Mars-Vesta in Sagittarius Square Neptune-Chiron in Pisces: Keeping the Motivating Flame of Truth Alive

 Photos: Willow

Mars is currently transiting Sagittarius until it reaches more solid ground in the sign of its exaltation, Capricorn, on March 17.

As warrior planet Mars moves through philosophical Sagittarius, we're truth-applying missiles, following the motivational drives of our own truth, ethics, and beliefs. We're seeking the quickest and most direct route (Mars) to greater understanding, meaning, and purpose (Sagittarius), but this path is not simple or clear-cut.

As Mars works its way through Sagittarius, it is retracing the steps of Saturn in Sagittarius (December 2014 - December 2017), which means it is activating/inflaming the themes of the Saturn in Sagittarius square to Neptune in Pisces (in effect late 2015 through 2016) and then the Saturn in Sagittarius square to Chiron in Pisces (in effect late 2016 through 2017).

Many found the years 2016 and 2017 to be highly challenging under these aspects, and we're now going through a (relatively quick) re-cap of the associated themes. 

Mars is in some pretty thorny territory with many quagmire areas in which we could get emotionally or psychically bogged down.    

Mars can have an inflammatory effect, and Mars transiting Sagittarius indicates a time period when people following their own truth may come into frictional contact with other people following an entirely different truth.

Frictions may be particularly acute in the days surrounding these exact squares:

February 13 - Vesta in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces at 13 degrees (along with Mercury in Aquarius square stationing Jupiter in Scorpio at 22 degrees)
February 17 - Mars in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces at 13 degrees
February 25 - Mars conjunct Vesta (18 degrees Sagittarius) square Venus (18 degrees Pisces)
February 28 - Mercury in Pisces square Mars in Sagittarius at 19 degrees
March 14 - Mars in Sagittarius square Chiron in Pisces at 28 degrees
March 28 - Vesta in Sagittarius square Chiron in Pisces at 28 degrees

We may be moving through some murky confusion about which way to go now. We're stepping into the backwash of some broad collective problems that seem to have no easy solutions. Under the sensitizing, immersive influence of Neptune/Chiron/Pisces, the pain and problems we face (personally and collectively) can seem particularly daunting and intolerable, and we can experience acute points of frustration, followed by depression or despair, about the way forward from here.

Motivation may be dampened somewhat under these Mars-Neptune and Mars-Chiron squares, and we may have to fight to keep our spirits buoyed and to stay on task. We may have to force ourselves to forge on, to stay on track, despite the energetic remembrance of disappointment and futility, hanging around us like stale fumes. 

We're working through some energetic lulls, some points of inertia, and some points where our footing seems to drop out from under us, and this may have us questioning the effectiveness and meaning of our current path.

These aspects are in full effect around Valentine's Day, a day which creates a big, old void of sucking misery at the best of times for a lot of people (honestly, for couples and singles alike). 

 

This Valentine's Day, we'll be in the Dark of the Moon (emotionally dark/still/complex/karmic) under a Mars-Vesta in Sagittarius square to Neptune in Pisces. All we can really do is laugh at the projected ideal of human romantic love...versus the reality of the conditions we have to work with on Planet Earth. All the non-normatives can do is laugh at a societal ideal of "middle-class coupled-up with mortgage and kids" as the one and only real success story. Luckily, the aspects indicate the ability to apply a transcendent philosophical view as we shift beyond old disappointments and into a stronger Aquarian-era version of Juno Day.

So we're working through a real psychic hangover from the past couple years here, but we also have to stay on our toes so we don't miss any opportunities to put our personal truth and philosophies into immediate action in ways that are meaningful to us and to the world around us. This is what we want with Mars transiting Sagittarius.

We're looking to walk our talk in new ways, and we're searching for just the right openings to let fly with our blazing arrows of truth.

We've worked hard for these blazing arrows throughout the transit of Saturn in Sagittarius. We've worked hard to perfect our aim, our delivery, and the timing of our release. We've made the wise differentiation between "a clear shot" and a muddled or futile effort. We've painstakingly drilled down through layers of artifice, distraction, diversion, rhetoric, and outright lies to come to this pure, distilled truth, ready to light the world on fire in desperately needed ways.

Keeping the motivating flame of truth alive is a strong requirement now, as Mars travels in the zodiac in conjunction to Vesta in Sagittarius. 

Hearth and home asteroid Vesta in Sagittarius indicates that we've invested a great deal of time, energy, and resources into our battle (Mars) for truth, ethics, and freedom (Sagittarius). We've worked hard to keep our spirits up and our bellies a-fire under the challenging end-of-era conditions. 

The influence of Vesta in Sagittarius indicates that we can warm ourselves by this hearth, by the blazing fire of truth and inspiration and cross-cultural understanding that we've diligently kept a-light through harsh and sometimes disheartening times.

We're warming ourselves by the fire of truth, a fire we've tended and invested ourselves in, and we're stoking the flames with humour, broad-mindedness, and an overall "live and let live" spirit. 

