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Why don’t I write horoscopes for each sign?

The month starts off well. Both Mercury and Neptune are just now moving forward again. There are harmonious contacts between many of the planets, and we can see a glimmer of what the future holds. (See Chart A.) Hold on, though! There’s one more zig-zag on the path before we’re ready to roll. It’s all about Mars. Mars is both taking us on a preparatory side trip and showing us what the future holds, potentially the next seven years.

            Ironically, however, the less you make this and the next four months about Mars, the better will be your experience of them. Here’s why:

The Many Guises of Mars

            Most people think of Mars as the Greeks did, as the God of War, and this is not wrong. However, this is only one surface manifestation of an archetype. Archetypes are living symbols. They have many expressions. While we all carry a god of war within us, we have other, more refined, civilized, or socially more acceptable manifestations of its energy in our nature.

            Every time Mars turns retrograde,, as it does on November 16 (see Chart B), we get to explore how we use Mars from one or two perspectives in our lives, because Mars awareness if emphasized while it is retrograde. Physically (astronomically) Mars is closest to Earth when it is retrograde, you may be interested to know. Both planets are on the same side of the Sun now, and the Earth is in the process of passing this slightly slower moving planet.

            Our experience of Mars retrograde depends much on how we work with Mars energy ourselves. I have learned that there are many expressions, and people often take the unexpected path of action during the Mars retrograde.

            At a deep level, Mars is about survival, and through Mars we will do whatever we think it takes to survive. Well — the word ‘think’ is used casually here, because Mars doesn’t “think”. It acts. It will act reflexively, automatically if we don’t stop it. This, by the way, is the reason why it is called a malefic in traditional (ancient) astrology. It’s because we have to temper its natural expression in our behavior if we are achieve generally desired results, like being more evolved and humane. Mars will bring us to conflict all too easily (although it is not a point of view universally held that we should refrain from conflict). It also has to do with forms of expression like anger, frustration, aggression, bullying, rashness — as well as athletic prowess, physical fitness, bravery, and heroism. In health, it relates to inflammation, injury and surgery (voluntary injury, you might say).

            These are all externalized expressions. However, it has internalized expressions as well: self-deprecation (self-wounding), anxiety, worry, fear, guilt, and other forms of self-punishment such as cutting, anorexia (not genetically induced), and addictions. (Not all addictive behaviors are engaged in as a self- punishment, but this could be a subtle driving force behind many addictions.)

            Then there are the expressions that we think of as positive expressions that are just as undermining, but it’s harder to explain how they work. This is called in the I Ching philosophy (specifically Carol K. Anthony’s descriptions) as the “white-knight rescuer”. Mars is also the ego or mask self. It is created because we need to survive emotionally and socially as well as physically. So, when we might feel like having a two-year-old’s tantrum, we instead say, “Thank you. I’d like that very much.” This is the ego putting on a mask to conceal what we really feel, even as we are seething inside. This keeps us alive in the short run, but in the long run it raises our stress level. Our heart rate goes up, our breathing rate may even increase. But the white knight has rescued us from social banishment again.

            Another guise of the white-knight rescuer may arise when we decide on a new, virtuous course of action, say going on a health-food diet. We have decided to give up fast food and white bread, to eat more veggies and less dessert. The white knight rescuer gets excited about this and rolls up the bandwagon for us to leap onto. We become super-disciplined and hyper-enthusiastic about our new path. We proclaim it to the world. We have been shown the Way, the Truth, and the Light.

            However, a few days later, the white knight tires of the challenge, becomes bored. It wants to move onto the next exciting windmill to tilt at. This is another mask of Mars.

            Once this has occurred, we have to then re-establish our balance, our centeredness, if we want to continue on with our discipline. We have to quiet the emotional pendulum swing from enthusiasm to doubt to despair and all the emotions in between. The I Ching counsels that if we learn how to maintain an even keel to begin with, disengaging from the white-knight rescuer when he rolls up with the bandwagon, it will be easier to persevere in our path, whatever that is.

            This has profound applications. If you just spend a day watching for times when you get that extra boost of enthusiasm or other emotional reaction from our ego, you’ll see how it keeps you juiced up in an unhealthy way. If you’re not convinced, consider this: This is the source of stress. Every time we take an emotional side trip, we experience a stress reaction: Elevated heart and breathing rate, slowed digestion, tense muscles, rigid skeletal structure — all to defend ourselves in the classic “fight or flight” way. On a more subtle level, our energy system is negatively altered. The triple warmer meridian drains all the other meridians to fuel the fight-flight response. Spleen meridian, which nurtures and nourishes us by assimilating what we take in, is unable to operate and shuts down. The adrenals put out an extra dose of stress hormones, including cortisol. If you need any proof that stress is a major problem in our culture, look at the evidence of cortisol overload: the belly fat that we are more and more prone to developing comes directly from cortisol overload. (Anytime you develop a voracious appetite in the evening, it’s a sign that you’ve had a cortisol overload sometime in the past 48 hours.)

