Aries 24°

(For last year’s meditation on the Sabian Symbol for this degree:  click here)

To kill a few birds with the same stone, and because there are only so many writing hours in a day, I must now start speaking to the transition from Aries to Taurus and get myself all sorts of Taurus juicy for the next Zodiac Club on April 24.

By way of contrast: Aries, cardinal-fire big bang, creation, ruled by planet Mars, symbolizing the male principle, names for the Roman war god Mars (Greek: Ares). Cardinal fire is the first cosmic energy, pure masculine force. Cardinal means initatory, all intention, incentive, impetus, drive; and fire is spirit. The masculine cardinal-fire energy is objective and directive and aggressive, befitting the spear-toting war god, and his spear toting sister the war goddess Athena, the male and female archetypes of the model-A Aries. In the biblical line, too, god creates man first, the prototypical Adam who, before the uber femme Eve came on the scene, had a first wife: Lilith, who was demonized by Judeo-Christian tradition for being as directive and objective and agressive as Adam—they were both tops.

The cardinal fire of Aries speaks to the initiatory spark of life, that big bang of all creation or any banging, big or otherwise, that results in that spark of life, ejaculation, the seed, being that spark of life, spewing from the burning spear of Mars that is found between every man’s legs; and women’s too, the clitoris being the female equivalent of that spear. And long after we blamed Lilith for not wanting to be submissive or saddled with offspring and for being in it for her own pleasure, we castrate women, clitorally, to deny them that pleasure—castration for man denies them the ability to procreate, castration for women denies them the ability to get off. Mars rules the male sex drive in both sexes, that is to say the animus in the female. Orgasm, ejaculation is all cardinal fire, the sparking of life. There’s more to cardinal-fire than that but sex is the best metaphor and makes for a spicy segue.

So that was Aries, but now we’ve entered the sign of Taurus, the second sign, and second sex, which exists in stark contrast to the first sign as its ultimate counterpoint.

Ruled by Venus, the feminine principle in the zodiac, fixed-earth, the Garden. We have moved from Aries bing-bang creation to the Garden of Eden, fixed-earth, bliss, dreamtime, the eternal bucolic and pastoral outside of Time, the original age of ignorance, no shame. The classical nymphs and flower gods who inhabit this landscape are the archetypes of the sign of Taurus.

Just as temptation is the shadow side of the innocence of the metaphorical landscape of Eden—all that innocence always leads up to the possibility of corruption—so too are all the myths of nymphs and flower gods hinged on that same brand of enticement. As the opposite energy of Mars ruled Aries directive outward objective cardinal-fire, Venus ruled Taurus energy is inviting, alluring. Think of what a flower does, it invites with it’s unseen scent, just as the female scent of any animal does, via pheromones. As, just as that cardinal firebrand of Aries, as the symbol of planet Mars suggests, signifies the red-hot poker of an erect penis or clitoris, so too does the so fixed-earth energy of Taurus, a fertile patch of earthly delights, symbolize the lush patch of soft and fertile pillowing ground that is the vagina and, by extension the sensitive bollocks of the male.

Did you ever wonder why it is that the premier feminine sign of the Zodiac is symbolized by a bull? Well first of all, it might easily be a cow, the bovine creature of either sex being a symbol of fertility, whereas the rutting ram of Aries, with its antlers, a display of masculine prowess, symbolizes virility. Bullock is the word for a castrated bull or steer, which is oddly close to the word bollock, a synonym for testicles which are a symbol of male fertility and, like a delicate flower, the most sensitive and vulnerable part of the male anatomy. Betty White, a Capricorn and thus born under the archetype of the Grand Mother, our own living fairy godmother and mother goose has a funny quote: “Why do people say ‘grow some balls’, she asks. Balls are weak and sensitive. If you want to be tough grow a vagina. Those things can take a pounding.”

There was a famous acting teacher in New York called Bill Esper and use to make his students, both men and women, breathe and speak and act from their vaginas. Now, just as Mars/Aries rules the masculine sex drive in both men and women, the animus, that is, in women; so too does Venus/Taurus rule the feminine sex drive in women and men, that is the anima in men. Again in mythology, the war god Ares/Mars will kill and fuck anything that moves; his sister counterpart Athena, the war goddess, who incidentally despises her brother, will not be fucked by anybody. Likewise, Adam and Lilith can’t stay together because Lilith will not submit—they are both tops. Well, when we get to Taurus mythology both the nature gods and goddesses, the nymphs, like Io, who took cow form, and the male flower gods—Hyacinth, Narcissus, Adonis—being the most famous among them, they are all, male or female like catch me catch me.

And just as Aries men and women are pretty much like Adam and Lilith, Ares and Athena, they want to be on top. Taurus men and women, well, I think the opposite can be said for the most part—they want to lay back and watch just how much you want them. Even the most heterosexual Taurus man will prefer to lazily kick back and be used for the stud he is, seeing what kind of a frenzy you can work yourself into, literally, over him. His penchant for wearing women’s panties aside—oh yeah that’s real too. It has nothing to do with sexuality or gender; it’s simply a matter of astrologically being born under this physical sign ruled by Venus. The straightest Taurus man will be drawn to lingerie. It’s not just the cray-cray Taurus types Dennis Rodman—it’s a turn on for most men of the sign. We can’t explain it, it’s simply one of those things.

