"Let's Talk About Aries!" (Garth Allen)

[Jim Eshelman]

(From "Your Powwow Corner," American Astrology, April 1963)

An often quoted passage from Goethe's Faust seems to have a special application to the role of Aries in the drama of mankind's destiny. It goes, "Part of that power, not understood, which always wills the bad and always creates the good." Now don't get us wrong; we're not implying that Aries is essentially bad-minded but inadvertently good-creating. Rather, it is just that the Aries-dominated soul tends to contain its own counteraction. As intellectuals they can come up with the stupidest ideas. If not so very bright, they are apt to have moments of sheer genius. They are often a combination of zealous patriotism and poor citizenship or, vice versa, the most conscientious of citizens while at the same time coldly isolated from the herd spirit. To their contemporaries they appear either as angels or devils - seldom is there a middle ground where Aries is concerned.

We are speaking of Aries sidereally, of course. The most persistent request from readers, over the years, is that we talk more about the delineative side of astrology. From time to time, therefore, your Powwow writer will attempt to rattle off thoughts pertinent to each of the constellations as he understands them. We modify this pledge by using the word "attempt" because, frankly, the job of untangling the mess (and our own minds as well) from the habit of tropical zodiac preconceptions is far from complete. Even after more than a dozen years divorced from tropical horoscopy, we personally have a dickens of a time freeing our minds from the coloration of stereotypes carried over from our earlier career in tropical astrology. The so-call stubbornness of Taurus or sexiness of Scorpio or fickleness of Gemini were so strongly entrenched in our concepts early in the astrology-learning game that such singsong catch words still intrude on our thinking processes when we endeavor to visualize the parade of "zodiacal types."

The Ascendant in astrology is said to be significant of the physical body, but this is only indirectly true, we feel, since the basic meaning of the Ascendant is objectivity and immediacy of personal consciousness. There is nothing more objective and immediate than to the personal consciousness than the corporeal phase of existence, hence the connection between physique and Ascendant even though the connection is not an exclusive one. In our commentary about Aries characteristics, we are not speaking of Aries-ascending types. Instead, let us approach the subject in terms of the zodiacal placements of the natal Sun and Moon. The Sun-containing constellation throws light on behaviorism and psychological orientation in the world. The Moon-containing constellation, on the other hand, gives clues about how the basic pattern of individuality has been modified and conditioned by one's glandular and chemical history since birth. The Sun is what you really are; the Moon is what the flux and pressures of continued living have tried to make you into. Other interpretations of the difference between solar and lunar components of the personality are possible, of course, but we believe that this distinction is the primary one in everyday circumstances.

So let's go on randomly discussing the most probable way the Arian personality expresses itself when the solar Aries influence of the most prominent one in the birthchart. What follows is pure opinion, not sidereal gospel. The sidereal gospel won't be written for many years to come, apparently, and when it is, it may read much differently from what our pens can produce now.

First of all, to be born an Arian is to have an edge on reality over the natives of most other constellations. But Arian "reality" is not of the orthodox species. By conventional standards, as per the prevailing mores of modern society the realism inherent in the Arian soul has the appearance of outright perversity in thought and behavior. The Arian, either consciously or unconsciously, gives direct recognition to the fact that man is a creature whose health requires the honest exercise of his natural instincts. To most other people, such an underlying assumption or viewpoint seems downright wicked or dangerous. To draw upon Goethe again, he has the diabolic Mephistopheles say to Faust, "I'll praise thee ere we separate: I see thou knowest the devil thoroughly."

The badness of Aries, when it is evident, is in truth only a kind of badness by association. The Arian so instinctively accepts the reality of evil, indeed the very necessity for evil to exist, that he is apt to be thought of as bad himself. But even though on speaking terms with Satan, as it were, the Arian can keep his distance from the Adversary. The great danger, the inherent fault, here is that the same thing often is true of the Arian's relationship with God, the Spirit of Good, too. While the Arian typically delights in battling against what he considers evil, this is no guarantee that he is actually battling for good.

Examples of this are plentiful, as with the platitude-spouting politician out to save the nation while deliberately looking the other way regarding the corruption and malpractices in his own party. Or the celibate clergyman who crusades against immorality, knowing full well that his church depends upon sexual aggression for its growth and power. Or the businessman whose infuriation with suspected Pinkos subsides only long enough for him to tamper with his own cash register tape to cheat the tax collector. The Aries soul simply has to be fighting something in order to be happy, but what he is fighting toward is not necessarily commendable. Too often in history an Arian figurehead has strived to bring about the Millennium, thinking it nothing more than a pity that perpetrating war and genocide were necessary preliminaries to its achievement.

