Belief Is Not Required

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I am a spiritual being having physical experiences. I am that I am.
After all, it is spring. Persephone returns to her mother, Demeter.

In the spirit (fire sign of Aries, the first of the spirit signs), the name of this column has been changed to Belief Is Not Required. Beliefs are subjective and conditioned by early childhood. How many times do you knock on wood? No matter how much money you have saved, how do you still keep reacting selfishly when you know others have less?

Aries is the most headstrong time of year. Learn from my mistake of overlooking a deficient spirit for far too long (just had to deal with an adolescent mean-girl bully). She appears genuine (Aries rising, meaning that she looks likes a direct and confident Aries), but underneath the mask, there’s much to do about nothing, a hollow and insecure soul. Current planetary placements demand our taking a new tack on old frequencies. Aries rules the head, so think before you react. Fortunately, this less-than-smart mean girl needs to use her fire to inspire, not to beat up on those closest to her.

It is easy, given where the planets are now, to stay in unhealthy partnerships. Why not instead return to the loving arms of fruitful Demeter? She’s the mother of grain (Ceres, goddess of agriculture in Roman myths, root word for “cereal”). Demeter did not allow anything to grow when her daughter was abducted and taken to the underworld by Pluto. Refuse to relive the mythology (oops, victimology) like a grieving parent of Persephone getting snatched into an underworld. It was time for Persephone to separate from her mother. After all, a major goal of parental love is separation. She grew into being an equal consort and wife to Pluto as Queen of the Underworld. Therefore, whatever losses you must endure, a gain follows each one. That’s one of the lessons that each fire sign (Aries, Leo and Sag) teaches.

Myths as real-life tragedy

Trayvon Martin (Persephone), whose mother, Sybrina Fulton (Ceres), is not eating, was shot by George Zimmerman (Pluto). Ceres only drank barley water while grieving. How much is food offered and made at the time of someone’s death? And how is Trayvon’s death to be feared in the very real terms of exacting justice and bringing attention to violence against and/or perpetrated by black males? Will the Million Hoodie March keep this peaceful?

Fire Element

We get fired up! We describe someone as hot! Being on fire, you get to burn away the gummy guck of what keeps us from expressing what keeps us from making our dreams (or visions) come true. Aries begins the personal orientation, aka ego greets world. Leo starts the interpersonal orientation, aka ego peers with others. Sagittarius creates adventures of a spontaneous variety, aka ego traverses the universes.

Aries, March 20-April 19, initiating spiritual (fire, visionary)

Happy Birthday! Your strength resides in your ability to play the role of the child in the fable “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” What is trendy matters in direct proportion to your insecurities. When you are confident in what you do and how you live, you care little about what we think or believe. These next five weeks require that you begin to strategize how to find your deep pocket. Who’s really liable when you’ve been damaged? Know that this New Moon in your sign on March 22 @ 9:38am CDT expressly means that you use your considerable spirit to aid the less fortunate instead of dominating and destroying the bit of goodwill you’ve accrued in your relationships. Being guileless is one of your major strengths. Moving from a calculated motive does not usually work for you. And, even more when Mars is in retrograde (until April 13), there are even more reasons to play the role of child and not emperor in the aforementioned fable. Courageously speak your perception of truth while simultaneously letting go of your need to be acknowledged as right.

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Leo, July 23-August 22, concentrating spiritual (building your identity)

Persephone leaves the underworld and brings the Sun with her. You are the sun. A chosen child of sky god Zeus, Apollo has the gift of prophecy and music. With Jupiter/Zeus wandering through your 10th house of honors, professional advancement and career, it does not take a stargazer to tell you what that means. But I will anyway. If you have spent the last year in professional development and continuing education, results just ought to be forthcoming. Life’s pace has quickened. So get aboard and imagine your next evolutionary steps.

