Mars Stations Retrograde on
Astrologer OPA’ s Quarterly Magazine V25-01 MARCH EQUINOX 2016 page 6
Mars RX
Mars Stations Retrograde on
Antares
by Baris Ilhan
Mars will be in retrograde motion from April 17 through June 29 2016. This journey will start just before Mars conjoins the royal star Antares at 9 o Sagittarius. Hence this retrograde period will be colored( flavored) by Antares. According to Ebertin, Antares is an important star for military personnel. It conveys mental alertness,
strategic ability and courage and makes dare-devils... If associated with Mars, courage is said to become foolhardiness, leading to increased dangers. 1 Diana Rosenberg sees Antares prominent in events marking the great issues of humankind, especially intolerance, racism and human rights. 2
Mars will turn direct on June 29, reaching the starting degree on August 22, and two days later, conjoining Saturn at Antares. Robson says“ Antares with Mars is connected with quarrels with friends... and fairly favorable for gain”. With Saturn, it connects with“ many disappointments, loss through quarrels and legal affairs, trouble through enemies, many failures,... unfavorable for domestic matters.” 3 From those explanations we can easily tell that the last week of August is very critical in terms of multinational war, racism and human rights, and we have 3.5 months to work on these issues and find some solutions, before it gets really destructive. Plus we shouldn’ t forget that Mars-Saturn conjunction will make a square to Neptune( oil) at the same time. Let’ s use this Neptune energy as compassion and unity instead of war for oil.
1 Fixed Stars and Their Interpretation, Ebertin-Hoffmann, p. 70 2 Fixed Stars Interview with Diana K. Rosenberg By Edith Hathaway 3 The Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, Vivian E. Robson, p. 138 Contact: barisilhan @ superonline. com R
Mars Retrograde in Real Life
by Julian Wise and Arlan Wise
T o be born under retrograde Mars is to think you misheard the starting gun at the beginning of life’ s grand race and are hence perpetually behind the pack and out of sync. Where others seemingly charge forward, devoid of fear or hesitation, you stumble and tiptoe, uncertain of the path to success and suspicious that error and misfortune bedevil your every step. From an astrological perspective this makes sense; the outward Mars energy is turned upon itself, leading to a sense of constant struggle and the eventual belief that everything wished for is either never going to happen or will arrive late, diminished, or riddled with flaws and disappointments. In time one can see that, rather than being a natal hex, retrograde Mars carries within it a valuable curriculum. It teaches the importance of patience, humility, and the ability to break long-term goals into small, manageable pieces that must be undertaken with diligence and attention to detail. Impatience, grandiosity, and inattention will never yield worthwhile results under this configuration’ s stern, patient watch. However, when you accept the value of a diligent, one-step-at-a-time outlook, unconcerned with hypothetical big-picture tribulations, the rewards do come, causing one to understand that they could have been realized at any time but were rendered inaccessible due to dysfunctional cognitive patterns. It’ s a slow-ripening lesson, but when it arrives it creates a paradigm shift with tremendous potential for personal and professional growth.
— JULIAN
Julian’ s retrograde Mars is in Aquarius, in the eighth house, and conjunct the North Node. Mars rules the Midheaven indicating that the career rise will be a slow one. Mars is in square to a Moon in the fourth house-Jupiter in the fifth house conjunction in Scorpio. Instead of this aspect working out as anger towards mother, it functions with mother being the receptacle for hearing about the frustrations and delays. Mother becomes the grumble catcher.
After seventeen years of diligent yet creative work teaching in an elementary school, his Mars went direct by progression. This stationary Mars was sextile both Chiron who is in the tenth house and Uranus who is in the fourth house. At this change point in his life, he quit the job in the school and started his own business. He now owns a successful art gallery( go to Island Images on Facebook) with the underlying business model that art should be affordable to all. How very Aquarian.
Steven Forrest in Yesterday’ s Sky, a book on the Nodes and their relation to reincarnation, states that a planet that conjuncts the North Node“ becomes part and parcel of the North Node. Attaining the highest reaches of its potential is the evolutionary goal.” When that planet is Mars,“ the person must experience his own power and courage”. When that Mars is retrograde, the task is harder but the reward is greater.
— ARLAN, mother of Julian
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The Career
Astrologer OPA’ s Quarterly Magazine V25-01 MARCH EQUINOX 2016 page 6