RetrogradeMars is another one that is understood pretty well by way of a scientific fact. Though we often talk about you know, colonies on Mars and such, these have not ended well, usually. Humanity’s been trying to get up close and personal with the red planet since about 1960 or so and often, these things fail before they even get started. In fact, in 1999, the most infamous $193 million failure was due to some confusion when well, some were using the superior metric system and others were not. Since the turn of the century, however, only 1 of 12 missions has failed but historically: there’s been about a 50/50 change something’s going to go totally sideways. Kinda what you get for naming the moons Deimos and Phobos, really- panic and fear don’t usually make for great insights.

In astrology, Mars is all things manly. Sort of. Stereotypically manly, really. Aggression, anger, war, those are all things that Mars covers. Mars rules Aries in modern astrology, and in traditional astrology, it rules Scorpio. It isn’t just those overtly aggressive things, though- and that’s why pointing out it also ruled Scorpio at one point is good. Aggression takes many forms. That said, Mars is not bad. Also representing action, desire, energy and survival- well, those things are pretty important.

When it needs someone to step up and get things done- well, that’s Mars. Confidence, personal power, sexual energy and desire- those are also Mars types of things. Starting to get why that whole comparison at the start about mission failure and moons called panic and fear might be pretty apt? Wars started that way tend to be pretty much crap, too.

Mars also rules a more instinctive sort of drive- which can often create a bit of a competitive side and can be a pretty great thing when it comes to needing to take steps towards something.

The Retrograde

Don’t reach for the horny goat weed just yet, Mars Retrograde is not going to cosmically kill your libido. It is also, unfortunately, not going to just stall out acts of aggression and war.

This cycle happens about every 25 months and will last for 80 long days- and though you might feel like kicking some serious butt: you might want to slow your roll. Quite a few of the things associated with Mars retrograde are said to make it seem as though desire is just overcoming you- or like you’re just good and mad, not going to take it anymore.

As with other retrograde cycles- it might not be an incorrect feeling but, right feeling, wrong time. Or just wrong feeling, wrong time but in either case: you might want to consider all the facts and keep considering them for a while. Things that happen may have you really smarting from the butt kicking- but, it might be a good idea to just calm down and think for a while so you don’t make a big mistake.

This is actually one of those retrogrades though, that when it is over: if you have taken those steps and you’re ready to move, you should. So if you really need a reason to act on the things you’ve been thinking about- use the retrograde to think some more, then tell everyone “Look, man, Mars station direct today, I don’t know what to tell ya.” when it’s over.