Tracing Over 2025 pt. 2
Mars reborn
We’re starting the year in the middle of a Mars retrograde. At this moment, in the middle of his retrograde, Mars is traveling the closest to the Earth that he does in his orbit, which symbolically depicts the “presence” of the Mars archetype.
Mars relates to our drive, our get up and go. He’s the wildest archetype in the planetary scheme, having to do with the parts of us that resist being civilized, and yet paradoxically, Mars thrives with order and with a clear respect for authority, like a martial artist or person in the military. Mars enables us to pursue our goals, as well as to just get things done. Mars is how we are forcefully effective in the world, and the powerful forces that course through our body.
The Martial archetype is important at this moment in history, as Neptune and Saturn are just about to move into Aries, which I discussed in my last newsletter. For the next 13 years or so, the Martial archetype will be idolized and exalted, with heroes, heroines, and heroic actions taking on an otherworldly shine. The general atmosphere will feel a good bit more testy and aggressive, and we’d do well to feel strong and empowered while not getting caught up in any blustery fire. Likewise, it would be great to cultivate a relationship with our own Martial icons, seeing them as conduits of qualities to develop ourselves.
Aries has already been the locus of significant planetary action for a few years, although of different stripes. For the last year and a half, the North Node has been in Aries, and we’ve had several eclipses in the neighborhood, indicating the potential for serious growth and quick changes in relation to our own Aries selves (and wherever Aries falls in our charts). By the same measure, this North Node, which is also called the Dragon’s Head, can be a place where we get ahead of ourselves, biting off more than we can chew or getting headstrong—here, the Aries archetype out of balance. I think this is part of the reason why the global atmosphere has gotten so suddenly war-like in the past year and a half.
On a longer time frame, Aries has been where Chiron, the wounded healer, has been transiting since 2018, which will continue till the summer of 2026. Chiron’s transit through Aries has brought healing to the masculine and healing through the masculine. Chiron’s medicine chest in Aries has all sorts of fiery, potent medicines, as well as medicines for the troubles that Aries can get into—burning out, getting in accidents, and overexerting oneself—too much Yang, basically. Chiron teaches us the therapeutic value of a good sweat and the psychological benefits of feeling physically strong. Our greatest teachers during this time period are not just otherworldly, more than human beings, but fully human, displaying a full, vigorous expression and engagement with the world. We can think of the next decade+ as a chance to put into effect what we’ve been learning with Chiron about Aries themes.
Mars’ dance through the zodiac depicts the unfolding of this evolution of the Masculine part of us. This unfolds in a roughly 2.5-year-long cycle, with Mars bouldering through the zodiac for a long stretch and then hitting the breaks, spending up to nine months in the same part of the chart, boiling and brewing, re-configuring and renewing our inner Martial nature. That Rx is what we’re in the middle of right now, with the exact midpoint coming alongside our Cancer Full Moon on the 13th.
We can picture this process as Mars coming home to reconnect with his inner fire, his sense of grit and ferocity. This coming home is a part of the retrograde and Mars’ nearness to the Earth, but this spirit of coming home has to do with Mars returning to Cancer, as he was slowing down to start this retrograde. Mars both has dignity and detriment in Cancer—like a young man coming home, all sorts of raw and difficult emotions can be stirred up, but the feeling of care or protectiveness can also call forth some of Mars’ greatest strengths. Mars traditionally takes his exaltation in Capricorn—that realm of significant structure to train and guide his forces. Cancer, being the sign opposing Capricorn, is Mars’ fall. But Mars also traditionally ruled Scorpio, a water sign, and therefore has dignity in Cancer, another water sign. As Mars will be aspecting the Sun in Capricorn, he will be “receiving” the Sun—since Mars likes Capricorn energy, this will be a boon to him. In this regard, we could think of this as a good time to get Mars suited up, in uniform, and underway with momentum in whatever training regimens, disciplines, or pursuits are suitable for us in the coming months.
