Aries II, the Alchemy of Leadership

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Today’s post explores the energy of Aries II, the second decan of Aries. There are two systems of rulership for decans, and the Sun rules this decan under both systems. We’ll uncover how this decan’s solar qualities of stability, leadership, and inspiration intertwine with Aries’s fiery, cardinal energy to create a dynamic archetype of courageous creativity and growth.

Drawing connections to the Three of Wands in tarot and esoteric numerology, I’ll also explore how the number three’s symbolism of expansion and receptivity deepens our understanding of this decan. For example, while Aries II is often associated with achievement and leadership, reframing it through a lens of abundance reveals its potential for channeling creative energy into something new and meaningful.

If you’re new to astrology and want to learn the basics, including a simple method for how to read a birth chart, check out my Introduction to Astrology Course for foundational insights and personalized tutoring. (Link below!)

If Aries II is prominent in your chart—your rising sign, Sun, Moon, or another planet—I’d love to hear your experiences with its energy. How has this decan influenced your sense of leadership, creativity, or expansion? Use the Contact page on this website to share your experiences.

Below, you’ll find a link to my YouTube video exploring Aries II, as well as a modified and expanded transcript that includes images for the related tarot cards and extra material on the symbolism of this decan. Make sure to read this transcript if you’d like an even deeper understanding of the decan.

Transcript (modified and expanded)

Hi, this is Cathy Gnatek. Today, I will unpack Aries II, the second decan of Aries—part of a year-long series on the 36 decans of the zodiac. You'll find a link below to an introduction to the series. You'll also find a link to my website with a transcript of today’s recording. Like and subscribe if you enjoy the content—it helps folks find the series.

So, Aries II. One of the best ways to understand what a decan is about is to understand what planet rules it. For Aries II, it’s the Sun. Two different systems explore the decans. They both agree that the Sun is the planet that rules this decan. In addition, the Sun is in its exaltation degree (18-19 Aries) in this part of the zodiac. Exaltation means that the Sun is held on high here and has extraordinary power. So it doubles down on the importance of the Sun’s symbolic meaning to this decan.

So what is the Sun symbolically? We can understand the meaning of the Sun from a few different aspects. First, you can think about the Sun from an astronomical standpoint. All the other planets revolve around the Sun, a centering force of nature. It is akin to Carl Jung’s notion of the “Self,” or centering force of consciousness.

Then, we can look from the standpoint of us as human beings here on Earth. How do we experience the Sun in our everyday life? If you think about it, when we wake up every day, there's this expectation, for good reason, that the Sun will rise in the east and set in the west. Day after day, we get up and we have this experience. So there's a quality of the Sun that it carries symbolically—a meaning of consistency and stability, what is known, what we can expect, what we can rely upon.

And so you can shift that into another symbolic understanding of the Sun, which has to do with leaders—these forces in our life that sometimes we want to follow because they inspire us. Aries is a fire sign. All fire signs have to do with inspiration, so you can also fold that in. Aries is a “cardinal” sign—it falls at the beginning of the Vernal Equinox, the Spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Cardinal signs like to start things. When you put all that together, Aries II can have to do with people we admire, people who like to start things, inspire, lead, and light the path for us.

But then we can also explore the tarot card that corresponds with the second decan of Aries, the Three of Wands (Rider-Waite Tarot). Here's an image of the Three of Wands.

3 of Wands

Rider-Waite Tarot

Now we can bring in, in addition to the idea of the Sun and this consistent, stable force in our life that shines our way and helps us grow—right, the Sun is also related to photosynthesis, which is what makes life grow—but then we add in the number three.

From an esoteric standpoint, the number three has to do with expansion. Jung often refers to the transendant “third” as something that emerges from the relationship between two opposing forces, a creative solution that emerges from the energy of two opposing forces. This is related to Maria Prophetessa’s axiom in alchemy: “One becomes two, two becomes three, and out of the third comes the one as the fourth."

We go from number two, which involves a particular polarity in life—me versus you, two opposing positions—to the third, which introduces expansion and growth, occupying space.

We can also take the number three from the Kabbalah, representing Binah, or understanding. The number three, Binah, and understanding have to do with intuition. It's a feminine number. Binah is a feminine part of the Kabbalah, so a receptive growth quality combines with this solar energy.