Anyway, just as Aries people of either sex are objectifying and often in the extreme, Taurus boys and girls want to be the object of attention adoration and then some. They want to be pursued, lusted after, prized and, and worshiped. They don’t want to do the pursuing or satisfy their lust so much as see others go wild with excitement for them. Aries cardinal-fire is lust, planet Mars ruling the libido that impetus to get it on. Taurus fixed-earth is invitation and certain temptation, the law of attraction in passive action. Aries will come on strong and make it clear they may want nothing more than to fuck you. Taurus will put it out there, dangle themselves and send those pheremonic signals to love me love .

Copyright 2016 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Aries 23°

(For last year’s meditation on the Sabian Symbol for this degree:  click here)

We were meant to do a workshop for young people in the coming weeks and I created a sort of astrological mad libs. You might find it interesting:

How To Know Yourself Better Through Some Simple Astrology

The Zodiac takes circular form, like a pie divided into twelve slices—the twelve astrological signs and “houses” or areas—slices—of life

If you consult an astrologer, s/he will create your individual birth chart, based on your birth date, time and place—this comprises the entire wheel of the Zodiac into which the planets fall in a specific pattern, reflective of the exact locations of the planets at the moment you were born, from the perspective of where on Earth you were born. But we’re not getting that specific here today.

There are some simple astrological basics that apply to everyone, which can be helpful to explore. One such way we can employ the Zodiac as a tool for self-discovery is to consider the twelve signs’ mottos. Each sign has its own motto that relates to its correspondent “house” or area of life.

The twelve mottos are: 1. I Am, 2. I Have, 3. I Think, 4. I Feel, 5. I Will, 6. I Serve, 7/ I Balance, 8. I Desire, 9. I Perceive, 10. I Use, 11. I Know, 12. I Believe.

We have devised a simple questionaire with instructions on how to interview yourself and take stock of yourself from various points of view as a means of gaining increased self-knowledge.

I AM. Your natural outlook, image and definition of self. Finish the sentence three different ways using nouns. Example: I am a (natural born) leader : I am (a natural born) _____________________. I am (a natural born) _____________________.I am (a natural born) _____________________.

I HAVE. Your best inherent attributes, values, talents and assets. Finish the sentence three different ways using nouns. Examples: I have patience; I have a strong moral compass. I have ___________________. I have ___________________. I have ____________________.

I THINK. The ways your brain works. Finish the sentence three different ways using adverbs. Examples: I think positively; I think fast. I think ____________________. I think ___________________. I think ____________________.

I FEEL. Your most ready, default or accessible emotions. Finish the sentence three different adjectives. Examples: I feel optimistic; I feel cautious. I feel _____________________. I feel ____________________. I feel _____________________.

I WILL. Your passionate intentions—that which you will do (in the future) and that which you are willing to manifest. Use a number of words. Examples: I will write a novel; I will run a marathon. I will join the circus.

I will ______________________________________________. I will ____________________________________________________.
I will ____________________________________________.

I SERVE. Your giving nature. Another sign motto is I Work. To serve and to work. Snap. Examples: I serve authenticity; I serve those less fortunate. I serve my community.

I serve ___________________. I serve __________________. I serve ____________________.

I BALANCE. Contrasting influences within yourself or with others. I balance perfectionism and impatience; I balance autonomy with a need for validation. I balance fear and faith.
I balance _________________. I balance ________________. I balance ___________________.

I DESIRE. What do you truly, even secretly or perhaps subconsciously, want out of life. Examples: I desire greatness; I desire freedom. I desire romance.  I desire _________________. I desire ________________. I desire ___________________.

I PERCEIVE. (I See and I Understand) Where are you most perceptive or have most foresight. Examples: I perceive the potential in others; I perceive opportunities. I perceive possible pitfalls.

I perceive _________________. I perceive ________________. I perceive _________________.

I USE. This is about status and influence. How do you use, not waste, what you’ve gained. Examples: I use free time wisely; I use connections to help others. I use money to invest in my future.

I perceive _________________. I perceive ________________. I perceive _________________.

I KNOW. What are your logical convictions? Of what are you convinced? Examples: I know racism/sexism is wrong; I know world peace is possible. I know there must extraterrestrial life .
I know ___________________. I know __________________. I know ___________________.

I BELIEVE. What are your beliefs for which they may never be any physical proof. Examples: I believe in angels; I believe in real magic. I believe in reincarnation.  I believe _________________. I believe ________________. I believe _________________.

Copyright 2016 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Aries 22°

(For last year’s meditation on the Sabian Symbol for this degree:  click here)

Today is Vincent Gallo’s birthday. It reminds me of a certain characteristic of, well, certainly men of the sign. The me me me factor. If you were to view the credits of one of Vincent’s movies, or to read the liner notes of one of his records, you will be struck by the fact that his name appears in all categories—produced by, directed by, written by, starring, artwork by, music by, playing all the instruments and so forth. I think of Warren Beatty and James Franco and the Aries men in my life for which everything is an exercise in the eponymous. On Vincent’s website you can hire him as an escort (for $50K) and even buy his sperm (for a million), the merchandise section of the site features a photo holding his crotch. Never mind the fact that he got a real blowjob in his film Brown Bunny from Chloe Sevigny whose, it is a miracle, career somehow managed to survive that. Personally I think Vincent’s site is hysterical and I think it’s yet another work of his art. The irony is there is no irony, but at least there is irony, which someone like, say, James Franco lacks. And in his film he’s the one giving the blowjob.

The selfie was made for Aries people like Franco who makes Ethan Hawke look like a shrinking violet when it comes to the proliferation of other works other than the one Hollywood is paying him to do. Aries men need for you to know that they are more than one dimensional because they feel so one dimensional, a symptom of being born under the one-way energy of objective, directive, centripetal Mars. They aren’t engineered to take much in, despite Franco’s phoney bj scene. They want to put it all out there—me, me, me—and they want you to think they are the best thing since sliced bread. The antlers of their symbol Ram’s head are the expression of specifically male ego. (That same shape can be read as the brow of Athena, the wise strategist, which is more in keeping with Aries female’s character).

