Mars in Capricorn

A photo of Mars taken on Mars by the Spirit rover in April of 2005. Here, Spirit shows us what the

'Columbia Hills' inside Gusev Crater look like. And isn't it strange how as barren as Mars is,

it also looks so much like Earth? (photo credit: NASA-JPL)

Mars in Capricorn is a time when life reminds us to go for the gusto. Sometimes that happens by our beginning to feel restless or hemmed in. Some of us suddenly get motivated when Mars moves into Capricorn. Others get to feeling determined. Or challenged. Mars in Capricorn has an interesting quality which at some level can be quantified as ‘need’…what you need to have or achieve on a practical level, or what you feel you need to do to get past life’s practical challenges…or some facet or factor which, at it’s heart is about needing to challenge or prove your ability (capacity, theory, self worth) to yourself.

A whole other side of Mars in Capricorn is the ‘reward’ phase when you’ve been working towards something. So if you’ve been hammering on that task, now things may (finally!) begin falling into place or ‘going your way.’

But as always, there is a polarity to any given placement. This is where Capricorn shows its Saturnine achievement/failure quality in a very public sort of way.

That makes the best sense in light of remembering that the sign before Capricorn in Sagittarius, which is ruled by Jupiter. And whether the venue is religion (codified spirituality) or education (codified ideas) or medicine or law or travel or foreign cultures or any other ‘new-to-you’ thing is concerned, Sagittarius is always where the idea, the ability to believe, learn or deal with the truth meets the limits of what we want to use, believe, learn or accept as part of human nature. The Sagittarius (Jupiter) ‘test’ is therefore not what the truth is, but whether we are willing to accept that truth has few boundaries and that there is always something more to learn, to do, to wrap our hearts, minds or arms around in this life.

How well we do that – adjusting along the way – leads to whether Capricorn becomes the reward of achievement…or the punishment of defeat. (Which yes, does sound like the old intro to a US sports show, but so be it…!)

Thus Mars in Capricorn becomes the achievement and requirement to uphold public or worldly standards versus the limitations, loss and terrible sense of not being ‘good enough’ which may be founded in reality – or then again, may simply be our not having earned sufficient degree of self respect.

The data here is as follows: Mars enters Capricorn on November 17th (in the UT/+0 time zone) at 2:37 in the morning. (Please don’t wake me!) And  considering that Mars will be in Capricorn for a bit over five weeks (through December 25th), this is Mars moving through zodiac degrees at a pretty good clip.

We can thus project with relative certainty that life – and life’s requirements of us – are also going to be moving along at a pretty good clip.

So we should expect these weeks to be busy. Will that be because there’s so much to do – or does that mean we’re likely to be feeling pressured?

 Aquarius and Capricorn (the sea-goat) as constellations pictured on the Mercator celestial globe

which dates from 1551 (Harvard Map Collection)

Either or both. But the challenge is about you – not the thing at stake. Mars is about your energy and your functionality and your assertiveness (mainly self-assertiveness, meaning your ‘get up, get into gear and go’ mode). So what happens now – and your reactions to them may feel external because you’re interacting with things in and of and about your world. But the emotional Mars quotient?

That’s all about you – the personal you. This is Mars in the 10th stage of a 12-stage process asking whether you have mastered the fine art of paying attention to a.) what you’re doing, b.) the repercussions and consequences of what you’re doing (i.e., what others think of you for doing it) and c.) how you feel about what you’re doing, not doing and getting done or not getting done.

Seeing that Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, there is a note of responsibility in this mix. The whole idea of limitations and what they mean to us is challenged as Mars moves through Capricorn. Will we take no for an answer? Well we try to dream the impossible dream and prove it’s not impossible by achieving it? Or will we run afoul of social or societal standards, violating acceptable limits with our actions, attitudes or lack of standards/living up to our word? 

Where Saturn is in your natal chart (by sign, house and aspect) tells us how you deal with the general idea of responsibility and achievement. Obviously that is highly individual. But we do know that Saturn has just moved into Scorpio. So part of what’s in play now (and for the next five or so weeks) is what we a.) need to get done…which is now getting played off against how well we are dealing with others.

To refresh: Saturn in Scorpio is all about our interactions, personal, platonic, intimate and professional. (And any combinations thereof.) Saturn in Scorpio ‘tests’ reveal how well we are balancing the ‘me-and-my-aims’ against the ‘them-and-their-aims’ quotient.

