As the first warm rays of spring appear, the fiery Aries reigns supreme. Ruled by Mars, Aries is characterized by a v-shaped symbol that connotes the ram. Symbolically, the ram has long been associated with leadership, determination and initiative, all qualities encompassed by this sign’s astrological personality. Historically, the ram has been associated with the sun god.
This sun god appears throughout different religious archetypes. Most familiarly, he appears as Apollo in Greece. In Egypt, he is the creator god Khnum, a ram-headed man who creates the bodies of children by molding them on his potter’s wheel. Khnum was actually a water god; he ensured that the Nile river would deposit rich black silt onto the river banks, fertilizing the earth for the crops to grow in spring, and providing the material to make pottery. It’s funny then, that the most ancient god associated with the fire sign of Aries has such strong associations with the elements of earth and water.
Aries is a fire sign because this force provides the “heat” to bind earth and water together into a vessel or container, and create a seed. After all, pot needs to placed in the sun or fired in a kiln in order to hold. In one myth associated with Khnum, he created a clay egg from which the sun god Ra sprung out.
As a season, Aries embodies this explosive energy that must have reverberated throughout the cosmos when the sun began to give off the warmth and light needed for our planet to support life. Each year, when the ram arrives after winter, he ushers in a new season of growth. The soil has been dampened by the water of Pisces season enough to nourish life, and now the fire of Aries provides the solar energy necessary to warm it.
In the same way that the sun provides the energy that is needed to initiate new growth, Aries season provides the collective with the passion and creative energy that is needed to plant the seeds for long term projects and large scale change. Spring has long been associated with revolution and change. During Aries season, we are asked to take stock of our lives and figure out what is no longer serving us anymore. This is a time when we have it within our power to overturn the old, and create what we want to manifest in the world.
During Aries season, many of us will feel this creative energy in short, intensive bursts of passion and drive. As we are still coming out of the healing waters of Pisces, this vigorous energy will have a refreshing effect. Finally, we’ll be able to climb out of the deep emotional waters and shake off the droplets, to bask for awhile in the sun. This busy and impulsive energy might have people starting a lot of projects that won’t see their way to completion; experimenting with a number of different lovers to find what they are best suited for; or even leaving town unexpectedly. It might also have more folks asking forgiveness rather than requesting permission, as Aries energy is traditionally more concerned with what it can produce than where it is coming from.
For some people, Aries energy represents a challenge. There’s a reason why Aries is thought to be represented by the Emperor card in many tarot decks. Aries can be rash, like the impetuous ruler. Astrologically Aries is ruled by Mars, one of the ancient gods of war. Mars’s violence and appetite for bloodshed is balanced by his sister Minerva, who represents wisdom and logic on the battlefield.
The energies of Mars and Minerva remind us of the importance of approaching this season with balanced energy and clear intentions. Whatever you choose to bring into the world during Aries season will be with you for the rest of the year. The projects you are initiating, the relationships you are beginning, will hatch, one way or another. These are your children, just like the children the Egyptians believed the god Knum formed on his wheel. Take stock of the resources you have to provide for the creations you are bringing into the world, because they need nutrition to grow.
You know what happens to creations when they are not adequately provided for. They become malnourished, misshapen and withered. At the same time, if you worry too much over your creation it becomes spoiled and rotten, overwatered or too indulged. Trust that the intentions you set during this time are the right ones, and then watch how your seedlings take root. You’ve done the work of starting; now it’s time to let the universe do her work..— by C. Luce Christensen
C. Luce Christensen is an Aquarius, writer, and professional Tarot card reader.
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