Aries – The Ram

The exuberance of spring is characteristic of the vernal sign Aries.  As nature produces myriads of forms, so the mind of Aries is fertile with ideas, but the forces of other signs are needed to bring them to realization.  As the first sign of the Zodiac, it is pioneering, progressive, ambitious, and desirous of leadership.  In this sign we find the beginning of things, be they personal, local, international, or cosmic. 

As the first of the fire sign, and one ruled by Mars, it is enthusiastic, energetic, self-confident, independent, frank, impulsive, militant, and either rash or courageous.  This fiery force can ruin or it can retrieve the soul for the Spirit, depending on whether or not the lower Ego is cognizant of the higher self.

Aries rules the head and is symbolized by the ram.  The sheep in chapter ten of St John’s Gospel, are not to be thought of as representative of dumb creatures that instinctively follow the herd.  The reference is really to masculine sheep, to rams – Aries, the head-forces and the Ego-impulse that is, to human beings in whom the Ego is active.  The idea of self, of human individuality, is strong in Aries.  Here is found, the archetype of the Ego, the ‘I AM’, the I-dentity or Ego-hood of man; here is the will-to-be-manifest.  Aries imparts initiative to the individual and gives power to pioneer.  The Ram is a leader, not a follower.

Among the most distinguishing characteristics of this sign of primal power and mental head-force are activity and ambition – the desire to be at the head of things.  Incessant changeful action is its forte or its folly.  When there is essentially manifest a consciousness not yet coordinated by the higher self, the native lacks the balance and harmony which wholeness gives.  Then the exuberance of projected energy may produce a riot of rapidity resulting in the will to over-ride and rule.  Too often, and to their hurt, Aries individuals are exponents of speed acting in space, forgetful of the forces of physical form and the limitations of their earthly bodies; then, like a bommerang, there returns to them the fruit of their own ill-conceived, fitful, forceful, outrushing, tempestuous folly.

So overwhelming is the force of this sign that it causes chaos and disorder, unless there is true light and a ballasted purpose; for the Aries force forever flies off a centre to the periphery and beyond, in abandoned centrifugal energy, at last to become scattered in space in mere diffusion.  This frequently produces negation and barrenness in the native who is unaware of himself as a being of soul and spirit and who is not cognizant of the purpose of life on Earth.  As a result of uncontrolled primal power not focused on a definite purpose, Aries may readily fly off the handle as it were, or shoot like sparks off an emery wheel.

Aries souls often suffer much because of this overload of out-rushing energy, unless fixed signs bring ballast and stability, and common signs bring thought-power and spiritual light, and unless Libra, the Scales, the complementary sign of Aries, brings the needed balance, equilibrium, and poise.  Yet, as the Aries individual rectifies his life by controlling his exuberant force and transmuting his rash impulsiveness, the correction brings into his life the needed balance and reliability that make him a valuable worker in any pioneering venture.

If one would understand Aries, one should be keenly aware of its incessant incitement to impulsiveness and to disruptive excess and extravagance where energy is concerned.  When there is a lack of matured consciousness, and when the feeling forces are devoid of purpose and firmness, as a result of one’s failures in past lives and the current one to devote oneself to deep meditation, the Aries person moves through life unaware of the guiding principle and wise direction of the Christ; at least the earthly Ego does not obey the guidance of the higher, spiritual being, the Angel, or the ‘Lord from heaven’.   The Christ, speaking of the man who has become spiritually intelligent, says, ‘Henceforth I call you not servants (earthly Egos blind to truth because of their unlighted brain); for the servant (lower Ego) knoweth not what his lord (Christ-Angel Being) doeth; but I have called you friends (St John 15:15)

All Aries souls will make definite progress and be accomplishers if they heed these words and unite the lower Ego with the higher Christ-being.  Not until such union occurs will the full lesson of Aries be learned and wild impulses and erratic action ended. 

In the Gospel of St. John, the Christ repeatedly speaks of the ‘I AM’, as in statements: ‘I AM the light of the world’, ‘I AM the door’, and ‘I AM the way, the truth, and the life’.  All these sayings show the depth and the force of Aries as indicating the ‘I AM’ presence, and it would be well for souls, not only for those born in or under Aries, to think about it long and often if they would become alive to and be guided by the higher being of the solar Christ-man within.  For egotism and the darkness will only be exchanged for the light of the world and for Christ-altruism as man attains a conscious knowledge of this higher Ego.

‘In the beginning was the Word’.  Man, made in the image of divine beings, is revealed in the speech or word of Aries, ruled by Mars. In the ancient Mysteries, it was disclosed that in virtue of the fact that certain Moon-beings were able to gaze on Mars, the capacity for speech was organized into man’s etheric body.  The twelve macrocosmic signs of the Zodiac correspond to the twelve senses of man.  Aries is correlated with the sense of speech.  The inner dynamics of the organs of speech reside in Aries.  Man’s capacity to regain and to use the ‘Lost Word’ is contingent upon his becoming holy.  When this time comes, he will become god-like and speak life into being, but not before.

