Mars in Aquarius Cools the Fiery Creative Passions. No Overheating.

Mars is currently transiting Aquarius, marking the halfway point of our current two-year Mars cycle, which began during the Mars in Leo retrograde December 20, 2009 - March 10, 2010.

Mars in Aquarius is opposing the degrees of the previous Mars retrograde (0 to 19), bringing us to a 'Full Moon' culmination point in the ongoing process of fully reclaiming our personal primal creative force and then directing ourselves with and through it.

Mars retrogrades relate to a discharge of previous goals and ways we have directed our energy, especially physical energy, to meet those goals. They also kick off a new cycle with an infusion of new goals, new drives, new directions. There is a redirection of primal personal force and a shift in how we go about getting things done in our lives. A shift in how we battle our way through, surviving and (sometimes) thriving under the conditions in which we find ourselves as human beings on Planet Earth.

During the most recent Mars retrograde in Leo, we energetically recalibrated and reclaimed this primal creative force amidst rapidly changing conditions. We accepted redirection of our creative drives and a new shaping of goals and basically held on with all our might as we were zipped through a very rocky 2010.

From my Mars in Leo post at the official close of the previous two-year Mars cycle:

"With Mars in Leo, we are deeply desiring joy and fun in our lives and in our creations now, however that may come. We need to know, and to experience, that life can still be exciting, inspiring and loving. That it and we are still meaningful. That we're still loved. We need to take comfort and solace in the things that bring us and those around us delight and will need to throughout the next years. This is the balance to the glut of Aquarius energy.

We're living in times that are often bizarre, frightening and traumatic, aware as never before of possibilities for the future of humanity that are difficult, often impossible, to accept...

So we've filled our brains with information through the Aquarian technological mediums and now, in light of all that, Mars in Leo asks: Knowing all that you have come to know, what do you desire to create? And do you have the courage to follow the direction of the love in your heart? What will bring joy and love not only to you personally but to your fellow human beings and to your communities? How can you direct your personal creative power and energy in the ways most relevant within the context of the times in which we are living?"

At this halfway point, Leo's ruling planet, the Sun, is conjunct Mars in Aquarius (exact February 4) and our progress is lit up. We get a cool, detached status report and gain some perspective, an objective view of where this creative redirection has moved us from the winter of 2010 to now. How close we are to finding our place with it.

At this point in the cycle, with Mars in Aquarius, the focus turns to the broader community and how we take our places within that community as individuals, especially through what we create. This theme has been with us for a while now and is ongoing as Jupiter and soon Uranus in Aries spur increasing levels of individuation. Successfully meeting our goals means fully claiming and taking responsibility for our identities and individuality, harnessing and directing that energy, our personal instincts, as we buck the stream attempting to force us into robotic, manufactured, homogenized Human-Type Beings (TM).

Our success lies in being ourselves for the community, bringing the flavour only we, as individuals, can bring to friend and comrade groups, shaping every rough edge into a vehicle that serves our forward movement.

And at the same time, Saturn goes retrograde in Libra just after midnight tonight. It will be retrograde until mid-June, moving back over the degrees we have been in since late October 2010. There is some yielding necessary as well as some self-exertion. A delicate balance.

As much as our raw talents and individuality are drivers, we do have to be willing to take our place within larger groups, to work together when necessary, determining how to be part of the crowd without compromising ourselves heart and soul. We can't go it alone, but we have to stay true to ourselves and as Aquarian self-contained as possible. The Piscean leaning and energy propping is over.

Luckily, in the airy sign of the Aquarian water-bearer and trine Saturn in Libra, there is a tempering of the raw aggression (and anger) of Mars that will make it easier to take our places socially and community-wise over the next month. Just don't let anyone force your head under.