It is going to be one of those good news ~ bad news weeks. The good news is the traffic jam we’ve been enduring for the past seven months starts to break apart! The bad news is that Mars is the planet who breaks free first! Mars is primal, angry, irritated beyond words, stuck FOR SEVEN LONG MONTHS in his fall in pokey, stick in the mud Taurus, pissed off and very, very, cranky. Mars has been picked on, blocked, swamped, fogged, oppressed, depressed, repressed and tortured ALL FALL by his captors Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Pluto. He’s been taking their bullshit, putting up with it, unable to leave, stuck and gagged into silence. Mars is mad as hell and not going to take it any more! You can’t negotiate with Mars when he’s in this state! No intellectual exercises or trying to reason with him. You need to get out of his way OR get run over OR have amazing sex with him OR duck when the bullets start flying OR wait until he falls asleep OR take him out with a trained sniper. All the Mars energy will feel like a guy who’s been trapped, tied up, strapped down and struggling beyond crazy to break free FOR SEVEN UNBEARABLE MONTHS! Mars finally breaks free! This WEEK!
Mars whips off the ropes that bind him, pulls off the blindfold and takes the gag out of his mouth. His heart is pounding. He struggles to his feet with a whoosh, throwing the thick ropes on the floor and contemplates what to do with his new found freedom. AND he fantasizes about what he can finally do TO his former captors, who may or may not know he is free at last! MARS IS FREE!! And he is outta there just as soon as he …. What? Just as soon as he what?
Therein lays the caution! The watch out for. The be careful around. When Mars is in THIS state, it is like negotiating with a serial killer psychopath suicide bomber terrorist who has a machine gun trained on your head. He’s not listening. He’s not rational. Words don’t count. He is seeing RED! He’s not kind or human or caring. It is time for our last charge of bull to matador! It is our moment to slay Medusa! By getting Bull Mars all riled up, so instinctual, SO primal, survival oriented, irritated, bloody and adrenaline rushed, we need to be very careful when Mars starts to move. His anger will feel like a life force. Anger IS a life force! Mars is our life force, our will. Anger, will, motivation, desire and fear are amazing and productive energies if channeled appropriately. However, Mars in THIS energized state, free at last, can be very destructive just because he wants to be. He wants to get even. He wants revenge.
The more difficult forms of Mars appear when the shadow side of our brave warrior planet is activated. Our shadow side drives the unconscious motivations behind our behaviors. We believe a certain thing. We look for evidence, proof so to speak, to validate our belief system. When we look, well of course, we’ll find proof! It is how we create repeating versions of our reality. It is why the sins of the father pass from generation to generation until someone gets conscious, stops reacting, decides to change and behave in a new or different way.
When Mars feels thwarted, he reacts and fights! When Mars has a clear set of orders, he acts swiftly and bravely! Mars is quite skilled. Over the past seven long months and his retrograde, Mars was thwarted, unable to get what he wanted as the fixed cross held him in place and picked on him. Now, free, Mars can move ~ for good or for evil ~ Mars can move. Hopefully, while your bull has been sitting there getting stabbed by that damned matador and his friends; you and your Mars came up with a plan! Something different than your usual behavior! A clear set of NEW orders to act on, especially now that the coast is clear and Mars can move!
So, first, right now, before we go any further, give your Mars a clear set of operating instructions about that person or situation that has been driving you crazy all fall. Know what your Plan A, Plan B and Option C are. That situation is changing this week!
Power over or domination belief systems produce ugly reactive behavior. If you find yourself in any sort of power struggle, know it can turn ugly VERY QUICKLY, probably with harmful results. It is the last charge of the bull at the matador, the charge when matador gets to kill the bull. Bull has to have a Plan! Watch out for out of control Mars behavior. Understand there are multiple choices available to you, not just black or white, if you find YOURSELF feeling out of control and wanting to charge at something or someone! Choose shades of gray or colors, not just either/or, this/that, black/white. No mindless charging at RED! Mindless charging is EXACTLY what the matador NEEDS you to do so he can KILL YOUR BULL! Matador needs you to charge so he can stab you! He can’t get close enough to kill you IF YOU DON’T CHARGE! No charging! Are we clear? No charging! Be a smart bull!
Next, what is your Mars is going to do now that he is free of his planetary captors and bondage? Since fall, you‘ve been getting clearer and clearer as you’ve been sitting stuck and trapped. You know more about what you want or don‘t want in your life. Now, as your Mars breaks free, give him permission to start working toward what you want. DO NOT USE THE POWER OVER VERSION OF MARS! Use the positive version of Mars. No stalking, power grabs, violence, charging, fights, dramas, explosions, manipulations, shouting or dominations. No power over versions of Mars!
