, rose and cedar. Raw crystals crown the wax, and more come to light as it burns down. A gemstone bracelet for your sign comes with it, packed beside the candle.

A ritual for your season

1. Choose the evening. The equinox, around 21 March, or your birthday. Aries opens the year of the zodiac, so this is a ritual of beginning.
2. Set up the burner on a fireproof surface, away from curtains. Fill the bowl with water, add a few drops of the Aries oil and light a tealight beneath. Oil into the water only, never on skin.
3. Light your Sign Candle and put on the bracelet.
4. Write one page about the last year: what did you start, and what did you finish?
5. Write one first step. Not a goal, a step: something small you will do this week. Mars is traditionally the planet of the push to begin.
6. Close. Read your step out loud. Blow out the tealight before the bowl runs dry, then the candle. Never leave a flame alone.

Your Sign, Lit adds a copal resin stick and aventurine pocket stones to the candle.

Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions