Mars – one of the planets in the grand earth trine happening now – has been backing into a triple conjunction with asteroids Eros and Psyche in Virgo. Eros and Psyche happen to be two characters linked in myth. Taken together with Mars, this trio deepens the theme of ‘the psychology of desire’ already associated with this Mars retrograde.
Is it hard for you to trust that another loves and desires you without demanding ‘proof’? It can be a fine line between trusting love will come your way if you are open to receiving it, versus grasping for it and instead turning it into something else (like obligation or validation), thereby ‘losing’ it. How often have you let the fear of losing love get in the way of enjoying the love being offered to you? Too many people in this world don’t actually believe they are worthy of what they desire, or that they are okay for desiring it.
Mars retrograde conjunct Eros and Psyche seems to be asking us to sort out insecurities along these lines. It’s about healing those seemingly un-healable hurts we carry that tell us we’re not really loved, or that we will lose what we love, or that we can’t trust love to be the continuum it is. There’s also something here about how the socially-insisted upon model of relationships simply doesn’t work for everybody. And that can leave people feeling very wrong in who they are, for no good reason. If you’re struggling with some variation of one of these issues – and they might manifest as jealousy or self-sabotage or passive-aggression in an intimate relationship – there’s an opportunity here for some perspective and self-understanding.
The larger context is the grand trine saying, ‘trust yourself to step forward, and when you take the step, allow the universe to meet you halfway — and then be open to receiving what is offered’. But forward toward what? Well, forward into a way of relating that may be very new to you. It may feel like being unmoored at first, if you’ve been using your insecurities as a source of false power. Forward toward an understanding of yourself that allows you to offer yourself some compassion and forgiveness; forward into a space that lets you see the love offered to you; forward into your own center, so that you can feel just how much love you can give.