Now for the MOST important part: The situation in your life that has been SO FRUSTRATING was created by you and that shadow of YOUR Mars. Your Mars has a black and white world view! The current situation ties back to Fall 1982 and Spring 1983. What you have is what you believe you can have, are worth or deserve. You told your Mars what you believed you wanted. Mars got it for you! Reread that paragraph until it sinks in, until the shades of meaning and color appear for you.
Mars, cute little fellow that he is, seeking always to serve YOU, went and got it for you! Mars got you EXACTLY what you asked for! Or rather what your SHADOW asked for while you weren’t paying attention. Didn’t Mars get it for you? Isn’t what you are SO frustrated about tied to your belief system, especially to events from 1982/83? Your Mars did JUST exactly what your shadow asked him to do. Mars did listen to your shadow. Mars jumped through hoops to get your SHADOW what IT wanted! You were looking for evidence and proof of your belief system. Your shadow told Mars. Mars found it for you! Your current situation was created by your belief system, by your Mars. It matches perfectly what you think you deserve, are worth or believe you can have. It is what you told Mars to go get for you. He did.
Consciousness comes when you see shadings of meaning, color and understand it. Once you see your shadow, you can never go back. Yes, you might be able to hide a bit longer. However, consciousness is in there, cooking away in your unconscious, changing it from black and white to color like a tie dyed t-shirt.
So what would happen if you changed your mind? Changed your belief system? Colored your beliefs in different shades instead of being so stark, so black and white? After Mars moves into Gemini on Friday, start saying out loud “And it could be xxx”. Give yourself an alternate point of view. Give Mars something to think about. Give him TWO tasks instead of just one, after all, he‘s in Gemini! Argue with passion for a different position than your previous one. Go on, do it. Try it. See what happens. Say to your Mars what you want. Yes, that thing you are SO afraid of. The opposite of your wounded belief system from 1982/83. Isn’t it time? Aren’t you ready to change? Just tell Mars. Whisper it into his ear right before he leaves for his journey in Gemini on Friday. Trust me, he’s got so much pent up energy inside of him, just raring to go after seven months of frustration that he’ll be back with what you want in no time. Then, of course, you’ll have to figure out what to DO with it! But that is another week‘s column.
Monday, Mars is free! Yesterday’s full moon energized him as it took place at the degree of his retrograde station on October first. The situation from Spring of 2000 is ready to roll! Go for it! Mercury’s aspect to Pluto inspires a terrific idea or three. Mercury is the always the alchemical beginning of every change ~ you have an idea!
Tuesday, Mercury and Uranus join on Valentine’s Day at 9:53 Pisces as Venus works with Jupiter and the Sun works with Pluto. Have a chat with your Mars. Tell him what you want. Plan your strategy. Write down inspiring or creative ideas. Brainstorm. Watch out for other Mars charging around today.
Wednesday has a quality of ouch to it. The aspects suggest hurtful words or ideas. If what ever is said echoes an OLD mantra or phrase you heard when you were younger, know that THIS is the MARS SHADOW I was talking about. You’ve been hearing the same old, same old belief for HOW many years? Yes, it MAY be the belief of the person before you. BUT it is ALSO a reliable fish hook to grab your heart, stop you and make you respond in a predictable manner. Now is the moment to have your Mars refuse to charge. Now is the moment to recognize your shadow energy.
Thursday, Mars will have a critical decision to make before he leaves Taurus tomorrow afternoon. The moon in Libra on the South Node is going to make one last Siren call from your old belief system. Plug your ears! One more scary vision of the bad old ideas or behaviors. Don’t Look. Mercury needs to turn and focus on his brilliant ideas from Valentine’s Day. Do you want to direct your Mars in a final charge at the Matador? Or would you prefer to get out of the Bullfight Arena to go do what you want? Please, let the NEXT bull kill the matador. There will be another one. You are history and outta here!
Friday, once you decide what to do with your Mars, today and probably the rest of your life goes according to your decision! Yep, it is THAT important a decision! You either get it or you don‘t. Now, today, tomorrow, or Sunday. So, maybe you don’t believe in all that shadow business about your Mars! Okay. Fish don’t “believe” in water either. Just start acting AS IF you do. Act AS IF you deserve what you are so afraid of! Act AS IF it is going to turn out for the best. And, if not THIS particular situation, then the next one. Act as if. Tomorrow, the Sun leaves Aquarius. Mercury has fabulous aspects over the weekend. Tell Mars what to go get for you. Tell him to get you what you are scared of. We’ll deal with your anxiety in the future. Just ask Mars to get it for you. You want it. You deserve it. If you tell Mars before he leaves his square to Sun in Pisces on Sunday morning, Mars will be back with it by mid-April. He is SO ready to go get it. Change is upon us.
Copyright © 2006 Anne C. Ortelee