I once had a “friend”, an Aries name Ari, I kid you not. He never stopped talking about himself. Ever. He was a painter and a good one. But he no longer paints which pisses me off since I bought paintings from him figuring, well, one thing is for sure: he will never give up because he fancies himself the greatest painter alive. He could talk for hours about one single brush stroke of his. It was maddening. But he grew good weed and it was the early 90s and I didn’t have anything else to do before working my waiter shift at the Bell Caffe down on Spring Street where my uniform often consisted of a micro mini Hawaiin print vintage bathing suit, work boots, and a slicker. We smoked pot there too while waiting on tables in a haze of post Nirvana grunge-punk post everything. Anyway, Ari never fucking shut up. Mainly, he was convinced, that he was a genius; and not just that but also some sort of enlightened being, a chosen one, a saint, a demigod. He was a bore, a word I came to truly understand because at times I thought he was drilling into my skull with a dull, blunt instrument; that’s how self-obsessed he was, but you suffer anything when you want that cushion of kush. I suppose I was just as self-obsessed as he was only you wouldn’t have known it.

Vincent had a similar personality in that he was self-obsessed; but he didn’t talk incessantly and he was also funny and self-deprecating and I believed his whole Johnny Unitas Republican act was real but exaggerated for effect. When he made Buffalo 66, a year when Unitas clashed with Joe Namath which was a watershed moment in Vincent’s young life, he had a screening in a large auditorium which was full. I remember Diane Von Furstenberg standing up and saying, I paraphrase, “Okay, Vincent, we are all here. Are you happy now?” then she sat down. I knew what she meant. She was telegraphing that he was doing what he was doing (making a film) solely for the attention, all eyes on him. And though I really liked that film, I knew she was right; and so did he. She’s a sharp cookie, that one. A cunning Capricorn in love with her privacy who married a monied man who owns practically everything most likely including loafers within which he is very light.

On the day I spent with Vincent interviewing him for the piece I wrote on him for Detour we really did have a lot of fun. He went to thrift shops and tried on the tiniest, tightest clothing. He had a model’s body, super lanky with zero body fat, wide shoulders, like hangers, and the narrowest waist and when he turned sideways he practically disappeared, but for that penis he was so proud of. Even before Chloe suckled it in Brown Bunny, our fashionable little war-god Vincent would tell stories about how a certain designer who won’t remain nameless—Valentino—once remarked, while standing next to him at a urinal, “wow it’s so big.” A version of that scene made it into Buffalo 66. Everything that Vincent talked about in life made it into his movies, songs or paintings. He has singular themes that he considers central to all of us. That’s so Aries. The symbol of his ruler Mars is that circle with an arrow, recalling the male genitalia; and Aries men lead with that in life, mostly unapologetically. Though often, they feel it makes them beastly, brutish or sub human; so they seek to transcend their physical nature which they fail to see as seamlessly connected to their spirituality—that mind body connection most of us strive to attain?—they have it naturally. But they pick at it. They mistake their singularity for that one-dimensionality. So they fancy themselves some kind of superhuman to find increased dimension. They might try to transcend the physical urges they have in spades. They might channel it into eponymous martial arts. They definitely have a thing for the East that goes beyond Marlon Brando’s taste in Asian women. They strive to have a philosophy and are naturally drawn to those that emphasize the Self. Buddha was an Aries. And how in keeping with his sign to show us how divinity is within not without you.

herewww.vincentgallo.com

Copyright 2016 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Aries 21°

(For last year’s meditation on the Sabian Symbol for this degree:  click here)

So the other day I was rattling off a list of how many “new beginnings” I was actively pursuing in this natural astrological time associated with such doings, Aries, being the start of the astrological new year and the cosmic energy of ignition. I knew I had more up my sleeve while I was listing things, but, as these things go, such thoughts evaporate when you go to record them. The same thing is happening to me now even though I ran to my Blague page to start writing based on said thoughts, dissolving with each tap of my chubby digits. So let’s see, what was I going to add to that list of new-i-ness? Hmmm. Oh come on: Well, I was probably going to mention the fact that we are making plans to relaunch a product line we put on hold. That’s one. I did mention that I wanted to write another book or books. I actually have a roll-out in mind for that. But first I need to find a way to support doing so with a new campaign regarding our existing book or books. I suppose I should be adding new incarnations of ongoing projects into the mix because, it’s April, and I’m cranking up the machinery of my Afterglow festival, and, really, every year constitutes starting from scratch. I mentioned instituting some new habits that characterize my Spartan, warrior-like embodiment of the Mars ruled cardinal-fire of Aries, one that entails being rather vigilant, holding vigil in a sense, which always brings to mind holding a lighted taper, that flame, like a pilot light, signifying the burning adherence to a cause or loved one. I love that the single flame is associated with vigilance, which is a very good thing so long as it doesn’t slip into the hyper- variety.

I suppose, in fact, I’m all shot through with Aries new-i-ness, with still ten days to go before we get into Taurus dew-i-ness. I am writing a new show for the next Zodiac Club (on April 24—be there!) and I have a new book proposal that I want to get into works in that same next ten days. I have new songs to sing and new muscle to build and new thoughts to think and new emotions to feel. One of the best things about new things is that they have a way of curing the old things that nag or unravel you. It’s like with love and sex: The best way to get over someone is to get under them, well, depending on how tired or not you are. Nobody needs reminding an Aries of either sex that they might want to get on top sometime. That advice is usually reserved for the Taurus folk.

