DAILY ASTROLOGY: APRIL 17 MARS RETROGRADE

A Perspective of Earth from Mars

MARS STATIONS RETROGRADE at 8:14am at 8 Sagittarius until June 29 at 7:38pm. Most of you have heard about Mercury Retrogrades. Each planet at some point in their orbit around the Sun, will appear to be going backwards from our perspective on Earth. A Station is made when the planet slows down in a degree from which it then appears to reverse its direction. It's an astronomical illusion created by planetary orbits being elliptical. But, as in the rest of life, perspective is everything: data indicates that behavior down here reflects this illusion of reverse movement out there. In terms of what that would look like for Mars in Sag retrograding back into late degrees of Scorpio, we could imagine characters like: a warrior turned inward and philosophical (The Last Samarai), a reluctant philosopher in motion (Waking Life), a physically paralyzed journalist who is initiated into the pleasures of the body by a sex surrogate (The Sessions). 

Mars carries the myth of the Warrior. When it's activated it reflects a range of behavior - from initiating action, impulse, life force, asserting one's will and sexuality - to willfulness, anger, conflict,  war. Mars in Sagittarius, a Mutable Fire sign, is a high energy! The idealistic philosophical warrior is off on a distant conquest with great optimistic spirit, vigor and a spot of self-righteous arrogance. Turned retrograde, this warrior may put his/her sword down for a brief zen moment - which feels, in this case, like over two months - and delay his/her action and find him/herself contemplating his/her motivations and purpose in life. With Mars retrograding back into Scorpio from late May to early August, the willfulness and sexuality would be heightened. Very tricky for a retrograde...Tantric Yoga perhaps? 

You can see all this might not be such a bad thing. Retrogrades are opportunities to put our usual behaviors on pause and either get to do-over what you blew originally or go inward and meditate on how creative you can be with the particular planetary energy in play. You just have to adjust your expectations and be willing to slow down and let go of the willful world as we know it. You may just discover some very valuable truths about yourself, that when Mars goes direct and passes the 8 degree original turning point after August 22, you can act on. (Clips to come soon!)

I also want to add here in advance that on April 28th Mercury will also Station Retrograde at 1:20pm EDT until May 22nd at 9:20am EDT.  A double whammy! It's almost always about a three to four week period. Rule of thumb is that it goes into effect three days before and lasts three days after the turning points. I'll write more later, but my suggestion would be to take advantage of the few GREAT times coming (basically the Virgo Moon now and the Sag Moon on the 24th!) to put in motion any action that fits the Virgo quality previously discussed. You won't want to initiate anything important during a retrograde Mercury unless for some reason you don't want it to work out as planned. Another traditional rule of thumb is not to sign contracts/agreements, make major purchases or take significant journeys. If you do, know that schedules tend to go awry and mechanical breakdowns are subject to occur. In general, Mercury's domain of communication and travel are affected. Notice your computer, phones and vehicles during this time. Most importantly, check and double check important communications. Make sure all participants are on the same page! Use the time to reap amazing benefits by going inward: watch your dreams, follow your intuition and imagination, get creative ideas down - ready to activate at the end of May. Let the frustration of mis-connections go. When you know what's happening it keeps things in perspective.