Lead Us Into Aries, Mars

3.9.13


Have no fear, my fellow planet-watchers: This exceptionally-watery Piscean overload we've been living won't continue to flood our senses indefinitely.

A fairly obvious energetic transition is on its way, courtesy of one planet after another parading across the border into Aries. It's the type of shift that even those who don't follow astrology would be likely to notice.

The point at which the vast boundless everythingness of Pisces gives itself over to the immediate active individualism of Aries marks the end-and-beginning of the whole zodiac-wheel cycle. As planets cross through this portal, they typically surge with new-life-force… symbolic of those first shoots of fresh growth we associate with early spring, the season corresponding with the Sun's arrival into Aries (in the northern hemisphere, that is). Moving from Pisces to Aries is like leaving the undifferentiated water-world of the proverbial womb, where unity reigns and we feel each other's being… and, suddenly, (re)asserting our differentiating selfhood by bravely (if not also impetuously) setting off on our own, to blaze unexplored trails, lead the charge, and do what hasn't been done before.

These past several weeks have been jam-packed with emotional information, in some cases to the point where we were overcome with heightened awareness of our spot within the matrix of relationships that comprise our shared reality. There is no firm psychic dividing-line between ourselves and others under such a multiply-Piscean influence, which means our own psychodramas have unavoidably collided with others'—as a helpful reminder of how much we affect each other, as a blinding cloud of confusion about whose 'stuff' belongs to whom, and/or as a warning against imprecisely projecting our own emotional state onto undeserving others. With Mercury remaining retrograde another week (through Mar 17) and not exiting Pisces until Apr 13, this information is still in the process of emerging… and may indeed require another few weeks before its subjective content can be reasonably integrated with our more rational, results-oriented side.

Yet, the time to respond with action to whatever our feelings have shown us is already arriving, heralded by Mars's entry into Aries on Monday (Mar 11). Not only is Mars the planetary agent of projective outward motion, he is very happy at home in Aries, a sign he rules. This shift is, therefore, pretty major in terms of its emboldening us to take self-possessed, self-serving forward action. Whereas Mars in Pisces wanders somewhat willy-nilly toward goals or destinations that aren't entirely clear, down circuitous routes that leave us to wonder if we even know where we're going, Mars in Aries zooms straight ahead with courage and instinct. Mars in Aries may not know exactly what he will encounter up ahead, but believes in his spontaneous ability to successfully confront any potential hazard or hairpin-turn should it show up unannounced. He proceeds, without the interference of overthinking, toward that which he wants. He can't imagine doing anything else.

Under his galvanizing guidance, we realize we need not wait any longer before actively asserting our needs—and, in doing so, actually making something new happen in our lives, even if it sets off a chain-reaction of events beyond our initial intent. Mars is not especially well-controlled in Aries. His role is to start the fire, not to watchfully contain its spread. Mars in Aries doesn't worry about what will happen next. Just getting action going ('any action at all!') is his primary concern.

The ball is decidedly in our court to soon take initiating steps toward whatever 'calling' has made itself apparent to us during these past weeks, no matter how inexplicable its truth may still be to us. I remind you: We need not understand the full divine logic behind a calling to know, in the core of our bones, when it feels right. As Mars lands in Aries, the giant astrological clock-in-the-sky says, Move towards it. The first steps are what's most important right now. Rev those engines. Bust the inertia. Get the molecules whirring.

Though this first week-and-a-half of Mars in Aries offers a palpable introduction to this interval of increasing action, we'll still have quite a bit of Piscean influence around as well, potentially dampening some of the heat we're trying to generate—until, that is, both the Sun and Venus join Mars in Aries within a couple days of each other (Mar 20-21). At that point, the fuller extent of what the succeeding action-oriented weeks of this ultra-Aries moment will be unleashed. The 'wet towel' effect will, for the most part (excepting Mercury's influence), disappear. The brakes will come off. Our impulsivity will be heightened, while our empathic interpersonal connections may start ranking second behind the drive to assert our own will or fight for our piece of the pie.

I would be remiss not to mention that multiple planets in Aries also means multiple planets forming conjunctions to Uranus and squares to Pluto. This is the era of the Uranus-Pluto square, we must never forget. Revolutionary unrest and powerful transformational pressure to 'evolve or suffer' have become ever-present elements of our everyday life, and continue to be so for another three-or-so years to come… though their inescapable intrusion into our awareness hits a peak whenever other planets join their fray, exacerbating their tension with further astrological activity. Right as the Sun and Venus are first entering Aries, Mars will be forming its Uranus conjunction (Mar 22) and Pluto square (Mar 26). And before Mars is even out of orb of this influence, the Sun and Venus will form their Uranus-Pluto aspects (Mar 28-31), too.

Suffice it to say, the developments we are about to initiate through our forward actions are due to create a lot of dynamic (and potentially unsettling) change between now and the end of the month. By the time Mercury finally reaches his turn in the Uranus-Pluto crunch (Apr 20-21), there will undoubtedly be many altered circumstances for us to announce, debate and/or react to.