Standstill

For the first time since I began writing this blog, today I felt at a standstill  about what to write.  Usually I have one or more ready ideas that just flow out .  But today I am stuck. Then as I am an astrologer, or cycles scientist as I have started to call myself,  I decided to find the meaning of this inertia in the movements (or lack thereof) of the planets.

When I look in the ephemeris I see both Mercury and Mars apparently slowing down to the place in the zodiac where they each will go forward.  Mercury is beginning to station at 24 degrees of Pisces today, will  move forward on the 4th, staying at 24 and 25 degrees until the 12th of April when he gets to 26.  These next 2 weeks are the standstill part of the cycle known as a station.  A station is where a bus or train is parked and does not move.  So with the planets.  Mercury rules communications, travel, writing, negotiating, contracting, selling, talking, moving from place to place and thinking. Mercury was the swift messenger of the gods.  His natural speed is over 1 degree a day when he is in top form, where he likes to be.

With Mercury's speed being slow, ours words and movements are apt to be slow to non existent.  Why? Well we are picking up information from one spot in the zodiac. Pisces is the sign of the poet and musician and dreamer.  The information gained from Pisces is of the more subtle kind;  seeing visions or images while walking, or listening to music, or evoked by feelings. If those 2 degrees of Pisces are important to you as seen in your natal chart, then this time can be quite significant in identifying an aspect of your self that you might have glossed over when Mercury is at the faster speed.  The dreamlike quality we are experiencing now will disappear, as Mercury slowly  picks up speed and returns to the sign Aries on the16th of April. So enjoy it while it lasts and don't try too hard to fight the natural course of things.

The same is true for Mars.  He is backing into 4 degrees of Virgo now, will gradually back into 3 Virgo, station there, and begin to move forward on Saturday the14th.  Mars does not get to 5 degrees until the last day of April.  This is another case of a planet at a station. Our energy, will and drive is at a standstill.  We might have a newly formed plan to fix an old unresolved issue with a male friend, or health regime program  that we have been wanting to try, but there has likely been little or no will force available to make it happen.  
Such is the case of the cycles of the planets.  Knowing what they are doing is meant to be an aid to us;  not as the cause of our adventures or misadventures, but as markers of phases of time.

Toward A Deeper Understanding of our Country

It has occurred to me lately that we can use this Mars retrograde time frame to help us understand these interesting times. In the chart we use for the birth of this nation on July 4th 1776, planet Mars is at 23 degrees of Gemini square the planet Neptune at 23 Virgo. Those 2 signs being mutable, that is those signs  that coincide with the change of seasons, means those 2 planets are at 90 degrees to one another.  Our planet of assertion and aggression and will forces will always have Neptune connected with it. Neptune symbolizes our delusions and idealizations that have no basis in reality. In the USA chart in August of 1995 planet Mars entered 18 degrees of Libra, became stationary within one minute from October 2004, turned apparent retrograde October 2007 and will not leave that one degree of the zodiac until April 2017, when it goes back to 17 degrees of Libra. That makes 22 years that the planet that symbolizes how we use our energy is in the same spot in the zodiac.  We are not moving forward.

As we are experiencing another time frame of Mars retrograde now, since January 24th, we can associate what we are going through now:  a lessening of energy and drive to move forward, initiatives started becoming mired in frustration and delay, old arguments and fights coming back to haunt us, becoming impatient and acting prematurely, with what is going on in our country in regards the use of the military.

In August of 1995 NATO began the bombing campaign of Serb artillery.  We began "Operation Enduring freedom" on October 7, 2001 when ground troops went into Afghanistan.  The 2nd Iraq war began March 20, 2003, with Bush declaring "Mission Accomplished" on May 1st 2003 and the end of combat operations.  We know that that war did not end until Dec 18, 2011.  Each year that went by from October 2001 in Afghanistan through March 2003 into Iraq saw Mars slowing in speed and apparent direction as our troops got more and more bogged down.  October 2007 saw Bush asking Congress for 189 billion dollars to support the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan, just as Mars was retrograding officially.

If we have any doubts about the effects of Mars retrograding in our country's chart we can look no farther than the 4th deployment Sargent who went from house to house on a killing spree in Afghanistan last week and the burning of the Koran by US soldier on February 20th.  These 2 grave acts of aggression occurred in the current Mars retrograde period starting January 24th,  directly at 23 Virgo right on top of our natal Neptune square Mars, the misuse or idealized use of aggression potential in our natal chart. We are in a critically dangerous period until Mars passes 23 Virgo again mid June.  We will also be in a critical period 6 months from now when our progressed Moon passes over that Mars.

So what can be the best outcome? We seriously need to consider alternative ways of solving problems other than invading foreign countries.  And when we consider that not only is Mars retrograde in the USA chart, causing us to reflect on the efficiency of our current use of force, but so are Mercury, Jupiter, Neptune and Saturn.  That makes 5 out of the possible 8 planets that can apparently go backwards are.  When they say we are a nation in decline that is why they say it. It is time for some self reflection.

What's Up???

