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Since autumn 2020, the stars in the sky have set us on a potentially transformative path with the Aries archetype — on both a personal level, and most definitely, on a collective one.
As a reminder, no matter your Sun, Moon or Rising signs, everyone has Aries in their birth chart. You are home to the entire zodiac, and so somewhere within, your Aries fire is burning.
At its core, Aries is about stepping into our agency and authenticity. It embodies courage, takes thoughtful action, trust its instincts, faces conflict, fights for and protects what matters most, allows for healthy expressions of anger, speaks its truth, and believes in its right to make its mark in the world. Aries is the Warrior inside each of us. He is also the Trailblazer.
Aries is also a Fire element. Ideally, its energy is here to inspire and ignite us. It is the fire in our belly that makes us feel alive so that we have the audacity needed to go after our deepest desires. Too much fire can burn and destroy (though somethings need to be burned). Too little fire, we extinguish our spirit.
Aries is a powerful archetype and how we chose to wield its fiery energy, whether from our woundedness or worthiness (this is a coaching mantra of mine!), makes all the difference. It is what this nearly three-year journey has been here to teach us.
How do you wield your Aries Fire?
Tonight, a solar eclipse will occur at 29 degrees of Aries — the final degree of the sign. This is when the sign’s energy is most pronounced and potent. It is a culminating moment.
PLEASE TAKE NOTE how you feel in your body this week. What is your body trying to say to you. Especially tune into any feelings of frustration, anger, restlessness, impatience, and powerlessness. Do not act on them; instead, give voice to them. Also notice any physical discomfort. Tend to it with rest, care, gentleness, and hydration. If you are like me, you may feel an excess of physical energy; movement is medicine. If your thoughts are harsh, redirect your focus to your breath, or your feet on the ground, or any of your five senses. Let your body be a guide this week.
This solar eclipse in Aries is an opportunity to look back on who we have been, and consciously choose who we want to be.
Ask yourself:
How do you understand your personal power and agency?
Do you tend to embrace it or minimize it?
Do you sometimes fear it, deny it, or do you channel it with care and responsibility?
In what ways and/or with whom do you express it?
What would it look like for you to expand into more agency and authenticity? What is the first step?
Years ago while leading a women’s circle, the theme was personal power, and not one woman was comfortable using that language because of the terrible abuse of power they had experienced, so we used “empowerment” instead. Today we use “agency.”
Abuse of Aries energy certainly warrants concern, even trepidation. Aries at its worst (acting from woundedness) reacts impulsively on its frustration. It wants what it wants NOW. Aries rules anger and violence, and so its determination and individuality left unchecked, left unconscious, can blaze a trail of harmful destruction. It loves to battle anyone who gets in its way. It thrives on chaos and conflict. It can control and oppress under the guise that it is fighting for what is right.
As an example: On January 6, 2021, the day of the Insurrection, Mars, the planet that rules Aries, was at 29 degrees Aries — again a point when Aries energy was heightened (Astrologer Nadiya Shah).
There is a flip side. When we resist our Aries energy altogether (also acting from woundedness), another extreme can manifest. We give away our power and allow others to dominate or determine our path. We avoid conflict at all costs. Our unexpressed anger turned inward manifests into resentment, bitterness, and/or powerlessness. We don’t believe in our agency or our worth and fear taking action on our behalf, speaking our truth, or asking for what we desire.
What side of the Aries spectrum do you lean? Too much or too little fire?
Oftentimes, the Aries energy emerges in us in more complex and nuanced ways. I grew up in a volatile home where my bully brother, 8-years older than me, was someone to be feared. In order to survive, I made myself stand large and loud so I could face right into his anger — a mask that said, “I’m not afraid of you.”
That Aries fierceness followed me into my days when I was a leader in the Church and fought for girls and women’s empowerment. Many years later I would come to understand that my defending women was really about me still defending my little girl self. As righteous as my anger and activism were, they still surfaced from my woundedness (I know this by the way I disregarded my opponents).
After I walked away from activism, and walked toward internal transformation, that fiery Aries energy needed a place to go. It turned on me. I was now at war with myself.
How many of you have an Inner-Bully who shames you into thinking you are not smart enough, good enough, strong enough, pretty enough? Ironically the Bully is trying to protect us from the pain that comes from what it perceives as being too weak, too vulnerable, too soft.
For the unevolved Aries energy, vulnerability equals defeat. It does not know that compassion, care, creativity, and connection are also our personal power.
Aries wounded sees everyone as threat. Aries evolved knows it is worthy. It does not need to fight for its place because it already belongs.
Nowadays I imagine my Aries Warrior standing alongside my Sacred Self. They are no longer at war with each other. They are allies. Instead of bullying my softer sides into submission, my Aries Warrior fiercely protects them so that they are free to flourish.
When my Fire is able to ignite from a place of compassion, care, creativity, and connection, my belovedness stands on the frontlines, and the whole world gets to shine bright, and know too, they belong.