June 27 – July 3, 2016: Mars Direct

This week Mars, who has been retrograde since April 17, goes direct in the sign of Scorpio at 23 degrees on June 29. Mars retrograde signified a shift in the Martian vibration in our lives (will and asserting will, vitality, sex, quality & availability of sexual drive and connection, anger). Mars direct will once again shift this energy, not back to what was in play April 17 and previously, but more informed and aware of deep desire and power dynamics, since we have had some space to assess them. Also think back to February 17 of this year, and themes and events that were personally unfolding for you – that was the last time Mars was in 23 degrees of Scorpio. Anticipate some returning vitality to an area of your life that has felt blocked or lackluster.

When we couple the Mars retrograde with the Saturn-Neptune square that was exact June 17 (and still very much in play), there was a huge element of surrendering the will these last few weeks. Under pressure, Scorpio might want to manipulate to control a situation or keep the upper hand, but Neptune washes away Saturn’s control mechanisms and structures of control. There has been a lot of confusion and depression with these transits, which is why a particular quote resonated with me and I shared it the other day:

“This time when we have fallen from the ‘path’, when there seems to be no way, is often a reopening to a deep experience of the soul. Many old teachers suggest that we cannot revisit the garden by quite the same path we once did. The drums can no longer provide what they did as a young boy.

C.S. Lewis used this mythic staple beautifully in his books for children – you can’t keep finding the Otherworld through the back of the wardrobe, so keep your eyes open for other doorways. Stay curious.” – from Snowy Tower: Parzival and the Wet, Black Branch of Language by Martin Shaw

When there is nowhere left to proceed in a given structure that we’ve become accustomed, there is grief and confusion, and ultimately an opening into a new identity. With Mars retrograde, the drive to create an alternative or act in a new way immediately was in a state of repose – so many of us became aware that something was shifting without knowing what the next steps were. In the space of unknowns, the defensive drives being triggered were in the realm of soul-space Scorpio, so we’ve had some opportunities (or what possibly feels like being backed into a corner) to examine our deepest motivations and desires. These insights under pressure are now useful pieces of knowledge to apply to future opportunities that open up as the energies shift to support more forward momentum.

(Image: René Magritte)

The Saturn-Neptune square has been signifying a major collective shift – and the square aspect relates to crisis. The last quarter-square phase which Saturn and Neptune are in specifically speaks to a crisis in consciousness, and we have met this by our attempts to grapple with senseless violence, global dis-ease and consistently alarming headlines.

Mars goes direct in 23 degrees of Scorpio where it will form an inconjunct to Uranus in Aries. To get into this a little, there’s an image of our collected experiences here being like a tapestry, and with each experience we have, we are threading into this larger picture. There is an intelligence at play in the order of events in our lives: we may go through a difficult experience and wonder why- yet it is the skills or empathy we gained in the experience that inform our ability to be fully present for a future situation we find fulfilling and positive. You may resonate with this just in the sense of seeing how your past, in all of its heights and reversals, has led you to where you are now, in all of its positives and negatives. In the moment, we often do not possess a vision of the larger framework we are playing into, and we may apply our will in an attempt to steer circumstances a certain way we find desirable. Sometimes there is room for this, and other times attempts to create reality the way we want it to be is out of reach. The transits of late have emphasized the latter, and have seemed to call for flexibility.

Uranus correlates to a force that creates sudden awareness in the form of epiphanies, but also dramatic encounters that shock us. When we examine the events that unfolded in retrospect (and with the lens that can see all the detail work), there is a chain of cause and effect that was simply happening faster than we could attend to. This alignment between Uranus and Mars as Mars goes direct speaks to situations arising that alert us that something is not quite right. We will be looking at our energetic attachments that inform how we shape our will. Where these bonds are not actually secure (and maybe never were), they may be broken now. Of course this is liberating, but it might not feel that way – it may trigger deep attachments. Inconjuncts are ultimately about alignment, and create moments where we can pop into place – by becoming first aware of what feels off and then making adjustments and shifts to support both our wellbeing and our ability to mirror and connect with another (after the inconjunct, the next major aspect is the opposition, at 180 degrees, where we involve relationship).

Some ways this can show up-
– Having been willing to put in the work or go through a personal transformation to accommodate a bond, which is now revealing itself as not in alignment with your individual or social destiny
– Investigating and/or deepening a connection you weren’t expecting or planning for
– Disruptions to agreements (implicit and explicit), shifts in favor.

In what ways are we energetically merging with something, someone, etc. that is not in health with ourselves or with the whole? This is what we’re looking at this week. The inconjunct aspect often points to what is lacking, what is missing, what is off. Uranus isn’t interrupting connections and bonds just to be a rebel… it’s simply intensifying the fractures that already exist.

If we tune into the Cancer elements of the sky this week – Sun, Venus, and now Mercury, tenderness, family, love and care are so important. For ourselves, and for others. And if we can take stewardship over our own ecosystems, bodies, and mind-body-spirit connection, we set ourselves up to be in connection with others who will also mirror that care. There could be a critical need this week to examine what is more worth it – a destructive addiction of some kind, or what you actually need to be in harmony with yourself and your environment.

Above all, with these transits, consider information coming through on the emotional, psychic, intuitive planes as very valuable. We have systematic ways, as a culture, of ignoring these messages, but it is through honoring these messages that we can bring restoration and health to ourselves and our relationships. These intuitive messages may be at odds with what’s being said or patterns that have existed and seemingly worked in the past, so listen in carefully.

~Sabrina Monarch

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(Top image: Jesse Treece)

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