There are perhaps no words more enchanting, whimsical and promising than “Once upon a time.”
As Gemini writer and academic Jack Zipes maintains, “Fairy tales because the starting of recorded time, and maybe earlier, have been a way to beat the terrors of mankind through metaphor.”
National Tell a Fairytale Day on February 26 celebrates our grand tradition of subjugating horrors into happily ever after.
Lots of the tales we all know and venerate today are credited to Aesop, a Greek slave and storyteller who used oral tradition to create ethical guidelines for his fellow man.
OG fairy tales were decidedly darker than their Disney versions would have you think; stuffed with allegory and cannibalism, gruesome death and unheeded warnings. Rife with symbolism and archetypes, fairy tales share much common ground and stardust with astrology. In honor of National Tell a Fairy Tale Day, we bring you an inventory of the zodiac signs as fairy tales.
Rapunzel
Within the Major Arcana of the tarot, Aries is related to the Tower card and by way of the physical form, it’s the sign that rules the top and hair. In kind, within the story of Rapunzel, a ravishing girl is condemned to a tower with little greater than her hair for company. Aries is ruled by Mars and at their best embody the archetype of the fearless hero and reckless romantic, thusly, the prince that rescues Rapunzel is undaunted by heights and witches and like most Aries folk I do know, is greater than comfortable with slightly hair pulling.
Beauty and the Beast
Taurus is ruled by Venus, planet of affection, beauty and valuables. Hedonists at heart, Taurus folk are built to indulge and run the danger of equating attractiveness with strong character and ugliness with deficiency. True to this, the curse that affects the Beast is put upon him as punishment for his superficiality and libertine nature, the cardinal sins of a low vibrating bull. Taurus lords over the second house of values and possessions and the witch in query conflates this meaning when she transforms the prince’s servants into household objects and symbols of aristocracy.
Taurus is loyal AF, a high quality made manifest in said servants who go hard for the prince in spite and since of his difficult nature, see the fisticuff stance of the candelabra and the scalding tea spitting tea pot. Taurus is a sensual homebody who lives to curate a feast, and likes to get all dressed as much as not leave the home, an actual “be our guest” vibe. When it comes to natural world, Taurus is represented by the rose a bloom that serves because the curse count down on this story. The teachings of self-love and treating people not as possessions but autonomous entities are essential to the Taurus trajectory, and ones that the Beast and Bell embody of their slow love story.
Rumpelstiltskin
Clever, curious, aces at word play, smart enough to get another person to do their work, vulnerable to exaggeration and breaking plans and guarantees, much aligns between the story of Rumpelstiltskin and this mutable air sign. Gemini, symbolized by the mortal and immortal twins Castor and Pollux, represent the twin nature in all things and all people. In this fashion we are able to read Rumpelstiltskin and our heroine, the miller’s daughter as two sides of the identical coin and a whole representation of Gemini energy which at its most base is the trickster thief and at its highest expression is the cunning, clever messenger.
Cinderella
Cancer rules the fourth house of roots, home and ancestry and is governed by the moon, the luminary that represents the divine feminine and the archetype of the mother. In kind, variants of the Cinderella story, which is among the many oldest and most universal of all fairy tales, include each a wicked stepmother and a magical mother. As a precursor to the fairy godmother character, some versions see Cinderella aided by an animal incarnation of her dead mom and/or an enchanted tree that grows from her grave. In all of those tellings, the common thread is a matrilineal legacy and a reverence for the magic born from it.
The Frog Prince
Ruled by the sun, the facility color of Leo is gold and this story begins when a princess loses her gilded ball in a woodland pond. Leo is certainly probably the most regal check in the zodiac, and the one which expects to be recognized as such. In kind our frog protagonist, regardless of his humble form, demands the royal treatment, pillows and a spot on the table in the event you please. To cite my incredulous Leo sister, “Don’t who I’m?!”
Leos are masters of PR and within the OG telling of the tale, the prince was returned to human form not by a kiss or a pillow nap but by the princess hurling his sentient, amphibian body against a wall. The narrative glow/pucker up is in line with the leonine form of romantic rebranding. Leo rules the guts and within the Grimm’s fairy tale version of the story, the frog prince is attended to by a loyal servant who has three iron bands fixed around his heart to forestall it from breaking under the unbearable sadness of his prince’s plight. When the frog prince returns to his mortal coil, the servant’s joy causes the bands to interrupt and the servants heart to be free. Leos feel an analogous joy after they hear applause, someone follows their advice and/or impromptu dance circle forms around them.
