Aries I: Winners vs. Losers or Stepping into Life?!

Exploring the Decans: Aries I

Today, I’m kicking off something I’m excited about—an in-depth exploration of the 36 Decans of the zodiac. If you’re unfamiliar with it, the decans divide each zodiac sign into three parts, each with its unique energy and symbolism. In this series, I’ll be diving into the astrology, tarot connections, and deeper meanings behind each decan, starting with the very first one: Aries I (0°–9°59′).

This blog post (and accompanying video), explores the energy of Aries I—the first 10 degrees of the zodiac—ruled by Mars in both decan systems. I’ll also explore how different perspectives, like Rachel Pollack’s Shining Tribe Tarot and teachings on nonduality, add depth to our understanding of these archetypes. For example, while many astrologers looking at traditional images of this decan have described it as relating to “domination” and “submission, i.e., notions of “winners” and “losers,” this understanding is one-sided and ego-driven; it misses a more holistic Self-oriented approach to its energy. Pollack’s tarot deck and my experience with esoteric and nondual teachings reveal that this decan is also about a receptive relation to life, the courage to follow spirit into life—to take action in the world that flows out of a sense of your integrated connection with life.

If you’re new to astrology, check out my six-part Introduction to Astrology course on my website, which includes an hour of tutoring to help you get oriented. (Link below!)

And if Aries I is prominent in your chart—your rising sign, Sun, Moon, or another planet—I’d love to hear about your experiences.

Watch the full video below and dive into Aries I with me.

Transcript (Modified)

The very first 10 degrees of the zodiac is the first 10 degrees of the sign of Aries. Aries is the sign of the Ram. It’s a fire sign, and all fire signs are about inspiration. It’s a masculine sign, so it has more of a yang energy—moving out into the world. It’s also a “cardinal” sign, meaning it is at the beginning of the season. Cardinal signs have an impulsive, forward-moving energy and push to start new projects.

One way my approach to the decans differs is that I’m going beyond the typical images used for decan walks, which come from more traditional ancient sources like the Picatrix and the Rider-Waite Tarot deck. I will incorporate Rachel Pollack’s Shining Tribe deck into my work.

As I’ve started exploring the decans, I can see the one-sided nature of the work of the people I’ve followed. As much as I love the work of Austin Coppock—I highly recommend it—as I start to explore this for myself, I see that many of the images and pictures that have come up with the decans are one-sided. They come from the perspective of the ego—the perspective of what it is to be a human being trying to survive in this world. That’s important for all of us as human beings—to survive and thrive and use our ego for that, right? But there’s another piece to life, which is the more introverted, non-dualistic, self-reflective quality of the decans, and that really comes out in some of the images Rachel Pollack shares in her Shining Tribe deck.

So, I’ll be folding that in as I go along. As I go along, you'll see that I’ll compare my thoughts stemming from my study of nondual philosophy (Advaita Vedanta, Kashmiri Shaivism, tantric traditions, Carl Jung’s analytic psychology, and existential thinking) and those of others who have explored the decans.

So, Aries—the sign of the Ram, breaking through. We’re going to find that each decan of the zodiac is considered to be ruled by two different planets because two systems explore the decans. For Aries I, the two rulers are Mars and Mars because both systems agree that Mars is responsible for this part of the zodiac, which is rare. This makes sense because it’s the very beginning of the zodiac. It’s like a need to break through into the world.

We will see that as part of the energy of this particular decan—this Mars beginning. If you think about even the beginning of life, to break into the world, when a baby is born, some blood, guts, and pain are involved, right? So, there’s a real Mars quality of that baby wanting to emerge into the world. Let’s hold on to that as part of our understanding of this particular decan.

So, let’s start with the traditional understanding of Aries I. We can look at the Rider-Waite card, the Two of Wands. We see Alexander the Great here with the Earth in his hand, looking out and thinking, “What can I conquer next?”

Two of Wands

Rider-Waite Tarot

But as Rachel Pollack notes in her book 78 Degrees of Wisdom—one of my favorite tarot books, a great read if you get a chance to buy it—he has a bit of a bored look on his face. As Austin Coppock speaks of this decan, he talks about conquering, defeating, and coming up against one’s limitations. Sometimes, that can be some of the energy of this beginning decan—winners and losers.

Now, that’s the dualistic notion of this decan—that it’s about winners and losers, those who dominate and those who are dominated. The Thoth deck calls the card associated with this 10 degrees of the zodiac the Lord of Dominion. So, we get that patriarchal vibe, right?