The constellation Aries rates highest statistically in the number and dynamism of political leaders of historic significance. Distinct from the Sagittarian social climber, the Arian hungers for achievement as power rather than achievement as pleasure. He would just as soon see his name in the newspaper as in the local Blue Book, for an Arian revels in his trait of nonconformity and takes pride in is ability to create an impact on an otherwise complacent society. Karl Marx orating in a Partisan park, and John Brown raiding Harper's Ferry, are appropriate although extreme examples picturing Arian perverseness "which always wills the bad and always creates the good."

Five presidents of the United States, including the indomitable Harry S. Truman, were Arians. Charlemagne, Catherine the Great, Oliver Cromwell, Machiavelli, Nicolay Lenin, and Adolf Hitler are striking examples of Arian leaders of the past whose glory was gory. Too many run of the mill, John Doe type Arians are inclined to similar policies withut being aware of it. We suspect that there are a statistically disproportionate number of sidereal Arians among the ten million or so Americans who belong to extreme Rightist and Leftist organizations.

Because Aries finds satisfaction in having cause to champion and something to be made at, Aries typically makes its presence known one way or another, often through blunt sarcasm in conversation, an ostentatious protest, or with unembarrassed verbal exclamations. If an Arian disagrees with you, you are apt to find it out right away, in his facial expression if not audibly. Socially, Arians are not very popular, for they do not withhold opinions tactfully or otherwise retain an attitude that wins and keeps friends easily. It is rather difficult to puncture an Arian ego, no matter how carefully you plot the attack, for they are nearly invulnerable to humiliation or can readily recover their aplomb. (Contrast the thin cyst protecting the Taurean ego; it can be pierced by a glare.)

Psychologically, Arians live all their lives on a roller-=coaster of moods. They are what professional headshrinkers call cyclothymic, vacillating back and forth according to the stimulus of the moment. This heights and dumps characteristic of the Arian psyche is, in the extreme, akin to what is meant by manic-depression and is the underlying reason for the high suicide and alcoholism rates among Aries natives.

History and current affairs appeal to the Arian taste for adventurous reality. The many famous historians which Aries has given the world, including Arnold J. Toynbee, are not the careful, stenographic type which Virgo appears to cultivate. Arian historians instinctively seek past causes for present effects and future expectancies, and are decidedly cycle-conscious. (The Toynbean and Marxist views are strikingly Arian. Machiavelli's theory of cycles is just as typical: dictatorship into oligarchy into democracy into anarchy from which a "strong man" shall rise again to restore and dictate order!) Aries intuitively realizes that man is simply a member of the natural order which is "red in claw and fang," and that true social progress works from the bottom up rather than from the top down - a reversal of the Leonian concept. Incidentally, this is a likely reason why Aries does not feel he must stand as an "example" to subordinate levels. "Do as I say, not as I do," seems to be the typical case. In fact, as long as others do what Aries says, Aries is happy.

Probably the least attractive capacity which the thoroughbred Arian may display is an avidity or drive for which there is often no justification. The truth is, Aries is often just as lazy as he is ambitious. He lays down the law rather than wastes time in arbitration. He makes accusations rather than asks probing questions. He makes sweeping judgments on the flimsiest of evidence, for such blunt action saves both time and money and, besides, justice is considered a hindrance unless, of course, it shores up his own case. (No accident, that Libra is opposite Aries!)

The roller-coaster metaphor we used is, come to think of it, only another version of the fleece motif which is the core of Arian symbolism. As the ancient Roman poet put it, "As Aries often loses his fleece and then just as frequently renews it, so Aries experiences the variety of fates between high station and sudden ruin. He gets, then loses, then returns to gain, only to lose again." In temperament, he remains docile and quiet for long spells, then can shock everybody by suddenly becoming a life-breathing demon. His whole life reflects this turn-taking, this oscillation between glee and gloom, between good luck and trouble, between the warmth of a thick fleece and the chill of shearing. They staying power of Aries stems from the fact that his wool never stops growing as long as life lasts.

