The Ram

​As a meek Aquarian, I’ve always been drawn to fire signs. Attending over three different schools before the third grade, I found that the no-nonsense fire energy was an easy one to form a connection with. Of course, I didn’t recognize that at the time. But looking back, almost all of my closest friends from that period were Aries. As the first sign of the zodiac, Aries represents the infant—the child who has not learned how to speak yet, leaving them no choice but to communicate through raw emotional outburst. I know that makes them sound immature; and technically speaking, Aries is the least mature sign of the zodiac. However, I prefer to say they are the least developed. I guess that doesn’t sound much better…Luckily, I’m not too worried about offending Aries. I often feel they have much thicker skin than me, the “robot Aquarian.” Besides, maturity is subjective.
 
Aries is one of my favorite signs because they don’t play games. The more “mature” signs can leave you feeling like you don’t know where you stand: Scorpio with its power games, Aquarius with its people pleasing, and Libra with its tit for tat motives…most signs are too concerned with what they should and shouldn’t reveal for the sake of pleasantness or gaining power. You’ll never see Elaine from Seinfeld concerned with such issues. As the infant fire sign, Aries can’t help but react to any given situation with anything less than pure rawness. Even those Aries with more evolved moon signs or ascendants, give themselves away through their facial expressions, or just the tone of their voices. 

Many would argue that this approach is actually quite mature, even more mature than the “mature signs.” And their head-on attitude makes for a healthier lifestyle than that of the more cautious signs.
 
Aries exhibit child-like attitudes in other aspects of life as well. They love a challenge, and putting all of their energy into achieving a goal is a quality which comes quite naturally to them. As a child, I had zero fear of rejection. Auditioning for every musical I possibly could, on top of dance class, cheerleading, gymnastics…I even ran for school office just so I could present a speech to the entire student body. I pursued the spotlight without an ounce of hesitation. And at home, I wasn’t much better, forcing my friends to act in my productions of Felicity: An American Girl Play, and coercing my parents into devoting an entire evening to living room theatre. Cut to me at twenty-four years old and I’m too afraid to play guitar at home out of fear of pissing off my roommates. I’m not sure when I lost the spirit of the ram, but boy do I miss its presence. Aries carry this spirit with them their entire lives—a quality I very much envy.

Like all fire signs, Aries needs excitement in order to thrive. As the sign that is arguably the most fun, I always look to Aries when I’m in the mood to wake up next to half-eaten McDonald’s and a plethora of blurry iPhone pictures from the night before, in which I’m certainly sporting a grin bigger than Hillary Duff’s after swapping her tween teeth for horse veneers. Aries are experts at the art of fun. Pure and simple.

My mom describes it this way, “While everyone else is debating whether or not to do something, the Aries in the group is already doing it.” In the moon position, this intense need for excitement can prove challenging. If the moon isn’t nurtured in a healthy way through competition or frequent skydiving, then it must find some other way to get it’s fix. This can lead to attention-seeking displays or someone who unconsciously creates drama just for the thrill of it. Many Aries moon people thrive at competitive sports, because it’s the perfect outlet for all of that Arian energy. Lebron James, Tom Brady, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are just a few professional athletes born with their moon falling in the first sign.
 
To put it simply, Aries are initiators. When I consider the four elements making up the zodiac, it’s hard to imagine earth, air, or water kicking off the astrological season. It must be fire. It must be the element defined by inspiration, because inspiration is where it all starts. And it must begin with the cardinal fire sign, Aries—the only sign confident and capable enough to set the remaining signs in motion, just as they’ve kept me in motion since the first grade.