As we meditate upon this vernal sign, Aries, we realize how essential it is for man to refine himself in his soul, so that, raising his quality to higher octaves of spiritual power, he can release in his speech Christ-constructive building forces.  Today, speech is prosaic, if not profane, yet language is derived from spiritual sources and should be used as an instrument and power of the wisdom of love and the spirit of truth.  Man needs to regain awareness of the sacredness of speech.

Man, in his full significance and dignity as man, is bound up with speech.  To those who know, the human voice tells all, for it is indicative of the whole character of the individual.  It is the soul that expresses itself in sound, and one who is alive to it, realizes its strength or weakness, its temperament and talent, in fact, the whole coloration of the soul.  The character of a people, likewise, is contained in, and can be known by, the configuration of its speech or language.

The majority attach to a word some common mental image or degenerated concept, which has displaced the original, true concept derived from spiritual sources, and souls imperfectly developed or unbalanced mistake very easily what the word images for them for the actual idea.  Most people today are slaves of the common quality of the spoken language; they fall prey to the vernacular of the day, and become the victims of the tyranny of slogans and dupes also of demagogues and dictators, rather than being exponents of the upbuilding, illuminating spirit of truth.  The destiny and genius of Aries is truth, and the truly balanced Aries soul is content with truth only.

It is in this sign of the Ram that self-consciousness must come to expression, as must a growing power of self-controlled destiny.  In Aries, the animal nature must be tamed and controlled, so that the Christ may take up residence in the soul, for this is the sign of the Sacrificial Ram and of the Lamb of God slain for the redemption of the world, making possible the eventual reunion of the Earth with the Sun.

It is significant in this respect that the Incarnation of the Christ in Jesus of Nazareth, giving new direction to the entire evolution of the Earth, occurred when the Sun, by precession of the equinox, was in Aries, marking the turning point of time, from BC to AD.  An early symbol of the Christ, arising out of cosmic wisdom, pictures a lamb or ram with its head turned backward, as though looking into itself, indicative of the birth of the Ego-consciousness.  Surrounding the head is the Sun-Aureole, with its four directions of space, linking the Christ-Sun-Being with the Creative Powers of the Zodiac.

Today we need to realize that knowledge becomes a positive power only when it is made so by the light of the wisdom of love and truth.  This realization comes to active expression in an individual only as he makes an increasingly conscious contact with his own inner Christ-Spirit.  Many imagine they are in contact with this higher self when it is only some earthbound, deceiving astral human soul, or their own Luciferic Angel.  The voice of the Christ is the word of truth.  Today, most people on our planet cannot take the Christ-truth, nor do they seek it.  Hence no peace can obtain in the world, for this peace must first be made manifest and realized in individual men and women as a leaven, to leaven the lump.

The leaders of men have too often followed animalistic instincts rather than human principles, and have failed to pioneer new paths of truth.  Progress toward understanding and peace – the peace that Christ ‘gives’, but ‘not as the world gives’ can only be achieved as man ceases to live by ‘bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God’.  Man must be moved out of darkness and aroused out of his apathy if our civilization is not to perish.  When men spurn the spirit of truth, they deny the Christ of the cosmos and the beings of the Spiritual Hierarchies who made man in their image. 

Mars is the counterfeit of the Spirit when personal desires are served.  The Mars cycle that began in 1909 and ended in 1944 produced two world catastrophies and, twenty-one years later, the global war.  Contrasts can be resolved only by the formation of a new mind in mankind, the mind of Christ, whereby the intellect, the unlighted brain in man, will receive solar illumination.  The new order of life will no longer sanction the exploitation of the weak by the strong nor the submergence of the individual in the state.

There are various levels of meaning in each sign of the Zodiac.  A brute nature is one of the lower expressions of Aries; it is evident when one is of the opinion that might is right.  The great wars should have revealed man to himself and made him manifest his manhood; his Ego should have become openly revealed in these ordeals.  He should see himself as an Ego and decided on which side he will stand- whether on the side of the rulers of darkness, symbolized by the butting ram, the ignorant personality, the lower nature blinded by matter, or on the side of human self-consciousness, the illuminated intellect, which is Christ-conscious and dedicated to truth.  The perversion of the virtues of Aries has led mankind into a world of lies and lust.  The evil of error produces illusions and a distorted perspective, a view that is out of focus and untrue in the light of the Christ.  Through this distortion men have become indifferent to truth, and in World War 1 the majority were not only confused in their minds as to the actual purpose of the war, but they were also left completely ignorant as to the causes that had led to it.  In the second conflict the purpose was more evident, but the awful ignorance as to the nature of man remains, for man does not consciously recognize himself as a being of soul and spirit.  The counterfeit of the Spirit, Mars, has led and bled mankind through these world cataclysms, and only the true spirit of Christ with ‘healing in his wings’ can bring real peace.

