A Note on Mars in 2020 (in Pisces until June 27th, then in Aries)

Mars has been in Pisces since May 12th, and will move into Aries on June 27th. 

Mars is our inner warrior, our fire, our passion, our motivation to go after what we desire and need.  Mars represents the divine masculine present in all of us, and our sense of self.  Mars helps us stand up for ourselves - it helps us protect and defend.  Mars is also our anger and rage. 

Mars is fiery - we know that fires can be very destructive when running wild, burning up all of the fuel and oxygen available.  But a fire in a fire pit or stove can be very useful to us - even necessary, providing warmth, light, and means by which we cook food to sustain ourselves. 

Pisces is a water sign and the sign of the spirit and subconscious/unconscious.  The realm of Pisces can be a confusing place - this is the realm of the unseen.  Pisces rules over those places within us that we can't ever quite get a good look at - we know something is there but we can't make out exactly what it is.  We get a sense of it, though. 

When we trust our intuition and what we feel we are sensing and then allow our higher self/imagination to fill in the details, that's when we will get an accurate representation of what we are working with when in the Piscean abyss.  It works just like shamanic journeying, past life regression sessions, or dream interpretation, because we are working with our subconscious, and even the collective consciousness. 

But because Pisces is about dissolving and is so mutable and nonconfrontational, it can be a difficult placement for Mars, which is blunt and assertive. 

Pisces is represented by two fish swimming in opposite directions.  Imagine our warrior Mars, in his heavy armor, knee deep in a stream grasping at elusive fish that keep slipping from his hands and disappearing. 

This is Mars in Pisces, at least on the surface level. 

On a deeper level, our inner warrior is getting a spiritual lesson - a lesson about seeing things from a higher perspective, forgiving instead of fighting, and dissolving walls between us instead of building them higher. 

On an even deeper level, and a more personal one, with Mars in Pisces, we are given an opportunity to face our shadow, personally and collectively, and become aware of that inner warrior within and all of that anger and fight. 

Although anger is a very appropriate response to situations that threaten us and our loved ones, because anger comes from our inner fire, it can very easily get expressed not so appropriately.  Sometimes that fire gets a little out of hand.  Yet sometimes we have been told our fire, our anger, is inappropriate when it is absolutely appropriate.  

We can feel it is not okay to express our anger when it arises, and so we end up stuffing it down.  When we do this, we end up turning it on ourselves, because now there is nowhere for it to go and it becomes stagnant inside of us.  Now this is not saying necessarily to direct our anger outward, but not allowing it and directing it inward is detrimental as well. 

Think about the fire and the fire in a container.  How does the energy of our very appropriate response of anger and/or assertion, speaking up for ourselves and standing up for ourselves, get channeled and directed in a way that is useful and not destructive?  How do we become creators rather than repeating the victim cycle (check out the Karpman Drama Triangle - it is about how we get stuck in a loop of playing victim, perpetrator, and rescuer, only switching roles, until we step out completely into a different dynamic, that of the creator)?  How do we stay in our power without needing to control?  How do we stay out of projection and blame, yet still stand up for ourselves and still feel heard?

This is what we can access and really clean up within ourselves with Mars is in Pisces. 

Between June 10th and June 16th, Mars will be passing Neptune, ruler of Pisces, sitting at 20 degrees Pisces.  This conjunction will be exact on June 12th/13th.  This will be the climax of the "Mars in Pisces vibe", and the height of any confusion around direction (Mars rules passion, direction, motivation, self-assertion, and leadership, as well as our ability to protect, defend, and stand up for ourselves.)  Pisces is the spirit world, in every sense, Pisces rules both angels and demons, but it is also creativity and inspiration.  So while Mars is with Neptune we may feel extra foggy, but once it moves away on the other side of that connection, we may find as the fog clears, we have gained some very valuable insight.  Pisces is the sign of unbridled compassion and forgiveness.  When we apply Pisces spiritual wisdom to our courageous warrior Mars, we gain the ability to discern and not just fight blindly.

Neptune turns direct on June 23rd, just two days before Venus retrograde in Gemini stations direct.  Mars leaves Pisces and enters its own sign of Aries on June 27th, just two days after Venus stations direct.  

Once Mars enters Aries on June 27th, it will be in its own sign through the end of this year, which is an extra long transit for this planet to be anywhere, as its typical transit of any zodiac sign is about two months long.  But Mars in its own sign for the entire last half of 2020?  Well, that is a lot of fire.  

With Mars so strong in its own fire sign of Aries from June 27th through the end of this year, doing this work now will only empower our Mars energy, our ability to access it when appropriate, to discern when it is necessary and when it is not, and to consciously and responsibly direct it to serve the greatest good. 

With Mars in its own sign for such a long time, we are bound to feel upgraded in the motivation, passion, and fire-power departments, as well as the increase in irritability, restlessness, and impulsiveness.  With Mars going retrograde while in Aries during this time, we will be given an opportunity to review the Mars energy in our lives whether it is coming from us, or we are on the receiving end, or both, as these two things are actually one and the same. 

​A lot of Mars energy running around with no outlet and unchecked is a lot like a forest fire.  A lot of Mars energy harnessed towards a goal - that moves mountains.