Mars in Gemini

Planetary news this week: A Mars-y Gemini Full Moon

Astrological update for the week of December 5-12, 2022

artist unknown?

I don’t know about you, but the past few weeks have felt very much like Mercury retrograde, with lots of glitches and communication breakdowns. There’s a reason for that: Mars is retrograde in Mercury-ruled Gemini. Because of this retrograde phase, Mars will have been in Gemini for seven months and you can read more about that here. In Gemini, Mars inspires quick and rapid-fire thinking and communication, and we often speak without considering the ramifications of what we say. With thoughts and actions operating at a higher rate of speed, we can become exhausted mentally and need some rest time to regroup and re-strategize.

In any case, this retrograde Mars is featured in this week’s Gemini Full Moon which takes place on December 7th at 11:09 pm EST. Here the Gemini Moon is hungry to learn as much as possible about many different things – there tends to be a lack of discrimination and a deep curiosity about a broad spectrum of topics.  The Sagittarius Sun is more focused and seeks a more specialized understanding and tends to be less verbal than Gemini. At the Full Moon these opposites can most effectively be integrated, and with the energy of the peak of the lunar cycle all kinds of magic can happen.

The Mercurial focus on the mind and information processing is also present in Mars which is retrograde in Gemini and conjunct the Moon. Mars is at its closest point to Earth right now where its effect of aggression and motivation can be more pronounced. Under this combination of Mars opposing the Sun and conjunct the Moon we may find ourselves struggling to contain these impulses, […]

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By |2022-12-05T07:58:48-05:00December 5th, 2022|Planetary news this week|0 Comments
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Planetary news this week: Eclipses and Scorpio dominate the energetic frequencies

Astrological update for the week of October 23 – November 2

(I will be traveling so next week’s report will be a few days late and is included in this one.)

art by Sophie Wilkins

Scorpio. The big news that will dominate the week is the infusion of Scorpio energies that are emerging right now. On Sunday the Sun and Venus both entered Scorpio, and just after midnight EDT on Tuesday the Moon enters Scorpio just before the solar eclipse at the Scorpio New Moon on October 25, 2022 at 6:48 am EDT. And Mercury will enter Scorpio on October 29th.

Scorpio is associated with intense emotions – the dark feelings such as jealousy and hatred which normally don’t see the light of day.  However, anything which we hide in the darkness never has the opportunity to become transformed.  Scorpio fearlessly plumbs these depths of darkness and supports us in our quest to regain the power that we have lost through self-denial and diminishment.

Each sign reacts to the one before it, and in this shift from Venus-ruled Libra to Mars-ruled Scorpio we leave behind the polite niceties of Libra to dig into the Truth that often hides from the light of day. Scorpio season is followed in late November by Sagittarius, where the intensity is left behind in favor of a sunnier optimism.

Solar eclipse October 25. This Scorpio eclipse follows on the heels of the Aries Full Moon, and with both Aries and Scorpio ruled by Mars (Scorpio’s modern ruler is Pluto but Mars is still very much in charge), it’s no surprise that this is a time of intense warrior energy, dominated by female archetypes. The Sun and Moon are thought to represent the male and female […]

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By |2022-10-23T14:23:28-04:00October 23rd, 2022|Planetary news this week|1 Comment
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Mars in Gemini: 2022-2023

art by Andrew Ferez

I wrote about Mars entering Gemini in last week’s update but this is a significant enough event that it deserves its own post. Mars entered Gemini on August 20, 2022 EDT and because of its retrograde cycle it will remain in Gemini until March 25, 2023. Mars is considered a malefic planet by astrologers in the various ancient traditions because of its connection with violence, but Mars is essential to physical and mental health as it inspires and motivates us to action. Mars helps us to identify our needs and desires and create a strategy for getting there. I like to say that without Mars we would have no reason to get up in the morning. Mars is a primary motivator.

The sign that Mars travels through describes the filter that Mars will operate through during that time. Mercury-ruled Gemini is the sign of thought and information – it hungers for knowledge and desires a wide variety of experiences in order to maximize understanding. For this reason, with Mars in Gemini there is the potential for more fluidity in discussion and this could apply to things like peace talks as well as to negotiations in our personal lives.

In Gemini, Mars can lose its focus – so many things become interesting and the creative power of Mars is weakened through the dispersal into multiple avenues of action. We may feel that we are spinning our wheels and getting little done, but the power of Mars in Gemini lies in its ability to open our minds to many different ideas and ways of thinking.

Mars was last retrograde in 2020-2022 and that time Mars was in its own sign of Aries, causing a lot of […]

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By |2022-08-22T07:50:01-04:00August 22nd, 2022|Mars, Planetary cycles|1 Comment
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Astrological news this week: Mars enters Gemini and the Uranus station

Astrological update for the week of August 15-22, 2022

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What is the Uranus station? Every planet appears to travel retrograde at some time or another – the outer planets (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) are retrograde for about half the year. Saturn and Jupiter turn retrograde about once a year. Mars turns retrograde about every two years, Venus about every eighteen months, and Mercury about every three months. Obviously planets don’t really travel retrograde, but geocentric astrology observes the motion of the planets from Earth and we interpret the symbolism of this motion.

These cycles of normal movement alternating with retrogrades are like the ebb and flow of the ocean, and once we learn to let go to the flow of retrograde cycles they feel as natural as standing in the waves. When planets are in their normal orbital speed they are doing business as usual, and when their motion appears to be retrograde they are operating at a more personal level, and sometimes inspiring us to go back to review patterns of the past.

When a planet appears to change direction it will seem to stand still, remaining at the same degree of a sign for a period of days, weeks or sometimes even months. On August 24th, Uranus will turn retrograde at nearly 19 degrees of Taurus and will travel less than a degree until October, meaning the influence of Uranus to awaken and challenge our existing paradigms will be at its most powerful. Uranus has been within a degree of that point since June.

Those of us (me!) who have planets between about 15 and 23 degrees of the fixed signs (Taurus, Scorpio, Leo and Aquarius) will be most affected as Uranus forces us to break […]

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By |2022-08-15T07:51:04-04:00August 15th, 2022|Uncategorized|0 Comments
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4.5.21 – Supercharge your relationships with Venus and Mars!

art by Dolores Develde

A harmonious interaction between Venus in Aries and Mars in Gemini is building throughout the day today and will peak Tuesday morning.  Venus, planet of harmony and relating, is in Aries right now where she is more dynamic and forceful, encouraging us to speak our truth and own our own attitudes.  Aries is ruled by Mars, so the sextile from Venus in Aries to Mars is a double whammy of Martian energies!  Although Venus and Mars are not natural allies – one is sweet and soft (Venus) and the other is hard and aggressive (Mars) – when we can integrate these two forces we can get the most out of each of them.  That is the main influence today.

The Moon has just entered Aquarius and will be quite busy over the next few days, interacting with nearly every planet.  Today, though, we have a harmonious sextile from the Moon to Mercury in the early afternoon EDT.  Mercury, planet of the mind, is also in Aries and opinions are loud and potent.  The intellectual honesty of the Aquarius Moon will help to clarify our thinking this afternoon under this influence, which will help to better utilize all of this Aries energy.  Fire purifies and inspires, but it does take some focus to take advantage of its unique gifts.

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