Wherever it lands in a chart, in whatever sign, touching whichever planet, Mars creates a field of conflict–as well as the potential for greater awareness! This means that its major effects are to condition the personality for greater awareness of the soul and such conditioning is often brought about through the dynamics of conflict, tension, and pain. War is no fun. Its devastation creates havoc and requires an enormous amount of recuperation and rebuilding before any further advancement in life can be made. Mars brings about tests and trials which are so much a part of our lives during this phase of our growth.
Why is sexuality, that facet of our desire nature that is so intimately linked with this sign and planet combination, so much of an issue in life? Why is there so much pressure placed upon our sexual conduct (and even more so on the possibility of our sexual misconduct) by church and state, family and friends? This is because sexuality is the primary field of transmutation of human life. Its energy is the energy of Mars in Scorpio and the direction we give to it (and by extension, to the whole of our desire nature), that we come into contact either with our own death and destruction or our own rebirth in the Love of the Soul.
Mars conditions us to release our attachment to the forms of our desires and that is no easy task! Just try to be on a diet, abstain from sex, regulate your urge for a new car, cease manipulating your boss for a raise, projecting your dreams and so much more, and you will easily perceive the nature of the battles of Mars!
Thus we are forced to die many little deaths during a single incarnation. Rather than deny ourselves food, we should eat what is correct for our being. Rather than deny ourselves a new car, our purpose in driving that car is to get us where the soul wants to go. And rather than abstaining from sex, we seek to make love through the conscious use of our sexuality. In this way we can harmonize our lives until the desire nature is transformed (through loving ourselves in a deeper way) and the battles of Mars can take place on a more impersonal level–through service to humanity. It is in this way that Mars attracts his celestial partner into our lives–Venus. Once Mars is successful coupled, he definitely calms down!
The aspects of Mars in your natal horoscope are very important as they point to the battles that have to be confronted and won. Mars is very connected to the sense of devotion within us. When this is exaggerated, it leads to warlike fanaticism such as that found in the character of people who bomb abortion clinics and other forms of terrorism. When the devotion inherent in Mars becomes dominated by the intent of the soul, it produces such individuals as Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, and Pope John XXIII.
The hard aspects of Mars (squares, oppositions, inconjunctions) speak about lessons that remain unlearned and conditions that remain from battles lost in previous times and in past ages.
The easy aspects of Mars (although no aspect of the Red Planet is really that easy), the trines and the sextiles, indicate those planetary conditions that bring strength, devotion, zeal, and potent, creative activity into our lives.
The conjunction of Mars with any planet strengthens that planet for good or ill depending on the nature of the conjunction: Mars is an ally and a friend of certain of the planetary Olympians and a definite foe of others.
* Mars rules sexual desire and can be said to be the ruler of the sexual center from the level of the personality. But in terms of the nature of the Higher Self, Uranus is the ruling planet as it is the body connected to the birth of the “new (wo)man”, the rebirth that occurs after the transmutation of the desire nature. Please remember that Uranus has its exaltation in the sign Scorpio!
- Mars/Venus: “Charlie Chaplin” aspect, euphemistically, a very active love life.
- Mars/Neptune: painfully castrated (of course I speak symbolically).
- Mars/Uranus: may be accident prone, moving too fast for the circumstances, also sugar addiction and nervousness/irritability (the kind of thing you’d think Rydlin would take care of). The best that can come of it is that they be fanatically good at something, such as Rudolf Nureyev, the ballet dancer.
- Mars/Pluto: may be criminal, Mafia, etc., violent, much to do with power or abuse of power (think Richard Nixon) Seen in rape charts (of the women and the men … there are no victims in astrology, just volunteers) Also pawn shops, vice squad, corruption, drug dealing, etc.; also death by sex which includes AIDS. Needless to say it is difficult to handle this aspect well. The best use I’ve seen is a gentleman who was a federal bounty hunter and tracked down criminals who had skipped bail. Others may feel they “can’t let go” creatively and sexually, fearing their own violence or going over the edge.
Last updated on April 16, 2017 at 10:47 pm. Word Count: 856