Sagittarius, November 22-December 21, adapting fall

Knowing what you don’t know can be difficult to know. This act demands a certain humility, something that you fire signs possess in small measure. Your missing the mark, aka sin in patriarchal religious lingo, should change knowledge into wisdom. Being able to put your knowledge to work is what makes you wise. The humor at which you express your real spirit ignites us in ways that we love to reflect upon. However, once you know what needs to be done, you have to act from your root self and speak what must be told.

Earth Element

During the fire time of year (now), you find your patience tested. It is time for you to retreat from your normal practical activities. Your safety net is not to be a trampoline (a la Gingrich); it is to a hammock (ala Jon Stewart). Please do not allow your physical body, becoming addled from one illness or another, to be the only way for you to slow down, Atlas. Allow someone else to hold the world upon her shoulders.

Taurus, April 20-May 20, concentrating earth (physical)

The Aries New Moon on March 22 @ 9:38am CDT marks the beginning of your yearly review before your next birthday. Reflect, retreat and rejuvenate your soul. Just contemplate the word recreate. Literally, it would behoove you to re-create yourself. Through play, you become rejuvenated. When you’re chilled and engaged and flexible, you are irresistible. When insecure, you can easily become overly possessive and controlling. Take a page out of a Buddhist playbook. Locate and nurture your right livelihood. We are all born with a specific job to do. It may not pay the bills, but it needs to be feeding your spirit.

Virgo, August 23-September 22, adapting earth (physical)

You are war weary like a veteran who has returned without any celebration. Oh, snap, that’s already happened to the Iraqi war vets?! WTF. Search and root out any causes to your self-esteem. You need to wait for and expect praise for any and all jobs well done. Even if they are tardy in your acknowledgment of excellent service, do not think you’re any less worthy of praise. With Mercury (communication and perception) in your seventh house of peers appearing to move backward, expect old issues to show up. You know those places in your connections where others have banked their complaints. Let harmony-seeking Venus smooth over any temporary mishaps. There are entirely more supporting planetary personnel than detracting ones. Focus on the long view of your relationships. Get the healing you need, be that psychological or physical.

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Capricorn, December 22-January 20, initiating earth (physical)

Home on the range where the deer and the buffalo play, that’s your tune this beginning of spring. Get your work done, but rush home to receive an abundance of gentle adventures. When you want more love, you must take off your armor. Speak up if your cherished love begins to remind you of a parent or other family member. You can be so dependable that no one thinks you need anything until you’ve withdrawn for far too long. Depending on how long and far you retreat, your quiet can be perceived as passive-aggressive. Your ethical higher self will place in your murky relationship drama. Tell those closet to you what you truly need. Resist the temptation to presume that we know. You can become entirely too comfortable with being in control. Open that warm heart that beats strongly under your cool and polished surface, please.

Air Element

Your element sometimes thrives on conflict. With the aplomb of a trial lawyer, those of us who operate from heart (fire) or soul (water) can build massive defenses when in your presence. Gemini, please know when you’ve gathered enough info. Libra, know that retreat is not the same as full recapitulation (you may need time to process). Aquarius, it is OK to play the role of submissive, taking your social clues from those closest to you.

Gemini, May 21-June 20, adapting intellectual

It’s not enough to say you’re down and ready for anything; you have to prove you are down and ready for anything. You possess an unerring ability to notice the hypocritical weaknesses of others. In the first month of law school, each of my professors professed the following statement: “The lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client.” But what if I’m not paying? No client, no consideration. Well, we’re also taught to skirt the rules whenever we can, a la Captain Kirk and the “death-case scenario as he trained for Star Fleet’ (this reference is for Star Trek geek JS, a Gemini Fire Horse). Anyway, for now, cut your family of origin some major slack, lest you be the foolish lawyer. You’ll be able to read their hypocrisies by your birthday. Presently, mum is your only word, if that. For those of you Geminis with more evolved souls, your phrase is Captain Picard’s “make it so.”