So I think today is, or yesterday was, “sibling day”. That’s an anathema for me because I am an only child, now, by choice. I had a sister but I had to, metaphorically speaking, surgically remove her from my life. She was very bad for me; and would continue to be, worse and worse, I suspect, if I were to allow her back. But I wouldn’t worry about that. She won’t try to reach out to me—although her creditors have—because she engineered a whole plan to, first, not let me know of one of parent’s imminent demise so that she could make off with whatever loot there was to grab, and she did; but apparently, like any “lottery winner” who never understood the value of good hard work, she lost it all; or so I’m told. Every once in a while she features in my dreams; and she did last night. And then, when I went on Facebook, I saw that it was “sibling day” from people’s posts. So that was just me being psychic again. But it’s like a recovering alcoholic having a drunk dream—it serves to remind the individual not to go back there. I never will, trust me. Anyway…..I was talking about how doing new things eradicates old thoughts and behavior. And I brought up my sister because I think many of my friendly relationships were modeled on that sibling bond such that it was always a losing battle. I have had a habit of becoming “best friends” with the “worst people” because I spent so much of my early life trying to bond with a withholding, meanspirited sicko that, well, I sought out withholding, mean-spirited sickos. And it’s only recently that I have managed to see these bonds permanently swept from my life. We all have shit. That was mine. So if you know me personally and wonder why I’m no longer friends with this or that ego-maniacal, malignant-narcissistic asshole (or why I ever was) you can chalk it up to my finally realizing I was transferring my dysfunctional sibling bond onto these other ones. And I am now in SLEMMNAA (Sibling-Like Ego-Maniacal Malignant-Narcissist Assholes Anonymous).

So I posted our weekly horoscope, which I do for free because I’m either super giving or a total idiot. If I were Amanda Palmer (a Taurus) I know I’d be leveraging that shit. Oh well, maybe I’ll figure something out. Meanwhile, it focuses on the male Aries and so, in counterpoint to yesterday, I’m in a male-archetype war-god Ares-Mars mindset. In case you couldn’t tell. Fuck you. See, I’m channeling my inner Ares-Mars, a god I never liked as a kid because I was born under the comparatively effete archetype of Apollo with a serious woody for Dionysus, to whom I would recite incantations, in the attic of our rented beach house, wearing “robes” I made by sewing discarded curtains together. So much you don’t know about me. But I’ve since not only made some peace with the war god, I kind of get him. He is the personification of bold force and strength, simple straightforward energies that we thinkers might ignore; but of course we need so brute a godhead, if only to have some beastly nature to transcend; but he’s more than that. The paradox of this energy, akin to the Greeks rarely making the war god victorious in their mythology, was that he was defeatable if not indefatigable. His sister, Athena, never loses; while Ares mainly does, but never mind. He keeps on fighting. And he doesn’t even much take sides. He loves battle so much he keeps switching lines and fighting on either side. He doesn’t care about who’s fighting just the fight itself. We all should have that kind of fight in us. We need the pure energy to harness.

Large, towering and terrifically handsome, we can’t discount the fact the he gave the goddess of love herself the hots. His masculinity was heady for her; and yet she also had a taste for young pretty nature boys like Adonis, a Taurus archetype (being a feminized man) whom Ares swiftly slew. That’s how he rolled. Ares doesn’t mind that Aphrodite is married to the lame Hephaestus, in fact this probably turned him on. The god Ares, and perhaps Aries men, might be more the type than other males to want to cuckold another guy by way of besting him with that sucker’s wife with his own manly beasty ways. (If only Aries men read astrology they could beam in here and tell us if that’s a turn on but don’t hold your breath.)

In Colchis, in a grove sacred to Ares was an oak tree from whence the famed golden fleece hung. I learned this recently. It’s the type of thing that reinforces my theories. I had never before had a connection between the war-god, namesake of Aries planetary ruler, Mars and the golden fleece of the Ram, the symbol of the sign, with it’s associative questing energy. It was from this grove, apparently, that an ancient statue of the god was carried to Laconia an preserved. Yay, mythology. This land of origin was called the Island of Ares or Aria—surely that curmodgeony author of Game of Thrones knew to call the warlike Stark daughter Arya—and, people not being able to escape their archetype, the actress who portrays her, Maisie Williams, is an Aries. Yay, archetype. Needless to say the god’s birth and numerous festivals fall within the month of March, named for him. Women weren’t permitted to approach his temples on festival days. And, in Sparta, he was depicted in chains, the symbolism of which to say: The martial spirit of the god must not be permitted to leave the city-state—his temples were usually on the very outskirt of a city to protect against and scare away invaders.

That didn’t go anywhere maybe. But Aries energy doesn’t have much of an arch, it has a strong beginning then peters out. It is the male principle after all. He he.

Copyright 2016 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Aries 20°

(For last year’s meditation on the Sabian Symbol for this degree:  click here)

So we had a lovely meal out for our Aries anniversary. We actually visited the spot where the wedding took place and it is now a Mexican restaurant which wasn’t too depressing; funny actually. As always we had some great ideas during our repas and just felt very connected via that third-party in the relationship: the relationship itself. For me it’s always the final feast day of the year, the pivot-ing point into a more Spartan existence for me each year, a trend that typically lasts until next holiday season. My tummy is looking forward to being a little less, shall we say, expansive; and though I’m still being treated since last summer’s car accident—stopping and starting yoga several times this past year—I finally got the go ahead from the physical therapist to “gently” reenter my practice. I will have to fight my perfectionist urges and really go slow lest I wake the beast of the injury from the accident. Physical therapy definitely helps. And, as mentioned Aries is the sign of the physical body, the sort of hardware on which all the other “program” (signs) run on. It’s about the temple.