The Most Important Thing

            Here’s why we shouldn’t focus on Mars as a problem: Because it makes it a big deal. We should instead disengage from the emotional roller coaster ride that Mars wants to take us on. The more we dwell on our problems (or emotions or what’s wrong with our experience in any way), the bigger they become. We increase what we’re trying to diminish, because energetically we have made it a bigger blob in our biofield (aura). However, it’s a little like telling someone not to think about elephants for 10 minutes. Impossible until they realize that if they decide to think about turtles instead, they will have no difficulty doing it. Yeah, this is using the Mercury focus trick (what we focus on it what we create) — but Mercury’s next retrograde is just around the corner. In about another 100 days, we’ll be happy that we’ve applied some discipline to our focus so we can create what we want instead of what we don’t want!

            This does not mean that we should deny that a “problem” exists, only that we should deal with it in the natural flow of our experience. When we do this, we live in the eternal present, the place that the sages tell us is the key to peace and living in the Presence. We make our Self, our Presence, larger than the problem. The Presence is our greater Self, the part of us that some call soul and is a part of our spirit. It is eternal and exists before birth and after death, as well as during life. The only true way to get rid of our problems is to let them dissolve away gently because they are dwarfed by the eternal part of who we are. Before we can do that, we have to disrupt their hold on our everyday life and way of thinking and reacting to the world.

            By becoming aware of our emotional reactions, we begin the process of disrupting the unhelpful patterns. This helps us become aware of the part of us that is the Presence. The more we become aware of the Presence, the more we are able to let the old unhelpful patterns fall away. As this happens, our life begins to unfold in a new way.

What’s a Person to Do?

            Well, now that Mars is turning retrograde, we have the golden opportunity to turn our focus to this area of our lives. This is especially true when Mars is in Cancer. Cancer is a lovely, wonderful sign. I love all the people I know with planets in Cancer! However, Mars does not do particularly well in Cancer.

            Cancer is a feeling sign. People with planets there live in an ocean of emotion. They are our friends, because they will faithfully report to us all the feelings that they cannot ignore, even if we’re not ready to acknowledge them. It’s for our own good. ;-)

            Seriously, through Cancer we keep ourselves emotionally healthy, and through Cancer we encounter the challenge to keep ourselves emotionally fit, to learn emotional intelligence. When Mars is retrograde in Cancer, that lesson will come out in spades! (The ancients thought of this as a poor placement for Mars, creating “impetuous emotion”.) Our use of emotion will be the theme of the coming retrograde, the one that pervades all expressions on Planet Earth in some way. It can be sloppy, inconvenient, and humbling, but oh so healing!

            One of astrology’s adages is: “Use it before it uses you.” Now, it’s not PC to say that a planet uses us, but in blunt terms it can feel that way. It does seem to help to find ways to use a planet’s energies well in one’s life, as if it draws off the steam that creates the explosion in the pressure cooker.

            So, what can we do? Antidotes to the unhealthy effects that we experience from Mars involve undoing the stress reactions we have (as they occur) and uprooting them (preventing new ones from occurring). To undo them, we can:

            •          MOST IMPORTANT: Don’t go after what’s wrong with you (not that anything is!). Focus on what’s right, then problem-solve in the moment.

            •          Enjoy some quiet (peaceful) time every day.

            •          Engage in regular physical activity.

            •          Honor your tiredness; get enough sleep.

            •          Stay in touch with your emotions, but not slavishly.

            •          Enjoy moderation in all things.

            •          Observe signs of stress reactions and counterbalance them with energy balancing techniques.

            •          Support and strengthen our meridian system, especially by draining triple warmer and supporting spleen.

            •          Keep the cerebrospinal fluid flowing from top to bottom.

            The last three things on the list can be done using energy balancing techniques such as those of Donna Eden or the I Ching tools and techniques. (Click here to learn more about my “Find the Beauty in the Beast: How to Survive, Profit By, and Even Love Mars Retrograde” workshop, where you’ll learn energy techniques to help with Mars's energy and experience the I Ching technology.)

Key Dates in the Mars Cycle

            There are several dates that will tie together in your Mars experience. Mars does not come into contact with other major planetary patterns as it did in 2005. However, it does two things of note: First, it does not spend all its time in Cancer — it goes back into Gemini for about two months (one of them is during the retrograde). Second, it encounters Jupiter and Pluto three times in the course of the retrograde experience. (The first of the Mars-Pluto contacts, which are the most important, occurred in September, which I talked about in September’s forecast.)

            The relevant dates are:
                        August 23 (Mars opposes Jupiter)
                        September 21  (Mars opposes Pluto)
                        September 28 (Mars enters Cancer)
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                        November 16 (Mars turns retrograde)
                        December 24 (Sun opposes Mars)
                        December 26 (Mars opposes Jupiter - 2nd of 3)
                        December 31 (Mars re-enters Gemini)
                        January 2 (Mars opposes Pluto - 2nd of 3)
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                        January 30 (Mars returns to forward motion)
                        March 4 (Mars re-enters Cancer)
                        March 7 (Mars opposes Pluto - 3rd of 3)
                        April 24 (Mars opposes Jupiter - 3rd of 3)

What Does It Mean?

