Happy Birthday Aries/ Gloria Steinem, An American Hero.

 "Like art, revolutions come from combining what exists into what has never existed before."
  Gloria Steinem

  

  Hello friends! This week we will be celebrating all those wild and wonderful Arieses out there! Happy Birthday Rams, your unique light is a gift to us all! Like every sign of the Zodiac, Aries comes to us when we need it the most. Aries is the first sign of the Zodiac and the first sign of Spring. For most of us on this side of the world, Winter transitioning into Spring is the most dramatic season change of the year. And Aries really knows how to bring the drama! (More on that later.) Aries charges in the last week of March and yells at us to get outside. Aries is the birds waking you up at three a.m.. Aries is the wild exuberance of Spring Break. At it's highest, Aries is that surge of creativity we all feel this time of year. At it's lowest, Aries is that shirtless dude yelling "Woooh!".

  A key word for Aries is 'headstrong'. Also 'headfirst'. Last week, I mentioned Pisces rules the feet,well Aries rules the head. Literally. An insurance company in England did a study on personal injury and found that Arieses are more accident prone than any other sign. Presumably because they're always jumping into things without considering the consequences. I used to wait tables with an adorable little Aries named Amber. Her nickname was Bam and I initially  assumed this was because 'Bam' kind of sounded like Amber. But no. Girl was always falling down or running into things. And then she'd laugh it off. Amber/Bam was the first person to tell me every Aries has at least one cool scar with a good story behind it. 

  Aries is our Fiery Cardinal sign. Fire signs are creative, passionate, hot headed, usually extroverted, and at times, eccentric. (The other fire signs are Leo and Sagittarius.) Cardinal signs come when the Seasons change. (The other Cardinal signs are Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn.) Cardinal signs are gifted at new beginnings, which also makes them good leaders. Aries is no exception. Gifted with powerful vision, Aries has no problem taking a quick look around and deciding what needs to be done, and doing it. Aries is not afraid to get it's hands dirty. 

  Aries is ruled by the scarred red planet that we call Mars. Just like the Arieses in your life, Mars has powerful energy that can be hard to contain, or at times, figure out. Mars is our Life Force Energy. Mars is our Will to Survive. Mars has been called the Red Planet, and also The Bright Burning One. Mars was the God of War in Roman Mythology, and it's true this planet rules war, as well as anger, violence and aggression. This might sound scary, but keep in mind, anger is a necessary emotion, and with effort, violence and aggression can be channeled into healthy expressions of boundaries and self-esteem. Other key words for Mars are initiation, motivation, ambition, sexual desire, determination. 

  Where Mars falls in your chart will determine how your passions manifest. Other planets in your chart will will determine how easily this energy is released. For example, my Mars is said to be in it's "fall" (a place Astrologers say planets don't like to be) in moody, watery Cancer. Which I guess is why I suck at team sports. BUT one of my Astrological gifts is that my Mars in Cancer falls in the spooky Eighth house of Secrets, blessing me with a greater than average ability to suss out people's hidden aggressions, motivations, and passions. Astrology giveth, Astrology taketh away. 

  Another thing Mars rules is sexual energy and attraction. Mars wasn't just the God of War, he was also lover to Venus, the Goddess of Beauty and Love. (The planet Venus also has a very important role in our sexuality and relationships, but that's another post for another day.) Just like those birds that chase each other dangerously close to moving vehicles this time of year, Mars wants what it wants, and most Arieses do to. The challenge of an Aries in love is to balance the needs of their ego, against the needs of their partnership. This is possible. It just requires discipline.

  To be born an Aries is to be born with a call to serve a higher cause, often in a leadership position. Arieses are natural leaders. When an Aries is not given a chance to lead, they would rather go their own way. (A textbook example of this is the character Sawyer on the ABC drama Lost.) In the Tarot, the Emperor Card is generally associated with Aries. This card most commonly depicts a king, seated on a throne, wearing armor.  This card definitely feels very Ariean to me. Seated, because he is master of all he surveys, but still in armor, always ready to jump up and fight to defend his kingdom. An Aries always fights their own battles.  It's a powerful card, but for me, the phrase "Lonely at the top" also comes to mind.  

  Aries Gloria Marie Steinem (b. March 25, 1934 at 22:00) has been fighting the good fight for decades Her leadership roles include Founder of the Women's Political Caucus, Co-founder of Ms. Magazine, Founder of the Women's Action Alliance. Her Mars is conjunct her Sun in it's home sign of Aries making her warrior spirit a huge part of her identity, and gifting her with leadership ability.Her public speaking style has been described as high-spirited, humorous, and inexhaustable. So Ariean! She was also born with Uranus the Upsetter, in Aries, assuring the battle she would someday choose would be a game changer. Jupiter, the planet of gifts and luck is in Libra in her Eleventh House, blessing her with beauty, grace, (she studied ballet for years) relateability, and the ability to draw a crowd. This placement also most likely contributed to her eventual attainment of cultural icon status. 

  By all accounts, her early life was hard. Her father abandoned the family, forcing her to be caretaker to her mentally ill mother. This is also evidenced by Saturn, the planet of challenging restrictions, in her Fourth House of Home and Early Life. Her Leo Moon in the Ninth House of Education and Higher Learning suggests that reading and writing have always been an escape for her.

  What really propelled Gloria Steinem into the national spotlight was her writing, what has been called her brilliant way with words.Interestingly, her natal Mercury, the planet that rules communication and the written word (and also organization), is in Pisces, the sign most closely associated with the Collective Unconscious. Astrologically speaking, this Warrior Spirit came to Earth with a powerful intellect, plus an ability to intuit and articulate what so many were feeling, but were unable to express. What a gift! For all of us!

  Gloria Steinem's Rising Sign is Scorpio, which makes her Ruling Planet Pluto. Pluto is the planet of destruction and rebirth. Wherever Pluto lands in our chart is where we seek to transform. Pluto spends years in each sign and that makes it really instrumental in defining a generation. Gloria Steinem's Pluto is in Cancer, the sign that rules Motherhood, the Family Unit, and Women's Traditional Roles.  Pluto was last in Cancer from 1913 to 1939. How interesting that the Nineteenth Amendment, giving women the right to vote, passed during this time! It was time for women's traditional roles to change, whether the world felt ready or not. So along comes Gloria Steinem at the tail end of this potent influence, herself the product of a nontraditional home life. She came to us blessed with a warrior's spirit, a call to speak for those who cannot, and a gift for writing and organizing. Bright burning light indeed! 

  Brightest Birthday wishes, Gloria Marie Steinem. You have positively influenced my life in ways that I am not fully aware of. I hope you did something nice for yourself, you deserve it! Namaste.

  Some gift ideas for the Aries in your life are, an Ashtanga Yoga package, a deep tissue massage, tickets to an outdoor sporting event. Basically, anything that encourages downtime. Beloved Aries works hard.