And so here we see, in the image of the 3 of Wands from Rider-Waite Tarot, Alexander the Great standing on a piece of land. He's immersed in life. He's occupying space and sending ships out onto the water. You can see that in the background—ships going out to explore the rest of the world and bring goods and information back.

Contrast the Three of Wands (Aries II) with the Two of Wands (Aries I). In the Two of Wands, Alexander stands apart from the world, in opposition to it, detached and separate. Castle walls separate him from the landscape in the distance. In the Three of Wands, he is in the position of “Being;” he relates to life from within life; he has entered the landscape, immersed in his relationship with the land on which he stands.

2 of Wands and 3 of Wands, Rider-Waite Tarot

There’s a relational quality to the three that concerns both occupying our own space and expanding to something new. This is where we really get the vibe for this Aries II—not only about consciousness but also about expanding consciousness, bringing new things into the world by relating to the world.

Some astrologers and tarot readers describe Aries II energy as being about achievement because there is something about people with planets in this sign where they can achieve many things in the world. But another way to look at it that's less patriarchal, that's less about conquering the world, is that Aries II is about abundance and about the abundance that comes with growth and with channeling the creative energy of life to create something new, receiving the light of the Sun and growing as a result. So people with planets in this part of Aries tend to be people with a courageous stance toward their creativity, willing to open up to new ideas, form something new out of it, and bring it out into the world.

For example, Lin-Manuel Miranda, who created Hamilton, the musical, has his rising sign in Aries II. If you think about that musical, he took something old and known, which was the story of—or one of the stories of—the creation of the United States and made it fresh. He communicated, brought in, and integrated new ideas from consciousness around the meaning of the United States as a nation. Manuel-Miranda’s Hamilton is the 3 of Wands, not the 2 of Wands; nothing about Hamilton is detached or removed. In creating the work, Manuel Miranda did not just sit with what is known but used his own lived experience to expand the meaning of the stories around the country's birth. Hamilton grapples with U.S. history from the standpoint of “Being,” from within experience, engaging with its meaning hermeneutically.

Another great example of the 3 of Wands energy is Ram Dass, another leader with Aries II placements. He was a Harvard professor of psychology who studied psychedelics with Timothy Leary. As the program expanded, they started to get challenges from within the administration around their research; other professors argued that it was not “science” because the results related to changes in internal awareness that could not be measured objectively within the ordinary confines of scientific inquiry. Dass rejected these notions, understanding that the study of experiences from within a subjective frame is a valid and worthwhile method of scholarship. He refused to go along with the ordinary, detached method of relating to life and became a spiritual leader who expanded our understanding of the meaning of consciousness. Ram Dass has his Sun with Uranus in this part of Aries, in Aries II. Uranus is a planet that has to do with breaking free and breaking out of old ideas. So you can see the solar nature of Aries II here, becoming a leader in the area of expanding consciousness.

One last thing that I wanted to add as we sit and explore this part of Aries II and the idea of expanding our consciousness: there's a song by the Grateful Dead that this part of Aries made me think of, called Ripple. It has to do with that idea of leadership. Because a lot of people, when they talk about this decan—because the Sun can have to do with leadership—will talk about sovereign people, meaning kind of like king or queen of their life.

But another way to think of leadership and how we engage with the light of the Sun and expand our consciousness is to think about how the best leaders follow something larger than themselves, call it life, or soul, or spirit. There's a line in that song where it goes, "He who leads must follow, but if you fall, you fall alone." This brings in the courageous nature of what's required to be someone who goes out and doesn't accept the limited nature of consciousness, but instead, like Lin-Manuel Miranda or Ram Dass, who enter into life and allow themselves to grapple with what is known and transform it into something new. To go off on this path and engage with the light of the Sun and engage in the alchemical process involved in grappling with the meaning of what is known already requires a certain amount of courage.

Aries as a sign is always associated with courage. In addition to Aries II being ruled by the Sun, the sign itself is ruled by Mars. And so you have to add that Mars-like quality of being willing to take a risk when discussing being a leader in this part of your life. It's not like the Sun of Leo, which is about shining in front of other people. This is the Sun in the sign of Aries. This is the Sun-quality decan in the sign of Aries. So remember to bring that in as well—that courage is required. People with this energy have this ability to stand in their position, know who they are, stand in their integrity, and bring their own light into the world.

I hope this was helpful. Again, if you enjoyed, like and subscribe. Check out my introductory video, and watch for Aries III, which will be coming in about 10 days. Have a great day.