MARCH 21 to APRIL 19.
CUSP: MARCH 21 to MARCH 27.
The constellation "Aries"--the first sign of the zodiac, and the head sign
of the Fire Triplicity--exerts its influence from March 21 to April 19,
the period coinciding with the first month of the Roman year. It is a
cardinal, equinoctial, movable, masculine sign, the positive pole of the
Fire Triplicity, governing the face and head. The most typical attributes
of its subjects are unfailing courage, intuition, and reason.
A person born during the period of the cusp, when the sun is on the edge
of the sign, does not receive the full benefits of the individuality of
either sign, but partakes of the characteristics of both.
Persons born under this sign are positive, obedient, yet with a faculty
for commanding, paradoxical as this may appear. They are also inventive,
original, determined, and executive. Once the mind of an Aries subject is
made up, nothing can swerve him from the course he has determined to
pursue. Before undertaking any new enterprise, his habit is to study the
entire situation carefully, thereby discovering and profiting by many
seemingly minor, yet in the end important, points which would probably
have escaped the ordinary individual.
Aries people are good conversationalists, having keen intellects. Many
fine writers, poets, lecturers, and teachers come out of this sign.
They are aggressive and excitable, oftentimes going to extremes in their
excitement, and they are apt to show too much antagonism. They enter a
fight to win, and nothing can induce them to back out of it. The Aries
woman has the same fighting spirit, and stands by her friends to the end,
no matter what the circumstances may be.
The subjects of Aries are easily angered, but the fire is quickly
quenched, leaving behind no sting or grudge. They are generous,
sympathetic, and kindly, and so much do they think of their friends that
they will never acknowledge a comrade's faults. On the other hand, they
never fail to see the failings of their enemies and to speak of them in no
uncertain terms.
The traits of Aries people are perhaps more varied and peculiar than those
of any other of the twelve signs. They are not naturally patient, yet they
are extremely so with those they love.
The Aries man is usually well-built, strong, and tall.
According to some authorities, the short, broad-shouldered subjects are
much more fortunate in making money than are the tall ones. They have
intellectual eyes, a ruddy complexion. Their foreheads are broad at the
eyebrows. The eyes are generally deep set. They are more than willing to
work for what they want to secure.
The success of an Aries subject depends upon the way in which he uses his
splendid energy, action, systematic endeavor, and finally upon his
determination to stick at the work in hand and push it to completion.
Faults Are Impatience and Anger.
The chief faults of the Aries people are impatience, anger, selfishness,
and fickleness, together with a tendency to extreme aggressiveness. The
physical temperament of the subject will be nervous-sanguine if born in a
southern climate, and bilious-sanguine if born in a northern latitude.
When Aries and Sagittarius people are united, astrologists declare that a
happy domestic life is certain. The children will be physically fine,
their nature still finer, and their intellect of the highest order.
Aries children should be very carefully and tenderly brought up. They can
be readily managed only through kindness and love. In fact, Aries children
seem to demand a constant expression of love. They crave a just
appreciation of any little task they may perform.
It is most important that an Aries child be not overpraised, for in so
doing his higher development is certain to be arrested.
The ruling planets of the month are Mars and Neptune, and the gems are
sapphire, turquoise, and diamond. The astral colors are blue, white, and
pink. An old rhyme says:
Those who in April date their years,
Diamonds should wear, lest bitter tears
For vain repentance flow.
Traditions of the Month.
For Aries people, Tuesday is the most fortunate day of the week, and June
and July the most favorable months in which to bring any business
transactions to a successful issue. It is well for an Aries subject to
endeavor to carry out the most important business interests during these
months.
The flower emblematic of Aries is the amaryllis, signifying unbending
pride. The ancient Hebraic tribe over which the sign has ruled is that of
Gad, and the ruling angel of the sign is Machidial.
In the old Roman reckoning, April was the second month, but it is counted
in the Julian calendar as the fourth. The traditional derivation of the
name is _omnia aperit_--"it opens everything." Among the Romans, this
month was sacred to Venus. The first twenty days were given over to
feasts, games, and equestrian combats. On the 21st, which was regarded as
the birthday of Rome, the wine of the previous autumn was first tasted; on
the 25th, the ceremony of the Robigalia, for the averting of mildew, and
on the last three days came the "Dance of the Flowers."
The 1st of April has long been a day for the playing of practical jokes.
According to an old tradition, this custom had its origin in the belief
that it was on the first day of April that Noah sent his dove on its
fruitless search for evidence of the subsidence of the flood. The dove got
back without an olive-branch, but there is no evidence on which to base
the belief that Noah regarded the failure of the bird's mission as a joke.
Singularly enough, the great day for practical joking in Hindustan is
March 31.
It is usually in the month of April, too, that Easter falls. The word
"Easter" is of Saxon derivation. Among the Teutonic races, April was
called Ostermonath--the month of the east wind. Our Easter Sunday must be
between March 21 and April 25. It is regulated by the occurrence of the
paschal moon, or first full moon between the vernal equinox and fourteen
days afterward.
Though it has long been the custom to make Easter Day the occasion of the
celebration of the resurrection of Christ, there is no trace of such a
celebration in the New Testament or in the writings of the Apostolic
Fathers.
St. George's Day is the 23d of the month, and St. Mark's Eve, with its
superstition about those who were doomed to die, falls on the 24th.
A good type of the aggressiveness, independence, singleness of purpose,
and strength of character of the Aries people is the Rev. Dr. Charles H.
Parkhurst. Bismarck was an excellent illustration of the dogged
determination and fighting characteristics of the sign.