Of Mars and Jupiter

By Len Wallick

This week, our focus continues to be on the sign of Sagittarius and its ruling planet, Jupiter, which is currently direct in Pisces — the other sign it traditionally rules. As of the date of this blog, Mercury, Mars and the Sun are making their way down the aisle through the crowded house of Sadge. In the process they are successively encountering a host of minor planets and two cosmic landmarks that, over a long period of time have collected within this scarce arc of 30 degrees, each and all of them under the dominion of Jupiter.

There is the center of our galaxy, a point so far away that it takes the better part of a century to move a single degree on the zodiac. Vastly more remote and seemingly fixed is the unavoidable and unfathomable Great Attractor, pulling a great train of millions of galaxies toward it even as it retreats in kind. There are three centaurs, evoking shadow and opportunity. Finally, some exotic objects orbiting out past Neptune or not even there at all, with the collection completed by a dozen asteroids from the main belt between Jupiter and Mars. All these from our terrestrial perspective, assembled in a narrow section of sky.

The influence is multiplied by the fact that every one of those points is continually and collectively forming geometric relationships to the other eleven signs and the planets ensconced therein. It is almost as if the cosmos is saying, look here, pay attention. Today Mars duplicates Mercury’s aspect of last Thursday by squaring Jupiter. There is something about this that demands our attention. Before we examine that ruby, however, it would be a good idea to inspect the setting — the immediate past few days and the next few, culminating in the fascinating concurrency of astrological events that will begin next week.

On Saturday, Mercury followed up its Thanksgiving square by going on an aspect shopping spree of sorts. In the course of less than eight hours, Old Fleet-Foot sextiled Neptune and Chiron in Aquarius before turning its sights back to Pisces to do unto Uranus as it had unto Jupiter. This was followed by a conjunction with the Galactic Center yesterday. Shortly thereafter, as if in a sort of closing, the Virgo Moon perfected its last quarter phase by squaring the Sun. Tomorrow (or early Wednesday, depending on where you are) Mercury and Venus will duplicate an amazing feat of synchronization by changing signs on the same day for the second time this month. More about that in the Tuesday blog.

Finally, by the beginning of next week, Luna will have caught up with Sol again for a New Moon that will exemplify just how crowded Sagittarius really is. As if that were not spectacular enough, a few hours after the luminaries conjoin with lots of company, Uranus stations and for a few auspicious days the apparent motion of all the major planets will be direct.

It’s all pretty amazing when you think about it. So many planets in one place at one time, some of them taking a very long time to arrive and a New Moon in the midst of it. Two other planets miraculously choreographing their steps and a mass movement forward by the entire chorus line, yet somehow, it fits in with something that happens every year at about this time.

This is an annual period when many perceive time itself to be compressed. The rapid succession of solar conjunctions in Sagittarius might have something to do with that. Our perception of time is relative to the nature and frequency of events. If that is in fact somehow so, then we can be excused if this year the effect is especially acute. We’re having two personal planets preceding the Sun down that gauntlet. The attenuated hours of daylight in the Northern Hemisphere could also be a factor given inherited dominance of that perspective in western thinking. There is also something more subtle. For whatever reason, human traditions at this time of year seem designed to draw us out into association but the underlying subject matter stimulates us to turn inward in contemplation. Our attention is contested as if we are caught between the imperatives of opposition and square.

That’s how it comes to be more important than ever to take it one day at a time. Be present to events as they develop instead of being swept up by them. That’s one service astrology can perform.

Thus in that purpose we propose that the jewel we appraise today is Mars. Few would challenge the premise that any planet is disposed to the ruler of any sign it might be in. It’s a basic rule of astrology that goes back so far that its beyond historical recovery. If one accepts that principle, the next step is to examine that planet’s compatibility with the element and quality of the sign it occupies. All of the visible major planets and luminaries from Sun to Saturn have been with human consciousness so long that its integrated with its very evolution. There are few things in the sky more explicit than martian color and that sets up some clear associations, fire among them. This is almost certainly how the rulership of Aries came to be determined with the implication of a flame’s color, both primal and assertive plainly associated with its bright ruddy presence in the night sky.

Thus Mars would seem to thrive in any fire sign, finding comfort and a flowing sympathy for its most basic, passionate nature. The mutability of Sagittarius, would in turn, seem less familiar to martian energy but not so much as an inhibitor. Rather, it directs and channels an energy that, at its most primitive, is reckless and destructive. It socializes Mars’ impulsive self-involvement using the focus its sustaining fuel engenders. It is completely natural that the evolution of this fire element would retain the spontaneous while acquiring versatility and vision, harnessing powerfully transformative force for an intensely felt purpose.

Being doubly disposed to Jupiter is another matter. Today is unique and outside the provisions of of cookbook astrology. If it has ever happened before, it has not been for a long time. As such, the synchronous consequences are more likely to be revealed by hindsight than prediction. For not only is Mars under the dominion of Jupiter as the result of what sign it is in, there is also the little matter of a simultaneous, direct and tense aspect that makes Mars’ strong suit — action — an imperative.

But what kind of action? This is not just any square aspect. It finds Jupiter standing in its full power, direct in a mutable water sign where it also has rulership. It is almost as if Jupiter is poised to both transform and dissolve the martian energy. There is something almost transcendent about it. It also appears to be untenable. That’s where the question of action comes in.

Astrology is not the sort of thing we can watch as if to be entertained. Astrology is participation. We ride on a planet in the midst of it all. From this perspective we watch the planetary cycles and, sooner or later, note that they are synchronized with the cycles of our own person, our kind, our planet. We thus gain a dual awareness. That we are a part of it all as surely as the elements that constitute our own bodies were forged in the stars. Also, that one cycle informs all others and to observe the cycles of the cosmos is to be clued in to how we can take responsibility for our personal and public lives. One way of taking on that responsibility is informed action in the place of uninformed response.

When Mars squares Jupiter today, it is reflecting a concurrent tension within each of us individually and as a collective. There is the force of our desire spontaneously inspired every moment, keeping us alive. Potentially, that desire is either exaggerated to the level of fanatical ideal in the ninth house or motivated at root by the qualities of the sixth, seeking balance and purpose. Or possibly both. From out of left field we feel a dominant, complementary and paradoxical discomfort from benevolence and compassion, urging us to surrender our directed purpose, connecting the qualities of the twelfth house with the extra-solar inhabitants of the ninth.

Under such complex influences, it would appear easier to observe than do today. But it would seem inevitable that we will each be called upon to act meaningfully at least once. When that moment comes, the choice will not likely be clear. Almost certainly we will be able to rule out our default settings as inappropriate, that is if we are aware and present enough to do so. Instead, it is almost as if we are being presented with not just the opportunity but the necessity of learning a new protocol, a new language, and learn it on the fly.

As you go about your day, keep your eyes and ears open and be aware of just such a moment. It will most likely take the form of a provocation of some sort and you will need to be quick to catch yourself so as to eschew a hand-me-down reaction. Instead, if you can, take a moment to ask yourself a simple question. What would nobody else do? Thus shifted, give whatever you come up with a thoughtful try and see what happens. Maybe, just possibly, something very special could come of it.

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