Will You Become More ‘You’ This Year?

“I think you may be the only astrologer who writes about Aries in a way that I can actually relate to. You really understand the complexity hidden behind the often talked about Aries traits and speak about them in such a way that I can see myself as I am now, while also beginning to understand how I might be able to grow and change in order to one day proudly wear those ram horns in a positive manner!”

— Beth Reineke

Dear Aries Friend and Reader:

This week the Sun entered your sign for the equinox. We begin a new astrological year with you and all that you embody: the spirited chutzpah it takes to get things started — whether it’s a new phase of life, a new desire, a new project, or just the new day.

Two of the most interesting and dynamic planetary events this year involve your sign directly: Uranus leaves Aries (and enters Taurus); and Chiron enters Aries for the next eight years or so. Along with everything else happening around the zodiac, this signifies a true shift in focus for you — and your 2018 Aries Birthday Reading by Eric will be just the thing to help you adapt to the changes and set your course.

“This reading is so amazingly dialed-in that I can’t believe it wasn’t written specifically for me. Thank you, Eric, for tying together many strands of intuition of which I was vaguely aware: now I can begin to own and embody them with confidence.”

— Anthony, an Aries

As usual, you’ll get two astrology segments of at least 30 minutes each, along with an extended description of your sign and access to last year’s Aries reading. This is a separate project from the annual edition, different in every way.

Eric’s audio readings are some of the most unusual astrology you’ll encounter. They go deeper than the work that most professional astrologers do, reaching the spiritual essence of the chart’s message, though without the need for a natal chart — and they stand up to many playings, whether you take notes or listen while you fall asleep.

You can pre-order the 2018 Aries Birthday Reading for the lowest discounted price we offer: only $33 for a surprisingly personal and in-depth reading of your year ahead.

Despite all the chaos we’re living through, I hope you find the beginning of your solar year to be invigorating, inspiring and empowering.

Yours & truly,

Amanda Painter

Aries (March 20-April 19) — This may well be one of the most unusual and distinctive times in your life, if you would only notice. The difficulty in noticing is that the world is so chaotic, and at the same time, our lives are all so densely packed with activity and so-called information that there’s no time to think. We have little time to reflect on the past or the future, as we’re all so intensely involved with the seemingly urgent priorities of the moment. So the challenge you face is interposing some space between your thoughts, and some time: enough to feel and to reflect. At times this seems impossible; at times it seems dangerous, as there’s this not-so-subtle fear of losing one’s step and getting trampled. Yet you will only know yourself, and know what to do in the midst of our current maelstrom, if you slow down enough to feel who you are, and what you want. Concepts alone are not going to cut it.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) — One of the unusual qualities about Taurus is its inner dialog. Other signs are supposed to have this quality and perhaps they do, though I’ve never known people whose minds are so active as those born with the Sun in Taurus. This may mean you have a lot to say to yourself; particularly at the moment, as your ruling planet Venus is moving through the Uranus-Eris conjunction right now. That is the conjunction that sums up all the chaos of our moment, a situation that (despite only meek hints describing the issue) is rooted entirely in digital conditions. The digital world is “unreal,” and it’s having the effect of soaking into the physical world. You, however, are real. You are not an abstraction. You live in a body, and you love that you do. Whatever else you may have going on, do everything you can to stay connected to the physical world. Food, nature, yoga, sex, water and art all count.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Mercury, your ruling planet, is now retrograde. This goes on through April 15, for about three weeks. It’s happening in Aries, the angle of your chart where you project yourself into your community; whether that be hanging out at the local cafe, or through social media onto the internet. This is an opportunity to do several things, one of which is to experiment, and the other of which is to reshape both your image and your role in the world that immediately surrounds you. However, it will help if you slow down enough to figure out what is really happening, both within you and around you. This is essential because your role is secondary to your defined purpose. One very serious problem we face right now is that many people try to have a role without a purpose, which will lead nowhere. You have time to figure this out. Keep asking yourself, wherever you are: where am I, and what am I doing here?

