Uranus Station-Direct: Enlightening in a Bottle

 Original (1902) image: Lightning striking the Eiffel Tower

(photo courtesy of NOAA/re-colored for post)

During the week prior to any Uranus station there’s a tendency for life to feel unsettled. Or for us to feel unsettled about something in our life. This planet – where it appears in our chart natally and the house it’s transiting at any given time – represents areas of our life where we need to make breakthroughs.

That’s why Uranus is there. As humans (being only human and all that) we like to think of Uranus as freedom. And it can be that – or more precisely, the energy and energetics which ‘create’ a greater liberty to operate in or a freedom to operate. Where and when Uranus energies challenge us, we feel the urge to break out of some sort of restraint – and that’s sometimes a good thing and sometimes not so good. Where and when Uranus energies scare us, we want to run, retreat or hide. We’ll react irrationally – as far as others can see – and we often will not understand our Self (or why we’re reacting as we’re reacting) because that would require us to face something about ourselves or our life/life history we would find ‘shocking’ and perhaps disruptive in and on its own.

With this in mind we go to the calendar…and the calendar says that Uranus is going direct at 8 Aries on December 17th at 5:40 p.m. in the afternoon (UT/+0 time). That means that every since shortly after Mars entered Libra back on the 7th – or maybe even before that – we’ve been thinking about our approach to people, the ‘who’ of who we’re interacting with and on a more general level, whether or not we’re getting where we want to go and the results that we want.

As the days have moved forward, leading us towards Uranus’ station, we have realized that something needs to change. Maybe what needs changing too. With Uranus in retrograde and about to turn to direct motion, the shimmy of ‘I need to do something about this’ (or they’re going to do something about me) energy like as not is a response or reaction to something rather than life jabbing us with Uranian incidents, so whether we react well or badly to things during this period is really more about our ability to handle Uranian energies than anything else.

And no, we’re not likely to like that, either. The positive and negative here runs from excitement to terror, from fascination to alienation or rejection, from isolation, anarchy and elitism to universality and mass movements (or motion).

It’s all about insight. Some we like, some we don’t like and with Uranus, we’re talking about life forcing us to own all the perspectives – not just the ones that we like. This is a planet which doesn’t ‘spin’ on its axis going around the Sun, it rolls.

(Talk about your unusual influences, right?)

Literally. Seen against the rest of the planets in our solar system, Uranus rolls along its axis. And in doing so, it’s movements subtly evoke those things which are not so subtle in real life. Uranus operates on a wavelength of concept and perspective where preference has nothing to do with anything – and since we humans are all ABOUT our preferences, thus comes the strain, the stress, the breakage, the shattering of status quos we associate with such a moment.

We’re talking about a planet beyond Saturn – beyond our solid ‘grasp’ and ‘range of sight’ even on a good day. All we can do with Uranian issues is understand them. Hopefully we understand the whole of the parameter or situation. Where we do, Uranus represents the insight of ‘discovering’ what is up with us. Where we don’t, Uranus delivers the ‘shattering blow’ which whether large or small in reality, shakes us…BECAUSE we thought we understood.

And no, we didn’t.

And then there’s the fact that 8 Aries is one of those degrees which fosters the desire not to wait. Or not to have to wait. Uranus ‘turning’ on this degree is going to be hard on those who hesitate. Or those always hell bent on hanging on to the status quo. There’s a balance we want to strike…but can we strike it? Can we get things rebalanced? Or should we even try? Should we just cut our loses – and can we?

The influence here is ‘executive’ – which in your case may mean a “superior” idea or some sort of mentor, even a higher up at work. Or maybe you’re in charge of something and this period challenges your confidence. Or your control. Even your sense of being in control of your own life. Uranus stations have a thoroughly bizarre reputation for causing our perspective on things to fluctuate. Often we’ll flex back and forth between the ‘our part’ of it and how the whole of the process functions – the ‘all’ level of things.

What we ‘see’ now can grant us vision. Or it can manifest as indecisiveness, a ‘case of nerves,’ unpredictable anxieties or fears. We may need to be flexible. We may need to be adaptable - or to adapt ourselves to changing circumstances so that we have an opportunity to achieve something greater (or what we truly want).

Conversely, where things are wrong about 'Things Uranus,' though we want to think it’s about ‘them’ or life or that 'they're to blame, that’s truly not the case. Whatever is inciting us and whatever is being incited is the area of our life where WE don’t have perspective… where we aren’t seeing our Self as others see us.

