The Moon is in Aries for a little over two days each time it passes through the sign, which happens 13 or 14 times a year. In astrology those days are read as quick, direct and impatient: a good stretch for first steps, overdue decisions and anything that needs nerve more than patience. In a birth chart, a Moon in Aries describes someone who tends to feel things fast, act on them faster and recover quickly.
This article covers both: the Moon-in-Aries days that come round every month, and Aries as the Moon sign you were born with. For all twelve signs on one page, see the Moon in each sign.
Aries at a glance
| Aries | |
|---|---|
| Symbol | The Ram |
| Element and mode | Fire, cardinal |
| Ruling planet | Mars |
| Opposite sign | Libra |
| New Moon in Aries | Usually once a year, about 20 March to 19 April |
| Full Moon in Aries | Usually once a year, about 23 September to 22 October |
Fire signs are read as quick and outward. Cardinal signs are the ones that begin a season, and Aries begins the astrological year at the March equinox. Put the two together and you have the sign’s reputation in a line: it starts things, and it does not wait.
What the Moon-in-Aries days feel like
In astrology the Moon is the part of the sky tied to mood and appetite, and in Aries its pace picks up. The tradition describes these days as having a short fuse and a short memory: irritation arrives quickly and leaves quickly, and the gap between wanting something and doing it narrows.
Day to day, that can mean a pull towards whatever can be started right now, and less tolerance for queues, long meetings and other people’s careful explanations. Some people notice that they finally do the workout they had been skipping. Others notice that they send the sharp email. Both are the same pace pointed in different directions, which is the useful thing to know about it: the quickness is there either way, and you get some say in where it goes.
What the two days tend to suit
Good for: booking the thing you have been “about to book” for a month. Sending the first draft instead of polishing it a fourth time. Short, hard physical effort: a sprint, a heavy clear-out, carrying boxes up the stairs. Asking for what you want in a negotiation before you talk yourself down.
Be mindful of: opening a new project to escape a boring one. Replying within a minute to a message that deserves an hour. Deciding fast when the decision is waiting on a fact you do not have yet.
A question: what would I start today if it did not have to go well?
Take what helps and leave the rest. If the day in front of you needs patience, the Moon’s sign does not overrule it.
Moon in Aries by phase
Aries is a sign of beginnings, but whether a beginning is what the month wants depends on the phase.
- New Moon in Aries. Usually once a year, between about 20 March and 19 April, when the Sun and the Moon both stand in the first sign. Many people treat it as the year’s second new year. It suits choosing one thing to begin over the next four weeks; how to do that without a ritual is in new moon intentions.
- Full Moon in Aries. Usually once a year, between about 23 September and 22 October, with the Moon in Aries facing the Sun in Libra. The pair is read as the pull between what I want and what we agreed, and a full Moon here tends to show where you have been accommodating for so long that you stopped noticing. In the northern hemisphere the full Moon nearest the September equinox is called the Harvest Moon, so in years when it falls just after the equinox, the Harvest Moon is in Aries.
- Waxing Moon in Aries. Between new and full Moon the speed is best spent on launches: the first session, the first call, the sign-up.
- Waning Moon in Aries. Between full and new Moon the same speed suits quick endings: the last ten per cent, the cancelled subscription, the decision to stop.
If your Moon sign is Aries
With the Moon in Aries at birth, feeling settled tends to require movement: acting on a feeling is how you find out what it is. If you are not sure how a Moon sign differs from a Sun sign, Sun, Moon and rising sign explains.
What that looks like, in the words of people who recognise it:
- reacting first and reflecting second, and being over it before others have started;
- feeling better after doing something, even something small, than after talking it through;
- restlessness when asked to wait without being told why;
- a dislike of being managed, and a soft spot for people who are direct with them.
The cost is the speed itself. A reaction that is finished for you may still be going on for the person who received it. One approach some people with this Moon find useful is not slowing down in general but putting a short gap in the few places where it matters, such as a walk around the block between reading a message and replying to it.
A question for an Aries Moon: when I feel the urge to act right now, what is the feeling underneath it?
Every 27 days or so the Moon comes back to Aries, and for people born with it there, tradition reads those days as the ones when restlessness is loudest. If you notice the itch arriving on schedule, it may be worth asking what it wants started. And if none of this sounds like you, a chart has other placements that may describe you better.
Where this lives in Cosmia
The Day Cover in Cosmia shows the Moon’s sign every morning next to the phase and the day of the Lunar Cycle, so the Aries days announce themselves without a calendar. If you add your Birth Details, your Birth Portrait describes your own Moon sign in plain language, and the Personal Reading in Align takes your Birth Chart into account. The sign before Aries is Pisces, the one after is Taurus, and its opposite is Libra.