Little Red Riding Hood
When it comes to the physical body, Virgo rules the bowels and in some versions of this fairy tale, our fair Little Red is swallowed whole by, and later cut free from the belly of, the hungry wolf. In the most important arcana of the tarot, Virgo is related to the Hermit card which contains a hooded figure that holds the lantern of enlightenment. If we view the tale of Little Red Riding Hood as one in all retreat, initiation and consciousness through trial, she is the hooded feminine hermit and a force for awakening.
The Princess and the Pea
Libra is the sign of scales and balances and represents the seventh house of partnerships. Great at mirroring others and maintaining enviable skin, natives are likely to be diplomatic, nice, terminally indecisive and highly adaptable to shifting social dynamics and private expectations. “The Princess and the Pea” is a tale of a mommas boy prince who searches the world over unable to seek out an appropriate wife. One rainy eve, an alleged princess comes a rapping on the castle door looking for shelter from the storm.
Ruled by Venus, Libra is a natural host, willing to open the door and prepared the guest room even when there’s a powerful possibility they’re being grifted. The princesses ability to sense the pea amidst a fat stack of mattresses speaks to the Libran ability to intuit when things are out of alignment. After all there’s the very real possibility that the princess was never really a princess in any respect and as an alternative a highly expert social climber who used charm, sensitivity, worldly wiles and a capability to fulfill expectations with a view to get ahead. Apropos of this, Libras are aces at velvet handed, or mattress stacked manipulation, so smooth you barely notice it’s happening.
Sleeping Beauty
Scorpio rules the eighth house of sex, death and regeneration and Sleeping Beauty is a fairy tale that invokes all three of those themes. A curse is placed on a newborn babe, set to enact itself when she crosses the teenage threshold of sexual maturity. By fairy dust, death becomes a century of sleep that may only be cured by a mouth kiss from the correct suitor. A Scorpio’s favorite sin is wrath and preferred modality is transformation, making Maleficent’s hex and Aurora’s awakening well suited to the tides of this fixed water sign.
Jack and the Beanstalk
Sagittarius is the nice time rolling, dice throwing/dicey decisions, I’ll be back on top even after I’m bottoming out, put ten on the ponies, gambler of the zodiac. Enter handsome Jack, able to bet the family cow on a sketchy handful of magic beans. Buoyed by dumb luck and aggressive optimism, the wager pays off because it so often does for the archers amongst us who count abundant planet Jupiter as their governing luminary.
Three Little Pigs
Capricorn is a cardinal earth sign ruled by stern Saturn, planet of lessons and legacies, the hard way and the correct way. In kind, The Three Little Pigs is a parable in regards to the importance of diligence, exertions and constructing a powerful and lasting foundation while illustrating the dire consequence of the short cut. Capricorn is symbolized by the ocean goat, a creature who too has hairs on their chinny chin chins. Capricorn is a cunning and vengeful sign (add link when live) so it tracks that this holy trinity of piglets would boil and eat the wolf that had sought to make them his supper. Come at me.
The Ugly Duckling
Aquarius is the sign that shouldn’t be just like the others. Ruled by Uranus, the Aquarius archetype is that of the outsider and the opposite who must overcome doubt with a view to fulfill their weirdo water bearer destiny. This trajectory can easily be seen in “The Ugly Duckling” whereby a fledgling swan, surrounded by geese, believes himself to be inferior. The energy of Uranus encourages radical individualism in service of the collective and the moral of the story and this fixed air sign, is that fitting in is futile and belonging to yourself is the one comfortable ending. Add to this that each swans and Aquarians are other worldly and difficult to administer.
The Little Mermaid
Pisces is ruled by Neptune, named for the god of the ocean and represented in look and lording over by straight up zaddy King Triton in “The Little Mermaid.” Pisces is the zodiac sign willing to go to the best depths and rockiest shores within the name of affection. Sacrificial AF it tracks that Ariel can be the kind to trade her clearly superior fish tale and operatic voice for mute bipedalism. Sigh. Pisces sees the wonder in all things, even and particularly trash humans and dumpster treasures; beckoning each broken people and bent forks.
Astrology 101: Your guide to the celebrities
Astrologer Reda Wigle researches and irreverently reports back on planetary configurations and their effect on each zodiac sign. Her horoscopes integrate history, poetry, popular culture and private experience. She can be an achieved author who has profiled quite a lot of artists and performers, in addition to extensively chronicled her experiences while traveling. Amongst the various intriguing topics she has tackled are cemetery etiquette, her love for dive bars, Cuban Airbnbs, a “girls guide” to strip clubs and the “weirdest” foods available abroad.