I’m back on the female archetype of Aries today, that great goddess Athena, whom I’m seriously going to invoke today. There are a few myths involving her that most people don’t know. For one, she designed the flute, made out of a deer bone; but when she played it for the other gods, Aphrodite (Venus) and Hera (Juno)—her rivals during the Judgment of Paris—laughed at her because her cheeks puffed up. Athena stormed out (very Aries woman) and played the flute while gazing into a reflecting pool and saw what those divine broads were on about. So she stopped playing. Vanity and imperfection are rather ironic flaws for so armored and steely a goddess, no? Well not really. One must wonder why it is that Athena is so armored and steely. She is defensive to a fault. And that is most true about Aries women who mainly draw upon her otherwise pretty flawless archetype. I think of Athena almost as personification of the temple, in light of it being a metaphor for the body; whilst that pure Mars (Greek: Ares) energy, personified as the overt, active, aggressive war god, is the brawn and might embodied within that temple.

I mentioned that Ares is the lover of Aphrodite (Mars and Venus) while Athena shares a temple with Aphrodite’s husband Hephaestus (Roman: Vulcan) a funny foursome taken together. I may also have made mention of a myth surrounding Athena and her other half-brother Hephaestus (full brother to Ares) in which the smith god tried to rape her—she wiped his semen from her thigh with a fillet of cloth and cast it to the ground impregnating their great-grandmother Gaia who bore a son with the unfortunate name of Erechtheus. Athena raised the child as her own.

This from the Museum of the Goddess of Athena:

 Another aspect of Hephaestus’ relationship to Athena comes to fore here where he is not the consuming God of fire, but the bridegroom, husband, and father of the divine child. In the month of Pyanopsion the festival of Apatura was celebrated, at which the youth of Athens, in phratries (brotherhoods) under the protection of Zeus Phratrios and Athena Phratria, received the initiation which they needed in order to get married. At this festival Hephaestus was particularly celebrated: men, dressed in their most beautiful garments, lit the torch at the fire of the hearth, sang in praise of their God, and sacrificed to him. There is no report in the fragmentary evidence of a torchlight procession, but such can safely be assumed, and for the Corinthian Hellotia a report of such is handed down explicitly. 

 On the last day of the same month began the festival which Hephaestus and Athena shared in common, the Chalkeia. This day was celebrated like a wedding: the artisans presented grain swingles to the Goddess. The secret of this festival was not given away, with the result that more stories were told about it, such as that Athena was given to Hephaestus and placed in a chamber for him, or that he followed her and embraced her. All variations allow the Goddess to leave the embrace a virgin, but they allow a child to originate nine month latter from this same embrace. 

 Only in a later period was the festival of Chalkeia – named such after the material and art of the founders and smiths – celebrated exclusively by artisans as though it were a festival of Hephaestus. Earlier it belonged among the most important festivals of Athena and was called Athenaia. 

How I see this archetype manifesting in people born under the sign? Well first I think about Aries women who, for whatever reason (archetype being the only answer) tend to couple with men who are, for lack of a better word, lame. Hephaestus was likewise disabled when he sided with mother Hera against Zeus in an argument and his father hurtled him around the world, several times I believe, breaking his legs upon landing. Hephaestus made the first robots, mechanical men, to help him around; indeed one might say that his industry, of which he is prime godhead, stemmed from his disability—he is the Virgo male archetype for reasons we won’t get into here. Point being, Aries women often partner, if not outright couple or mate, with men who bear an archetypal resemblance to that god. Arguably subconsciously, Aries women don’t wish to be controlled by men, just as Athena didn’t want to marry nor did Lilith play dutiful, submissive wife to Adam. Remember the character Lilith on “Frasier”? So Aries women are archetypically drawn to “consort” males if not outright cuckolds who will play a secondary, even submissive or often subservient role in their lives.

Physically, we see the primal, first-born archetype of the female embodied in Aries women whom I’ve come to refer to as often gorgeous cavewoman because they do portray a certain primitive, prehistoric beauty. They have heavy jaws, sometimes actual underbites, with a jagged twist to their teeth and heavy, heavy eyebrows. Keira Knightly? Emma Watson? Rooney Mara? Kristen Stewart? Diana Ross? Reese Witherspoon? Daisy Ridley? Robin Wright? Lucy Lawless? Lady Gaga? Sarah Jessica Parker? Cynthia Nixon? Michelle Monaghan? Jessica Chastain? Maisie Williams? Jennifer Garner? Claire Danes? Ali MacGraw? Allison Williams? Patricia Arquette? Joan Crawford? Bette Davis? Mariah Carey? Fergie? The list goes on and on and on and on and on and…..

Copyright 2016 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Aries 19°

(For last year’s meditation on the Sabian Symbol for this degree:  click here)

On the subject of new beginnings I was thinking what I might have started already this year that constitutes a fresh experience. For one we began doing the Zodiac Club each month at Sid Gold’s in New York. I have begun taking weekly singing lessons—super fun and not easy. I began producing a new series at ART/Oberon in Cambridge, MA. Let’s see what else is new. We are launching our new Boston consultancy HQ. I will embark on a new course of study this year—more on that as it materializes. I’ve been reaching out to publishers as I want to get a new book deal. And I did enter Spring this year with an attitude of increased vigilance, I think, to stick to my guns and honor my Aries-ruled (Libran) Self.