Maybe you’d prefer to read the whole of the original Saturn in Scorpio blog post?

Link to Saturn in Scorpio blog

The next ‘door swings both ways’ piece of news here is that Scorpio and Capricorn are signs in sextile. And sextiles always offer us opportunities to be  productive. So Mars in the Capricorn ‘wider world’ realm may represent the open door we take advantage of. Then again, Mars in Capricorn may represent the ‘wider world’ coming down on us for having taken/wanting to take advantage of others. 

Plus there is one other little thing you should know about sextiles. That’s the idea that nothing about a sextile ever compels us to take advantage of an opportunity.

But into this comes Mars, which in Capricorn is doughy, determined and (often) highly pragmatic. It’s the sort of mindset which you won’t be surprised to see manifest as ‘seeing and going for the goal’ - which is probably a good thing considering how much holiday shopping is about to be get done!

 Shoppers at Mrs Snyder's Candy Shop on Chicago's South Michigan Avenue in 1927

(National Archives of Records Administration, Department of Labor)

Speaking of shopping, this sort of Mars/Saturn combination lends more to pragmatic prudence and utility than romance. Of choice, ‘utility’ may mean getting someone that tech toy so they stop complaining so much!

Your Mars, your pragmatism. Let me just put it like that.

And for those interested in personal (or national) debt, this Saturn-ruling-Capricorn behind Mars-in-Capricorn is not against debt, it’s just going to rank and prioritize things in a more utilitarian manner than at other times.

Needs first, showy later, in other words.

Beyond that, there will be some for whom this November-December period is anything but about the holidays. And considering all else in the works (read: the eclipse themes for 2012 through 2014) this  represents an overall ‘shift’ in the public/individual consciousness where we all move back towards recognizing that how we feel about ourselves doesn’t come from what others think of us - against which we will continue to see an escalating rejection (and struggle) in areas like finance, military/militias, sexuality and reproductive rights. These are all Scorpio ‘themes’ being represented by the North Node and the ‘worldly’ side of the eclipse cycle…and thus Saturn’s 2.5 year-transit of Scorpio…and thus the current five weeks of Mars in Capricorn.

The basic issue is that the collective should not rule us as individuals…but also that we should not and indeed cannot impose our rule/rules on the collective without reaping negative results.

There’s a general positive with Mars in Capricorn which takes the shape of patience, endurance and focus. The minus? That we can get run down, frustrated or suffer from an emotional sense of rejection, defeat or futility.

And that’s not chicken feed what with this transit starting just a couple of days after the eclipse. A lot of us are feeling like our very conception of life is being challenged. We do probably all need to change to some degree. And that makes the Mars in Capricorn question this: what are you actively DOING to embrace and participate in that change?

The willingness to work and build is a big Mars-in-Capricorn thing. And with Saturn in Scorpio, people who are willing to change the basis upon which they interact with others, how they interact with others and the ‘price’ they put on that interaction are in a far better position going forward than those who are waiting for others to meet their demands or come around to their way of thinking.

Or those who simply refuse to deal with others openly, honestly, inclusively and productively.

Let’s also remember though…as Mars begins its transit of Capricorn, Mercury is in (Scorpio) retrograde. So the Mars/Capricorn ingress is a time of sizing up and thinking things through, with maybe a touch of tinkering, trying out or dipping the old toe in the water.

Maybe you need to reflect. Maybe you need to do a little more research? This is a good time for both of those things.

The Mars-in-Capricorn ingress also favors connecting not to but through others. So ask for references or referrals. Put yourself out there in forums or via methods which don’t require immediate reaction. Others will take note, but that will probably be after Mercury goes direct on November 26th.

Or at least that’s when the payoff will likely be.

With the Sun also being in Scorpio as Mars moves into Capricorn, teamwork and sharing is emphasized – and the trick is to think things through while not taking so long that the decision gets made for you.

Once the Sun moves forward (that’s the key word: forward) into Sagittarius as of November 21st, life will become more (not less) public. Sagittarius is not directly interactive like Scorpio is, but what others do, choose and favor affects what you get to do – and not do. In Sagittarius, the challenge is to provide quality with breadth of application and the temptation is to go for quantity and availability.

Think of life as a product. When the obsessiveness that is Pluto passed through Sagittarius, we got this huge upswing in wanting ‘things’ and ‘stuff’ and wealth simply as an indication of abundance.

