Sunday, April 21, 2013

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. 

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Very Belated Birthday Greetings to my Beloved Pisceans/ Abbreviated Life Update.

  Hello friends, as some of you know, I have really been having a time. Some squatters took over the apartment above the one where I lived with my family, and made our lives unbearable. Currently, we are staying with my in-laws on the Eastern Shore. The good news is, we are waiting to close on a house! Unfortunately, in the rush to escape an unsafe and disgusting living situation, I ended up accidentally burying all of my beloved Astrology books somewhere deep in a Baltimore storage unit, and I won't have access to them for a few more weeks. So. Until I am settled in, with a dedicated writing space, these next few posts will be a little more from the heart, less from the head. Probably the perfect way to write about Pisces, now that I think about it...

  A reminder: I still have access to Astrology software and am more than happy to answer any specific questions about your life path to the best of my ability.

  Sorry I missed your Birthday Pisces, I really feel like shit. Hopefully you were too busy "going with the flow" to even notice. Pisces season can be a stressful time. My situation with the squatters had all the hallmarks of the dark side of Pisces: addiction, enemies, confusion, law enforcement. Even if it's not always that dramatic, it can be a troubling time. Pisces season is the last month of winter and the last of the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and that is why Pisces is associated with endings. But to think of this time as something to be endured until spring is upon us would be  a mistake. Pisces season is a time of deep reflection. It's time to look within and congratulate ourselves on how far we've come. It's also time to assess what still needs to be done. It's a fertile, creative time. In Ancient Egypt it was the rainy season, directly opposite Virgo, the time of the harvest. what's more life giving than that?

  Pisceans are notoriously mysterious, but here is what we know about them: Pisces is ruled by the planet Neptune, Ancient ruler, Jupiter. Neptune rules the arts and sciences, (Among other things) and Jupiter is the planet of gifts,so it's no surprise that most Pisces have some sort of artistic ability. Most notably music or dance. Pisces is a Water Sign. Astrologically speaking, Water means emotions, creativity, sensitivity, a desire to heal and be healed. Pisces is a mutable sign which means they have a gift for transformation, and are better at most than letting go. Pisces truly are the mystics of the Zodiac.

  All the water signs are guarded, but none more so than Pisces. The phrase "Still waters run deep." has always felt very Piscean to me. For a lot of Pisces, their default setting seems to be set at private. This feels so normal to them that they may not even think of themselves that way. That doesn't necessarily translate as introversion. Many Pisces love to be out around people and can be the life of the party. (More on that later.) Pisces are also gifted at picking up on the thoughts and feelings of the people around them. Their profound insights into human nature combined with an intense desire to deflect attention from their interior lives can occasionally result in a killer sense of humor. Seriously, my funniest friends are all fishes.

  Pisces is also considered by some to be the most attractive sign in the Zodiac. That is, if heavy lidded, long lashed eyes, full sensual lips, and a dreamy, other worldly quality are your thing. It probably helps that Neptune rules dance, and most Pisces are naturally graceful. I used to be roommates with a ballerina named Beverly who was a Pisces who basically looked like a mermaid with legs. She had long red hair and everyone was in love with her and she knew it. She never had to pay for drinks. I have this one kind of sexist Astrology book from the seventies that says that Pisces women have to be beautiful because otherwise no man would ever put up with their mood swings. FWIW, my friend Eben has a Pisces mom, a Pisces sister, and a Pisces wife and he says it's totally true.

  I mentioned before that Pisces is a mutable sign. Interestingly, the visual depictions of all four mutable signs have a duality to them. Gemini is the Twins, Virgo is the Maiden separating the chaff from the wheat, Sagittarius is the Centaur, and Pisces is the Two Yoked Fish, forever trying to swim in opposite directions. This symbolism makes me think about how some Pisces are so controlled be their unconscious, their earthly bodies can hardly keep up. Or maybe their spiritual leanings are so powerful, they have trouble functioning in the physical world. There are other possibilities as well, but a hard fact remains: Being born with your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant in Pisces means you came here this time with a battle to fight.

  Pisces is associated with the Twelfth House of the Zodiac. It rules music, mysticism, Universal Love, hidden enemies, medicine, addiction, insanity, prisons, and other institutions. It's true, there's a lot of darkness in the Midnight Sign. The line between spiritual ecstasy and insanity can be easily blurred, and sadly many Pisces struggle with addiction. Pisces Kurt Cobain ( Feb 20, 1967 -.April 5, 1994) struggled with addiction and depression, even as he tried to transcend that darkness through his Tibetan Buddhism practice.

  In your life, does it seem like a greater than average number of Pisces struggle with their mental health? My theory is to be born a Pisces is to be called to mysticism, but not everyone feels ready for that call this lifetime. To have the soul of a mystic, while feeling trapped in an earthly existence can feel like too much for a gentle Pisces soul to take. Alcohol/drugs can feel like an escape or at least a break from feeling all the feelings all the time. It doesn't have to be that way, of course. A challenge for the Pisces is to integrate the mystic and the mundane. Very few humans this day and age have the opportunity to live a full on mystical existence, but most people could be living with more intention than they currently are, Pisces included. An outlet for creative expression is essential as well.

  Pisceans make great therapists or healers of any kind because of their ability to empathize. No one feels your pain more than a Pisces. (The shadow side of this is the Pisces who cuts his/herself off completely from the source of human empathy as a coping mechanism. Perfect example: Mitt Romney.) Healing doesn't have to be a day job. Many lost at sea Pisces could benefit from Reiki training or some other form of energy work that would then enhance their own life and the lives of their loved ones. Aromatherapy can also be a great fit for a Pisces' sensual nature.

  My Aromatherapy mentor, Cynthia Loving (www.lovingscents.com) started her professional life as a psychotherapist who worked with violent criminals (prisons and institutions). A colleague introduced her to Aromatherapy, and it completely changed her life. A year later, she had moved to Florida to study full time with an Aromatherapy Master. (All or nothing, a Pisces trait.) Today, she has a thriving practice in North Carolina where she teaches, consults, and sells her own line of high quality essential oils. She says Aromatherapy is 30% chemistry and 70% intuition. Spoken like a true Pisces!

  As a final note on Pisces, I would like to share the mythology of the Pisces glyph because I think it is so beautiful. The story is that Aphrodite and her son, Eros were bathing on the banks of the Euphrates when they spotted the giant, Typhoeus. In order to escape unnoticed, Aphrodite transformed them into fishes, but tied them together with a rope so they wouldn't get separated. And I guess that explains why so many Pisces I know have such strong connections to their mothers.