Aries I: Portal
Cardinal fire: birthing, thresholds, casting the spell
Atmosphere: Portal
Sign: Aries
Plant: Basil
Planet: Mars
Dates: 21 - 30 March
Tarot: 2 of Wands
A green, heatless flame. A spear tip but soft in the hand.
Every birth begins with a portal.
Kening Zhu’s illustration is a magical, elemental combination of snow, fire, and the ‘green heatless, flame’ of basil. We don’t know what is going to happen if we pass through the threshold, inhale the green flame, and move towards the fiery portal of the new world. It requires a creative risk; a leap of faith.
During Aries I, I have been thinking about mothering and birthing and how the more than human world can birth us, and mother us, especially in Aries season.
In 36 Portals to Aliveness, Shea in the Catskills, Cory Nakasue + Elena Solano describe Aries I as both generative and violent; a Martial combination they describe as ‘Crowning’, in reference both to the birthing process and a sense of sovereignty that Aries I confers. They write that, ‘the beginning of encountering a new world by piercing a hole through the old one’.
What do we need to pierce a hole into the new world?
To find out more about Aries I, drink the potion below.
Aries I writing
Aries I scholarship
T. Susan Chang ‘Seeds of Dominion’
Kira Ryberg and Chloe Margarita ‘Blood, Sweat, and Tears’