On August 20th at 3:56AM EDT, Mars leaves the fertile (but muddy) ground of Taurus for the changeable air of Gemini. Due to his upcoming retrograde - late October thru early January - instead of Mars usual few weeks in Gemini (every two years), he will be in Gemini for several MONTHS. Usually we kind of skim the surface of things with Mars in Gemini, but this time, we will be back and forth over things and charged with taking a more thorough look!
On July 5th, Mars moved into Taurus. Maybe we were moving ahead with our earlier startings. Things might have slowed down a bit or maybe the chaos of the earlier months began to stabilize as Mars got his footings over the past few weeks. Then at the end of July/beginning of August, Mars met up with Uranus and the North Node - BIG changes. We talked about that HERE. Projects begun with Mars in Taurus will expand, ALL SYSTEMS GO, when Jupiter gets into Taurus in mid-May 2023.
Now Mars - our initiative, our passion, our anger, how we go about getting what we want, how we take ACTION - moves into the Mercury ruled sign of Gemini.
Prepare for BUSY. We are about to get alot done or at least alot started or maybe just be running in a whole lot of different directions or at least TWO. Once Mars goes retrograde at the end of October we will be re-tracing our steps, re-thinking our actions until the end of January when Mars stations direct and we travel this path one final time - hopefully both older and wiser.
Some word salads to give you some idea of what this combination of Mars in Gemini might look like are : walking our talk, doing two things at once, passionate/angry/brave words, a sharp tongue/mind, arguments, arguments, did I say arguments?, putting energy into siblings/transportation/the local community, being a teacher, being a student, used car salesmen, competitive word games, lots of errands, lots of short-distance travel, active or over-active minds, more frequent sex, more sexual partners, transsexual activity, putting energy into language/writing/thinking, putting energy into commerce, seeing double, living with questions, new ideas, new thoughts, new conversations, new information.
How well any of this works out for us will depend on how Mars is interacting with our natal and progressed charts AND what Mercury is doing (since Mars will be answering to him/her).
If you have planets between 8-23 degrees of Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius or Pisces, you will likely feel this retrograde strongest. We are counting on you mutable signs to mutate!
Planets in Gemini get the conjunction - they will merge with an action-oriented, restless, maybe anxious Mars. Planets in Gemini are restless anyway, so now they get really fired up (keep in mind the energy will ebb and flow over the next few months depending on what Mars - and Mercury - are doing). Sagittarius planets will be opposed by Mars - oppositions bring things to a head/culmination or to an ending/result. The repeating nature of the Mars retrograde cycle could indicate multiple conclusions, of the same thing or multiple things. Mars oppositions can also bring in situations that oppose our actions. People who are angry with us, etc. Virgo and Pisces planets/points get the tense squares. Squares require action, often with our back against the wall. The cardinal and fixed signs have been smashed. Pushed to start. Pushed to change. Now, the world is counting on our mutable placements to do what they were designed to do.
If you have air sign (Libra, Aquarius) planets/points between 8-23 degrees, they will be getting the smooth trines from Mars. Smooth flow. Things falling into place. They can be a way through for you when your actions/passions are challenged. Keep in mind, even the smooth aspects will be subject to the ebb and flow of the Mars retrograde period.
Starting this transit with Mercury home in Virgo (Mars in Gemini is answering to Mercury) gives us a good start. It will also make the transition from Taurus much easier. In a couple weeks, Mars will start walking the degrees of Gemini he will repeat two more times, so if you are finishing up something and don't want it dragging out for months, get it done before early September.
Mercury is going to station retrograde twice during Mars time in Gemini, once while Mars is retrograde, too. These time periods will be tricky. By the middle of September, Mercury will be retrograde in Libra challenging our relationships/need for fairness or balance. Mercury's second retro, with Mars retrograde, too, will likely be even gnarlier with Mercury in Capricorn backing over 'time runs out' at the end of 2022. No need to focus on that now. We have enough to think about!
For now, we need to know Mercury in Gemini is going to PICK UP THE PACE. We will be busier. The rate of communications, ideas and information will pick up and we will be charged with doing something with what we learn/think.
Mars is following, almost in lockstep, Venus's retrograde in Gemini, back in the summer of 2020. He is also clearing a path/setting down lottery tickets and landmines, for Uranus's entry into Gemini in 2025.
