Three (out of four) of the most important women in my life are Aries, the Zodiac’s sign of the ram, with birthdays in April.

The youngest of these is my granddaughter, who has only just turned three, so it is a bit early to call her a woman, but she already shows signs of being a real personality. My oldest daughter and I will have dinner this week to celebrate both her own birthday and that of my beloved whose birthday is one day earlier. Birthday princesses all. By amazing coincidence, the lovely lady who has been caring for me in my recovery has her own birthday one day before that.

All these ladies are Aries (March 21 – April 19), which if you pay any attention to astrological signs of the zodiac, means they are bold and ambitious and able to dive headfirst into challenging situations. They are also supposed to be passionate and motivated, with a cheerful disposition and relentless determination. They get frustrated by exhaustive details, one astrologer says. Another adds that they are prone to think after they leap, which means they often learn lessons the hard way. So true in the case of my beloved.

Aries is the first sign in the classic zodiac, heralding the arrival of spring, and represented by a ram, shown thus: ♈︎. The sign goes at least back to Babylonian times, though the planets included in the Aries constellation have changed from time to time. It is located in the northern celestial hemisphere between Pisces to the west and Taurus to the east. It is one of the constellations described by the 2nd century Greco-Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy.

My beloved was born in the year of the monkey in the Chinese zodiac, which reveals she is impatient and likes to be in control of her life. She’s also supposed to be witty, funny and communicative: score three out of three.

My eldest daughter was born in the year of horse, of course, and it can’t be a coincidence that she has loved horses since childhood and owned several of her own. Their characteristic is that they are gentle, honest, serious and down to earth. Their rigorous work ethic wins them trust from friends and colleagues.

My granddaughter was born in the year of the pig. Apparently, that’s a good sign as she should become a person who enjoys life and is energetic and enthusiastic.

And what does 2022 hold for my Aries ladies? According to another expert this will be a year that let’s them see themselves from a greater vantage point, as if we hadn’t already put them on a pedestal. Aries know that they are self-sufficient, often to a fault. Like cats, they seem to exist in their own worlds, requiring no support from sources outside their own perfectly balanced lives. Aries people haven’t come to sit on the fence, they’ve come here to be in the ring, doing their thing. When they get intentional with their will and determination, they’ll be playing on a whole other level. Go Aries, go!

One more note: people born in April have diamonds as their birth stone. Be warned. This is a hint of expensive tastes!

The illustration above is from a boxed set of cards of various constellations issued in 1825 and created by British engraver and cartographer Sidney Hall (1788 – 1831), well-known for his popular engravings of maps of the United Kingdom and the ancient world.

NOTE: Our wine correspondent Jim Walker tells me his wife, his daughter and his granddaughter are all Aries. On the male side, Jim himself and my cat Ollie are also born under the ram. I’m surrounded!

Please LIKE this blog, if you have enjoyed the article, or add a COMMENT — clickable at the top of each story. Click on the FOLLOW button at the bottom of the page if you would like to receive email notifications of new articles.

This is Nigel’s 342nd blog on Gentleman’s Portion. The SEARCH function at the top works really well if you want to look back and see some of his previous stories or check under CATEGORIES.