Mars retrogrades from Leo to Cancer: Emotional Growth

Mars retrograde: Opportunity to Reflect on What We Are Doing and Why

Wherever Mars is, action is happening. Mars’ transits give us information about how we initiate, how we lead, how we make decisions, how we assert ourselves, and how we go after what we desire.

Mars retrograde, happening roughly once every two years, is a time of reorientation, reconsideration, and redirection that has the potential to help us access a new level of self-awareness and build a new relationship to our will, our desires, our anger, and our sexuality.

This transit is an invitation to spend more time observing rather than acting and pay more attention to what our choices and actions reveal about our unconscious motivations, needs, and desires. Mars’ retrograde journey is an opportunity to reflect on what we are doing and why, on where we are going, and on why we experience certain desires and not others. 

Mars from Leo to Cancer: Emotional Growth

In Leo, Mars retrograde has given us opportunities to deepen our understanding of what truly moves us and makes us come alive. This transit offered us an invitation to ask ourselves how much of what we do is driven by a desire for personal significance, visibility, and external recognition. Mars retrograde in Leo challenged us to make sure that what we create is Soul-driven rather than ego-driven and encouraged us to link our personal passions and creative efforts to a socially relevant purpose.

As Mars leaves Leo and enters Cancer again, we have an opportunity to deal with unfinished business and unresolved issues from both our recent past and our childhood. In Cancer, Mars retrograde offers us an opportunity to review, reassess, and renew our way of responding or reacting when strong feelings and emotions arise. This transit is an invitation to discover new ways of relating to our emotions, particularly anger, and pay close attention to the link between our past experiences and our present choices. Mars retrograde in Cancer is an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of what is moving underneath the surface when we feel triggered, frustrated, or irritated, and recognize the true source of our anger, bitterness, or resentment.

The Mars-Chiron squares: Healing the Warrior

On February 4 and March 26, Mars in Cancer is going to square Chiron in Aries. Mars and Chiron already squared each other on October 13, when Mars was in Cancer for the first time. Around these dates, past wounds can resurface and chances for healing and resolution can arise.

This series of squares offers us an opportunity to become aware of and tend to unhealed wounds connected to asserting ourselves, taking space, acting on our desires, starting new endeavors, and going after what we want. The focus here is healing our relationship with Yang, masculine energy, with the Warrior archetype, as Aries is ruled by Mars himself.

The Mars-Chiron squares will offer us opportunities to confront insecurities and vulnerabilities that arise when we express Martian qualities and observe how we deal with feelings of rejection in these instances. These aspects will give us chances to reflect on how we have been conditioned to suppress or reject our anger and assertiveness, perhaps out of fear of conflict or hurting others. The Mars-Chiron squares invite us to heal the part of us that feels unsafe to express anger, take action, or make courageous decisions. This is a chance to develop a healthier relationship to asserting ourselves, taking initiative, being a leader, and taking new paths.

Mars retrograde in Cancer: Developing Emotional Self-Awareness

As Mars moves through the sign of the Crab, and especially while still in opposition to Pluto at 1º Aquarius, we are likely to feel more easily triggered and sensitive to emotional, unspoken undercurrents. This is not a time for pushing forward aggressively, but rather a time to slow down and learn to nurture ourselves properly as we give space to our vulnerabilities, unpack the layers of our emotional responses, and tend to old, forgotten wounds.

Mars’ retrograde journey through Cancer invites us to pay attention to the emotions that drive our actions and choices, often without our conscious awareness. This transit highlights the need to explore how deeply ingrained patterns from our upbringing still influence the way we act, set our boundaries, go after what we desire, and assert our needs. Mars retrograde in Cancer challenges us to cultivate a healthier, more mature relationship with our emotions and our sensitivity, and confront something we may have been avoiding for long.

Mars in Cancer reminds us that true strength comes from being aware of our emotional nature, honoring our emotions, and making sure we are able to act intentionally, rather than impulsively, even when strong emotions are present.

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