The following are the major aspects Mars will make in Gemini:
8/20 - Mars enters Gemini,
9/1 - Mars sextiles Jupiter
9/4 - Mercury trines Mars - doesn't perfect, but should give us something
9/17 - Mars sextiles Chiron
9/28 - Mars trines Saturn
10/12 - Mars squares Neptune while Mercury opposes Jupiter
10/30 - Mars stations retrograde at 25 degrees Virgo during the Scorpio/Taurus eclipse cycle w/Mercury in Scorpio, so mutual reception with Mars
11/11 - Venus inconjuncts Mars
11/13 - Mercury inconjuncts Mars
11/20 - Mars squares Neptune (will repeat on 3/14 - watch your health, your energy level, rest)
12/8 - Sun opposes Mars - here is the midpoint of the cycle, illuminating what this retrograde period has been/is about for us, can also bring a result/conclusion
1/9 - Venus trines Mars
1/12 - Mars stations direct 8 degrees (same degree as Venus trine)
1/17 - Mercury inconjuncts Mars
1/29 - Sun trines Mars
2/22 - Mercury (in Aquarius now) trines Mars
3/14 - Mars squares Neptune, repeating aspect from 11/20
3/16 - Sun squares Mars
3/17 - Mercury (in Pisces now) squares Mars
3/26 - Mars enters Cancer
4/2 - Mars in Cancer 4 sextiles North Node Taurus - opportunity
I wanted to get this up this morning, but I will go back and fill in some forecasting for those particular dates. The last time Mars made a complete retrograde cycle in the sign of Gemini was in the 1940's and collectively this is tricky energy. Angry words can come of out nowhere (so can new ideas). Mercury rules early childhood education and Mars rules violence, obviously that isn't good, but maybe this can also speak of conversations/new ideas about prevention and dealing with anger and angry young men since Mars rules young men.
There are surely as many rainbows as dragons. Let's stay positive with our thinking - with Mars in Gemini, our THINKING IS VERY POWERFUL.
The retrograde period will be especially tricky and starts mid-way between two powerful Eclipses (at least we have Mars and Mercury in mutual reception here, so Mars can get to Scorpio through Mercury and Mercury can get to Gemini through Mars, that's good news). We can't look too far ahead with Mars in Gemini. Just know we have to be flexible. Our minds will change, so will other people's. Ideas/information is influx. Sibling situations, local community issues, our transportation and tech will be featured. Our Gemini natal house is getting a wake up call and a thorough going over.
This all ends on April 2nd when Mars in Cancer sextiles the North Node of Fate - an opportunity to move into the future. It's a long and winding road between now and then. We are not alone on this road even when it looks like we are. We are all in this muddle together. The sand in the squishy part of the hourglass, the crack between the pages. We are living in the in-between time where the old world is falling down and the new world barely has its footings built! We are the ones who get to decide how this is going to work. Let's get excited instead of worried!
This truly is a time of great opportunity, but it requires our presence and
attention to the natural forces at work in our lives. It's not about
taking control and forcing things into the shapes we want them to be anymore.
When Mars moves into Gemini he will be exactly squaring a retrograde Vesta in Pisces and opposing asteroid Pandora at 0 degrees Sagittarius. This will have myriad meanings as this stuff is apt to do.
That square to a retrograde Vesta pulls Vesta's questioning /re-working of old dreams, an old focus/what kept us up at night/what was sacred to us, our ancestors into the mix via tension or frustration - something here will require our action. Vesta is showing us what needs keeping and what needs dissolving.
Pandora opposes Mars as he (as we) starts his Gemini journey. In our natal chart Pandora is a space where we are extremely gifted, but have somehow come to accept/believe these gifts are curses.
The
North Node is still in Taurus. This is about a humble recognition of
the gifts we have been given and a willingness to apply ourselves
through all kinds of circumstances (Mars in Gemini) to making good use of them.
This version of the Pandora story we are most familiar with is - the first woman on Earth, made by the Gods, she wasn't
satisfied and wanted more, more, more, had to open that damn box and it
unleashed untold agony on the world. This isn't actually the original story, but this version is very powerful because so many people have heard this story and carry the energy of this. She is the ancient Greek's version of the Eve story and a key foundational block of the patriarchy paradigm we've been living.
One of the keys to working with the altered Pandora story is the "hope left in the box" part.
I used to make a locket that included the
dictionary definition of the word 'hope'. Every time I sold one the person would
ask me to switch out the word 'hope' for something "more positive". I think 'hope' felt passive as if we were just
sitting around 'hoping' instead of taking that bull by his horns and
making stuff happen. Well 'hope' isn't passive - what hope really is, is receptive. It's a feminine quality. Hope isn't the opposite of making stuff happen, it's actually the opposite of despair.
Her story (and that of Eve), through the shaming/blaming of the feminine energy (the yin/the Earth) is the story of the shift from a life of natural ease and abundance provided by nature to a reality where we must toil to survive.
