Sun in Aries

Aries is a movable fire sign ruled by Mars, a natural friend of the Sun, so host and guest agree on what matters: action, courage and the right to lead. An Aries Sun is traditionally read as a confident, direct, self-starting nature. Parashara and the later compilers associate an exalted Sun with standing, a capacity to take charge, physical energy and a sense of honour that does not enjoy being questioned. People with this placement are often described as preferring to begin things rather than inherit them, and as willing to carry responsibility in public.

The same heat has a second face. Exaltation strengthens the Sun's nature, and that nature includes pride. The texts and their modern readers mention impatience, a quick temper when authority is challenged, difficulty taking instructions, and a habit of hearing disagreement as disrespect. Because the Sun also signifies the father, an Aries Sun is often read as a father figure who is strong or prominent in one's life, a relationship that can be admiring, competitive or both.

What shifts the reading most is the nakshatra and the company the Sun keeps. Ashwini, ruled by Ketu, gives a quick, restless quality and holds the exaltation degree; Bharani, ruled by Venus, adds intensity and a sense of carrying weight; the first pada of Krittika, the Sun's own nakshatra, sharpens the sign's edge further. Mercury never strays more than about 28 degrees from the Sun, so it will sit in Pisces, Aries or Taurus, and any planet very close to the Sun is read as combust, its significations partly absorbed by the Sun's glare.

An exalted Sun is not a promise of fame, a government post, a high income or a particular career, and it says nothing certain about the father's health or life. Exaltation describes how fully a planet can express its nature; which areas of life it touches is the work of the house it occupies and the house it rules. An Aries Sun in the sixth or eighth house speaks differently from one in the tenth. Nor is it a full portrait of character: the lagna and the Moon often say more about day-to-day temperament than the Sun sign does, and a Sun sign is shared by roughly one person in twelve.