Mars retrograde

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

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

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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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How to get the most out of Mars Retrograde

The past refuses to be dismissed, for it is the voice of all human wisdom. If ignored, the past exacts its vengeance; men who forget the past are indeed condemned to repeat it.

 (Russell Kirk)

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The astrological Mars often gets a bad rap.  Mars is associated with war, hostility, anger and rage; it fuels the primal “id” of need and desire  – all things we consider “bad.”  But Mars is also the factor that provides energy and motivation, fueling our desires so that we can accomplish our goals and dreams.  We need Mars, and can’t live without it.  But we need Mars to be healthy and clean of extraneous issues and ego needs.

That’s where the retrograde cycle of Mars comes in.  Every two years or so Mars turns retrograde (meaning it appears to move backwards from our perspective here on Earth).  Mars is an action planet and easily frustrated, so Mars is not very happy or comfortable during the retrograde periods which can make things more difficult for us individually since the force of Mars tends to be expressed more internally when Mars is retrograde.  We are more likely to feel frustrated and angry if things don’t go our way, and less able to put our plans into motion.

Retrograde cycles are an important part of the unfolding story of our lives, and connecting ourselves with the rhythms of the planetary movements helps us to unlock the power of the planets to guide and help us shape our destiny.  There is a time for action when planets are direct, and a time for rest and reflection when planets turn retrograde, and this is especially true for Mars. During this period we may […]

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By |2022-11-26T11:22:15-05:00November 1st, 2022|Planetary cycles|6 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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The astrology of 2022: Birth pangs for the New Age

Deviant Art

First: A look back at 2021. 

Following on the heels of 2020, a year when the astrology (Capricorn stellium and Saturn/Pluto conjunction, along with a record-breaking period of retrograde planets) spoke of repression and control as the world locked down to battle the Coronavirus, we were all hoping for a brighter future and as I titled my 2021 forecast, “A new way forward.”  However, I closed with this paragraph and I think we can agree that this is a little truer than we had imagined:

Where 2020 marked a breakdown phase thanks to a Capricornian cluster, 2021 is symbolized by the Aquarian ideals of fraternity, brotherhood and equality. These ideals are somewhat impersonal, and in order to achieve greater freedom we must understand that some loss of personal liberty is essential. Astrological conflicts require integration and resolution of conflicting opposites, and in 2021 the need to find that integration and balance will become a life or death proposition and likely result in major shifts of global power and also personal priorities.

The final exact challenging square between Saturn in Aquarius (control for the sake of the collective) and Uranus in Taurus (breaking out of paradigms, shifting values and shattering ideals) occurs at the end of December 2021, but between August and October the dance between these two planets will tighten to a one degree separation from exactitude. This suggests that the struggles and civil unrest that we’ve seen over this past year will abate, but will not be over completely any time soon.

Jupiter in Pisces, conjunct Neptune

Jupiter is the traditional ruler of Pisces (with Neptune being the modern ruler), and Jupiter and Neptune share an expansive view of the world, and a desire to […]

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By |2021-12-24T14:38:16-05:00December 24th, 2021|Planetary cycles|1 Comment
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11.13.20 Mars turns direct, ending the Summer of Retrogrades

2020 has brought us a tremendous period of retrograde activity as you can see in this image which I created to show the details of how many planets would be retrograde in 2020 and when.  The period between June 18th and September 29 marked an incredibly long period of time to have this many planets retrograde. Feeling stuck? Like your life is on pause? The retrogrades have something to do with this.  Retrograde planets are closest to Earth, and their energies are stronger and felt to be more intensely personal, but they also tend to turn our attention to the past – to regrets and reconsiderations of past choices.

Mars turns direct today, and while it will take a couple of weeks for its motion to pick back up to a normal pace we will find it easier to find the motivation and drive we need to activate our lives in more positive ways.  I say this at a time when Covid-19 is threatening to lock down the world once again, and we will likely be limited physically. But Mars inspires from the inside out, and while it remains in Aries (until January 6) we will need to incorporate a fair amount of physical activity and other types of action in order to channel the Martian energy productively.

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By |2020-11-13T06:59:07-05:00November 13th, 2020|Planetary cycles|2 Comments
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