Ṣeyiṭa'el

Ṣeyiṭa'el accompanies the period from 1 to 5 April and belongs to the Seraphim. Its motto is «I look out from behind the shield, from the fortress wall». This symbolic portrait holds the image of a fighter committed to honour, keeping their word and rules with a clear value.

You are drawn to a contest in which courage and preparation count, without hidden manoeuvres. You can accept strict discipline if you recognise authority in the person proposing it. By contrast, an uncertain, lazy leader, or one ready to change principles for convenience, can provoke a rebellion in you far stronger than simple impatience with a rule.

The issue is more than obedience. It is finding something and someone you believe worth remaining loyal to. This is why a friend's broken promise can hurt you deeply. The need for loyalty clashes with the compromises of everyday life and can turn into disappointment, cynicism and withdrawal. Sometimes you stay attached to the disappointment itself because it seems to confirm that there is no place suited to your values.

The image of a warrior from another age expresses this longing for a world with clearer lines. It can take form in martial arts, an interest in history or work requiring great precision. The metal of tools, an accurate cut, a camera or a microscope evoke a movement capable of reaching a target. Surgery, dentistry and craftwork thus appear alongside research, observation and image-making.

Another path combines respect for a structure with the desire to be on the front line: acting, politics, trade union work, protecting people, handling complaints or serving a community. Otto von Bismarck represents the combination of tradition, boldness and an authority recognised above oneself. Émile Zola, with J'accuse!, gives voice to the accusation that breaks the silence when a fundamental value is betrayed.

In cinema, Toshirō Mifune evokes the solitary samurai. Marlon Brando, in his roles in On the Waterfront, Guys and Dolls and Mutiny on the Bounty, brings the figure of someone who does not easily fit into their surroundings. Gregory Peck in Moby Dick and Spencer Tracy in Captains Courageous and The Old Man and the Sea give form to trials, tenacity and encounters with a harsh world.

Lon Chaney, Bette Davis, Anthony Perkins, Alec Guinness and Miguel Bosé, in his more transgressive moments, belong to the same attraction towards characters and presences that stand apart. Giacomo Casanova represents restless talent, conquest and the difficulty of putting down roots. In Hans Christian Andersen and his Little Mermaid, the more tender part emerges: the wish to find happiness in a world where you feel a stranger.

To protect yourself, you may build a barrier of reserve and small defensive lies. You reveal little, keep your longings hidden and prevent others from understanding what you feel. This defence limits immediate disappointments but makes it harder to meet someone who can truly understand you.

The other temptation is to take command and impose your values at home or at work. Without patience for other people's emotions, criticism and limitations, however, leadership risks becoming a continual clash. Loyalty does not arise solely from demanding toughness, and you cannot obtain it by erasing the needs of those close to you.

The most useful direction is to give voice to your different perspective. You can observe the world that disappoints you and say precisely where a promise has been betrayed, which certainty deserves questioning and which value needs defending. Criticism becomes a contribution when it does more than separate you from others. You do not have to command everyone to be heard: consistency and courage can make you useful from the position you already hold.