The Mars-Vesta conjunction in Sagittarius (February 25) indicates that we have the knowledge we need to get us where we want to go, despite any dampening-despairing effects under the squares to Neptune and Chiron in Pisces.

We're looking to apply our truth in gentle and healing ways (Chiron), but also with the force and precision necessary to get the job done (Mars). Mars indicates a quality of warrior-relentlessness, after all...

Mars and Vesta join forces in Sagittarius to light and lead the way, and the warmth of their co-mingled flames carries us forward through any uncertainty, anxiety, or confusion. Under this Mars-Vesta conjunction in Sagittarius, we're protected by the truth, by what is right, and by the ancient nature-knowledge we hold firmly to our breasts.

Within this somewhat slippery-foggy astrological context, we move to a 27-degree Aquarius New Moon (Happy Year of the Dog!) on February 15 that is also a partial solar eclipse. 

This airy New Moon in late Aquarius adds a cerebral anchor for the following (highly Piscean) 28-day lunar month. We may be propelled into new positions where our principled, ethics-in-action modus operandi is not only accepted or allowed - it's downright necessary!

The February 15th Aquarius New Moon falls in tight conjunction to both communication planet Mercury and soul mate asteroid Juno in Aquarius. The Sun, Moon, Mercury, and Juno in Aquarius will also be in tight sextile aspect to Uranus - in the process of completing its transit of Aries - making Uranus in Aries the dispositor or key influence over the Aquarius New Moon and following lunar cycle. 

This indicates openings into new, community-based connections - opportunities to share ideas and information with others who hold a similar vision as our own. The next chapter in this future vision is unfolding as we move through the lunar cycle, and our rightful place within it may become more apparent. We're getting some clues about our place within the larger group and the changes or advancements we may be helping to catalyze from that position.   

There may be some unexpected social movement or positioning as the lunar cycle unfolds. 

New group dynamics, new social blueprints, and new community developments are coming into being - slowly, gradually - as we move through the Aquarius New Moon eclipse and the following lunar month. In many respects, this has been a long time coming, and we simultaneously slip out of any rigid or crystallized communities/groups that no longer represent who we are.  

There's a spicy, Juno-based edge to all this, too. There's the ideal of community, and then there is the reality of working with a disparate group of people operating under a disparate collection of ideas, values, and methodologies. Working with "community" is often more frictional and difficult than we might like. (Herding cats comes to mind...or knitting yoghurt, as a commenter here once put it.) Finding an effective and satisfactory place within the collective can be challenging. We may come into clashing contact with people who are working for entirely different visions of human community. Illegitimate, hierarchical power dynamics, as well as a subtle demand for follow-the-leader conformity, can often seep in, even while the people involved are paying lip service to egalitarianism, inclusiveness, and diversity... 

So our Juno in Aquarius soul mates may well be the others who know this mixed bag around the concept of "community" and who desire to outsmart old pitfalls there. 

The Aquarius New Moon falls in frictional square aspect to Jupiter, stationing retrograde at 22/23 degrees Scorpio (March 8), and this adds a further element of volatility as far as teeth-gnashing subtext and suppressed truth/emotion.

A little angsty, to say the least...

Nonetheless, we hold our cerebral Aquarian anchor, our core future vision, for dear life as we move through the Aquarius New Moon doorway and the personal planets rapidly shift into Pisces. (Venus entered Pisces February 10; Mercury on February 17; the Sun on February 18)

As we move through the icy-fresh Aquarian lunar cycle February 15 to March 17 with a Pisces stellium (Venus, Sun, Mercury, Neptune, Chiron), things become less concrete, less rational, less constructed. Our faith (or at least, our sense of surrender) has to carry us forward from here. 

Coming through the Aquarius New Moon eclipse, we hold the vision. We see where we would like to go and in what direction we would like to lead humanity, as a whole. But how it's going to happen, how it takes concrete shape, how we're going to be employed in service of that vision - that's up in the air. 

This makes for a potentially uncertain time, especially when we (temporarily) lose sight of our direction and the dramatic progress we've made up to this point. A common Neptune/Pisces theme.

We also have the transcendent quality of Pisces to work with here, however, allowing us to come to ultimate truth that can be agreed upon even by those of differing perspectives. We can work our way into "universal truths" under these aspects, and this can have a greatly healing effect, particularly in societies that have been frayed and divided by identity politics throughout the transit of Uranus in Aries. 

Mars enters the sign of its exaltation, Capricorn, on March 17, just as we experience a 26-degree Pisces New Moon conjunct Chiron. Mars then forms a conjunction to Saturn (exact at 8 degrees on April 2). This indicates: solid steps, concrete movement, and a strong desire for achievement, status, and recognition, particularly in career and in the public realm. 

Mars is very strong in Capricorn, and this more solid positioning will likely come as a relief after navigating the watery and undefined realms of Mars square Neptune and Mars square Chiron in Pisces.

You can read more about the exciting movement of Mars in 2018 in this article: 

 

Uranian Agitation and Conscience-Driven Breaks in Protocol: the Venus and Mars Retrogrades of 2018 - $11.25