Mars Retrograde
Copyright © Dr. Eileen Nauman, DHM (UK), EMT-B.
All Rights Reserved.
Mars has an orbit of 22 months around the Sun. Every once in a while, it
goes "retrograde" or backwards (seemingly) in motion as it passes Earth,
which has a shorter orbit. This usually happens once every 22 months.
What does retrograde mean?
What does "retrograde" mean? It means "backwards movement". The Earth
has an orbit around the Sun. So does Mars (and Mars's orbit, because it
is farther to the Sun, is longer in circumference than Earth's).
At certain times in that 22 month orbit Mars, because it has a longer
orbit than Earth, will "pass" Earth. As it's moving "away" from Earth,
to an observer standing on Mars, it looks like Earth is moving backward
as this is happening. Mars is surging ahead and Earth is left behind.
This is retrograde motion.
Another way to explore this is: most of you have probably ridden in a
motor boat. When the engines are in forward position, you zoom around.
When you want to back up the boat, you put the throttle in reverse
position. Have you ever watched the surge and turbulence of water
beneath the engine, at the rear of the boat when it's put into reverse
to back up? That's retrograde motion. All turbulence, frothing, bubbling
and boiling as water, which is flowing nice and smooth one way, suddenly
has this engine and motor come and stir it all up as it reverses motion!
And you really don't get anywhere very fast in the boat in reverse
motion, do you? The same holds true of the planetary energy when it's in
backward or retrograde motion, too!
Take Mars and Earth in the same analogy: Mars is the speedboat. Earth is
the water in which it floats. As Mars passes Earth due to its longer
orbit around the Sun, this turbulence energetically is created between
the two planets for what seems like a LONG time. And we know Earth is
not in reverse motion--the concept I'm trying to visually give you is
that as Mars passes Earth as it moves around on it's longer
circumference orbit, creates invisible "waves" of energy. And this
energy is translated into retrograde motion by astrologers.
Another way to state this visually is: You're on a lake and in a boat.
You zoom past another boat that is anchored and the gal is fishing in
one spot. You watch the waves your boat has created by forward motion
impact that other boat. That other boat will bob and move around as the
current of the lake water, set into motion by your speeding boat,
strikes it. The waves pass, and the boat that is anchored, becomes still
once more.
Even though we can't see the energy and turbulence as a the planet in
orbit affects a slower moving planet in its orbit, the turbulence is
still the same. Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it isn't
there and isn't happening--because it is.
When ANY planet goes retrograde (and they all do sooner or later), the
heavier they are, the more impact they produce in our daily life. Those
with larger, longer orbits about the sun producer deeper impact. Those
with shorter orbits, such as Mercury and Venus, cause less havoc.
However, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, create more
havoc or changes. The outer planets of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto create
changes on a more global or generational level. The three that have a
lot of personal, deep impact are: Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. These are
highly personalized and lives can change drastically when they go in
retrograde or direct motion.
Direct motion is a phenomena when Earth, in it's orbits, passes up the
slower moving planet and seems to move ahead of it once again. So, any
planet can go retrograde or direct as we stand on Earth. They all do.
How and what they impact in our lives is the only other consideration
that we are really interested in.
Depending upon what zodiac sign the planet is in when it goes retrograde
and direct, is of major interest. Those people born in that sun sign and
it's opposite sun sign, are more likely to receive the impact and
implications of this planet as it goes retrograde (and later, direct).
A planet from Mars to Pluto, will have a longer period of retrograde,
than Mercury or Venus simply because their orbits are much larger that
these two smaller planets found inside Earth's orbit. For instance,
Mars, when it goes retrograde, it is usually for, roughly, 2 1/2 months
at a time. That's a LONG time! The outer planets can be retrograde for
much longer, again, depending upon their individual orbit.
What does Mars rule?
In order to ascertain what can happen when Mars goes retrograde, you
must first understand what it rules:
1. The release of energy.
2. Our metabolism which burns off calories
3. Our thrust into Life and the world, our eagerness, our energy to go
out there and get things done
4. Being a leader
5. Making things "happen"
6. Creating a new chapter in our life (a job change, a move, a birth, a
death, a gift, the end of something, the beginning of something by our
decision making process)
7. Impulsiveness
8. Our courage
9. Driving force (toward a goal/idea/ideal/vision)
10. Our self-will (our ability to will ourselves in the direction we see
ourselves going
11. Being adventurous
12. Being assertive (take charge, take the bull by the horns, getting
personally involved in some thing)
13. Our desire
14. Out going energy (this is RIGHT sided energy--it is energy, like an
arrow shot from a bow, that we send out into our world to make things
change or "happen.")
15. Being rash
16. Aggression
17. Warlike nature/violent/combative/raging
18. Being angry, the ability to express our anger (either positively or
negatively)
19. Inflammation/high, sudden fever/rashes/sudden infection/killer
epidemic
20. Highly sexual; strong libido
21. Passionate (in an emotional sense) about your goals/ideas/dream and
willing to throw yourself into it completely
22. Struggles within yourself; struggles/fighting with others/war of
words or war of actions/resistance--standing one's ground and fighting
for it
23. Executive ability--you can make decisions; no wavering; it's cut and
dried 24. Our animal instinctual processes; being in touch with them,
our sense of survival and making good decisions that keep us alive or
safe
25. Injury around fire arms, fires, and machinery
26. Being forceful; pushing, bending, folding and creating your reality
through your own desire/will/energy being focused
27. Our masculine energy (our RIGHT side of ourselves, regardless of our
gender). Being in touch and integrating our masculine energy and using
it when we need too (again, regardless of gender).
What does Mars going retrograde do to all of this?
