I portrayed the fiery Retrospective as extremely assertive, critical, take-charge. But the toughest of all the signs is the Warrior, a very earthy sign. The Warrior is not a hothead driven by emotion. The Warrior is a level head, someone who plans and then acts.

My poster boy for the Dark Soul is the Son of Sam. He accurately portrays the calm and deceptive exterior of a dangerous sociopath. Whoever put the tag "sociopath" on my Dark Soul post understood completely. The Dark Soul is a sociopath and always will be. No rehabilitation is possible. They were born evil and they will die evil.

My poster boy for the Retrospective is George Steinbrenner, assertive, critical, demanding, generous, warm hearted, immature, in your face. I guess he's warm hearted. Maybe he isn't. I know a Retrospective who is an absolute bitch. Call her Piggies, because her last name sounds like that.

I don't think Piggies is a Dark Soul because she's too obvious in her misanthropy. She attacked a little boy with a rug cutter because he was riding a bicycle on the grass of a housing project. Dark Souls are a different breed. She's just an insufferable bullying grouch and nasty bitch.

My poster boy for the Warrior is Tony Soprano. He's thinking, he's planning, he's down to earth, he makes his decision, he carries it out. A less cerebral Warrior is Luca Brasi. No temper tantrums. But dangerous.

My mother is a Warrior. I use the present tense "is" rather than "was" because even though she died years ago I believe her soul lives on, and the soul sign is an attribute of the soul that never changes. In her next life she remains a Warrior. It's part of who she is, who she was created to be.

Rosemary Altea, author of Soul Signs, is also a Warrior. She and my mom would have liked, understood, and respected each other.

My mom was 5 foot 2 and weighed maybe 115 or 120 pounds. She would have kicked your ass.

Actually she was always non-violent and civil. She was a "lady". Do you know who Barbara Stanwyck is? An old time actress. If you do, you get the kind of strength and class I'm talking about.

Warriors defend their people. Warriors speak up. Warriors prevail. It doesn't have to be violent. Warriors are never intimidated. Do you know what "never" means? Warriors are never intimidated.

Here's an innocent little example of the interaction between a powerful Retrospective and a Warrior. My father in law Harry the Retrospective was in the habit of criticizing his daughter for every little thing, which is extremely typical of Retrospectives. Nothing was good enough. The first time he tried it in mom's presence, she went right into his face with "Leave the kids alone!" You do not mess with my mother. She will prevail. She takes no crap; she is a Warrior. I learned my "take no crap" philosophy from her.

More mom stories. A guy twice her size stole her purse. She flipped him and knocked him unconscious.

Her 3 kids were all graduating different schools on the same day. She wanted to attend all 3 graduations. She insisted on getting the school principals on the phone and she told two of them to change all their plans. They did.

If I was in that situation I wouldn't take on the school principals. Would you?

When she was secretary to a school principal, the arrogant and powerful district superintendant paid a surprise visit to browbeat the principal. Mom politely bossed the big shot around, actually made him fall over a file cabinet that she covertly nudged open behind him, and then insulted him for being clumsy. She did it all so politely that he couldn't defend himself from her. The mighty will fall before a Warrior. He was probably a Retrospective.

Think about someone who makes you nervous. That intimidating person doesn't make a Warrior nervous. The Warrior will go right at them. Kind of like a pit bull. Bow wow motherfucker.

I think of the Warrior as a very masculine type. That could mean that all Warriors have male souls. I don't know but I suspect it. Our society considers a Warrior's traits to be masculine traits.

In my post on the Retrospective I mentioned an employee named John who openly played Tetris on his computer, and when the boss objected, John thundered "Get out!", and the boss did. John was a Warrior. He was a very non-violent guy, though he was strongly built and wrestled in high school. He didn't react emotionally. I remember being a passenger in his car, and if another driver was honking the horn, John habitually said, very matter of factly, "Your horn works, try your lights."

I remember when John first came to work at my old job, and he went out and got lunch for everyone, after being paid of course. One of the big shots in the company wanted his change, and John, God bless him, decided he didn't want to give it to him. Maybe it was 50 cents. John felt he ran the errand and he wanted to keep the change. He told the big shot no, he wasn't giving him the change. These Warriors will take on anyone.

John used to play with my older daughter when she was about 5. She loved torturing him. She'd twist the watch on his wrist and laugh at him when the hair on his wrist got caught in the watch band, and he'd go Oww Oww Oww. She thought that was about the funniest thing.