This Year’s Mars Retrograde
Is Mars Retrograde?
Mars is currently direct (i.e. moving forwards)
Upcoming Mars Retrograde period:
December 6, 2024 to February 23, 2025
From 6º Leo to 17º Cancer.
“A hero, properly, is one who gives his life to something greater than himself.”
-Joseph Campbell
If you know a little about the planetary archetypes in astrology, you may know that Mars is your Inner Hero. Mars is the keeper of your energy, drive, vitality, self-assertion and potency. Understanding the larger Mars cycle can help you go after what you want in life. So what happens during Mars Retrograde?
What is Mars Retrograde?
Mars Retrograde is when the red planet is in the part of his cycle where he is traveling backwards from our point of view here on Earth. When Mars does this, we are cast upon a symbolic Hero’s Journey. It is an opportunity to transform from the Cynical, Bad-Faith Villain into the Hopeful, Good-Faith Hero. We do this by going through a period of soul-searching, an inward journey where we reflect on our actions and our cause, to determine if they are worthy and heroic or unworthy and selfish.
A retrograde period of any planet is a slowing down and an inward reflection on that planet’s themes. It is a time of moving backward, perhaps of going back to pick up pieces lost in the past. It is a retrieval, a turning inward, a letting-go.
For example, when the messenger planet Mercury goes retrograde, we are slowed down in our technology and communications, and we rethink the ways we communicate. When the relationship planet Venus goes retrograde, we experience misunderstandings in our relationships, and look back and reflect on the relationships of our past.
While Mars is retrograde, we will face many opportunities to be a hero in a deeper, truer sense than we ever have before. A Hero’s Journey is a life-passage in which we retrieve our own heroism. True heroism involves courage, strength, assertiveness, but also gentleness and appropriate restraint—and during this journey we are tested, in a number of ways, for those things.
How Long Does Mars Retrograde Last?
The retrograde period of Mars is just one part of his larger cycle, which lasts about two years. That means Mars goes retrograde about once every two years and when he does, it usually does so for 8 to 11 weeks. That’s plenty of time to have a few interesting adventures to test our mettle.
Who Does This Transit Affect?
All of us, basically. However, if you have the Sun in Aries or Aries Rising, you’ll tend to feel Mars activity the most keenly. That’s because you already have a strongly martial nature and Mars is your planetary ruler. Same goes if you are a Scorpio Sun or Rising, as Mars is the traditional ruler of Scorpio.
Likewise, if you have natal Mars Retrograde in your own chart, you deal with challenges regarding will, desire, assertion, honesty, sexuality and self-determination. You will face many obstacles on your path in this lifetime, and some of them will be absolutely confounding. In fact, it’s quite possible that your Greater Self arranged for you to have Mars Retrograde in your natal chart in this lifetime specifically to force you to make up for some hasty or selfish behavior in past lives.
Therefore, it’s likely that an individual with natal Mars retrograde will also have a strong experience of the Mars Retrograde transit. This is not necessarily a bad thing—when you have a natal planet retrograde and that planet goes retrograde in our skies, it can feel oddly like coming home, or as if the rest of the world is sharing your vibe, for once.
What Does Mars Retrograde in Leo and Cancer Feel Like?
Mars begins this retrograde period in Leo, where our inner Hero is proud, flashy, extroverted, performative, and playful. However, during this transit you may question the source of your vital energy, and experience some problems or conflicts regarding egotism or a tendency to make yourself the center of attention. You may need to discover more balanced ways of existing in the spotlight.
When Mars backs up into Cancer, a more sensitive side of your warrior nature can emerge, and you’ll be asked to incorporate that emotional awareness and care for others into your drive to achieve, conquer and win. But Mars doesn’t do well in Cancer–this is his ‘sign of fall’, where he struggles the most. In fact, in this emotional Water sign, Mars can be a whiny warrior. Some of the challenges will include being direct (instead of avoiding conflict), managing your own psychology (and avoiding self-sabotage) and sticking to your own plan (instead of battling on behalf of someone you sympathize with).
You may have to reconcile your relationship with your own tears. If you habitually never cry, this transit may break that self-imposed limitation. If you habitually use tears as a weapon, this transit may cause you to see what this manipulative habit costs you.
