Double the boldness, double the fun, double the Mars in Aries I

Aries starts with a Mars decan. Like an explosion, an uncontrolled fire, a volcanic eruption, this decan is where we encounter instinctual power. It is impulsive and without constraint. It is a power we access without thought because it taps into something primal, something that operates not on the level of consciousness but somewhere deeper, in our brainstem, the hindbrain and medulla. Here we are focused on survival. 

While this way of operating might sound a little unnerving in the world we live in, it is an integral part of our daily lives. This is our fight or flight response, and we absolutely need it in many situations. It’s what keeps us alive, what fuels us, what drives us forward. 

But in addition to furthering our survival as individuals and as a species, our instinctual power can move us to a place of boldness and push us beyond our perceived limits. We have all heard stories of adrenaline-induced feats of strength in situations of extreme stress, but we can also exceed our expectations for ourselves in more abstract ways. When we access that primal energy and get to the heart of what drives us as an individual, we can produce powerful results: transcendent art that inspires and ignites others. 

I use the term “art” very loosely here. All of life is art. Every choice, an act of creation.

To live boldly and instinctively is so rare in our modern, social media-driven, prefrontal cortex world. Fuck your farmhouse chic Instagram, “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Mary Oliver is not asking you to stop and think about this. She is not asking you to create a vision board with a five-year plan. She is not asking you to poll your friends or compare notes with what everybody else is doing. She wants you to tell her right now what passion is burning deep in your soul and for you to immediately start doing it. 

I am no stranger to the fear and avoidance of exercising this type of power. And as a woman, I’ve been conditioned to reject it all together. But as I have aged and played all the games and followed all the rules set before me, it has become clearer and clearer that the only path to freedom is to remember that I have this power, too. And so, at 36, I'm left asking myself, “What do I desire? What would I do if I were unafraid?” And little by little, creating a life that includes those answers.

For more information on what the decans are, I highly recommend this post by Marlene Seven Bremner introducing them to start off a collective Journey through the Decans with the future Astrologers’ Co-op:

https://astrologerscoop.substack.com/p/an-introduction-to-the-thirty-six?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2