As we shift into the Age of Aquarius the energy on the planet is different now (more different in some places than others since physical space carries karma and memories, too - some places are denser). The reason people are so exhausted is the constant expending of energy forcing stuff to happen is depleting. People used to be able to work hard at work they hated, come home, pour themselves a beer/glass of wine and feel good they were taking care of their families. This took a toll on us body and soul but we could do it.
The new
paradigm is less supportive of this. It isn't because people are lazy or
spoiled or want things to come easy, it's because this ease is the way life actually works best now.
Stuff is moving too fast. If we push, the thing we are pushing against has moved before we can even get a foothold! We will know we are doing this when it feels like it's one thing after another, like we can never slow down or catch a break. To work with this new paradigm we need to be flowing with what is happening and not pushing or forcing against stuff that will move and drop us on our ass.
Something I am thinking with Mars in Gemini opposing Pandora is that we could be running all over the place FOR MONTHS, without alot to show for it at the end of the day. We need to think about this. Also since Pandora can connect to 'shame' and we've just been through a lengthy Black Moon Lilith in Cancer squaring Jupiter transit, and the possibly frenetic pace/this doing too much thing and scattering our energy/resources could be connected to not feeling good enough, not feeling worthy.
The way work is supposed to work now, because life is an energetic exchange (and it always has been, but wearing out some people for the ease of other people isn't working anymore) is we want to be doing something we care about around others that are equally invested in what we are trying to accomplish, then there is less energy expended because it is a natural flow, and it regenerates itself within the process. Because less is being expended this allows for balance
rather than using willpower to force the constant expending of energy.
So, it isn't about getting ahead so much as coming back to center. We will keep our eye on Pandora as we move through this long transit.
And, of course, Pandora was active during Covid (and is exactly conjunct asteroid Wuhan on Algol in the U.S. birth chart, connects to pandemics), so certainly our actions and thinking will be changing around this and maybe alot of what we are doing we wouldn't be doing without the 'pandemic' coming in as opposition to our actions.
Mars in Gemini is going to really kick off during the New Moon next week which will be at 4 degrees Virgo and EXACTLY squaring Mars in Gemini. The push that gets us back to work.
In your natal chart, your Gemini house will require additional energy/more will be happening, your natal Mars will be influenced by having Mars in a mutable air sign (this will work out better for some natal Mars than others). Also look at the house Mars rules in your natal chart - houses with Aries and Scorpio (ancient ruler) on the cusps for more info:
ARIES/Aries rising - this is happening in your 3rd house of communication, information, writing, siblings, transportation or your local neighborhood.
TAURUS/Taurus rising - this is happening in your 2nd house of your money, your values, your resources and self-esteem.
GEMINI/Gemini rising - this is happening in your first house of yourself dear Gemini! This could be about reinventing yourself or taking another look at a relationship/relationship issue as Mars opposing your 7th house of partners.
CANCER/Cancer rising - this is happening in your 12th house of what is hidden or put away or done behind the scenes, secrets, the ethereal realms, imagination, hospitals, spirituality, addiction, healing, dreams, endings, how we end things, what we do last, your ancestors, your past.
LEO/Leo rising - this is happening in your 11th house of your friendships, groups, causes, the internet, the public, the goals that bring you into relationship with other people, your advancement, technology.
VIRGO/Virgo rising - this is happening in your 10th house of your career, your calling, your achievements, your achievement goals, dad, business, authority, responsibility.
LIBRA/Libra rising - this is happening in your 9th house of travel, higher education,
weddings, politics, legal issues, the media, publishing, foreigners,
everything outside your comfort zone, exploration, your beliefs and
higher thinking
SCORPIO/Scorpio rising - this is happening in your 8th house of other people's resources, other people's values, intimacy, other people's money, spouse's income, loans, debts, taxes, inheritance, death, rebirth, sex, reproduction
SAGITTARIUS/Sagittarius rising - this is happening in your 7th house of partners and partnerships.
CAPRICORN/Capricorn rising - this is happening in your 6th house of your day-to-day activities, your routine, work, co-workers, pets and your HEALTH (make time for rest and fun).
AQUARIUS/Aquarius rising - this is happening in your 5th house of creative projects, your self-expression, what you give birth to, children, romance and recreation.
PISCES/Pisces rising - this is happening in your 4th house of home, family, your roots, mother, mothering, your ancestry, real estate, renovation or a home business/family business.
As always I hope something here is helpful.
We are going to have to be flexible, rest when we can, because things are going to get BUSY.
Back
with the weekly and the New Moon in Virgo post. Then in Part II,
we'll look at the Mars retrograde part of the Mars in Gemini story.
xo all
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