Alongside the end of the retrograde, Mars will also be making a very long trine to Saturn through the coming months, which is a very rare phenomenon. Usually, these two planets move at very different speeds—Saturn takes 28.5 years to make his way around the zodiac, whereas Mars only takes 2.5—and their trines, which are moments of great endurance and strength and usually only last about a week. I often look forward to these trines between Mars and Saturn as key moments to enjoy and make use of, especially for some sort of project that needs a bit of oomph or generally kicking myself into higher gear. But here, we’ll have the opportunity to keep this pace for much of the first half of the year. Aside from the retrograde, this is another very distinguished factor promoting Mars this year. We might accordingly adjust our expectations. Still, Mars and Saturn are making this trine from water signs, so a lot of the game will be about getting the vibe right rather than necessarily thinking or forcing our way into excellence. Mars here wants to protect something precious (Cancer), whereas Saturn wants to act in integrity with his deep conscience and in alignment with a greater dream (Pisces). These are the components that could lead the way toward excellence this spring.
Through much of this time, Mars will also be squaring Chiron, which has a different quality—it’s more like a trainer, coach, or teacher of some sort feeling like a thorn in your side, with the potential of actually having your feelings hurt or feeling pushed to your emotional limits for the sake of your training. We can learn an immense amount in moments like this—these moments where we actually break or dissolve before we reform. It’s a face of Chiron that’s not entirely fun, but it can be necessary for periods of time. Even though Chiron’s tough love might be frustrating or infuriating for Mars, since Chiron is in Aries right now, on a deeper level, Mars should be quite receptive to his wisdom.
Mars’ retrograde ends on February 23rd at 17° Cancer, but he’ll continue moving slowly through the retrograde shadow until the end of April when he’ll enter into a final opposition with Pluto and a T-Square with the Sun—Mars started this retrograde in a long opposition with Pluto, which is also partially present to start this year, the dynamics of which I explored in this post. We could think of this stretch in April as a sort of final challenge or ordeal for Mars, a moment of integrating what has been worked over since the fall. This is also taking place alongside Neptune and Saturn’s entrance into Aries, so we’re looking at the summer as a sort of extended test, with Mars being a bit more important and in the spotlight than usual. Likewise, Mars will be in Leo at that moment (having moved into Leo on April 17th), which is a place in which Mars operates with a lot of pride, bringing the force of personality into play and identifying with one’s pursuits and engagements. This was the position that Mars started his retrograde within, and so, hopefully, we can return to this place of pride with more balance.
Through the rest of the year, Mars will pick up speed through the other zodiac signs. As compared to the guarded, fixed movement, a sort of groove or singular mode, that’s present with Mars in Cancer at the start of the year, through the end of the year Mars will need to adopt different styles to be effective. Likewise, as the outer planets are hovering at the end and beginning of signs this year, these moments of transition between signs are going to be more significant, bringing influxes of big energies as planets change form.
Mars moves from Leo to Virgo on June 16th, which will redirect Mars to Chiron’s sharpening stone, honing our skills and becoming more effective amidst the intricate challenges of daily life. On August 6th, Mars moves into Libra, taking emphasis more in the direction of collaboration—not a strong suit for Mars, but an important one, especially as Mars will be opposing Saturn from Libra. That period at the end of the summer will align with Mercury’s retrograde, so there will likely be some re-orientation and recalibration happening for Mars, too. On Sept 22, Mars moves into Scorpio, one of his domiciles, bringing a particularly passionate and focused time period about. On November 4th, Mars will move into Sagittarius, encouraging Mars toward adventure and conviction in his ideals. Mars will be in a conjunction with Mercury through much of his time in Sagittarius, which should be a fun (and dangerous) time period. Finally, we’ll end the year with Mars in Capricorn, his favorite spot, and one in which he should feel quite dignified, especially as compared to the end of 2024.
Hopefully this was helpful for you! As always, if you want to explore this more, please book a reading!
With a deep bow,
Charlie