Uranian energies do seek to free us – generally of our own shortsightedness, outmoded ways, inhibitions or fears. But how these energies manifest…? That’s not always so gentle – particularly when Uranus is passing through Aries (as it is now) as Aries energetics are always about our Self.

Metaphysically, that Self is either your consciousness or your physicality… and Aries is a fire sign, a vibration adeptly processed by us as the ‘idea’ of the thing – the vision, the motivation, the goal, aim or that thing we just want, want, want, want, want. Sometimes we want the glory. Or the simple knowing that we’ve done what WE wanted to do. Those are Aries’ “martian” (Mars-like) qualities. Aries can be all about our ego drives.

Then again, our Self can manifest as that thing we were born to be and do and bear witness to by being in this world.

Uranus’ eight year transit of Aries is meant to shake all of that up. During this time our view of the world will change and our view of our Self will change through what the world (and life) throws at us.

How we react…that’s our relationship to life not being what we thought it was going to be. And sometimes that process of reacting, responding, voicing, dealing with…it’s not subtle. Or genteel. Associated with the kind of energy which busts out and break through armored resistance be it physical, mental, irrational or emotional, Uranus is associated with undifferentiated, ‘explosive’ power.

That differs it from Mars – the planet which is about directed action. Mars represents the construct of the bomb and the decision to construct it and to set a bomb off. Against that, Uranus is the unfettered energy OF the bomb. It’s not ‘the thing’…it’s the energy of the thing as it does its thing.

Seeing that both planets are involved in this station we can assume matters of the moment are going to seem unpredictable and not always to our liking. We’re in a definite (Libra) I-them, my goal-their aim sort of dynamic. Libra-Aries indicates an Aries/personal-Libra/external component to the situation and the t-square indicates conflict.

But this isn’t conflict necessarily with others, though it might manifest that way. The root of our conflicts now are about who we want to be in this world, most of all in our own regard – the Capricorn ‘goal’ we have for our Self in this life as a person. Our Plutonic factors are our ‘hidden’ issues with that…with who we are in our own minds even when we think it’s about others. Or ‘the system.’ Or ‘life.’ Or ‘society.’

It’s never ‘them.’ Metaphysically it’s always about what we are supposed to be learning because they are there. Or because something has challenged or hurt us. Why we needed to learn anything – that’s the metaphysical perspective on life…and at least part of the Plutonic ‘transformation’ we would seem to need.

The curious thing here is the “goal” of the t-square as expressed by planetary positions. According to this conflux of energetics, we’re at a moment in time when what we need is to break (Uranus) free of – in our (Aries) Self – anything which we are (Medusa) afraid of knowing about.

With Medusa at 7 Aries, the myriad of meanings behind the word ‘love’ are part of the issue.

And yet, this is Aries. So this Medusa fear we are each facing has to do with love as we experience it in our Self or through our Self, replete with all the pluses and minuses there. Given the Sabian Symbol for 7 Aries (A LARGE WOMAN’S HAT WITH STREAMERS BLOWN BY AN EAST WIND), an emotional, perhaps spiritual ‘east’ energy is playing with us THROUGH whatever we leave/have left ‘free to be blown about’ in our life or out there in the world.

In his writings on this degree, astrologer Dane Rudhyar refers to the hat as a ‘defense from the elements’ which, if you think about the story of Medusa and who Medusa was in life before she got the snaky gorgon curse for her lack of attentiveness to the facts of what her commitment(s) meant… AND the Medusa ‘curse’ (isolation, retreat from the fullness of reality)… AND the how her curse was turned to good the moment the ‘snake head’ was cut off from her body – meaning the difference was at some level her (our) ability to act willfully or be unwilling to act which makes the vital Medusa difference.

(Sounds a little like a Madison Avenue ad that…’new, improved - that vital Medusa difference!’)

Sometimes, our (Medusa) fears are of the very power our essential being has. In ‘other hands’ - those of Perseus, in the case of Medusa – our ‘curse’ becomes a tool for helping others in the same way that Perseus saved Andromeda from an ‘oceanic monster’ (something horribly emotional or horrible and emotional). Or maybe they will witness or learn from our fears and ‘cut’ from that something which will help them take the ‘knowledge’ of something awful and turn it to good.

You know…the old ‘making lemons into lemonade’ thing.

Medusa-Uranus (in Aries) as the goal of a t-square is on a macro-and-micro level all about wanting to be free of fear. We think its from (Capricorn) life or life circumstances.

Is it?

Uranus in the ‘goal’ position here says whatever our status quo is, that gets blown apart. We may be startled, maybe even disturbed about something...in life, in our Self, in what we are working – consciously or unconsciously – towards making our (Capricorn) life SO terrible that we have the excuse to simply say ‘I’m done.’ in some very personal and individual regard.