Libra, September 23-October 22, initiating intellectual

All eyes are on you, scale bearer. We look to you to give the multiple perspectives that traverse through your well-oiled mind. Unlike the Scarecrow of The Oz Chronicles, your heart is oiled through your ability to admit to how much you need to connect to others of like mind. Our hearts symbolize courage to be who we truly are, an unedited version of ourselves. And you must do this while in your closest relationships. It is a Buddhist principle that one plus one equals three. But you have to be a whole person in order for this relational equation to work. With loving Venus in your eighth house of the mysteries exchanged in relationships, you have some of the best planetary markers for passion and self-actualization with those you love and want to love.

Aquarius, January 20-February 18, concentrating intellectual

Head versus heart, that’s your karmic choice. Yes, there are traumas that you have endured. However, allowing your mind to have full control without listening to what you feel leaves your soul’s seesaw out of balance. As the zodiac’s only concentrated air (mental) sign, you can easily slip into excessive thinking. Mr. Thought Processor Mercury backs up his thing into Pisces, your second house of self-worth and your ability to stay grounded (aka paying your bills and setting physical boundaries). Please do not get ahead (pun intended) of yourself and start to think you have all of the answers. Until April 16, if your body doesn’t feel it within, then it need not be acted on.

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Water Element

Tina Turner sang her comeback hit “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” in 1984. And with the water element, love has everything to do with it. To Cancer, it is familiar; to Scorpio, it is conjugal; and to Pisces, it is a mix of the spiritual and earthly (read: potentially delusional).

Cancer, June 21-July 22, initiating feeling

Hello, Mahatma (a Sanskrit term meaning “esteemed one” or “great soul”). Soul is that fated witness of your thoughts, feelings and actions. You carry the history of your family, that first society to which you belong. The more you acknowledge how you’ve managed to become a healthier person despite your family of origin, the more we revere you. At present, your soul wants you to be humble without allowing anyone to humiliate you. It could be too easy to suppress what you’re feeling in order to appease those folks who bully you. An unkind word here or a backhanded compliment there simply does not absorb such indirect rancor. Your day will come, Mahatma. Love keeps your soul together, joined in an ability to perceive what are your next steps, even when that means leaving a nasty nest.

Scorpio, October 23-November 21, concentrating feeling

Read Cancer first. You can have the same challenge of knowing when to let go and move on. Mars (your traditional ruling planet) has been spinning backward from the Earth’s perch since January 23. Like the ol’ Edwin Starr joint “25 Miles to Go,” you’ve got approximately that many days (April 13) until he gets moving again. Mars gives you the impetus to act on your own desires. He burns a new trail in your 11th house of individual purpose, your personal path of how to make this world better. So what if you’ve had to burn a bridge that leads to nowhere. Leave your worries behind, particularly with those you thought were your friends, those folks who possess shallow and dirty waters (aka toxic emotions). As the tune goes, you can’t lose your stride because you’ve got someone waiting for you at home.

Pisces, February 19-March 19, adapting feeling

Time to say a little prayer for you. Your world has turned upside-down. You have resilience, but you must act from your own nobility. To expect us to overlook bad behaviors without your acknowledging your actions is adolescent. With the bighearted Neptune in your sign (since February 3), it is up to you to put on your big spiritual clothes. Huh? The prayer you need to say to yourself is, “Make thy will my will.” Yes, it takes a surrendering of your ego. Your identity may be bruised, but it is not broken. To sit at an extreme position is going to get increasingly cold and isolated. And when you spend too much time inside your mind without checking the facts, you can easily become deluded, hence the need for prayer. More than any other sign, you need higher principles to oversee your life. More than ever, be like a Taoist and assert the adage, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.”

*The Rising Sign a.k.a. Ascendant represents your approach to life and the mask you wear. Read that sign as well to get additional information on what’s in store this week.

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Text or call Quan at 816-931-0010 or check out his website at beliefisnotrequired.com.