Still dealing with lingering anger and resentment from the Mars retrograde period that lasted from January 21 to March 10? Still coping with anger, impulse control or wanting to resurrect your energy and drive? Mars will continue re-hashing these issues through May 17. Why? Mars is demanding heroism of us.
Mars themes include anger management, awakening your drive, wielding your power and generally being a hero. We’re currently in a period where all these themes may be present. This year’s Mars retrograde period may already be over, but its influences don’t pass until after May 17 because, although Mars is no longer moving backwards, it is now re-covering the ground it had retrograded through.
While retrograde (i.e. moving backwards), Mars covered all the ground between 0 and 19 degrees of Leo, a very big swath of sky for a retrograding planet. Its passage affected everyone with something in their chart in 0 to 19 degrees of any Fixed sign (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius). And while the retrograde part only lasted 16 weeks, the whole journey—consisting of Mars’ passage from 0 to 19 degrees, backwards from 19 to 0 and then forwards a final time to 19 degrees—lasts from Dec 20 to May 17, a period of over 5 months. It has been a period of deep examination of the areas of our lives where we need to be more heroic.
This highly challenging transit tends to affect Aries people more than other types, because Mars is the ruler of Aries. I’m an Aries myself and in fact, it affected me so much that I couldn’t do all the blog posts I wanted to do about it. Too busy fighting those inner demons. So I’m finishing them now, before Mars is done.
“Does this affect me?”
If you have anything in your chart in 0 to 19 degrees of any of the Fixed signs (Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius or Taurus), then the answer is yes. If you want to find out if this affects you, send me your birth data and I’ll tell you at no cost. Just email me at Pandora at pandoraastrology dot com and include your name, your date of birth (including the year), your birth time as accurate as you can find (the birth certificate is usually the best source) and the city you were born in. Be sure to add the question: “am I being affected by this year’s Mars retrograde transit?”
Articles in this thread:
Mars Retrograde: The Hero’s Journey
Hercules, Hero of Strength
Achilles, Hero of Courage
Resourceful, Clever Odysseus
There’s Still Time To Be A Hero
Castor & Pollux: Brotherhood in the Trenches
Alexander the Great & the Gordian Knot
Orpheus: Going The Distance For Love