If this station aspects your chart with any acuity (which – to make this easy – we’ll say concerns ANY planet, dwarf planet, Plutino, node or chart wheel horizontal or vertical axis point) between the degrees of 5 and 11 of any sign.

Put simply, the closer your chart position is to 8 degrees of any sign, the more pronounced Uranus effects are going to be in your life during the time of this station…which metaphysically is greatly the Uranus Effect, but also a bit about our relationship to Eris, Jupiter and Haumea.

Having spent at least 64 ounces of brain fuel over the past few months on Eris, I can give you a few new theorems on the subject. (Who knows…maybe this contributes to your Uranus docket?) Known as Eris Discord by some and as Discordia to the ancient Romans, Eris seems to have a very special sort of symbolism in our life in that for many of us, discord seem to arise not in but around the house that Eris is positioned in natally – and that often (not always, but often) these matters are linked.

For instance, Eris in the 10th might mean you have a sincerely hard time not just finding the ‘right’ career but that because you have that hard time you end up cutting corners in some way which ends up causing some very real, real world (10th house) consequences…problems with the law, for instance. Or maybe a loss of (10th house) public standing. Eris in the 5th might mean you have ‘discord’ around having children – and then end up feeling ‘out in the cold’ because all the people who do have children are sort of treating you as “a different form of life.”

Anyway, this t-square doesn’t involve Uranus. But being that it happens at the same time as the Uranus station, it would be sensible to think of this ‘other matter’ as something which is either going on at the moment, or something which has some influence or bearing on your issues of the moment.

The ‘baseline’ here is a great (Pelion) amount of personal (Aries) something. Pelion generally refers to a large amount of effort which is required, but whether that’s effort already committed to something or effort you’re boggled at needing to put out is individual. Coupled to Eris, this would be a quintessential ‘big deal’ (of real type OR tempest-in-teacup type) which in some way asks that you (Jupiter/Castor) grow in ability or (Jupiter-Hel-Child) grow up some or deal with the ugly things you really don’t want to deal with but NEED to deal with (Jupiter-Hel-Child-Castor) and deal with firmly, squarely and in a straight-forward manner…with all of this being liberally tied in a knot by a true and sincere wish that a.) either you didn’t have to deal with this/could just ignore this…or….b.) that society and/or social forces (including business standards) would get real about the tendency to marginalize, bypass or ignore the fact that real human beings are affected on an everyday basis by things which don’t take realistic things into account.

The ‘goal’ presented here is a curious one: Haumea, Ceres and TNO Typhon in Libra, a combination which would appear to be more about the wish value of our planning and what we learn when ideals go awry than anything else.

And yet…there is that Haumea quality of ‘shape-shifting’ which, by being included in this figure simply adds to and reiterates the entire aura of change or ‘willing evolution to evolve’ which seems to go with this Uranus station. Looked at in terms of Uranus’ stationing in a degree known for lack of patience at a moment when Mercury is in Sagittarius indicating rapid pace or overloads with Uranus own configuration including its opposition to Mars (which, by the by, one could see very literally as an ‘opposition to Mars/doing or having to do’).

And that would seem to mean we have a Uranus station recipe for a lot of ‘this shouldn’t be my problem, it should be your problem (and I really wish you’d stop trying to foist it on me)’ sort of stuff. Or maybe you’re on the ‘I know I should, but I don’t WANT to…and I especially don’t want to have to change anything or learn better about anything - even if it’s the best thing for me - if someone else is pressuring me about it.’

Ah yes…and it’s the holidays. AND Venus is about to go retrograde.

To address this Uranus-Venus thing: if you do move forward now, you will spend the time between your ‘move’ and Venus’ end-of-January turn to direct working things out and solidifying your gains. (Or yes, your losses.) If you blow off something you KNOW you need to change, break out of or some other tra-la like that…or if you avoid something you know you need to deal with, Venus in retrograde will provide you with all sorts of reasons to keep wanting to hide from the truth.

And let’s remember…Uranus energetics are and do have a very distinct relationship to the truth. The Uranus question vis-à-vis the truth (and facts) is only ever whether we are willing to join with that truth, or whether we are determined to part from the truth by substituting some preferred mantra which sounds good…but which isn’t really real.

Of course, we may have done just that at some time in the past, too. If so, Uranus’ station becomes a time when such forces ‘explode’ in our (Aries) face (i.e., consciousness).