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — For years now, there has been an event taking place in your house of profession and reputation: the Uranus-Eris conjunction in Aries. If your career has felt a little like a trip through the funhouse, you now have a clue why. Even though you may not be the computer type of person, every facet of your work, and your aspirations, are being filtered through digital consciousness. Right now, Venus is passing through the Uranus-Eris conjunction, which is bringing you right into the action. The upshot is that your perceptions about what matters now, and how to guide your work and your professional aims, are remarkably in tune at the moment. You can feel the otherwise invisible conditions of society; and that’s allowing you to be guided in a way that would be the envy of marketing executives everywhere. You have dreams and you have ideas. You have the potential to do bold and brilliant things. Keep your ears on — information is incoming, rapidly.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — Lou Reed once said that it takes a busload of faith to get by. He was right. Nothing else works in our world, unless of course you count brute force; even that is only good as far as it goes — and you don’t make any friends. Cultivate faith: in yourself, in your vision for your life, and in the road ahead. It’s a modern scourge to live as if there is no future. There is one, and you have one. We are all currently being smashed by living under digital conditions: pushed out of our bodies, pushed out of reason and logic, and thrust into a world where everything is made of stolen data, fake news and a nonstop onslaught of very serious problems. We are all swimming in a sea of code that we don’t understand. However, if you pay attention, you will notice patterns. You will tune in to people, and experiences, you actually love. Not that you “like.” Not that make you type a smiley face, but which actually warm your heart. That is where to go.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Your solar chart at the moment looks like a Texas roller-rink on a hot Saturday night. Yet the subject matter is agreements, contracts, financial matters and — lurking beneath it all, like the biology that unites us — sex. As long as we deny this bottom-line factor — the one that leads to all existence, the thing that drives nearly all motives (in whatever form that may take, from denial to obsession to sublimation to violence to sincere desire) — the point will be lost. Your current solar chart boils down to an evaluation of your agreements with people. The full content of their subject matter needs to be considered, with nothing left out. Everyone’s motives must be considered, on the level of self-interest, altruism, and mutual benefit. The challenging part for you is a matter of identity: in order to re-evaluate your agreements, you have to consider who you are, who you have presented yourself to be, and who you want to be. This will take time and thought.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — With Mercury moving retrograde in your house of relationships, now is the time to wrap up various pending matters, and have one or two conversations that have been put off for the past few months. This is not about showdowns; or it doesn’t have to be. It’s more about coming to an understanding, and focusing on completion of pending matters. Meanwhile, you’re having a kind of revolution somewhere in your amorous life. You are going through a transformation that’s being spurred by your openness to someone, whether you’re intimately involved with them or not. The sum total of all of these ideas is about being in tune with the moment you’re living in, and not lingering around in the past. The present is much, much more interesting. That is both the risk and the reward: to really live, you will be living on the edge. To really love, you will be loving in uncharted territory. To feel at all, you will feel deeply.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — Work for you is much more than work. It’s your creative space, a place to experiment, and somewhere to explore who you are. If you have not managed to create a working life that meets this description, imagine how good it would feel to have one. Use all your influence, your will and your considerable powers of persuasion to make it so. If you have managed to shape a creative work environment, you are likely to be pushing it to a new peak, and you will indeed have an impact. I suggest, however, that you conduct the next three weeks of Mercury retrograde as an experiment. You can try ideas on a small scale, and see what happens. Do a little test marketing. Try new approaches, particularly where visual presentation is concerned. One last: you are likely to learn something from a partner, colleague or loved one that could have a revolutionary effect on your thinking, and on the trajectory of your work. Be open to new ideas.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — Times sure have changed since Saturn was in your sign. It’s as if you’re an airplane that dropped needless weight, and can now fly much higher, faster and further on the same amount of fuel. Mixed in with this experience is an ongoing creative revelation; or certainly such is possible. You can focus on talent development, which really is the fusion of experience and energy flow. However, speaking of energy, it would be wise to conserve some. Slow down your burn rate, and your pace, even if just a little. Adjust the trend from doing a little more each day, to doing just a little less. Just shifting that momentum from acceleration to deceleration will give you an improved sense of timing and control. Then, gradually, cool off a bit until you’re at a pleasant velocity. At a certain point you’re going to need to focus on one specific project, which you probably are aware of. Take some time and prepare your plans, your notes, and your ideas.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — Your current burst of confidence involves two factors: Mars in your birth sign, and the Sun in Aries. Both of these objects are well placed in their current signs; they add up to a feeling of belonging and inner accord. Remember this feeling, since you don’t have it all the time. Focus on what you feel in your mind, emotions and body, and try to stretch your memory and compare what you’re feeling now to a time when you did not experience this. It would help, at this point, if you introduced an extra layer of reflection into your consciousness. Track yourself, and notice how you’re traveling through your reality. Mercury is retrograde, and that’s designed to help you lay the groundwork for your long-term happiness. This is about going beyond the feeling of power or confidence, or the strength of your identity, and tapping into the spiritual current flowing up from the ground of your being.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Aquarius is considered the sign of inventions and ideas; though, in my thinking, this is best described in having Aries (the sign of initiative) placed in your 3rd solar house (cognition, communication, community). The 3rd house is the mental engine; and many planets are gathered there now, including retrograde Mercury (innovative intelligence), and Venus (emotional intelligence), now passing through the zeitgeist aspect Uranus conjunct Eris. To borrow a common phrase, you are dialed in. Now, you need to connect this to focused, coherent workflow. This is brainpower that deserves to be documented and developed. Therefore, pace yourself, and be meticulous. You will find the solutions and create the inventions and see through the paradoxes that you perceive. Remember that your best approach is part science, part art and part literature. Use your whole brain. It’s waiting eagerly for you.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Current aspects describe you engaging something rare enough to find on our planet at this time: your sense of purpose. This is indeed a sense, like sense of direction, sense of humor, or even smell or hearing. It is less like eyesight, in that it does not necessarily follow “common sense” or strict rationality. It’s not as simple as turning down a street or even an alley; at least one knows those pathways exist, even if unsure what might be there. Purpose can be more like navigating in the dark. It’s easier if you realize that you’re navigating through yourself, through your inner environment. This is why self-knowledge and inner awareness are so crucial, and why it’s such a concern that for many, they are in short supply. You, however, are strongly guided at the moment. The events of your life at this time are a demonstration of your deepest values. You know what they are because, even if you feel challenged, you feel right. The more you feed this experience, the greater your awareness will become, and the better choices you will make.