Today is the wedding anniversary of the artists currently known as Starsky + Cox; and we are in the town near the scene of the…I mean the location of the wonderful celebration that occurred some (hand mumbling over mouth) years ago. Let’s ritualize this shite: We are going to trace our steps a bit through the Public Garden and Common but veer off in a new direction that will take us to Harvard Square to where our new favorite restaurant is found. I’m going to eat whatever I want; and likely something that would make John Bartlett upset. But it’s not his anniversary it’s mine. John’s an Aries and I learn a lot from him regarding single-mindedness. Aries are very good at that. He’s definitely on a quest with his animal rights work.

So our wedding was at the restaurant called Cornucopia which was a great spot and we had a soprano and a harpist and they performed a number of songs we requested like Roxy Music’s Avalon, the first line of which is: “now the party’s over, i’m so tired,” which probably was a bit “resigned” sounding for an embarkation into a new life as a married duo, before our names were linked by a plus sign and we spent our days mainly together. It would be a good twelve years before we worked together and we spent most of the 1990s traveling separately for work and such which was also a pretty fun period. So anniversaries are good opportunities to set some kind of new intention. And I’ve got some in mind for our ritual constitutional through the park in a little over an hour’s time.

It makes sense that our marriage is an Aries because the two of us together really do take on the personality of a single entity I think. And it sure has been fiery—does that surprise you? Ah, how little you know us. Let’s keep it that way, shall we?

“I gained nothing at all for supreme enlightenment, and for that very reason it is called supreme enlightenment”—Buddha.

Copyright 2016 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Thurs/Aries 18°

(For last year’s meditation on the Sabian Symbol for this degree: click here)

Excerpting:

Show us a person suffering from low-status body language, and we’ll show you a person who isn’t in hot pursuit of her dreams. Show us a person who cultivates high-status body image and we’ll show you an individual with a better shot than most of reaching her goals. It all comes down to constitution, which elegantly carries the dual meaning of the body’s ability to remain healthy and withstand hardship and the formal creation or establishment of something new. Etymologically, we see that these seemingly disassociated notions of physical integrity and the putting forth, the statement, of a mission are intrinsically linked. One’s self-image, which a person might actually mask to varying degrees of success from others, can’t help but be affected by the ability to stick to whatever program one sets out for oneself. Again, it is crucial that we disconnect self-image from the fruits of our labor, instead allowing ourselves to draw power from the effort and determination itself. As the Buddhist nun and author Pema Chodron prescribes, we should indeed “abandon all hope of fruition,” not strictly to save ourselves from disappointment but rather in the acknowledgment that fruition is an indefinable term. And, whether one is too lazy to get up and go after what they want in life or someone for whom enough is never enough, we realize that fruition is mostly an illusion. What we want to cultivate, energetically, first and foremost in our lives, in any case, is a continual lust for life via our most primal instincts and interests, as well as our enthusiasm for new ones. Though we may not be dealing with the individual on the soul level here, we are undoubtedly speaking to the spirit in all of us designed to solely cheer on one participant toward his or her personal Good.

            Let’s imagine again that you are the only person on the planet. The human experience is thus determined by you alone, which, for most people would be impetus enough to do things “right”; then again there’s nobody else to whom to do, or even wish, ill. There’s no lying or stealing or any other misdeeds the Judeo-Christian western world has received commandments against perpetrating. We wonder if Sartre had this particular thought in mind when he said, “hell is others.” Alone in the world, you are the protagonist, if only by default. So you get to wear the white hat because your personal good invites no comparison; but, let’s face it, left to your own devices, with a striking dearth of vices, you’d want to create as good a world as possible. It’s just for you after all, and don’t you deserve it? In the metaphysical landscape of “Genesis” where the first cosmic energy “lives”, there is nary a seven deadly sin, let alone an original one, in sight. Lust is no no-no, but rather a most natural drive, whether it be for life purpose or sexual fulfillment. In the latter incarnation, obviously, it behooves us to revisit the existence of others.

            In consideration of the 1^st Cosmic Energy, we must understand that our libidinous drives aren’t separate from the other manifestations of lust in our lives. Ask any non-heterosexual person, even those who were aware of their orientation since the playpen, if the repression of ones sexuality is limited to that one aspect of their existence and they will surely tell you: No. It impacts the whole of ones being; and that coming out has a sweeping, freeing effect on their entire life. Forthrightness—a word that combines the notion of forward motion with the might of doing right—is thus more than just simple honesty or frankness about oneself. Rather it denotes the ability to further ones own personal good. Sexuality, which is at the core of our being, is the clearest example of that cardinal-fire spark within us, perpetually being ignited, that which most poignantly animates us. Sex is life, which cannot exist without it; and so our sexual energy, associated with the first “root” chakra, incidentally, should be our prime mover, not simply for the intention of pouncing on whomever strikes our fancy, but in our approach to what we must pinpoint as our purpose(s) on the planet, whether it be a vocation or series of avocations.

            When we casually say that this or that activity turns us on, few of us realize how literally such a statement is meant to be uttered. And the manifestations of desired enterprises, or lack thereof, can have reverse effects on us as well: It is a documented truth that people who don’t pursue their true callings, instead settling into some imitation of the life they ought to lead, often experience a dwindling of their sex drive. The libido (Latin for desire, synonymous with wish) is typically the first casualty in a life of compromise. We dare say, then, that it is as important to admit to yourself what it is you truly want to be in this world as it is to come clean about your sexual identity. Not doing so is tantamount to leading a closeted life of a different sort, if not a brand of suicide, bringing about a kind of spiritual death.