Here’s a diagram for these next few days of the month…

As you can see, December 19th is where the Uranus and Venus stations overlap, indicating a day of turmoil or shift/shifting where outward or outbound (Uranian) motion is expended, reacted to or reflected on in a Venusian (‘how does this affect me…?’) manner.

Are we being hasty? Are we merely being practical? Are we escaping or abdicating - enhancing or detracting from our innate wholeness or effectiveness? Going into this station things would seem to be focused on ‘the idea of the thing’ with theories are abounding in the moment.

And yet, where we come out of this station we are under Sun and Venus in earth – specifically in Capricorn.That says realism. That says reality and a need for determinations which, whether pragmatic or not really have to fit who you are and be capable of generating personal growth to have any lasting effectiveness. 

All of which generates this question: if we go into this station in theory and come out of it in a pragmatic or realism mode, what's happened?

What changes?

That would seem to be our question.
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Mars opposition Uranus: The Road Signs

Uranus (top) and Mars (bottom) (photo credits: NASA-JPL)

 

Once Mars entered Aries back on December 7th it was inevitable – considering how Uranus is spending some eight years doing it’s sideways roll through Aries (manifesting as a periodic herking-jerking of our lives around like so much cosmic puppetry) – it was inevitable that Mars would end up opposing Uranus.

Well, that time has come…and I’m not sure whether I’m of a mind that this highly unpredictable patch of metaphysical is better crossed sooner than later.

But then, the universe didn’t ask me now, did it?

It’s always interested me that between Uranus and Pluto, Pluto gets all the drooling and panting. Uranus gets proper lip service, but Pluto gets groveling.

Then again, Uranus is the clean shot out of the blue – the thing which is over before you can register its begun, where Pluto is so much slower that we get time to tremble at life’s exquisitely painful joys and wallow in yearnings, fears and loss.

Let’s face it – Pluto energies are dramatic, and whether you’re an action-packed A-type personality or the I’d Rather Be Meditating type, there’s something innately Plutonic in us all.

The craven side of Pluto trends towards sex, carnality and violence. The productive side of Pluto leans towards the kinds of transformations which elevate and purify us.

And if that last sounds a little Neptunian, that would be because Pluto – the dwarf planet – is controlled by Neptune, intriguing and full-fledged planet that Neptune is.

Planet Neptune

(photo credit: NASA)

Have you ever thought about what this sort of ‘evidence’ by our solar system says in mythic terms? I mean…if you think of the Greek Olympus, there are three brothers. Jupiter (Zeus) is in charge of the whole Olympian shebang with siblings Hades (Pluto) and Neptune (Neptune) (sorry…couldn’t resist) in charge of the underworld and oceans, respectively.

I mean…gee wiz people – I’m a writer. The idea that in our solar system we have a planetary Pluto whose orbit is controlled by a planetary Neptune would tend to say that the Olympian Neptune (god of seas and thus water – which metaphysically equals emotions) controlled…or in ‘mythic-metaphysical’ terms should be seen to control all things Plutonic.

And before you jump to bite my copy yelling THEY DO! let’s remember…that would put the power which drives us to handle our Pluto effectively or not in Neptune’s court.

(I’m thinking water polo court here, personally.)

(That’s a joke.)

But it thus all comes down to: what are the cardinal rules for dealing with Neptune…which as opposed to Pluto is not what your emotions want but rather dealing with why you want – or desperately don’t want – ‘that.’

All of which has absolutely nada to do with Uranus, I know. But it was on my (alleged) mind, so I thought I’d stick it in today’s post.

(I’m just frivolous like that.)

Uranus – the planet which rolls along its orbit instead of spinning along it like every other self-respecting planets does – Uranus is the different thing. Whatever the status quo it, pure and simple, Uranus and Uranian energies represents that which changes it.

Or which changes us enough so that we understand things from a bigger, less ‘us-involved’ sort of perspective.

And considering how egocentric and me-centered humans are…? Well, let’s just say that the less flexible you are in life, the more drastic your Uranus transits are likely to be.

All and all it would seem that there is a ‘quotient’ of ‘change energy’ in each of our lives. Some of us let a little of it out constantly (a life built on ongoing change), some of us ‘vent’ the energy periodically – either intentionally or unconsciously (a life path built as an extended series of incremental steps) and some of us simply resist all change, and end up living a life which periodically experiences some terrible ‘breaking’ of the status quo (usually with aftershocks) which has to be weathered over some period of time before things settle back down.

And yes, Uranus is the metaphysical symbol of earthquakes. It’s also associated with lightning, explosions, anarchy, electricity, power grids, technology (including computers and the internet), ‘eruptions’ of social-mass movements, science, innovation, experimentation and modernization. Anything which changes ‘what was’ is Uranian.