Now Pluto is in Capricorn and (in particular) it’s conjunction to many-faceted Facies has shown us how we can over-complicate our lives and not just the literal cost of that (debt) but the alienation and deprivation felt by the human soul when we care more about our image than intimacy and more about how we look than who we are.  

So…just before the Sun moves into Sagittarius on November 21st (to be followed by Venus - emblem of the reward we get for what we give or are - moving into Scorpio on the 22nd)…Mercury backs over the degree of the solar eclipse.

That happens on November 20th (except if you’re in Oriental longitudes, in which case it happens early on the 21st).

And where is Mars when Mercury evokes the eclipse degree through thought, information or situations? At 2 Capricorn, a degree tastefully imaged by the Sabian Symbols as A HUMAN SOUL, IN ITS EAGERNESS FOR NEW EXPERIENCE, SEEKS EMBODIMENT.

And when the soul has exhausted their allotted time here on Earth, they move on. Where, we are not

sure, but many are the ways humans have looked at the possibilities.

'The Soul Being Carried to Heaven,' a painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905)

Astrologer Marc Edmund Jones writes of this image as one referring to a ‘yearning to connect.’ Astrologer Dane Rudhyar considers this image to be more introspective, ultimately suggesting that it’s about the need to prove who we are to ourselves.

At some level, both ideas fit the broader Scorpio-Capricorn (Mars-Saturn) concept of ‘choosing what (and how) to construct’ our life and relationships. And yes, what goes awry or astray when we either don’t choose (abdicate our power), choose without regard to unintended consequences (i.e., “collateral damage”) or when we insist on having our own way (creating life limits through personal inflexibility).

As Mercury crosses the eclipse degree so trippingly, we’ll all be feeling things changing even as we breathe. We’ll feel ourselves existing. We will know…somewhere inside, or maybe in the back of our minds…that our aims remain the same, but the path to getting there is changing.

With or without us, it’s changing.

Your aims may be financial. Your friend’s needs may be emotional. And somebody down the street may be worried about needing more information. Or education. The symptoms…the arena will differ. But the Mars energy driving us to get something done? That’s a constant. Even if you’re exhausted, even if you fall sick or suffer an injury now, you’re going to be all about fixing you.

And maybe that’s the simplest form this transit can really take. Think of it…because of differing aims and outbursts of ‘need,’ especially here at holiday time things could get more than complicated. And if they do, Mars in Capricorn will manifest as grit-teeth coping: the staying on track with ourselves as we work to accommodate, assist and cooperate with others.

Meanwhile, Venus moving into its transit of Scorpio is a sign that as soon as Mars gets going in Capricorn, things get intense. This is Pluto will be at 8 Capricorn, finalizing its conjunction with the Gordian Knot nebula we of the astrological bent call Facies.

(More on this next week.)

Mars conjuncts Facies (and Pluto) on November 27-28, depending on what time zone you’re in. This is an indication of power-packed, seriously explosive energy needing an outlet. Denied one, an outlet will be created. Feelings, bodies, relationships, reputations – much can be bruised now. Much will blow up or get blown out of proportion.

Consider this a test of preparation. We all need to be prepared for whatever life throws at us, no matter how mundane or bizarre that gets. But we are never entirely ‘safe.’ Life isn’t safe – it can’t be and still allow us the space and opportunity to grow. Defenses are valuable, but not if they limit our lives.

Life is inherently risky. And part of Mars in Capricorn is realizing that the strength to live through risks lies in our hearts, minds and spirits, not in the walls or defenses we build. 

Whatever happens, try to maintain perspective. At it’s best, Mars in Capricorn teaches and provides the kind of strength which meets and deals with each challenge with focus and without hostility. Mars in Capricorn aspires to lead with strength and firmness and fails when it leads through demand or threat. Earning the right to be seen as someone who lives up to the highest standards of responsibility is a better way to win in the Capricorn world than through critique or punitive measures.

Yet as I say this, don’t be surprised if you hear of bad behavior during this time. Mars in Capricorn inevitably invites some to act harshly, badly – even despicably. What they are attracting are the energies of their own (Saturn-as-ruler-of-Capricorn) rejection, limitation and punishment.

As tenth sign of the zodiac, Capricorn asks that we openly stand for what we believe in. In order to be successful now, we have to be willing (and able) to stand as an individual, apart from all/everyone else.
That’s a tall order for the holidays, right? Everyone will be bustling around getting ready for friends and family.

But maybe that’s the challenge?
.
.
.
.