            What stops us from embracing our destiny callings are all the myriad “reasons” against pursuing them by which we are barraged. But these warnings and justifications are only ever a product of our so-called nurture, not our intrinsic nature. They are learned, from outside influences, whether they be discouraging parents or teachers or, more overreachingly, societal groups with handy statistics stacked up against the probability for our achieving success, just another word for illusive fruition. Those people or institutions that discourage us do so out of fear, presumably, for our future unhappiness. When, in truth, it is a fear projected from typically well-meaning but nonetheless toxic detractors who were themselves no doubt discouraged by others, and so on and so on, back through the annals of time. There is also an argument for believing that society has been purposely designed to derail our individual dreams and herd us into fearful collectives to suit the purposes of a select few puppet masters, but we needn’t delve the realm of conspiracy theory to get the crucial point across: It is called discouragement for a reason. For it takes away our courage, which is the very essence of our beloved warrior archetypes still ever-ready to rally their forces within us as embodiments of the 1^st Cosmic Energy. To take it a step further, the word courage itself simply means the moving forward along a specific course. And what exact course that is only you know, but…have perhaps let slip your mind. Well, dear reader, we are in the business of putting that head for self-realization back on courageously squared shoulders.

Copyright 2016 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Aries 17°

(For last year’s meditation on the Sabian Symbol for this degree: click here)

Excerpty Excerption

 Any acting teacher worth her salt will tell you that to recreate life on stage, in film, or any medium, the actor must have an objective firmly in mind; and then take action after action, physical, verbal or what have you, to realize that goal. Now, this key nugget of thespian wisdom rings so true because it is taken and deconstructed from life, all the world being a stage and we would-be players, even in the most modern vernacular sense of that word. We had a client who had difficulty approaching life thus objectively. Rather he viewed himself through the lens of what he thought, and often feared, others perceived about him. And so he got lost in playing others’ agendas and objectives, mainly, in order to be liked. He had also lost touch with his initial what-I-want-to-be-when-I-grow-up intentions, even allowing himself to be led into relationships based on the importance of how said bonds looked on the outside, to those around him, rather than being driven by his intrinsic loving and lusting desires. Now, to varying degrees, many of us suffer from a similar separation from self, which, like in this case, threatens to weaken the foundation of our very being. But we can ill afford to let this happen, even in the smallest of ways. The 1^st Cosmic Energy has nothing to do with how we are like others, and it couldn’t give an owl’s hoot about being liked, that favorite little birdie of Athena being an avatar of her wisdom. The myths of both Mars and Athena entail their continually going against the grain, the former personifying outright conflict, the latter more subtle controversy, while neither dynamic is something we can always shy away from. These archetypes embody the universal knowledge that life is, in so many ways, a matter of contest from which is wrought the spears we must all, at any point, take up.

            Circling back to the purely physical aspect of this 1^st energy, we find that if one is engaged, body and soul, in their life’s objectives, taking action after action to achieve them, that life itself becomes practically enough of a work-out precluding the need to allocate set hours of gym time—provided, of course, ones main objectives aren’t of a strictly athletic nature or require the physical fitness as that of a cosmonaut. In a nod to the first astrological house’s association with early childhood, a time when play and exercise were one and the same, this premier cosmic force reignites the notion and the practice of expending this renewable energy, bodily, while in the process of playing the game of life as you divine it. For more of us than one might imagine this (life) is the only exercise required. You’ve heard the old saying, “the more you do, the more you can do,” but we find this only holds true if you are your objectives, the Aries motto “I am” elliptically waiting for you to fill in the blank. And like the knight who knows he can only do his small part, nonetheless keeping the larger goal of fighting the proverbial good fight in mind, it is only in galloping toward our goals, once achieved setting new ones, or even never quite fully realizing them, that we come to embrace the verb of living: the means not the end. This is the source of our greatest confidence, which cannot help but translate physically.

Copyright 2016 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Aries 16°

(For last year’s meditation on the Sabian Symbol for this degree: click here)

Still excerpting from….wouldn’t you like to know.

All the cardinal forces, whether they be fire, water, air or earth, are concerned with initiative and pioneership, as we’ll also see, in the fourth, seventh and tenth chapters of this book. The warrior knight, or knightess (to coin a term), doesn’t give up the fight, something that, for this archetype, is never settled. And so, just as this premier energy applies to our own sparks of interest or inspiration, the unforgettable fires that burned within us, often from childhood, we must realize that had we the good fortune of actually flaming them the whole of our lives, never deviating from the singularity of their purpose, we would nonetheless still need to continually kindle them, vigilantly, to keep those sparks crackling. The first astrological house, home of the 1^st Cosmic Energy, is often called that of new beginnings. If you think about it, this defines each dawning day, indeed every moment, spent pursuing our quests or attacking experience in general. Though some attributes of the astrological houses are quite literal, others are more cryptic than they appear on face value. Case in point: even though we can take new beginnings literally, encoded in it is also the notion that the present is paramount. Living in the now is a cornerstone of most spiritual practices—and what the zodiac tells us is that every instant is, thus, a fresh start. Indeed, we ourselves need to be new to our experience in order to further it. This sort of freshness never fades. It is the spirit of newness, the energy that cannot get old. Goals, once achieved, must be replaced by subsequent ones, even when set further along the same überpath toward achieving a larger objective, which some of us are fortunate enough to stick to for the best part of our lives. It comes down to forever setting your mind on forging that much more ahead. Your attitude, your outlook, is thus powered by this cosmic force, as it requires constant renewal to keep us moving forward. Pushing ourselves, even in intellectual pursuits, requires the summoning of physical stamina. Alternately, ever increasing our physical strength supports our ability to cope with emotional, mental or even spiritual challenges. Moving Mars-ruled blood around and building Mars-ruled muscle is great for the Aries-ruled head. As with most things which have been purported by metaphysicians, often dating back to antiquity, which science eventually proves true: Bodily fitness, we now know, not only staves off or helps to eradicate physical disease, but it also combats mental disorders such as anxiety and depression which, though taking root in the physical, often originate from what we might call the emotional body, or indeed the astral one. The physical self is a teacher. For as we attend to it’s fitness, building and maintaining real muscle, we always develop as much if not more figurative sinew.

