Sun in Aries

Spring gives this placement its old rank. Ptolemy (Ashmand's 1822 translation) reasons that the Sun, on entering Aries, crosses into the higher northern half of the sky and begins to lengthen the days, so he names Aries the Sun's exaltation. Lilly 1659 narrows the point to the nineteenth degree. Exaltation is a term of position: a sign where these writers held a planet's influence to increase.

The same sign is a house of Mars, so the Sun has high standing in a place another planet owns. Lilly adds a condition about the hour, since the Sun governs the fire signs by day and hands that share to Jupiter at night. A chart cast at night keeps the exaltation in his count and loses the triplicity. He also gives the Sun a face in degrees 11 to 20.

Alan Leo 1899 names force and energy as the core of this solar position and warns that without the Moon to focus it the character keeps flying off at a tangent. Raphael's Guide of 1877 is warmer, with a generosity that reaches even an enemy. Modern sun-sign columns keep the idea of a starter and rarely mention the exaltation behind it.