The Rooster

Roosters are intensely self-aware people who are not bothered by labels like old, young, male or female. This also goes for questions about their racial heritage. Roosters are here to express their personalities first and foremost, without worrying too much about the way the world stereotypes them.

Roosters are ageless and will dress exactly the way they did forty years ago, with just a few twists to modernise their look. Even when young, they have the peculiar quality of seeming timeless. Sometimes they achieve this by adopting a retro look. A classic wardrobe or haircut achieves the same thing. By tailoring their image in this way, roosters cleverly seem to be the same age, forever.

Joan Collins and Debbie Harry, both roosters, are perhaps the best examples of this. This sign is not just about appearances, though. A much deeper issue is the rooster’s need to be accepted without prejudice, which is why she works so hard to cultivate an image which lets her soul shine through – all her life.

This forthright sign corresponds to Aries in the Western zodiac and is concerned with self-interest, self-confidence and intense individuality. Roosters and Aries (rams) are both male symbols. Women born under this sign do not accept the gender stereotype that the female of the species has to be less assertive or successful than the male. Quite the reverse.

Male roosters enjoy questioning stereotypes too. After all, if a woman born under their sign can sit comfortably with masculine energy, why shouldn’t he experiment with his feminine side? In 1981, a rooster year, gender-benders like Marilyn and Boy George were tapping into this energy, which is all about free self—expression, not stereotyping on the basis of gender, age, race or anything else.

In 1945, another rooster year, the end of the Second World War brought the realities of stereotyping home to the world. Labelling people by their religious belief or ethnicity had created tragedy in Germany. However, across the world, women had also been set free to work in traditionally male jobs in factories and on farms, as a shortage of men had brought them out of the kitchen and into the workforce.

If you are a rooster you are here to confront, challenge and provoke us into accepting your soul, not your exterior, and to demand acceptance for your personality, talent and strengths – without any of the obstacles that labelling presents.

Ironically enough, you will achieve this by deliberately playing with your brand or image, to remove the usual problems that come from being judged by appearances.