Basically, it pulls the plug on it. The first thing people experience,
especially if the transit of Mars is either conjunct or opposite one of
their natal planets in their astrology chart, is a LOSS OF ENERGY. It's
very real. You can see this as Mars being the helium-filled balloon and
the retrograde as a pin puncturing the balloon. All the "air" or 'fire"
goes out of the balloon and it deflates and falls listlessly to the
earth. That is how you will feel. Let's look at what can happen to our
Mars list:
1. Physical energy is not as available. Or, your energy is depleted
quickly. You cannot do as much as you did before. You need to rest or
nap more often in between jobs/tasks.
2. Energy needed to continue working toward your goal/dream/vision are
put on "hold." Nothing works out for you. All the "steam" and stream of
energy toward making things happen, dissolves mysteriously and quickly.
3. No matter how hard you try to PUSH, nothing will happen. It seems
like everything is in stasis or is very sluggish or does not respond
quickly or as usual to your energy or input that you place into the
project.
4. This is the WORST time to start a new business, to start anything
new, a new idea, trying to write a book, trying to pitch a new idea,
because it simply will fritter away and deflate like a balloon with a
leak in it. It just will go nowhere.
5. Where life seemed to be moving in rapid forward motion and things
were happening and clicking right along--they won't now. They will slow
down. As if in slow motion. But that's not to say it's bad--when things
slow down, you get to sip more deeply from the well instead of just
taking a quick gulp of water and speeding off. Take the time Mars is
giving you and go DEEPER into whatever it is that holds your attention
or responsibility. There is a reason for it and behind it, even if you
or I don't know what it is at the time.
6. You will not have the "push", "shove" or "passion" you had before
Mars went retrograde. The volume is turned down--way down. Your
get-up-and-go, got-up-and-went....
7. Your usual spontaneity is going to go on the back burner and simmer
8. Your "drive" is going to be cut back.
9. You'll need more rest than usual
10. You'll need more sleep than usual
11. You will feel like the Hanged Man of the Tarot deck--hung by your
feet, suspended in mid-air, dangling there and no way to get down or get
out of it.
12. Your life will go into a kind of cocoon-like stasis. This is a
waiting and developing period--not a pushing, shoving,
let's-build-a-nation kind of time
13. You'll feel less inclined to fight, be combative or stand up to
aggression. You may get a more live-and-let-live attitude during this
time frame
14. Sexual drive may wane; don't worry--it will be back when Mars goes
direct. Consider it a reproductive vacation.
15. Your energy will be held and contained; not outgoing as before. I
call this 'paper bag time.' You feel like you're in a huge, invisible
paper bag and nothing is going on schedule or right for you now.
16. Projects lag to a crawl. Things that were supposed to get done,
don't. This isn't a good time to take on a new project, either. It will
fail--miserably. Wait and be patient until Mars turns direct.
17. Injury around fire arms, fire, and machinery are very likely around
the retrograde and direct period
18. This is a time to switch of Life outside yourself to a large degree
and go inward (like a bear goes into hibernation to connect with its
powerful dreamlife) and work on your inner "stuff."
19. Consider this period a time of outer, external calm so you can do
homework on your inner self. It's an excellent time for therapy, for
digging out deep, rooted patterns of harmful behavior that you've been
carrying around like a good friend. Many aha's about one's self are made
at this time.
20. Your instinctual, animal self may not be operating as keenly as
before--so think 2 or 3 times before you commit yourself to anything.
REALLY size it up, be patient and wait it out if it doesn't quite feel
right to you.
21. Your masculine energy is going into hibernation. This is a good time
to switch over to your feminine energy (the touchy, feely,
blind-as-a-bat-yet-you-know-where-you're-going intuition, and use it. It
will keep you out of trouble if you listen to it. If you're male; you
probably will not, and you will hit a few brick walls as a result before
you learn to pay more attention to that little feminine voice inside
yourself.
22. The outer world, all the demands on you, will ease up to a degree
during this period. That's good news--it gives you time to catch up on a
lot of loose ends (like filing...) that have been sitting around and
begging for attention for months--so use this "quiet period" to mop up
some messes you've been letting go for sometime.....
23. You are going to be more open and vulnerable to STRESS--so get out
of the way of it, take care of yourself, get your down-time, nurture
yourself and rest...if you don't, then....
24. Your immune system will be lowered during this period. You cannot
take the normal stresses and demands life places on you. It's a good
time to think about extra Vitamin C (3,000 mg daily) and pantothenic
acid (250 mg a day) to feed your adrenal glands directly so they can
juggle the stresses that you're not coping with as well as you usually
do. Once the Mars retrograde period is over, stop taking the above
vitamins. Your adrenals will go back online at that time without help.
25. Above all, this is a time of gestation; sort of like a pregnancy.
There is much movement on the deep, inner structure of yourselves at a
subconscious level. There is a reason why you are in "bag-time" and
you're suspended and nothing seems to be working out like you thought or
hoped it would. The internal energies that are now gestating within you
need time to form and create the outer physical reality--which will come
and introduce itself to you when Mars goes direct.
26. Most of all, during a Mars retrograde, have patience with yourself
and others. Patience is the key to this period. If you do that, you'll
kick back, lay in the hammock, watch the clouds scud by in the blue sky
and be utilizing this energy properly.
Surviving Mars retrograde
It's pretty easy, really. You expect that you're not going to have all
that energy you had before and you cut back accordingly. You also expect
that nothing is going to go right in your life--either professionally or
personally. There's going to be deviations, set backs, changes--and if
you remain flexible and in touch with your inner feminine intuition,
you'll get through this period just fine.
It is those who are rigid, controlling, stubborn or just plain stupid,
who refuse to change their gait to the drummer's beat, which is beating
a lot more slowly now, that get in real trouble with this retrograde.
Eileen Nauman, Moderator
Athena@medicinegarden.com
Medicine Garden - Medical Astrology