The Mars Cycle In 2024:
The current Mars cycle began last year, on November 17, 2023. That was a Heroic Epiphany Day where Mars conjuncts the Sun while direct. This marked the close of the previous cycle and initiated a new one, which we are in now. The retrograde period falls in the middle of the cycle. Mars goes retrograde on December 6, 2024 at 6º Leo. It then travels backwards until February 23, 2025 where it turns direct (forward) at 17º Cancer. The cycle looks like this:
Mars Retrograde Cycle: Important Days
1. Heroic Epiphany Day: the Beginning and End of the Mars Cycle
So, to reiterate, the retrograde period of Mars is just one part of his larger two-year cycle. This cycle is marked by certain milestone days. For example, the day that Mars conjuncts the Sun is called “Heroic Epiphany Day” and marks the beginning and end of the cycle.
Heroic Epiphany Day is a peak on a wave of energy, drive, action and clarity. It’s a great time to make a strong beginning on a year-long project, or to assert yourself in a way you’ve hesitated to do before. This is a day of triumph where projects begun are likely to face fewer than average obstacles. The house in your chart where Mars is during Heroic Epiphany Day can provide a clue about where in your life you can more easily take heroic action, with greater chance of a win.
2. The Day Mars Goes Retrograde: Stop and Think
On the day Mars goes retrograde, and even while Mars is slowing down during the 4 – 5 weeks leading up to it, actions begin to get tangled up. It gets harder to find clarity about where you’re headed and what you want. Everything seems more complicated than usual and the path is beset with obstacles. In this cycle, Mars goes retrograde on December 6, 2024.
This is an inward journey to discover “what is real heroism in this present situation?” You may arrive at a point where you just have to sit down, stop trying, and ask yourself realistically, “am I on the right path? Am I doing the right thing? Is this path going where I want it to go? And is there a cost, consequence or side-effect of following this path that I’ve been ignoring? Will something come back to bite me later?”
Mars Retrograde periods teach us the error of our more impulsive or willful ways. If you are pursuing something with a relentlessness that will brook no opposition, or you’re determined to have your way “at any cost,” something may make you stop and rethink on the day Mars pivots retrograde.
3. Maximum Frustration Day: The Most Difficult Part of the Cycle
In the middle of its retrograde period, Mars opposes the Sun. The Sun shines the light of conscious awareness on Mars and makes him more visible, just like the Sun does to the Moon when the Moon is full. This spotlights Mars, and is therefore the day of maximum frustration, blockage, irritation and rage during the cycle. Mars’ drive and energy meets with the ultimate obstacle and it’s out there for everyone to see. At this point, all Mars wants is to batter that wall until he rams right through it.
Mars may be long on action, but he is short on brains and tact. In other words, on Maximum Frustration Day, we are especially prone to behaving badly in frustration or anger. However, you can balance this tendency by being aware that the transit is going on, and practicing mindfulness, diplomacy, and non-reactivity.
If you have already been rethinking your actions, this is the day when a solution presents itself. You may discover that your actions up to now have been those of the grizzled old Warrior—expecting obstacles and therefore finding them. Expecting enemies and therefore creating them. Expecting that every problem is a nail because your only tool is a hammer. It’s time to learn more subtlety and self-control. It’s time to harness your drive and send it in a better direction. This can be the day when a less hasty or obstinate and a more strategic approach presents itself, allowing you to sacrifice the battle for the sake of the war.
The current cycle’s Maximum Frustration Day is January 15, 2025 and it happens at 26º Cancer. This means that if you have any planet or point in your chart at 26º of any Cardinal sign (Cancer, Libra, Capricorn or Aries), you will feel this strongly—and that planet or point will tell you where in your life it will appear the most vividly. For example, if Mars aspects your Saturn (archetype of career and authority) on Maximum Frustration Day, your career and reputation will seem to be on the line and you will have to contain the frustration you feel about them. By contrast, if Mars aspects your Venus (whose main theme is relationships), beware of blowing up at your partner—or you could destroy their affection forever.