Austin Coppock notes that Steve Jobs and Bill Gates have their sect light—the Moon for them—in this decan. And, they’ve been highly successful in the corporate world.

But to offer another perspective, we can flesh this decan out from the standpoint of our inner light, not just the part of us that wants to achieve and ensure our survival but the part of us that wants to express our light—our deep individuality.

This decan does involve wanting to exist and establish oneself, but we can think about “existing” from the standpoint of being our unique selves and making a place for ourselves in the world.

I remember Austin Coppock talking about this, and I thought it was great. He talks about the energy of this decan being like you have to fight your way through the jungle and clear the trees to make sure you can live in the world, right? Makes total sense—the very beginning of the zodiac with that Mars domination.

But we could also consider the invitation to connect with something deeper than ourselves—the feeling of being drawn into the world as we take our first breath.

That expression is in Rachel Pollack’s Shining Tribe Two of Trees card. Instead of using wands like the Rider-Waite deck, she uses images from nature. She chose trees for the fiery energy of the wand cards that are associated with the fire signs in the zodiac (Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius)

2 of Trees

Shining Tribe Tarot

In the Two of Trees, we see a woman opening her arms, opening her heart to the sun—the light—to be inspired, right? All the fire signs are about inspiration. So, bringing in a connection of being led, of being alive, but alive in a way where we’re listening—not imagining we can dominate the universe, but rather understanding the possibility of working in harmony with the energy of life to accomplish something, to shine our light in the world.

So, we’ve got Steve Jobs, that Apple guy, and Bill Gates—they both have prominent Aries I placements. How about we look for another figure? Barbra Streisand, the famous singer.

When I learned she had Aries I rising, I thought of her song Don’t Rain on My Parade from Funny Girl. I’m going to share the lyrics here so we can explore them a bit and think about some of the themes of Aries I that we can see arise with these particular lyrics.

She starts: “Don’t tell me not to live,” right? That’s the quality of “I need to exist.”

And, you know, I have a lot of work, mostly with female clients. I think women are open to astrology because sometimes the world gaslights us—we’re discouraged from accepting our reality. Astrology and divinatory methods like tarot and the IChing can be a feedback loop that helps us understand and trust that inner heart wisdom and enables us to express our being more fully in the world.

Other lines from the song is: “Don’t tell me not to live! And “Don’t tell me not to fly!” In other words, “I need to live life and express life in its fullest, now!”

“Don’t rain on my parade!” obviously. But then there’s also the line “At least I didn’t fake it.” So, there’s also quality of Aries I that also calls for authenticity. If we’re being present from the standpoint of the heart, being inspired to exist and occupy space in the world, there’s a degree to which we want to do that authentically.

And then I love this line: “I gotta fly once, I gotta try once, only can die once!”

So, obviously, with Mars, we have courage. We have to take risks. This fits in nicely with some of what Austin Coppock says about how there can be a quality of winning, losing, or trying. Aries has a courageous quality, where it will try something even though it might fail.

Unfortunately, sometimes the ego sees not being able to accomplish what we imagined we could accomplish as failure. From the perspective of the whole, the standpoint of “Self,” failure does not exist. Moving into the world is simply moving without preconceived notions and judgment about whether our action was “good” or “bad.” Taking action that does not lead to the desired results is simply an opportunity to learn from our experience and open ourselves to other possibilities for action.

I will stop there and take a moment to make sure I’ve covered everything I want to with Aries I.

Next year, beginning in March 2026, do little shorts on YouTube on each planet in each decan. That will help you if you want to gain a deeper understanding of the planets in each decan of your birth chart.

For now, you can use this video and the ones I’ll do in the future to begin exploring the meanings of the points (ASC, MC, DSC, IC) and planets in your chart. You can pull up your birth chart online (YouTube video below) and do a little riff. If you understand the basics of each planet’s meanings, you can do some associations for yourself.

For example, Venus—the goddess of love—in Aries I. The goddess is about beauty and harmony, so there might be a way in which you want to assert yourself around those topics in your life. The goddess is also about receptive relationships with others. You can imagine, for example, that people with Venus in Aries might be more assertive about getting what they want in relationships.

You could also book a reading where we can explore the planets in your chart through the lens of the Decans (link below)

So, yeah, that’s a good beginning. The next video will be released around March 30 as we enter Aries II. Like and subscribe if you enjoyed the content, and I look forward to seeing you in the following videos.