I regret that my polemic/didactic brief has made it impossible to also be fair to the diversity of Aries temperaments and accomplishments. The above is a very a one-sided picture of Aries, a sign which is often courageous, creative and inspiring. We can see the best of Aries in the fact that for many generations most of the important orchestral conductors were born under Aries: authoritarians, yes, but in the service of beauty. Aries has provided radiant teachers, preachers, activists and saints: St. Teresa of Avila (March 28, 1515) for one. Aries' contributions to music and poetry have been all too briefly mentioned. Aries has given us many vivid and important personalities, from Thomas Jefferson to Gloria Steinem, J. S. Bach, for goodness sake! and passionate defenders Emile Zola ("I am here to live aloud!") and Clarence Darrow (two more battling atheists, come to think of it) and the flaming Vincent van Gogh ("There is only a constantly being born again . . . a constant going from darkness into light.") and Bette Davis, Joan Crawford and Lady Gaga. Let the terms Energy and Bravado counteract the pall cast by Violence on the Aries reputation.
GOD BLESS THE CHILDThe infant's wail can be heard in the raw pain of the blues, in an astonishing run of Aries greatness: Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Pearl Bailey, Alberta Hunter, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Mariah Carey, cry out and are self-born from the mixed oblivions of slavery, blackness and femininity. Maya Angelou, a singer as well as a writer, gave this theme a name: "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings". We are still talking of violence, the receiving side of violence and rape. The sacrificial lamb is the other side of the Ram's dual symbolism. Some of the women above were tough as nails, though, particularly Bessie Smith, a six-foot alcoholic bruiser of legendary fearsomeness.
Some happier instances of Aries are at astrodreamer.squarespace.com/blog/category/aries
and there's more on astrology and philosophy elsewhere here at philosophical-investigations.org
I've also published pieces on poets Elizabeth Bishop, Anthony Hecht and James Tate on http://blog.bestamericanpoetry.com/the_best_american_poetry/astrological_profiles/
This article originally appeared at click here
BIRTHDAYS FOR THE NAMES CITED ABOVE
Contact: Mark Shulgasser
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