The physical self, your very own personal hard drive, must be maintained and cared for in order to become the you you want to be. Not to say that everybody and their stepmother must sign up for spin classes. By the same token there are many athletes who aren’t (even naturally) in touch with the 1^st energy, which no doubt makes their undertakings more difficult than they need to be. It is the spirit in which one approaches even the most strenuous physical activity that can truly make the difference, not only in the performance itself, but in the mind’s ability to both enjoy, excel at, and exceed expectations of it. Picture that vigilant knight/ess. Know doubt there is an element of asceticism in your vision of this figure. So too is there a Spartan ingredient to the 1^st Cosmic Energy. Indeed, when it comes to our physical selves, less does tend to be more, specifically in regard to food and drink. Going without puts us in touch with want in a physical way, which attunes us to the 1^st energy, a force of want on every level. Hemingway clued into this when he wrote, “hunger is good discipline.” Sparsity makes room for concentration cum meditation, whereby ones batteries recharge on a deeper level than a digestive one. It is an expression of 1^st Cosmic Energy as the Will-to-be, sacrificing to the now so to amass power for achieving in the immediate future. Moreover, the knight/ess’s forgoing revelry for quiet vigil shows the kind of character, and literal integrity, that instead revels in ones own company. The realization that each of us are born alone and die alone, we might suspect, enters into the consciousness of such solo contemplation. In accordance with this archetype, we all possess the ability to stay, focused, on our path and to embrace the power of our aloneness as it propels us ever further upon it. A body in motion staying in motion, one is more likely to win the label of “active individual” if he or she is pursuing interests native to his or her very being. When not thus engaged, people tend to fill the so-called empty spaces in their psyche with, well, stuff, whether it be distracting situations or relationships or substances which ultimately snuff your spark-le.

Copyright 2016 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Aries 15°

(For last year’s meditation on the Sabian Symbol for this degree: click here)

Another excerpt (helping me catch up

As conduits of 1st Cosmic Energy, we personify enthusiasm and confidence because we become one with our wants. Your body, its health and fitness, are of optimum importance to properly manifesting this energy—it truly is a temple wherein you keep that divine spark lit. But it isn’t really about the degree of our physical fitness. Perception of our physical self is paramount. This is where the brawn of our brain comes in, something that the 1^st energy exercises are designed to build. Acquiring a favorable body image can be a challenge for most people, and in working with this 1^st energy, we become comfortable and powerful in our skin. Our body language morphs, increasingly comprised of magnificent movements. Channeling 1^st energy brings these changes about, physically. The mind recognizes these changes are occurring and thus allows the body to be further and further fueled by it. Working with this one energy, or any of them, is something of a circular process in itself. Here we are dealing with the actual anatomy of self-appreciation in raw, physical terms. And, as the original adage goes, one that has been ever so slightly recently reinterpreted by a certain prime-time television drag superstar: Until you learn to love yourself, you can’t love anybody else.

 The aim of the 1^st Cosmic Energy is multi-pronged but boils down to making you a healthy physical machine that is one and the same as his or her intentions. It aims to maintain the integrity between body and spirit, keeping them in perfect synch. When it comes to the 1^st energy, selfishness is a virtue. By embracing our individual initiatives and independence you realize that, if you had to go it alone in life, not only could you, but you might very well prefer to do so. It’s an empowering place to be. Yet it isn’t the easiest state of mind to purely achieve. There are many people out there who seem to embody this spirit, yet, on closer look, we realize that a good percentage of them do so for the purpose of showing off to others in their life. And thus impressing or otherwise affecting even one significant other, not the maintenance of their strictest independence, becomes the main occupation. Remember, the first astrological house, associated with Aries, rules the ages of birth through seven years. And it is the aim of the 1^st energy to help us retain or reclaim our primal childhood loner instincts, devoid of any notions of having to play nice with others. That comes later—both in childhood and in the zodiac’s sequencing of energy work.

            Possessing a me-first attitude is tantamount to being a doer —for yourself—a leader, a pioneer, and a most vigilant quester for so-called impossible dreams. Quixotic is a state of mind. After all, Cervantes’s Don Quixote, from whose name that term derives—an errant knight, one of innumerable literary manifestations of the warrior archetype of the 1^st energy, a twist on which Quixote may be—was definitely on to something. Doubts in his ability to manifest his dreams originate in the minds of others. There is magic, if not a method, to his madness: Full commitment to his own individual, indeed selfish cause. This is best described as doing good, as does any shining knight who undertakes a quest, being a champion of virtue, personally embodying it, and universally generating it, all in the same go. This holds true for Ironman as well. Just as it does for Xena or Buffy for that matter. Although, when it comes to the female archetypes of the 1^st Cosmic Energy, defending others in the process of championing one’s own autonomous needs tends to be part and parcel of it. Still, results shouldn’t be the focus when it comes to utilizing the 1^st Cosmic Energy, which is all about the pursuit of goals, not the receipt of outcomes.

Copyright 2016 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.