Like Retrogrades Passing in the Night

2.24.14


Not so fast. Before you call in the cheerleaders or start your victory lap to celebrate the end of this especially gnarly Mercury retrograde this Friday (Feb 28), I must remind you that, one day later (on Saturday, Mar 1), Mars will be starting his retrograde… and that lasts into the middle of May.

I'm not launching into a full explication of what this Mars retrograde means right this moment; I felt it important to deliver this news as promptly as possible, with more to come soon, I promise.

These next couple weeks are fairly significant ones, in terms of the palpable energetic switch-flipping they will hold. Per usual, most of us are eagerly anticipating Mercury's return to direct motion… though, if we're honest with ourselves, the perturbations this Mercury retrograde may have caused are also ripe with information which, apparently, we needed to pause and examine more closely (or, as the case may be, to have shoved in our faces and forced to look at). Yet, just because our mental awareness will soon reflect a degree of renewed clarity, that doesn't mean we still mustn't do something manifest to demonstrate that our sincere-enough-seeming revelations aren't merely hot air, lacking concrete actions to support these supposedly revelatory life-changes.

Because Mars is the planetary symbol of our physical will and how we express it, we can assume his 2½-month retrograde will provide us opportunities to assert that will in alternative (a retrograde buzzword) ways which might fruitfully disrupt whatever behavioral habits aren't in alignment with our evolving consciousness. Of course, when I phrase it like that—for isn't 'opportunity' a word spin-doctors often use to make a challenge sound like a blessed gift from God (which, in fact, it also is)—I may be giving you the mistaken impression that Mars retrograde is largely a self-empowering occasion for proactively choosing to do things differently. My own experiences with past Mars retrogrades tell me that is not the case.

It's likelier that circumstantial wrinkles and rips, others' contrarian whims, and/or our own disobedient impulses essentially compel us to adopt these alternate tactics. If we can't seem to conduct our efforts in the expected or intended manner because we're unable to gain traction (or our bodily selves simply don't want to), we have to try another method… or perhaps divert our energies to an altogether different task or target, following the retrograde Mars currents where they want to carry us. Otherwise, we're just liable to stay pissy as hell about why this or that isn't working like we'd hoped, while still trying desperately to make the square peg fit or the rock to yield water. For most of us, these many weeks ahead will offer some combination of all these expressions. The added fact that Mars's retrograde is in Libra, one of his least favorite signs, certainly won't ease matters.

Even Venus has her part to play in this tide-change: Though her retrograde has been over for nearly a month, she's only now about to leave the post-retrograde shadow (on Mar 4) and track her first steps onto new ground since November. She finally leaves Capricorn after a four-month stay and enters a new sign, Aquarius, on Mar 5.

Straight from Venus retrograde to Mercury retrograde… and now to Mars retrograde. This trio essentially consumes the whole first half of our 2014. Mars won't clear his shadow and land in a new zodiac-sign until the second part of July. Should it seem that 'progress' isn't being made, please accept it obviously first required plenty of revisionary re-working before whichever items or endeavors that have appeared stalled or stifled finally show outward advancement. Speed-bumps and growing-pains continue in full force for another few months, the height of their turbulent outbreaks due in mid-to-late April.