            Not to go on about it, but there are massive implications of these contacts between Mars, Jupiter, and Pluto. I’ve talked all year about how Jupiter is approaching its conjunction to Pluto and how important that is. Now that it is near (occurring on December 11), we’re really getting a tremendous rush of impressions about the past 13 years, because Pluto is near the end of its stay in Sagittarius, brought to you by Jupiter. Mars, however, is his marketing manager, and he’ll be pushing the envelope on our perceptions of what this is about.

            Mars does this by picking up Jupiter’s energy and overnighting it to Pluto, like a FedEx delivery. We feel like we’d better hurry up and tie up our loose ends (from the past 13 years!), because we know a new future will come crashing in on us at any second.

            The end result is that we feel a sense of urgency to create the future without knowing where to go. We will, but it’s not time yet. We have to feel our way into it. If we use our feelings to grope along, we’ll arrive where we need to be. Our focus should be on completions, because the newness will come out of the completions, whether directly or indirectly. For instance, I’ve had several new ideas that have come out of the perspective I’ve gotten on the things I’ve done in the past as I put the finishing touches on them or think back over my path of the past 13 years. Other ideas have come as I’ve discarded plans and projects that have no energy left in them for me.

            One thing that will characterize your experiences with Cancer is that you’ll be “talking with your feet.” You could be talking about plans for something that makes perfect sense, while you’re actually doing something entirely different that seems utterly crazy. This is the way it will work, and I just have to laugh as I watch myself go through the motions. If you’re lucky, you’re already having these experiences. If not, free your mind, and they’ll come flooding in. Let yourself be crazy and see what wonderful new prospects develop!

In Other News . . .

            Although Mars is the big story in November, there are other events of note. First in chronological order, there’s Mercury’s return to forward motion on the 1st after three weeks of wayward behavior. I’ve talked about this at great length in the blog and forum entries I’ve written during October, both in the forecast updates (“Astrology Weather of the Week”) and “High Winds and Wildfires”. Mercury’s off and running with our messages again, which will be delivered to the right houses and guests, finally.

            Later in the month, Uranus returns to forward motion after five months of tripping backward in Pisces. Key dates are March 5, June 23, and September 9. This means that events related to an unexpected plot twist in your life were likely to occur on or around these dates. This could be something inspirational, unexpected, miraculous, electronic, even calamitous. Whatever it was for you, you can rest assured it was in your best (higher) interest. Uranus is the Cosmic Course Corrector. It makes sure that we are on the path that will be most fulfilling. It sure has saved me from a lot of wrong turns! It shocks, yes, but shock is good!

            Now we can look forward to completions with respect to the unexpected events and adventures we’ve encountered this year. This is most significant for those who have planets in the mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces).

Time for Relationships to Grow, Again

            Just like a garden, relationships take loving vigilance from both partners to be successful. Over the next few months, the balance between ourselves and others may shift as we discover ways in which we need to use Mars energy differently. Of course, the way that looks is that we discover ways that our partner needs to use their energy differently. (lol) The key date for this discovery of what’s wrong with your partner is November 19, when Venus squares Mars. Around that date, your partner’s faults should be available front and center for you to see.

            Then, what you need to do is to look inside see how you arrived at your perspective. If you are honest with yourself, you’ll eventually be able to see what you contribute to the situation. No, it’s not your fault, but you have choices. It takes two to tango, and if you don’t want to dance that way, you can choose to change the dance, change the partner, or ask the partner to change. If you want the partner to change, patience is key!

            Venus and Mars will next connect in December harmoniously (in a trine), so smoother times are ahead. However, there may be elements of old patterns that take until next spring to be resolved.

Waves to Ride

            If you are trying to make an agreement with someone, there are some good connections early in the month. After that, it gets a little more dicey. There is a Mercury-Jupiter contact that can be used on the 2nd, 6th, and 7th. Venus enters Libra on the 8^th, lending her graces to many events and situations through December 4.

I titled this forecast “By One’s Thoughts One Commands”. This is the quick description of Hexagram 20 in the I Ching, called “The Tower”, “Vantage Point”, “View”, or “Contemplation”. It represents standing back from a situation in order to get a clear perspective on it. This may be the benefit of our experience of Mars retrograde. If we can reach contemplative place in our consciousness, we rise above the drama of the Mars mask, the white-knight rescuer, the petty concerns of the ego. By your thoughts you command your life when you are in a space of clear centeredness. May you enjoy this and the coming months!

Significant Planetary Events

Mercury and Uranus are retrograde. Jupiter is in rulership. Mars is in detriment. Venus is in fall.

All dates are based on Pacific Time.

Blue = harmonious/Red or orange = challenging/intense

Events in bold are more significant.