The 12 Days of Aries: Healing the Inner Child Day 1 - Aries

"The cry we hear from deep in our hearts comes from the wounded child within. Healing this inner child’s pain will transform negative emotions."
-Thich Nhat Hanh

The month of Aries is the start of the lunar new year. It is called in Hebrew “Rosh Chodashim,” the head of all months. As the seed of the year and the DNA of all the coming months, it affords us the opportunity to plant seeds with our consciousness to do deep inner work that will soften our journey and smooth our path to change.

The first 12 days of Aries are especially important as they each correspond to one of the 12 months of the coming year. The sixteenth century Kabbalist Rav Isaac Luria explains that the spiritual work we do on these 12 days influences what we will experience in the corresponding months to come.

To guide you through a process of internal transformation, I am going to overlay two modalities, Kabbalistic astrology and the inner child archetype, to assist us to do profound work of healing from within.

My hope is that with the knowledge of the cosmic opportunity ahead of us these next 12 days, a gift given to us by the great Kabbalists, together with an exploration of our inner self, we can begin embracing our child so that we can move to our spiritual growth and maturity.

Looking forward to taking this journey with you.

The 12 Days of Aries Day 1: Aries

Welcome to Day 1 of the 12 Days of Aries, the Kabbalistic window in time that starts at sundown on Friday, April 8 and ends at sundown on Saturday, April 9.

Aries is one of the four cardinal signs. Cardinal months are those that appear at the beginning of each season and herald new beginnings. Aries is one of the fire signs, gifted with the qualities of creativity, leadership, and inspiration.

As the first sign of the zodiac, Aries is known as the child of the universe. People born under this sign often have childlike characteristics including a strong Desire to Receive for the Self Alone. The motto for Aries is, “I am, therefore, I am.”

The Aries Inner Child Archetype is the voice that screams, “Look at me! I’m here. I’m doing, I’m creating. ..I’m…I’m…” It is the egoistic child, needy for attention but perhaps really crying for love.

All of us, whether we are Aries or not, have this Inner Child Archetype within us. And, often, in order to satisfy it, we sell ourselves short of true fulfillment in return for the short-term gratification we get from attention, recognition, or anything that fulfills the “me.” Perhaps we make ourselves subservient to someone else because it makes us feel recognized. Or maybe we find ourselves clinging to a relationship that is not good for us because of what we can get out of it.

Whatever the case may be, it is important to note that this inner child is not “bad” and we should NOT judge it. Sometimes it is only when we feel the pain of having sold ourselves short that we realize what it is we want and/or start to value ourselves for who we really are. In this way, non-judgmental recognition of our Aries Inner Child Archetype can actually help us identify our soul’s true desires.

Consciousness of the Day: Resist the need to be the center of attention. Proactively seek out ways to transform your Desire to Receive for the Self Alone into a Desire to Receive for the Sake of Sharing. Use your creativity to benefit others.

Most importantly, be gentle with yourself and your inner child. You are work in progress and a child of God who loves you. Healing comes from positively acknowledging and taking responsibility for what we need to change, not from beating ourselves up.