We are in the sign of the Ram and the energy is all piss and vinegar and springtime rut. One of my sons has an Aries sun and since he was born, he leads with his head literally. Headfirst into everything and tumbles back up shouting ‘I’m OK!’ He is my youngest, but is at the front of the charge into slashing the nettles with sticks, the loudest warrior yell, and the quickest to flash into temper. Aries people are like fireworks, bright bright flashes of pure energy.

 Recently Mars (the planetary ruler of Aries) returned into direct motion though the sign of Virgo. For some of us, especially children this was a huge flare-up of internal energy. A friend of mine, we going to call her ‘D’ experienced this last week with her ten-year-old son. It had been a long day for D and her children, and while cooking the dinner, she had gotten more and more tense with the children’s behaviour. They were tired and hungry just like her, and all of them were pushing the boundaries at the same time. The oldest lost his temper when she gave out to him for knocking a glass of water all over the set table. He started to rage at her physically. He kicked and screamed and bit. She ended up on the floor with him, holding him so that he would stop hurting her/himself, just like she had done when he was two and in a tantrum.  When he had stopped flailing about, she released her hold on him and sent him to his room. D was so angry that she was shaking and this frightened her. His behaviour was totally uncharacteristic of him.

 He came down about a half hour later, and asked if it was ok for him to come into the kitchen. He was calm and pale and obviously unsure of his reception. When she looked into his little face, all her anger just drained away, and they were able to hug and talk about what had happened. Both feel older and unsure of their roles in each other lives. Later she looked at their birth charts to get some kind of intellectual handle on what had happened. She saw that Mars in Virgo turned direct two days earlier and was transiting his natal Moon.  She understood that what had frightened her was the lack of emotional control. He had been a raging tiny child in the body of a preteen. It was an emotional explosion that had been expressed physically as a toddler would.

 Things have calmed down for D and her son. They were even able to cook dinner together. Apparently they made pasta with ‘wild onion’ pesto. So to celebrate all of our Mars impulses, here is my recipe for that dinner:

photo from aphotoflora.com

•  Two large handfuls of wild onion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allium_triquetrum)
• One large handful of walnuts
• A hard cheese – Brigante (sheep’s) or Parmesan
• Olive oil
• Salt & Fresh Pepper

 Place the wild onions and walnuts into a food processor. Blend until nicely crumbed. Scrape out of the processor into a bowl and grate in the cheese – again about a large handful is good – taste test. Glug in the olive oil until everything is only slightly running, more a dollopy dribble consistency. Then pepper and salt it to however you like. Add to fresh hot pasta and eat!!!!!!!!! Feel the fiery garlicky flavour and remember we all have the impulses to lash out. Remember we all have a Mars.