Aries

What is Aries like?

Aries is direct, quick and hard to keep down. If an Aries is angry you will know by lunchtime, and by dinner it will be over. They rarely hold a grudge, mostly because they have already moved on to the next thing.

There is real courage here. Aries is the friend who sends the email you were too nervous to send, who asks the question in the meeting, who walks up to the stranger’s dog. They enjoy a small contest, too, and will race you to the car without telling you it is a race.

Under the speed there is something sweeter than people expect. Aries is honest in a way that can feel like a slap and then, a moment later, like a relief. You never have to guess where you stand. For many people, that is the most restful thing about knowing one.

What are the weak spots of Aries?

Patience is the main one. Aries wants the result now, and the slow middle of any project can feel like a personal insult. They start six things and finish two. The other four are in the garage.

They can also speak before thinking. It is rarely cruel, only fast, and the apology comes quickly too. A good Aries learns to count to five. A very good Aries learns that some people need a day to answer a question, and that this does not mean no.

The last one is a dislike of being helped. Aries would rather carry all the shopping in one trip and lose feeling in two fingers than make a second trip or ask for a hand. You can admire this and still find it silly.

Who does Aries get on with?

Aries usually gets on best with the other fire signs, Leo and Sagittarius, who can keep up and enjoy a bit of noise. Gemini and Aquarius are good company as well, because air feeds a fire and they find Aries funny. Libra, the opposite sign, can be a strong attraction: Aries brings the push, and Libra brings the manners.

The harder pairings are with signs that move at a slower speed, but hard is not the same as bad. A Taurus or a Cancer can teach an Aries how to sit down, and an Aries can get them out of the house. Your sun sign is only a small part of this. A full comparison of two charts tells you far more, and our compatibility pages start from there.

What is Aries like at work?

Aries is at its best at the start of things: new teams, new shops, new ideas, emergencies. They want a clear goal and room to run, and they would rather be told "this is impossible" than "this is the process". Sales, sport, firefighting, starting a small business and anything with a deadline tend to suit them.

They are less happy in long meetings. An Aries boss is usually fair and very fast, and wants the short version. An Aries colleague will defend you loudly in a room you were not in.

How does Aries handle money?

Aries tends to earn quickly and spend quickly, and it enjoys both parts. They will buy the good boots on a whim and be delighted with them for ten years. Long saving plans feel dull unless there is a clear goal at the end, so the trick that works for many of them is to give the money a name: the van, the trip, the deposit.

What does the Aries symbol mean?

The symbol is the ram, a head-first animal if ever there was one. In Greek myth it is the golden ram that carried two children to safety across the sea, and its fleece is the one Jason later went looking for. The glyph is a simple pair of horns. The stars of the constellation Aries are faint, and the brightest of them is Hamal, a name that comes from the Arabic for lamb.

Mars is the ruling planet of Aries, in old and new astrology alike. That planet of drive and nerve is why the sign acts first. To see what Mars is doing now, read the Aries horoscope, or work out your birth chart to find out where it sits for you. Plenty of people are a good deal more Aries than their Sun alone would suggest.