Mars stations direct
1/12/23 3:57 pm e.t.
MARS stations DIRECT
♂
1/12/23 3:57 pm e.t. MARS stations DIRECT ♂
A long time comin’… the planet of intense heat stations today at 8° Gemini. Since October 30, 2022 Mars has been retrograde through Gemini, causing delayed gratification in that area of your chart. Maybe it was a review of the direction ahead, or a flurry of experiences that opened the field of possibilities… without a roadmap & requiring a lot of guesswork, and likely a lot of stumbled attempts at progress. Today marks the shift of where/what/how we might begin to make some headway.
As a planet stations, it appears to hover in the sky. This traditionally signifies an amplification of that planets energy. With Mars, we can expect for the more prickly side of things to emerge…. think ~ arguments, over-stimulation, inflammation, frustration, intense desire for something, passionate outbursts, amongst the separating qualities of the extreme nature of Mars that leave little room for tenderness. Mars is a planet that pioneers a way through the unknown. In its retrograde cycle, it goes to the extreme reaches to gather an individualistic perspective & often revealing a loss of direction before discovering a vantage point that reveals a way forward.
Today, the station will happen while the Sun is at 22° of Capricorn. There’s an aspect in astrology called contra-antiscia which connects the two houses of Gemini & Capricorn. As the Sun sits at 22° Capricorn, and Mars at 8° Gemini, they create an exact alignment of this aspect, illuminating another dimension of today’s Mars direct station.
Contra-anticia, as summarized by Alice Sparkly Kat, further referenced by the ancient astrologer Manilius, allows planets in these signs to hear one another. In this case Mars and the Sun hear each other… a moment of genius arrives… it does seem that the journey of mars has brought something back from the battlefield. This alignment stimulates ideas, concepts, and a hierarchical order which promotes a command of the rhetoric. So in this case…
What does Mars in Gemini (the planet in the commanding position) have to say to the Sun in Capricorn (the planet in the obeying position)? Mars, the planet which peaked in opposition from the Sun in early December, has stumbled upon a vital piece of information which colors the way things will play out from here-on-out. As if a soldier went rogue, but stumbled into information that could lead to victory. Certainly, loyalty was challenged, but this aspect hints towards a homecoming.
While this will vary in our personal lives depending on circumstance and personal planets in your natal chart, by and large, Mars has retrieved something in Gemini (the sign of duality, multiplicity, and paradox) that has the power to change the structures (Capricorn… the sign of stability & structures of the material world) of our life. While Mercury also moves through Capricorn, ruling the Gemini placements & still retrograde, we might sense that over the month of January give or take, we feel an internal nudge towards a way through the chaos. It might not be totally clear yet, but there does seem to be a point to it all.
The advice: you may feel frustrated or burnt out or even enraged in a standstill of some sort, but reprieve is on its way. At this moment, take care to calm yourself when the pressure rises, and know that there’s nothing you can do to force your way through. With patience (and a simple reminder to just breathe when you get overwhelmed), today marks a huge shift towards progress.
As mentioned in the Year Ahead Forecast on the Astrology Podcast, Mars stationing direct feels like a freight train turning on its engine. I might be slow to start, but once it gets going, there’s no stopping it. Full steam ahead.
when a planet is retrograde, it appears to be much closer to earth and visually larger than usual from our vantage point. that will typically create a focus on that planet’s significations, allowing for those topics to seem to slow down in our lives in order to be reviewed or reckoned with. some martial qualities include…
mars word play : energy
impulse fire action danger spiritedness agency conception swift panic anger audacity tools violence fearless war blood iron heat dramatic sting flare reckless reactive force passion extremes ambition energy vigor direct provoking combative vigor seeing-red brash muscular competitive separating inflammation weaponize rebellion fighting tension adrenaline primal lustful rough ride-or-die courageous sex masculinity excretion wine irritability risk boldness militant agitation focus activism altruistic friction against-the-grain explosive eruptive burns spicy abrupt conflict running-away scars liveliness revealing daring forbidden-desires spars haughtiness discord haste whims trouble exiles boisterous battles ammunition insulting protective quick-whit sharp abrasive fast bridge-burning attacks breaking-apart speed energy instinct movement hot-headed nocturnal conquering cutting confident invincible dominant furious turbulent obscene quarreling fight/flight driven threatening willpower swearing leadership selfishness fired-up poignant physical freedom wildness pioneering pointedness carving fierce strength power linear stimulating drishti
Practices to cool the heat of Mars
Drishti is a concept that resonates with this mars retrograde in gemini. Drishti the practice of concentrating the gaze towards a single point in order to focus the mind while moving through yoga asana. David Frawley writes in Inner Tantric Yoga, “Fixing the gaze…not only concentrates the mind but draws our energy inward along with it, extending the action of pratyahara, or the yogic internalization of the prana and the senses.” Prana in the yogic tradition is our life force energy. If you have experience diffused energy over the Mars retrograde, felt distracted or unable to gather your senses in a focused or intentional way, this practice may be helpful as mars stations. As a point of clarity comes into focus as Mars stations direct, by focusing mental awareness on what arises, we may find that the message of this retrograde deepens around the drishti that arrives. Drishti creates stillness, allowing the story around the past few months to sort and settle, possibly providing some clarity.
Some tips to working with drishti :
Keep your gaze soft
Resist the urge to close your eyes
Shift your focus slowly
Cut yourself some slack
Although these tips are from a yoga journal article linked above, they fit nicely into the astrological advice of today’s Mars direct station. Stay soft, resist the urge to ignore what arises, don’t act (or react) too quickly, and cut yourself some slack.
Lunar herbs such as milky oats, oatstraw, marshmallow & licorice have soothing and cooling qualities to nourish an overheated system. Lavender might also be a gentle herb to add or spend time with to find a calm perspective amongst the shift (an herb for mercury).
Balanced breathing… following a 4 second inhale, hold the breath for 4 seconds at the top of the inhale, exhale for 4 seconds, hold the breath at the end of the exhale for 4 seconds (and repeat gently increasing the amount of seconds for each step as you go) can aide in reorienting your nervous system to adjust to any disruptions.
personal reflection
Take a moment today and reflect on your personal experience with Mars over the past months (glance through the mars words ^ to see if any of those topics resonate with your experience). What has shifted in your life since October 30, 2022? Was their conflict… new experiences… distractions… false starts… a sense of loss of control… burn out… or some sort of recalibration of your direction in life over the past months? The peak of this experience would have occurred in November/December of 2022. Now is a moment to ask yourself, ‘what have I learned’?
Is there a situation which you had to step away from in order to pause and open to the complexities of life before creating a strategy aligned to what you stand for? Did you learn about layers of your own identity which surprised you or revealed dimensions of who you are that you haven’t had to face before? Did mars show up through other people in your life, or situations? Did you have to pick yourself up and try again, and again?
Proceed with a sense of gentle caution (within reason) as Mars moves forward in Gemini today through March 25. Things will begin to take shape, and Mars is declaring that even if it didn’t make sense back then… events that occurred were vital to redirecting the way forward. There may be a moment of insight that arrives, an arrow guiding your attention to what could be… as long as you include the lessons of freedom & independence that likely shifted the landscape of where you were to where you are now.
Take faith in your capacity to move through challenging experiences, knowing that life often requires risk in order to transform limitations. Of equal importance now, address any mistakes or bouts of impulse that led you away from what really matters. Even when it’s complicated, get curious about what happened. Circumstances are full of nuance & mishaps are often the medicine that integrates the narrative.