[Jim Eshelman]

(From "Your Powwow Corner," American Astrology July 1963)

By mopping up after Aries, please believe, we mean the operation of postscripting and footnoting our recent essay of thoughts about the constellation Aries in natal astrology. Judging from the criticisms and comments made since (mostly by Arians, of course) we failed to touch upon several delineative areas, such as the Sun's exaltation therein, so dear to Arians' understanding of themselves. Our excuse for omitting the solar-exaltation bit, with all that it pleasantly implies, is that we deliberately avoided discussing the Mars rulership of Aries in order not to complicate the commentary. To have brought up the Sun's exaltation after skirting the fact of Mars' rulership just wouldn't have been fitting. But we didn't get by with it even if our intentions to avoid the Pluto-versus-Mars wrangle were good. [NB (JAE) - Joanne Clancy, his editor, was an Aries. One of his closest collaborators, "Gary Duncan," has an Aries Moon. ]

So now about the exaltation of the Sun in this sector of the zodiac. Even the beginner in astrology grasps that this natal circumstance must mean a heightening of the ego, a sharpening of the sense of significant selfhood. The average Aries man or woman, however, does not outwardly reflect this supposedly telltale trait of self-centeredness. Though it is not generally realized, the by-product of the Sun's exaltation in Aries does express itself in the average type but in a way more subtle than what is ordinarily meant by egotism. That way is, simply, an innate skepticism toward life in general and people in particular.

The representative Aries person does have a "superiority complex," for this is the basic meaning of the Sun's exaltation, to be sure. But only in the most over-bearing, domineering souls does this complex become conspicuous in a lordly manner or blatant conceit. Rather, the Arian only interposes his sense of superiority between himself and the world as a defense against mediocrity, as a safeguard against being a Nobody or nonentity in the scheme of existence. Aries is not at all friendship-prone for he finds it difficult to fuse his own interests in commonalty with another, and this handicap often strikes observers as out and out egomania. To make an Arian your enemy, let him know you view him merely just another human being, no better or no worse than the rank and file of Adam's descendants. The Sun's exaltation symbolizes this resistance against banality.

The other shortcoming of our Aries delineation about which we have been scolded is failure to allude to the fact that there are fewer Arians in Who's Who than any other zodiacal class - a situation often blamed on the inherent laziness of folks born under this constellation. Let's analyze this closely. For one thing, socially and professionally eminent people - those who rate Who's Who listings, for the most part - tend to be "steady, stable" types who build up their careers within the framework of conformity. It should be no surprise, then, that a good many Arians view pillar-of-society status with cynical eyes, such status in itself seeming to be yet another form of banality!

Then again, it all goes back to that one great overriding characteristic of the Arian soul, symbolized by the Fleece, which is cyclic changeability of moods and fortunes. This is something we did stress in our delineation. Aries people seldom seem to stay on an even keel throughout life, hardly ever manage to strike a happy medium for very long at a time, and seem to ride a roller coaster of ups and downs in their economic and emotional fortunes. Though they may rate a Who's Who sketch at several stages in their lives, the many in between stages hinder their canonization in the page of social registers.

Yes, more spectacularly than any other constellation, Aries natives are subject to periodic rises and falls, from prosperity to poverty back to prosperity again. Indeed, it may even be said that Fate has so arranged things that Aries people are periodically "fleeced" by circumstances beyond their control every now and then over the years of their life spans. Similarly, their political and social fortunes characteristically bob up and down between the crests of popularity and acclaim and the troughs of criticism and ignominy, judging from the biographies of historical notables. In show business, the big come-back is an Arian forte. Romantically, too, the Aries-born are victims of off-again-on-again heart affairs.

In all fairness then, can the term lazy be applied to Aries, without modification? Isn't it more a matter of not laziness per se but of holding a different set of values than most of us hold? Aries people do not apply themselves methodically and gradually to any goal they covet. They strike out boldly for the goal itself and feel that to fuss with anything short of the Very Best is a waste of time and energy. Even in everyday matters this impatient attitude toward trivialities and formal procedures may give other the impression that they are hopelessly lazy.

The Aries housewife may let dust gather on the mantle and the dishes go until tomorrow, thereby gaining the reputation for slovenly housekeeping. But the truth is, she is being a realist, for when Mrs. Aries decides that the house-cleaning problem has become important enough to command her attention, she tackles it with a dedication of purpose and thoroughness of effort that puts her constantly daubing and dusting neighbors to shame! She holds different values, that's all. The thought occurs that this characteristic is also in keeping with the fleece symbol - wool is not gathered by a daily tweezerful! Sheep are shorn only when there is enough wool to make the effort worth while. And our misunderstood Aries friend is clearly more sensible than lazyt when she postpones emptying the ashtray until it is full enough to make emptying it worth the bother.