Mars in Cancer Square Saturn in Libra and Responsibly Avoiding Emotional Triggers

We can all learn a little something from the sideways-stepping crab right now: healthy, self-preserving avoidance of angry trigger points.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not talking avoidance as in denial and wilful ignorance of reality. With Pluto in a long-term transit of Capricorn opposing and working its transformational magic on Cancer, the at times pathological level of look-the-other-way-itis and cozy hypocrisy often prevalent with less mature expressions of this sign are deadly problematic and need to be exposed at every turn. (I’m from Canada, a Cancer Sun nation rife with those deadly Cancerian problems, and then there is that Cancer Sun nation south of the 49th parallel, which is even more rife with it…)

I’m talking about a ‘Pluto is my homeboy,’ eyes-wide-open, fully cognizant avoidance of emotional trigger points that serve no purpose other than to drag us into old territory (Cancer), piss us off and waste our energy (Mars).

Mars doesn’t like being forced to go over and over old territory – it wants to forge ahead onto new ground. So the healthy avoidance comes in taking a proactive new track, especially as it relates to challenging relationships (Saturn in Libra). Forging this proactive new track is tricky, though, as Mars in Cancer without a doubt involves sentimental trips down memory lane. History books. Heritage. Stories about the old times and the old timers. Old loves. Family albums. Roots.

The trick comes in maintaining a healthy and responsible balance (Saturn in Libra) and knowing when to just beat a track the hell out of there. As sweet and comforting as it is, the past can be both suffocating and debilitating, keeping us from being effective in the present, and these are strong Mars in Cancer themes, in effect until Mars ingresses Leo September 18.

Mars, currently debilitated in the sign of Cancer, is grinding out the last tense aspect of the Cardinal Grand Cross summer of 2011 – a square to Saturn in Libra at its culmination point August 24/25. We’re coming into very close contact with the frictional challenges of relationship, including emotional habits that draw us into a weak relational position.

Saturn in Libra abhors being in a weak relational position.

Here, trusting the cautious, indirect, emotionally-triggered movement of Mars in Cancer to responsibly guide our actions in relation to other people as we navigate this square can help us avoid the pitfalls, sidestepping the game altogether.

Keep a wary eye on the people around you as well as on yourself under this square: Mars in Cancer square Saturn in Libra as the final Cardinal Grand Cross of 2011 aspect is a reality check as far as the development of and commitment to rock-solid standards for the people with whom we are in partnerships, both business and personal.

Don’t kid yourself. We’re still limited under these configurations. If we move too far, too fast, we feel the unbreakable, unshakeable limitations holding us in place.

The potentially frustrating constriction and restriction and confrontations with fear of this Mars-Saturn square have the ability to force character weaknesses acutely to the surface between now and the end of this month. With the Cancer-Libra square these include: unresolved emotional baggage, emotional immaturity, unreliability, inability to commit, making emotionally-based excuses for shirking responsibility, falsity and dishonesty to maintain social popularity/playing to your crowd, over-committing and under-performing, avoiding the responsibility of emotional honesty in relationship, living in past relationships to the detriment of present and future ones, using relationships (and people) to fill emotional voids, making decisions and taking actions based only in the attempt to alleviate personal anxiety, keeping people in your life out of habit or emotional neediness.

If people are caving under the pressure of this square and under the pressure of the Saturn transit of Libra, in general, take heed. Things are about to get infinitely more complicated as Saturn heads into Scorpio October 2012 within mutual reception to Pluto in Capricorn. It’s time to get very serious about who we have in our lives.

From previous posts:

“We're in the midst of a five-year gutting, restructuring and energetic re-balancing process in relationship that will not reach ultimate completion until the end of a period of mutual reception between Saturn in Scorpio and Pluto in Capricorn when Saturn leaves Scorpio September 2015...

The planetary conditions will be getting pretty dicey on multiple fronts over the next three or four years, and love and partnership take on a whole new requirement for commitment.

Legal enmeshments become increasingly sticky, and the decisions we make now have the ability to drag us into hell then. It's very easy to be adversely affected by other people refusing their Saturnine responsibilities. If you don't want to end up with double duty (theirs and yours), make firm and responsible decisions now as far as the people you have in your life. No compromising.”

There are a lot of people feeling the pressure to be in relationship under Saturn in Libra. There are a lot of fears (Saturn) coming up related to being single forever and dying alone and miserable in a cold, empty, desolate shanty reflecting a cold, empty, desolate heart. This is especially true for the Pluto in Libra generation - many of whom have done a massive amount of heavy lifting as far as shifting relationship dynamics and structures and have good reason for being late coming into relationship - they don't want to repeat the mistakes and massive fuck-ups of the past.

What this means is that people are very conscious of the passing of time and of the passing of their best case scenario love/marriage/babies timelines and are more prone to fudging it a bit, to compromising their standards and their fulfillment levels for the sake of being in a relationship, any relationship.

You could do that.

But I really wouldn’t advise it.