Table of Contents
THE CUSP-BORN ARIES
Are you really an Aries? If your birthday falls during the fourth week of March, at the beginning of Aries, will you still retain the traits of Pisces, the sign of the Zodiac before Aries? And what if you were born late in Aprilare you more Taurus than Aries? Many people born at the edge, or cusp, of a sign have difficulty determining exactly what sign they are. If you are one of these people, heres how you can figure it out, once and for all.
Consult the cusp table on the facing page, then locate the year of your birth. The table will tell you the precise days on which the Sun entered and left your sign for the year of your birth. In that way you can determine if you are a true Ariesor whether you are a Pisces or Taurusaccording to the variations in cusp dates from year to year (see also page 17).
If you were born at the beginning or end of Aries, yours is a lifetime reflecting a process of subtle transformation. Your life on Earth will symbolize a significant change in consciousness, for you are either about to enter a whole new way of living or are leaving one behind.
If your birthday falls at the end of March, you may want to read the horoscope book for Pisces as well as Aries, for Pisces holds the keys to many of your hidden uncertainties, past guilts, weaknesses, sorrows, unspoken wishes, and your cosmic unfoldment.
You are eager to start living, and possess, in a way, the secret of eternal youth. Obstacles enrage you but never beat you, for you usually feel you have sacrificed more than your share. After waiting and suffering long enough, you will assert yourself and your right to make your own decisions.
However, you are often drawn back through Pisces into a sense of responsibility, a duty to others, a selflessness that at times eats away at your confidence and undermines your character. Honor and the vitality of life are your gifts.
If you were born late in April, you may want to read the horoscope book for Taurus as well as Aries. The investment could be revealing and profitable, for Taurus is often your means of putting your talents to practical use and turning your ideas into actual, tangible rewards.
You are headstrong and determined; you have a sense of independence and fight that nothing can destroy. Sometimes you can vacillate and be worried and negative, but you never give up. You have the earthy sense of all your needs to meet responsibilities, do your duties, build, acquire, and collect. You are attracted to all you possess, and the more you possess, the more permanent your life. You are thus less able to simply pick up and go back to zero; what you start you must try to finish.
THE CUSPS OF ARIES
DATES SUN ENTERS ARIES (LEAVES PISCES)
DATES SUN LEAVES ARIES (ENTERS TAURUS)
THE ASCENDANT: ARIES RISING
Could you be a double Aries? That is, could you have Aries as your Rising sign as well as your Sun sign? The tables on pages 8-9 will tell you Aries what your Rising sign happens to be. Just find the hour of your birth, then find the day of your birth, and you will see which sign of the Zodiac is your Ascendant, as the Rising sign is called. The Ascendant is called that because it is the sign rising on the eastern horizon at the time of your birth. For a more detailed discussion of the Rising sign and the twelve houses of the Zodiac, see pages 17-20.
The Ascendant, or Rising sign, is placed on the edge of the 1st house in a horoscope, of which there are twelve houses. The 1st house represents your response to the environmentyour unique response. Call it identity, personality, ego, self-image, facade, come-on, body-mind-spiritwhatever term best conveys to you the meaning of the you that acts and reacts in the world. It is a you that is always changing, discovering a new you. Your identity started with birth and early environment, over which you had little conscious control, and continues to experience, to adjust, to express itself. The 1st house also represents how others see you. Has anyone ever guessed your sign to be your Rising sign? People may respond to that personality, that facade, that body type governed by your Rising sign.
Your Ascendant, or Rising sign, modifies your basic Sun sign personality, and it affects the way you act out the daily predictions for your Sun sign. If your Rising sign is indeed Aries, what follows is a description of its effects on your horoscope. If your Rising sign is not Aries, but some other sign of the Zodiac, you may wish to read the horoscope book for that sign as well.
With Aries on the Ascendant, the planet rising in your 1st house is Mars, the ruler of Aries. This is a natural placement for Mars, because the 1st house is the proper home of Aries, the first sign of the Zodiac, and of its ruler Mars. This position gives you undaunted courage and strong recuperative powers. It makes you extraordinarily resistant to stress, strain, and sickness. You are specially lucky in that you probably will live a long life bent on success. The planet Pluto is often regarded as co-ruler of Aries. Pluto rising together with Mars can increase your chances of success. Pluto has a banishing effect on enemies and troubles. Just when you feel most hard pressed by personal loss or public enmity, Pluto negates the power of these harmful forces.
Aries Rising people stamp the environment with vitality. You have a great need for instant success, which imparts an urgency to all of your undertakings. You are a picture of boundless energy, unlimited courage, untapped reserves. In love, in work, in study, you want realistic rewards, but you want them right away. As soon as your need is gratified, you may lose interest in a person or project; sometimes you dont stay around to see it through. People may say you lack foresight, but you can honestly answer that you see a brighter horizon elsewhere. Your vision is as bold as your bids for self-actualization.
You are a loner, fiercely guarding your independence. But you are not shy or reticent; rather, you are confident, sometimes boastful. You thrive on challenge; you are reckless of danger; you invite competition and combat. And you frequently gain by these means. You keenly feel oppression; you are more sensitive than others to rank, responsibility, privilege, and the power these confer. If you cannot be at the head of things, you want at least a free hand. But if you are not allowed a free hand, then you dont want to participate. These traits make some of you Aries poor team players, others of you notorious rebels.
Those of you with Aries Rising are blessed with the knack of invention. You know how to start things, to fix things, to make things work. You are quick-witted, a good judge of character and situation; you can size up a scene swiftly and accurately. You are handy and creative. You have a wide repertoire of skills, and you wont get slotted into dead-end routes or stuck in routines. You are always eager to go ahead, to make daring new movessometimes overeager, hasty, shortsighted. You scorn defeat, though, so no loss holds you back. Like the Ram, your zodiacal symbol, you butt your way through all the obstacles.