MARS ENTERS ARIES 28 JUNE 2020 (GMT)

…no stopping me now, I’m here for the long haul!

Mars will enter its home sign of Aries on June 28 and due to its retrograde period (9th September until 15^th November), Mars will remain there until…January 2021. That’s a long time and a lot of pure Martian energy for us all to handle.

The last time Mars retrograded in Aries was between August and October of 1988 during which time it squared Neptune in Capricorn. Some important historical events of 1988: the first internet computer virus appeared (Neptune = mysterious disease), the Soviet Union began deconstructing towards a mixed economy and the Iron Curtain began to disintegrate (Neptune dissolving) and there were also a couple of very infamous terrorist attacks that year, one on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean and the another regarding the brutal Pan Am airplane explosion over Lockerbie in Scotland which are both really of a Mars domain entirely.*

Only a few hours after entering the sign, Mars will sextile Saturn R at 0°13’ Aquarius and then square the recent Solar Eclipse degree at 0°21’ Cancer. The Solar Eclipse was quincunx Saturn and I mentioned the struggle between wanting to socialise and the fear of leaving home or to put it in other words the fear of socialising and the desire to get outside! Now we also have Mars in this mix and in the traditional zodiac these transits involve the 1^st (Aries), the 4^th (Cancer) and the 11^th (Aquarius) houses and their axes. Mars could add trouble to this dilemma between socialising and keeping to ourselves, leading perhaps to social unrest and protests which could again flare up around the world. These protests aren’t only about racial or gender equality they are also about social equality in general and the fair distribution of wealth at a global level especially now with so many people jobless due to the pandemic…will the Saturn influence make for steady progress in some of the above fields or will a total block be put on them by use of brute force by those in charge? The 11^th house has also been given command of internet so perhaps a Mars-Saturn sextile might cause blocks or new rules in this area too?

In the natal theme Mars represents our basic drive, our energy, the way we act thus our assertiveness and our anger.

We experience our first Mars return at age 2 years and this is when we learn to assert ourselves by saying “NO” to everything and everyone. It is at this age that we learn how to control our Mars function or not if no-one is there to direct our assertiveness into the right channels.

If for some reason we are unable to learn how to positively express our Mars energy, especially anger, then we could experience angry people and situations showing up in our lives with us being the victim or, Mar’s energy could take us over completely.

As astrologer Johanna Mitchell wrote* “Fire is warm and comforting in the fireplace; if a sparks leaps onto the carpet, however, there’s a potential for disaster. Learning to be alive (through our Mars) does not mean burning the house down.”

Mars will be making/receiving the following aspects during his sojourn in Aries (GMT dates):

28 June: sextile retrograde Saturn at 0°13’ – a road block or steady progress?

08 July: square Mercury at 6° – walk, don’t run and keep a check on the dry humour that could easily turn into sarcasm

13 August at 23° (Pluto R), 9 October at 22° (both planets R), 23 December at 23° (both direct): square to Pluto – the urge to dominate with power struggles abounding

4 August at 20° (Jupiter R), 3 October at 25° (Mars R): overconfidence could lead to mistakes, fighting for a moral cause could also be part of the picture

Certainly Mars will not only be travelling through a certain house in your natal chart but he will almost certainly be making some major aspects (conjunction in Aries), opposition (in Libra), square (signs of Cancer and Capricorn), trine (signs of Leo and Sagittarius) to other planets and angles in your chart on his journey. Worthy of keeping an eye on, also the house cusps ruled by Mars in your chart (the signs of Aries and Scorpio). It would be interesting to see how this transit affects each of us and this is also an excellent way to better understand the workings of the planet in our real and everyday life.

“The struggles we endure today will be the ‘good old days’ we laugh about tomorrow.”
― Aaron Lauritsen, 100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip

Bibliography:

*Source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988 accessed on 24th June 2020

McEvers J. (1989), “Planets, The Astrological Tool”, Mars by Johanna Mitchell, pp.158-203, Llewellyn Publications, St Paul, Minnesota USA

Artwork: myskypie.com2018

Copyright: myskypie.com2020