On October 30, 09:26 AM ET, Mars begins its retrograde at 25º36’ of Gemini, offering us an opportunity for a curious exploration of conflict and desire, inviting us to contemplate the core intentions and motivations that fuel our actions, choices, words, and thinking patterns.
Mars remains retrograde until January 12, 2023, and enters Cancer on March 25, 2023. This transit will be felt the most by those of us who were born with personal planets or angles between 8º and 25º of Mutable signs Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces, as these are the degrees where Mars is going to travel.
Mars Retrograde in Gemini: Reevaluation and Refinement of Visions and Ideas
Mars is the traditional ruler of both Aries and Scorpio. In Astrology, this planet has to do with our conscious desires, with how we go after what we want, how we chase what we desire, how we initiate and take action, how we motivate ourselves, and how we embark on unexplored directions and paths. In the sign of Gemini, Mars’ powers are mostly channeled through the mind and the intellect. During this transit, our minds are energized: we feel drawn to question accepted ideas and mainstream ways of perceiving reality, we are eager to expand our mental horizons and think independently.
Mars is a very Yang, outward-oriented, go-getter, active, sharp, and direct force. When the Red Planet is in retrograde motion, this energy is internalized and more available for inner exploration, inner alchemy, and self-discovery. This shift supports contemplation and reflection relative to how we desire to channel our life force energy, our mental energy, our creative energy, and our sexual energy.
Mars stationing retrograde promotes reevaluation and refinement of our ideas and visions, and it may inspire us to question the direction we are walking towards. In the sign of Gemini, Mars retrograde invites discernment and self-inquiry concerning why we desire to learn something, our approach to learning altogether, as well as our communication, assertion, and conflict resolution styles.
Mars Retrograde in Gemini: Curious Exploration of Conflict, Instinct, & Desire
Mars retrograde is an invitation to take time, reflect, and ponder before we act or react. It is a moment to contemplate what we desire to initiate and how we desire to initiate, and to explore how our intentions and cravings can be connected to an egoic desire as well as to a deeper, Soul desire. This shift is an opportunity to question and reevaluate the way we think about desire, perceive desire, speak about desire, and act on our desires.
Mars retrograde cycle is a chance to notice the way both our minds and our bodies respond to triggers and what gets activated in us. It is a time to pay attention to fight, flight, and freeze dynamics and to how we feel drawn to instinctively navigate disagreements and release anger, tension, emotions, and stress. It is an opportunity to gain awareness of repetitive patterns that come up in our communications and thoughts, especially in moments of conflict. Mars’ shift of motion represents an invitation to work on our mindset, explore how repressed or misplaced anger affects our perceptions and clouds our thinking, and find constructive ways to channel the energies of rage, frustration, aggression, and nervousness, as well as mental restlessness.
Mars square Neptune & trine Saturn: Dance of Desire & Responsibility
The Red Planet is stationing retrograde in a square to Neptune and Jupiter in Pisces. While the Mars-Jupiter square won’t go exact until Mars enters Leo and Jupiter enters Taurus, Mars is in the process of perfecting a series of squares to Neptune in Pisces and a series of trines to Saturn in Aquarius. The first Mars-Neptune exact square took place on October 12, the second one happens on November 19, and the last one takes place on March 14, when Mars is going to be again in direct motion.
Tense aspects between Mars and Neptune, such as the square, can reflect a feeling of not knowing clearly what we desire, how to act, how to direct our energy, and what to initiate. Confusion is likely to be present around this time and, since Mutable signs are involved, it may result in an inclination to disperse our energy and focus in too many directions.
Avoidant tendencies, issues surrounding boundaries, feelings of victimization, and a need to rescue others or be rescued can be present. Around this time, we are being invited to explore the connection between desire and responsibility, and to keep in mind the impact of the words we choose, of how we express our anger, our instinct, and our sexuality.
Mars is also going to align with Saturn in Aquarius, and their harmonic trine contributes to counterbalancing the effects of the Mars-Neptune square. The first Mars-Saturn trine took place on September 28, the second one is going to be on November 28, and the third one on March 30. The Mars-Saturn trines will support our capacity to be constructive, focused, and effective in channeling our physical and mental energy, inspiring reflection on what we desire to build in the long term, and what actions and decisions are needed for us to get there.
Mars Retrograde in Gemini: Navigating Ambivalence, Nuance, and Duality
Mars retrograde offers us opportunities to renew our relationship with instinct and rethink, reassess, and rediscover how we invest our life force, our energies, and our focus. It is a time to explore how we choose to apply our mental energy and concentration, to question the direction we are moving towards, and to ask ourselves whether that is the path we truly want to take.
Mars retrograde will encourage us to reflect on what we desire to learn and why, to ask ourselves why we tend to communicate in a certain way and to explore different ways of asserting ourselves and our ideas. This retrograde cycle will inspire us to reevaluate our attachment to our opinions, perceptions, and thinking patterns: it will give us chances to change our mindset and the way we inwardly motivate ourselves.
Gemini teaches us to navigate duality, nuance, and paradox as it is a naturally multi-faceted and dual archetype. This Mars retrograde in the sign of the Twins will offer us opportunities to explore how to cooperate with people who hold different perspectives and perceptions and how to deal with ambivalence, both within ourselves and in others. This transit is an opportunity to discover how to navigate conflict, ideological and not, in a connected and curious way rather than a dogmatic one. It will remind us to carefully choose which battles are worth picking and which ones are not.
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