Mars Retrograde: In the Shaping Zone

 

The most important period in any transit or retrograde is what I call “the shaping zone.”   I’m not talking about how you can meditate in the months ahead of a celestial event on how to somehow “use” it to achieve your intentions. I’m talking about the time when stuff starts going down. When the unexpected eruptions of the transit begin to arrive. It’s like when a plane hits turbulence. You recognize something different is in the air.  The more awareness you bring to the transit, the more you can shape your experience in a positive direction.

With outer planets like Pluto or Uranus, the shaping zone comes a year before the transit is exact. With planetary retrogrades, its messages are most potent in the week just before and after the retro station. So what went down with this retro for you? Even though retrogrades are universal events, always begin your inquiries with yourself.

What new turbulence–little or big–did you experience just before or after October 30?  Analyze the symbolism. What message does it have for you?

I had what is for me a typical Mars retro entrance. My clumsiness and irritability rose—which I knew, if left unconscious, could send me into a tizzy, as it has before. But that’s how astrology saves me. Now, observing the stumbling gestures of my body, I’ve learned how to honor the exhausted warrior and slow down. I’ve learned how to see the people irritating me as doing nothing wrong. So far, this retro I’ve been granted a reprieve, as the last one burned down thousands of homes in my valley.

After the self-inquiry, I like to watch the news and look for broader messages. What does Mars want us to know? His retro is a universal event—often the headlines bring the teachings. Here are some stories that caught my attention.

It’s Okay to Turn Back

A king cobra, “Sir Hiss,” (now called “Houdini”) escaped from a Stockholm zoo on October 22.  An intensive search with x-ray machines eventually located the venomous 7-foot snake, hiding in the insulation between two walls.  Holes were drilled into the walls. Then the snake disappeared again. Just as Mars turned retrograde, they found Sir Hiss back in his old terrarium. The drilled holes had made his life too stressful.

“He who initiates loses” is a common Mars retrograde theme.  The message here?  It’s okay to retreat. Go where the comfort is. Take care of yourself. The time for new adventures and daring escapes will come later.

Stay Away from Crowds

Messages often come in threes.  This cluster of stories suggests during the retrograde weeks it might be a good idea to stay away from crowds.

In the days just before the retrograde, storms took the lives of nearly 100 people in the Philippines. Among the victims were dozens of villagers who fled in the wrong direction, getting buried in a rock-filled mudslide. The night before the retrograde, more than 150 Halloween revelers were killed in a deadly stampede in South Korea. The narrow alleys of a trendy neighborhood got packed with people trying to move in both directions. There was no crowd control. On the night of the retrograde, 132 people were killed in western India when a suspension bridge collapsed . It couldn’t handle the weight of the crowd. The 100-year-old bridge had recently been repaired. It was opened to the public just four days earlier.

These are symbols. The victims did nothing wrong. The complexities of their karma is not ours to judge. But the sudden tragedies can be read as a message. Now is the time to march to your own drummer. Stay away from the rushing cadences of others. Think of the Hermit card: follow your inner lantern.

Don’t Normalize Political Violence

The archetypal figure standing in the Mars retrograde shadow is the Berserker–the bringer of violence and chaos.  During Mars retrogrades there are often small stories in the news of some lone local man (yes, it’s usually a man) going crazy–shooting up his family or taking down a friend.  But this Berserker story was a big one. People are still talking about it. Two days before the retro station, a man with two hammers, a mind full of nonsense and some zip ties, broke into Nancy Pelosi’s home, woke up her 82-year-old husband, and in front of the police, cracked his skull.  He had hoped instead to put Nancy Pelosi in a wheelchair after shattering her knees.

But perhaps just as crazy is the applause and laughter this tragic event has inspired among many Republicans. Not only is such violence not condemned, in some corners it’s been treated like entertainment.  This lack of empathy is worrying.  What’s being unleashed is inhuman.   Whatever your political point of view,  say no to the Berserker.  Blood, thugs, and goons is not the kind of political discourse a good democracy needs.