Aries Sidereal Sign: Mesha
Mesha, first rashi of the sidereal zodiac, a movable fire ram ruled by Mangala; the ayanamsa explains why your sign differs from the seasonal zodiac.
The Vedic zodiac opens here, and not quite where you would expect. Mesha opens the series as the first rashi, the first sign, from 0 to 30 degrees. Its origin is a star of the Revati group, not the spring equinox: the zodiac is called sidereal. The difference from the zodiac of the seasons is called ayanamsa and today reaches about 20 to 24 degrees, depending on the year chosen to superimpose the two systems. That is why most people do not have the same sign from one system to the other, and why Mesha has no Western equivalent.
Which value to adopt? Several choices are possible. Five years of coincidence are considered, from 361 to 559, including 397. You can keep a single ayanamsa, that of Lahiri. You can also place the origin nearly 20 degrees east of the equinox.
The lord of Mesha is Mangala. Surya is exalted there, culminating at the tenth degree, and Shani is in fall there at the twentieth. A movable and fiery sign, of the quality rajas, that of impulse. Its emblem is the ram, and it forms the head of the cosmic being. It is red, four-legged, a wanderer of the hills and close to those who lead. An odd sign, it is held to be masculine and cruel: this adjective describes the sign, never the person.
Here you find Ashwini in all four quarters, Bharani likewise, then the first quarter of Krittika.
Mesha as Lagna, the Ascendant
Mesha is the Aries of the sidereal zodiac, and if it was rising on the eastern horizon at the moment of your birth, it is your lagna. The ancient portrait begins with an anger that rises quickly. Because of the gap between the two zodiacs, this is most often a different sign from your Western Ascendant.
This picture is very old. It presents a person who supports brothers and relatives, concerned with acting uprightly, and drawn to long journeys. It notes an energy sometimes wasted on tasks that yield nothing, and great economy in spending. One trait makes you smile: you may act the opposite of what you think, like sending tonight the message that would be better sent tomorrow. The in-laws and allies are kindly disposed, and trials mark the path.
One point is read in two ways: either you attract hostility, or you set off the quarrels yourself. The gap shows up again in the temperament, sometimes bile and wind, sometimes bile alone. Mars rules this lagna, and Jupiter and the Sun are recognized as its friends.