Aries season is upon us — and with it, an invitation to examine what it means to burn boldly in a world that would rather you didn’t.
Aries is the first sign of the zodiac. Ruled by Mars, it carries the energy of someone who was born knowing their worth — and refuses to shrink from it. The lesson of Aries is not just courage. It is the particular courage of someone who leads not because it is safe, but because they cannot help it. Anne Boleyn could not help it either — and history made her pay dearly for that.
From the very first pages, The Beheading Game by Rebecca Lehmann drops you into the visceral reality of Anne Boleyn’s experience: what it feels like to hold your own head in your hands, to reposition it just to see. It is jarring, imaginative, and completely unforgettable. You can see the trademark Aries fire alive in Anne, despite her death.
Released in March 2026, Lehmann’s novel is a wildly creative work of historical fiction built around the infamous beheading of Boleyn. While her story has garnered sympathy throughout time, Lehmann takes care to show that even though Boleyn was given a wrongful death, she was not without her flaws. There are many journeys that happen from one side of the book cover to the other, and one of the most important is Anne’s growth away from an elitist, insulated mindset toward a more understanding one. Lehmann does a great job of letting Anne subtly unfold throughout these pages. Ironically, we learn of her fierceness and headstrong nature slowly — as she must remain somewhat incognito to avoid being recognized.
This is a tale of an early feminist — a Queen who not only questions why she is treated differently from a man, but demands her right to be heard.
This is a tale of the patriarchy — an emboldened Queen will not do, especially if she cannot provide what is needed to keep it going: a son.
This is a tale of the Aries — courageous, trailblazing, unafraid.
What Aries asks of us this season is the same thing it asked of Anne: to know yourself so completely that no force — not a king, not a court, not a blade — can take that from you. Five centuries later, we are still talking about her. That is the Aries legacy.