I don't know about you but I didn't think things could slow down more than they already have with Mars in apparent slow motion, but now we have to add Mercury to the list of situations that coincide with stumbling blocks.  We look to the motion of the planets in signs as symbols, that give us meaning not causes, of the situations in our lives. As of tomorrow morning at 3:45 AM  Mercury, in the same degree of the zodiac since March 8th, will finally move from apparent standstill to apparent backwards motion. Astrology is about finding meaning in our lives, if one is interested that is.

The Mars retrograde period affects Scorpios and Aries individuals, making them less forceful and passionate in Scorpios case and less bossy with Aries.  When planet Mercury does its loop it affects Geminis and Virgos more strongly because they are ruled by him.   Mercury is apparently stopping at 6 Aries after having passed over the planet of upsets and surprise, Uranus, last week on the 5th.  Uranus is our planet symbolizing lightening strikes, sparks of genius, surprises, mental awakenings and lots of nervous energy.  The current retrograde motion of Mercury means that Mercury will back track and come back to Uranus again on the 18th-inciting that same nervous energy and then for a third time on April 22nd, after Mercury goes forward again on the 4th of April at 23 Pisces.  So watch  what happens in your life between now and the 22nd of April and see how your thinking has changed.

This will affect everybody in the part of your chart that holds 6 Aries to 23 Pisces.  Aries wants to start something and Pisces just wants to let things float and see what happens.  They are very different energies-but lie adjacent to each other.  Our need to be part of the collective in Pisces gives way to the Arian initiatives that are inspired by our Piscean meditations. Mercury as the messenger of the gods, is the only one who could leave Olympus and go into Hades and come back (very important!).  Therefore looking for symbolism-Mercury is going to bring up some new information that you might not have noticed before-or somebody kept hidden from you.  This will have to do with selling, buying, travelling,communicating, young people, teaching, learning, negotiating, thinking.  Do all projects with the words" re" in the beginning and finish up old projects before starting new ones.

One other thing-be sure to look up in the evening sky these nights and watch Venus and Jupiter come closer and closer together.  Venus is brighter and on the right.  Jupiter is on the left.  They will conjoin early morning on Thursday the 15th.  The combination can coincide with some over indulgence.  Venus is love and money and Jupiter is lots of it.  In spite of the fluctuations of Mars and Mercury, we will be able to focus in on our hearts desire and allowing for some extra time and renegotiating be rewarded with actually obtaining our hearts desires.
 

Mars Retrograde Halfway Point

We are at the halfway point in the apparent Mars retrograde cycle as the Earth in its orbit around the Sun is passing in front of Mars, which because it is moving at a slower speed, outside our orbit, is appearing to go backwards.  The phenomenon is very like two trains passing.  You are in one train that is moving quickly,  the one in the next track is moving more slowly and appears to be going backwards.  The Sun and Mars are in opposition, with the Earth in between. Mars is closer to us than in any other time in its orbit. This occurred Saturday at 3:10 PM.

We should be now having some sense of what this Mars cycle is about.  Of course for each of us it will be slightly different and affect different areas of our life, depending on which house or department of life is the Virgo house in our natal chart. If you happen to know that you will have an easier time reflecting.  You have until the July 4^th weekend to figure it out though, when Mars finally finishes with Virgo and moves into Libra.  By then it should be abundantly clear what area of your life has been reworked, even if you do not know what house is Virgo natally.  Frustrations, false starts and recommitments to doing things better will be noticeable after the almost 8 month sojourn (November 12^th-July 4^th) of Mars in Virgo.

The position of Mars helps us to understand what we should be noticing.  We have been talking about Mars and how our activities are in slow motion or so it seems. If the Sun represents our purpose, our goals and what we want to accomplish and Mars represents the will force that is needed to actualize that purpose then when Sun and Mars are in relationship, the job is easier.  If we feel like we have only been treading water since the end of January, that our actions were feeling fruitless, then this weekend is the time to begin to get clarity.  The time to actually move forward is not until after April 14^th, but realization of what the issues  are what it is we want to do about it should be coming now.

Mars rules our efforts and work, where we put our energy, and in Virgo demands that we are healthy and have integrity . We might be feeling that there is a new exercise, diet or health regime that we want to start but the will to go forward is lacking.  We will spend lots of time in the strategizing stage before actually committing, figuring the best way to make it work.  This is appropriate for this time.   Or we can be moving too aggressively in some direction and either our physical body is reacting or we are not getting a desired outcome. It is very unwise to initiate anything new now, as those affairs are likely to bring obstacles and challenges too great to overcome.  (The talk this weekend about Israel bombing Iran’s nuclear sites comes to mind-whoever initiates during a Mars retrograde cycle LOSES). But recommitting to projects already begun and editing them or revising them is appropriate.

The other situation which could arise now is being forced to rework some aggressive action that we took and that is coming back to haunt us so to speak.  We question..was that the best way to handle that situation? Is there another way to assert myself? Maybe a friend or colleague has reminded you of an old situation which is still not resolved satisfactorily.   Or you might become aware that you are still angry at someone and by becoming aware of it now can bring it to the surface and with some emotional detachment resolve it more satisfactorily. Mars retrograde periods can bring back these uncomfortable relationship issues and are excellent times for resolving longstanding disputes. Reviewing our behavior is called for now, our own actions, motivations or those with our sexual partners, fathers, husbands and all other males.