4. The Day Mars Goes Direct
This day can bring massive relief—or at least the beginnings of it. Perhaps it’s the feeling that you have discovered the right course of action, the right path going forward. Maybe it’s knowing that the worst of the battles are over… for now. And now there’s an open door for you to move forward.
In the current cycle, this day comes on February 23, 2025. On that day the pressure can begin to come off. The inward journey has ended. Maybe you went on this journey deliberately, or maybe it was forced upon you, but either way, it can feel like it’s time to come out of the deep, dark cave of self-reflection. It’s time to face your regrets one last time, and decide with clarity how you will move forward from here.
This is where the Hero puts on his white hat, gets firmly upon his moral high ground, and re-engages the battle, with more certainty of the win and a better understanding of the sacrifices needed for that win. Or perhaps, this is where the Hero leaves the field, having decided that he was in the wrong battle, or the wrong war, or on the wrong side. Any one of these actions, when done with clarity and honor, is a respectable choice.
But this transit isn’t over until Mars once again passes the degree where he turned retrograde in the first place.
5. The Day Mars Leaves Its Span: Closure
Somewhere between the direct-turning day and the day Mars leaves its span comes the final battle or decision. In this several-weeks span, resolution and closure can come. This closure can resolve our Mars issues stemming even as far back as the date when Mars first entered its span for the year, which was October 4, 2024.
This cycle, Mars leaves its span on May 3, 2025. This is where Mars passes 6º Leo, the place where it had originally turned retrograde. This is where we leave behind the trials and tribulations of this year’s Mars Retrograde period and move on from them entirely. It’s also the point by which the opportunity here will come to an end. And that’s the opportunity to learn from this Mars Retrograde and transform oneself from the selfish Bad-Faith Villain (who wants to win at any cost) into the selfless Good-Faith Hero (dedicated to something greater than him / herself).
After this date, Mars Retrograde is well and truly over until the whole cycle finishes on January 9, 2026. At that point, the next Mars cycle begins and new opportunities to be a hero will present themselves.
Does This Mean You?
If you were born in the following date-spans (of any year), Mars will transit your Sun during his 2024-2025 retrograde:
January 7 to 26
April 6 to 26
July 8 to 29
October 10 to 29
So, if your birthday falls in any of those periods, you will feel this retrograde strongly! Therefore, you may want to pay attention during this time, slow down, be more deliberate and avoid acting in haste or on impulse. This will give you maximum insight and growth during 2024-2025’s Mars Retrograde.
Practical Ways To Deal With Mars Retrograde:
When Mars is retrograde, we are less coordinated and more accident prone. Additionally, we are prone to expressing pent-up aggression in all the wrong ways. In order to avoid the worst potentials of Mars’ retrograde, while it’s on we advise you to take the following precautions:
- Drive carefully. Don’t speed.
- Don’t over-exercise to make up for lost workouts.
- Stay away from combative people, angry people or drunk people.
- Avoid being one of the above.
When has this happened before? Previous Mars Retrograde periods:
October 2022 to January 2023, Mars in Gemini:
Mars Retrograde in Gemini: The Nerdy Warrior
June 26 to August 27, 2018, Mars in Aquarius and Capricorn:
The Uncanny Hero: Fox Mulder’s Quest to Prove Extra-Terrestrial Life
April 17 to June 30, 2016, Mars in Sagittarius and Scorpio:
Mars Rx 2016 in Sagittarius and Scorpio–Star Wars, the Hero’s Loss of Innocence and the Encounter with Evil
March 1, 2014 through May 19, 2014, Mars in Libra:
Mars Retrograde in Libra: The Deadly Diplomat
We made our original series of blogposts about this when Mars went retrograde from December 29, 2009 through March 10, 2010, in the sign of Leo. During that time we blogged about stories of famous heroes and how they might lend meaning to the Mars retrograde period. Here is that post-thread:
Mars Retrograde—The Hero’s Journey
Finding out about Mars in YOUR chart:
Use the clear, easy instructions in this blogpost on how to cast your own chart online and find out where Mars is in your chart.
Go Deeper
The best way to go straight for the gold and explore your natal Mars is in a reading by Jamie Kahl Miller of Pandora Astrology. You can find out more about that on our services page.
