Wrapping Up Retro Madness

2.28.08


Just when you thought you were done reading the words 'Mars retrograde' for a while…

No, Mars won't be going retrograde again anytime soon. (Hell, he's only been direct for about a month… and won't flip back to backwards until Dec 09.)

But believe it or not, we're still working our way back out of Mars's retrograde shadow, essentially continuing to revisit the issues its irritating insistence on dwelling in the same spot has needled us to confront. And this coming week is an important climax in sweeping up that narrative's still-dangling loose ends.

Ditto for the unresolved scraps left over from Mercury's recent retrograde through Aquarius (Jan 28-Feb 18), in terms of the significance in timing. This next week, Mercury finishes up retracing its retrograde-shadow steps, which allows us to complete any conceptualizing, strategizing and negotiating which may've required the additional considerations we're just now getting to.

And on the tail end of retrograde-made-cuckoo issues, first with Venus and then with Mars, affecting us since the middle of 2007… well, Mercury leaving the shadow and emerging on new ground in the late degrees of Aquarius promises, for the first time in a while, to grant our minds a systemic overview of how each disparate advance or aggravation from these past months connects with the other. Might we actually attain some comprehensive intelligibility (however fleeting the glimpse of clarity) on this recent phase, before the next lump of chaos shows up on our front stoop?

The biggest story, however, really directs us back to Mars. After all, he reenters Cancer (where he recently stayed from Sep 28 to Dec 31 of last year) on Tue Mar 4 … and forms a third and final opposition to Pluto, now in Capricorn, on Fri Mar 7. As I previously wrote, this Mars-Pluto opposition played a huge part in defining this last Mars retrograde, effectively investing our day-to-day struggles and inconveniences (part and parcel of Mars-retro) with an added layer of transpersonal resonance—or, phrased less woo-wooily, demonstrating how 'the personal' has a far larger relevance than at first we may've thought.

Pitting Mars against Pluto is like running directly toward what our in-the-moment ego wants us to possess… only to discover that the desired treasure sits smack in the middle of a burning-hot fire (or some other potentially pain-inducing obstacle), either (1) forcing us to deal with some charred edges and blistery scar-marks, if we want to succeed, or (2) thwarting our efforts entirely, due to potent dangers beyond what we're willing to contend with.

In either case, the path to fruitful self-assertion (i.e., getting what we set out to get) is wrought with complications that simply cannot be sidestepped, no matter how spry we may be. Under best circumstances, we emerge with the hard-fought victory… pleased as punch for proving our stubborn staying power, if not humbled by the crosswinds' formidable strength. And in the most frustrating examples, we're pushed to admit we are no match for tidal forces greater than we—and gulp down the message we've clearly received from the universe (or wherever such symbolic wisdoms derive) that, despite our obvious wanting, perhaps we're meant for something else. Are we wise enough to heed the larger signs? Or do we continue fighting the losing battle?

By this third pass of the Mars-Pluto opposition, we should be smart enough to connect the dots… to spy whatever patterns, uniquely personal to us yet also broader in ultimate significance, point to what we're up against. That Pluto, let's not forget, is presently a major mover-and-shaker, sitting on the cusp of Capricorn and ushering us into a turbulent few years ahead.

The event's first pass was back on Sep 21, while Venus was still trooping through her retrograde shadow. Back then, the power struggles, conflicts or other complicating interpersonal dynamics may easily have slipped past our full awareness of just how long its echoes would continue affecting our lives.

Only after Mars officially went retrograde in mid-November did we begin to realize we wouldn't be 'progressing' as quickly as we might've hoped, due to the peculiar feeling (thanks to Mars-retro) that our efforts were sort of 'turning in on themselves'. But by the time the Mars-Pluto opposition peaked its second time (on Jan 2), we couldn't help but become much more conscious of the tricky difficulties involved in actually moving forward—now that certain themes and situations were so poignantly repeating themselves.

Throughout the next week, as we're faced with the chance to resolve struggles still up in the air, it's important to pause and reflect back on the dates I've just offered—(1) late Sep 07 and (2) early Jan 08. Compare any standoffs or lingering judgments-to-be-made now reaching a climax with similar moments-of-truth during either of the previous times mentioned. There is a profound connection.

Only now, we're better equipped to take the defining action, which we might've been hesitant to go forth with at the prior instances. We will refuse to take 'no' for an answer (because, deep inside, we know it's not the right one), springing our 'secret weapon' on what- or whoever tries to block us, so that we can genuinely say we've given our all. Or else we'll maturely accept that 'no' at last (because, deep inside, we know it's the bottom-line truth), realizing our energies will be better spent on propositions not so strongly opposed by the greater social currents.

March 08 delivers the culmination of these past many months' activities, inviting us to finally do that we've known we 'should' be doing and/or have been allegedly trying to do since last September—that which we then spent Nov 07 thru Jan 08 squirreling out of doing and/or basically resisting—or at least to quit cryin' about it.

However it turns out also simultaneously symbolizes our transition to the next chunk of time ahead. At last, we can put certain open-ended-for-so-very-long concerns to bed, once and for all… and get to something different.