The Symbolism of Aries, Cornucopia, Grapes
[and the sad decline of nymphs]
Introduction
Aries is a constellation and the first sign of the zodiac.
It is shown pictorially as a Ram - a male sheep.
However the Symbolism of Sheep
[see our video on Sheep and Wool]
and that of this particular Ram is not the same.
Although admittedly both have ‘Wool’
- a symbol of considerable spiritual energy.
The symbol for Aries looks like a Ram’s horns
[see our video on Horn symbolism].
It is associated with the Planet and Roman god Mars,
the same Planet and Greek god Ares
and the Element of Fire.
Overall it represents
the extreme red blooded masculine archetype.
The spiral horns of a Ram is known in Hebrew as shofar,
or shophar, from the Arabic sawafiru,
'ram's horns,' or Akkadian shapparu, 'wild goat'.
As such symbolically,
a male goat is as good as a male sheep,
both being horny.
Of powerful leaders - Amun, Jupiter and Zeus
The stars were once regarded as if they were flocks of sheep
wandering across the sky;
and the Aries constellation was at the front of the flock
leading the heavens and all the other gods
through the year.
"Many think that our figure [Aries]
was designed to represent the Egyptian King of Gods
shown at Thebes with ram's horns,
and variously known as Amon, Ammon,
Hammon, Amen, or Amun”.
In other words since Amon was King of the Gods,
Aries was a very masculine symbol.
‘The god Amen was identified with Zeus,
and Jupiter of the Greeks and Romans.’
This is a Statue of Zeus with Hera
- his long suffering wife,
they appear to be having a bit of a ‘discussion’.
Amenhotep IV introduced the worship of Aten - Aton,
the sun's disc itself, identifying it as Amun-Ra.
Occasionally it has a lion’s body.
In effect, all the masculine symbols align together
in Aries - the Sun, Gold, Horns, the Lion and the Ram.
Aries thus represents all the male ‘pagan’ leaders
or kings of the gods
and is as a consequence associated with virility
and considerable male sexual energy
- an overflowing abundance, in fact.
Euphemisms creep in
- the Rambler’s association
"Ram is a general West Germanic word for 'male sheep',
now shared only by the Dutch.
It may be related to the Old Norse ramr, 'strong'.
The allusion being to the ram's strength in butting.”
From this we get the idea of a battering ram,
of which more shortly.
Another word that is based on this same root
is the verb ramble, which etymologically
[and I now quote] means to 'wander around
like a randy ram, looking for ewes to copulate with’.
It was apparently borrowed from Middle Dutch rammelen,
“a derivative of rammen, to 'copulate with',
which is connected with the ram"
[John Ayto, Dictionary of Word Origins].
Adding now to the general meaning of the Aries symbol,
Isidore noted the following
The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD,
it is called uterus because it is two-fold
and divides on both (uterque) sides,
into two parts that extend apart and bend back
in the shape of a ram's horn.
And it seems some nymphs have a cornucopia with
far more grapes than others
In classical times battering rams were used
to break through doors and walls.
When a baby is about to be born,
the head acts as a battering ram until the cervix
is wide enough to let the head through.
"To act as a dilating wedge against the cervix,
the infant's head must push against it with a rhythmic force.
A battering ram is a crude yet accurate metaphor".
The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville
“The battering ram (Aries) gets its name from its appearance,
because like a fighting ram, it batters a wall with its impetus.
A head of iron is fashioned on a strong and knotty tree-trunk,
and, ... the ram is driven against the wall ...
drawn back it is aimed again with a greater force.
Finally, beaten with frequent blows,
the side of the wall gives way,
and the battering ram breaks through where it has caved in,
and makes a breach.
Against the thrust of a battering ram
the remedy is a sack filled with straw
and set in the place where the battering ram strikes,
for the impact of the thrust of the battering ram
is softened in the yielding hollow of the sack.”
I hope you get the idea.
The Golden Fleece
The Greeks associated Aries with the Ram
who carried Phrixus and his sister Helle on his back
"bestriding a ram which Hermes had made all of gold"
“In crossing the strait that divides Europe from Asia,
Helle became giddy and lost her hold,
falling off the Ram when she disobeyed a warning
not to look down”.
One writer has suggested that Helle fell off the Ram
as a consequence of ‘over-representation
of the masculine element in the Arian psyche’.
Reigning in the Ram
But this ‘over representation
of the masculine element in the Arian psyche’
began to be linked in people’s minds
with a great number of negative events.
Pliny even wrote that the appearance
of a comet within Aries’ borders
‘portended great wars, riots, drought
and wide-spread mortality’,
Indeed, comets and Aries together became a bad omen.
In 684 AD when Halley's Comet passed by,
there was a three-month rainstorm
and an outbreak of the Black Death.
Even Shakespeare took up the theme.
The phrase “Beware the Ides of March”
in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar
is the warning given to Caesar by a fortune-teller.
The Ides of March, was the day Caesar was assassinated.
March is named after Mars and is in Aries.
And Aries and the excessive masculinity in this archetype
began to get a very bad name.
Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, book 4
When the Ram emerges above the surface of the waves (rising)
and the curve of his neck appears before his horns,
he will give birth to hearts
that are never content with what is theirs;
he will engender minds bent on plunder
and will banish all sense of shame:
such is their desire for venture.
Even thus does the ram [and bull] himself rush forth
with lowered horns, resolved to win or die.
Practically all the major religions
have been very active in trying to either suppress
or repress the Aries/Mars archetype.
The sacrifice of the Ram [Aries]
in the story of Abraham and Isaac
was intended to figuratively mark this change.
We have provided a precis
in the description below this video.
It hasn’t worked, you can’t change an archetype.
Aries is ruled by Mars, the god of war-lust and belligerence,
who personifies the archetypal principles of action,
ambition, drive and will power
[unless hobbled by nymphs].
They do things impulsively, rush forth into things (hastily),
without thinking of the consequences
and can be aggressive and rebellious
[unless a nymph intervenes].
But they are agents of change, they are brave,
and they show untiring energy.
Steve Jobs was a Mars in Aries.
Maybe that energy and enthusiasm
can be harnessed in very positive ways,
once it is not repressed and criticised.
A bit of trivia
Zeus is said to have sired at least 54 children,
- 31 by Divine unions including The Three Graces:
The Nine Muses: The Horae and The Morai
and - 23 by Human unions.
It is probably just as well he was consigned to the sky,
Europe would be chock a block full of nymphs
cavorting in sacred groves,
and not a BMW or Mercedes Benz in sight,
and certainly no Mars missions.
Perhaps a few more Athenas are needed to help,
that’s all.