Overloaded with exuberant life-force, the Aries individuals are so overwhelmed by ambitious activity and animation that it becomes imperative for them to realize the ‘one thing needful’ in their lives, which is to work to gain a fully controlled direction of their fine, rich forces through knowledge of life and true awareness of themselves as beings of soul and spirit.  Life on earth is a continuing process of unfolding consciousness.  Human beings started out in a state undifferentiated in God.  Gradually they become Ego or ‘I’ conscious; many are still in the process of growing out of their mere racial or national consciousness.  The next stage for each individual is to become Christ-conscious and to grow into a consciousness embracing the world and the cosmos.

Aries individuals evolve best if they wisely coordinate their thoughts and actions through intensively profound and willed thinking.  They can give new direction to their lives if they have a right attitude toward life and gain a true knowledge of themselves, recognizing the real nature of Aries as fiery.  As Scorpio purifies the desires through regeneration, which brings rebirth, Aries purifies thinking and raises thought power, compelling correction and advancing toward truth.  Until truth is manifest as a living fact in life, Aries individuals cannot become the real pioneers they could be, for it cannot be stressed too often that Aries has for its inner, esoteric essence the educative action of truth through the power of the living Word or Logos. 

The road of approach to the spirit of truth is rocky and steep, hence a strong will is required if one would be a pilgrim on this Path.  Only after one has received the Pentecostal baptism of the Holy Spirit will he have a love for truth and work for the truth in love.  The intense idealism animating Aries makes its natives promise far more than they can perform, and they overload themselves with projects beyond their strength.  Because of this unfortunate trait, they unintentionally often make themselves appear untruthful.  Their excessive good intentions engender the reverse of veracity.

In the sequence of disciples in his Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci assigned Peter to Sagittarius; however, this does not prelude the possibility of Peter manifestering traits of Aries.  Peter is an excellent example of promise outweighing performance – the result of the sheer riot of overwhelming mental forces springing out of a intense idealism, along with rash impulsiveness and the will to be a leader and never a laggard.  ‘Peter said unto him, although all shall be offended, yet will not I.  And Jesus siath unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the thingy crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.  But he spake the more vehemently, if I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise’ (St. Mark 14:29,31)

In Peter’s denial of Christ we see the weakness that is too often manifest in Aries, for the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.  Even though the physical courage may be there, the intellectual strength great, and the spiritual impulse present, the spiritual stamina may not be sufficient; and, without this inner spiritual strength, there is a state of unbalance; no proper link exists between the lower earthly Ego, and the ‘servant’, and his Lord.  As a result, where true courage that comes of the Christ – there was satanic fear, and Peter denied all knowledge of the One who alone could have furnished the strength, the spiritual light to stand with God against all the world without fear.

We see this tendency today in a fear-ridden world, where people fear the death of the body but not of the soul; many do not even believe in the soul.  Peter’s hasty drawing of his sword and cutting off the servant’s ear in the hour of betrayal is yet another example of his Aries rashness and of his failure to trust the Spirit for protection.

Once a bridge has been built between the lower and the higher man, once the baptism of the Holy Spirit has filled one with life, the Christ guiding and strengthening the soul, then truly has man become a ‘new creature’.  This ‘new creature’ is evident in Peter in the first half of the Acts of the Apostles, following the Pentecostal baptism with spiritual fire.  Peter, the pioneer for Christ, was the main spokesman, and he was repeatedly arrested, imprisoned, but no earthly power could stay him or frighten him, for as he said ‘We must obey God rather than men’ (Acts 5:29)

The evolved Aries individual is fertile with constructive ideas and is prompt to act.  He will fight for the rights of man, and sometimes the Ram, or the Lamb, will sacrifice itself and take pride in such martyrdom.  Most Aries souls make their lives a school of very hard experience, for they are the souls that back up and leave, instantly taking offence at measures or laws they consider odious or unfair.

The aim of Aries is action, but action must have wise direction and must be governed by forces founded on truth.  This is the sign whose ideal and destiny is the spirit of truth, and Aries souls must make themselves ready to receive and realize truth.  This can only be done by consistently working to approach the truth, which is the Great Work.  As much as we have taken into ourselves of the Christ-truth, so shall we be free from bondage to the lower earthly Ego.

Fine spiritual qualities inhere in Aries, for there is an excellent sense of righteousness with the courage and enthusiasm to work and serve to make righteousness prevail on earth.