{"id":55831,"date":"2012-04-12T00:57:10","date_gmt":"2012-04-12T04:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/?p=55831"},"modified":"2012-04-12T01:10:01","modified_gmt":"2012-04-12T05:10:01","slug":"mars-direct-keep-your-grip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/astro-daily\/mars-direct-keep-your-grip\/","title":{"rendered":"Mars Direct: Keep Your Grip"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mars, top right, is opposite Neptune, top left, Chiron is there too. Mercury is dressed in green, pretending to be retrograde. And then there is the Sun-Eris conjunction \u2014 still in full force today.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Friday at 11:53 pm EDT, Mars stations direct in Virgo. We are in the thick of the Mars station, after a long, fascinating, fruitful, and frustrating retrograde that began in late January. By most accounts, the past few days have been characterized by issues typical of a Mercury<\/em> station — but with an additional edge of aggression or anxiety. Therefore, please make an extra effort to be kind to people, in word and deed.<\/p>\n

Why does Mars making a move feel like Mercury acting up? Maybe because Mars is in a Mercury-ruled sign. Mercury, for its part, is still just coming out of a recent retrograde, and astrologers would say it’s ‘acting shadowy’ — meaning that we’re getting an after-effect of the Mercury retrograde that lasted from March 12 through April 4. <\/p>\n

From what we’re hearing from readers and clients, many people are run out to the end of their tether. There are communication glitches (stories of people going incommunicado abound), technological issues, and some intense psychology.<\/p>\n

That’s coming through as self-criticism, mental obsession and for some, as depression. This is Mars after all, the planet of physical drive, desire and libido grinding to a halt and reversal in a feminine, earthy, Mercury-ruled sign. No wonder things are getting itchy and twitchy.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Yet there are a few other details, one of which is that Mars is opposite Neptune, stone still in the onrush of water. Mars-Neptune aspects can come with integrity issues, but this one feels like it’s just plain slippery — and the thing to do is keep your grip. Not a tight grip, but enough to stay upright and keep your balance. That means shedding workload, and putting a three to five day delay into your plans. A lot will work itself out those few days.<\/p>\n

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It's super easy to wire a Stratocaster! Unless Mars retrograde in Virgo is pretending to be Mercury retrograde.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Therefore, the crucial thing to have right now is patience — with people, with yourself and with things that are acting weird. It’s also one of the hardest things to muster up under such trying astrology, but it will pay off in the form of fewer complications, less damage done from difficult situations, and less effort wasted. <\/p>\n

Since we\u2019re talking about Mars here, get physical if the edginess is nearing unmanageable. You don\u2019t have to be a long-distance runner or yoga devotee to get something out of half an hour of stretches and deep breathing, a walk around the block or dancing around your living room. Be mindful of your limits, weaknesses and old injuries. This is not sports for competition or to push your limits: it’s for a practical purpose of moving some energy.<\/p>\n

There’s a bigger picture, too. We’ve described Mars retrograde as a systems check before we dive into the deep end of the 2012 astrology pool, which you could say begins Friday and reaches its first peak in May. For many, this systems check has involved assessing and ordering one\u2019s environment (inner and outer); seeing where lapses in thought, speech, health and judgment are calling for more care; a call to more conscious choices in sexual health and relationships; and a focus on old issues of guilt and injured desire. <\/p>\n

You\u2019ll be moving forward with whatever process you\u2019ve begun. Mars will be in Virgo through early July, so you have time to work through these things between now and then, even as the fireworks go off in May and June.<\/p>\n

There are things we cannot bring into the future with us — but we cannot just pretend to have resolved them when we really have not. There’s no pretending under this astrology, but it’s a great time to be real with yourself and with others, as long as real means gentle. If it\u2019s been hard to conceive of a path forward without conflict, the way may be clearer after the station. See what information comes out this weekend; pay attention to what you learn. And remember: small moves mean a lot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday at 11:53 pm EDT, Mars stations direct in Virgo. We are in the thick of the Mars station, after a long, fascinating, fruitful, and frustrating retrograde that began in late January. By most accounts, the past few days have been characterized by issues typical of a Mercury station — but with an additional edge … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7221,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1734],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55831"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55831\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}