We each know who we are and where we fall on the Uranus scale, no doubt – though we may have areas of our life which are more or less flexible, granted.

So then there’s Mars. Outermost of the personal planets which represent our daily life and ‘operation’ of our life existence, Mars is where our idea of who we are (the Sun), what we think (Mercury) and want (Venus) reaches the motivation-to-doing stage.

From where Mars orbits, in heading out into ‘the rest of what exists’ (the world, what we can learn) we traverse a lot of subjects and confront many facets of our Self and life (the asteroid belt) before we really have a clue what we are capable of being and how to be that person (Jupiter) and achieve our place in the world and – maybe more importantly – in our own regard (Saturn).

 
Motivation…initiation…doing. Mars symbolizes the pedal-meeting-metal moments of our lives. It represents that feeling we get when necessity builds to sufficient urgently to cause us to act.

But Mars is in Libra – the sign of the Other. Libra is the metaphysical hinge (a fact Gen X is slowly but surly learning!) where cause meets effect, where the fuse burns down to the powder – and a result is generated. And if that result is explosive, it is. What we put out there generates what comes back to us.

So the dynamics of that explosion? Whether it’s a little pop or a scene scarring blast?

That’s an attribute which would seem to be uniquely Uranian.

Thus we come to the crux of the issue: Uranus is in Aries, sign of the Self – the who we are, our physical existence and what we are motivated to become. So these years between 2011 and 2018 are not designed to be calm. We’re supposed to get rattled. We’re supposed to feel our flaws and learn to roll with our rocky times. We’re supposed to change. We’re supposed to become more of who we really are, regardless of what that is – for in that Self lies the energy, the attributes which we can turn to the betterment of all.

And in the process – so lore promises – we will become ever more enlightened.

Which is probably the thing about enlightenment, I guess…you can’t find it by hiding from your Self and who you (we) really are.

It’s not a neat process – and maybe that’s what this Mars opposition Uranus period is going to represent at some level: the meeting up with some new part of ourselves. Maybe for you it’s going to be something you can do in spite of all. Or it’s some attribute you thought you couldn’t do which you actually (shock!) like.

Still….let’s not be unrealistic here: if you were going to pick a couple of planets (from the astrological perspective) and say ‘these two, mixed together, are dangerous’ you would probably pick Mars and Uranus.

This pair is so well known it doesn’t really matter what aspect (conjunction, opposition, square, etc.) they are to each other. When Mars and Uranus start playing footsie, flexibility is our friend and staying on one’s toes is entirely sensible – either because you don’t want to miss a sudden opportunity, because things are simply hectic, because (probably after a lot of thought) you resolve yourself to make some sort of quick or unscheduled change….or because you don’t want to be caught standing in the line of fire when the sky falls. (Always a good idea, that last one.)

By opposition, any Mars/Uranus opposition can represent discussions, confrontations, ‘breakthroughs’ which lead to stronger understandings and even personal epiphanies. Such a transit will also have three parts: Mars approaching Uranus (development of dynamics), the actual ‘by degree’ conjunction (the change) and Mars ‘departing’ – the ‘moving on’ part of our experience. (And yes – specifics in your personal chart can cause these dates to flex by a day or two.)

Date-wise, these three ‘sections’ of this month’s Mars/Uranus opposition sort out as follows:

Approaching Orb: December 15-25

Conjunction: December 25

Departing Orb: December 25-January 6

I’m somehow sure a lot of people are going to look at that list and react to the fact that the conjunction date is Christmas.

For the record, me too. I have an odd feeling about this particularly because of the degree of the opposition as well. The degree is 8 Libra, and 8 Libra is one of a very few zodiac degrees of have a such a ‘reputation’ as to have acquired a nickname.

It’s called ‘the Widow’s Degree.’ And yes, this can mean violence or loss. Or it can be your experiencing of what you’ve learned through loss.

Or your realizing that you’re a whole new and different person…a changed person…because something startling – even shocking has happened.

You know more about yourself – and that’s a gift.

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If you would like to read more

about 8 Libra, click HERE

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Mars in Libra

 image: 'Stars' by Maxfield Parish - Mars photo by the Hubble Space

Telescope (photo credit: NASA, JPL, Caltetch)

A friend and I stood chatting a couple of weeks ago. It was one of those comfortable chats you know you want to go on for hours, but that day neither of us had time.

So we decided to make a plan about getting together.

(Him) ‘I have exams coming up – I can’t do it until after December 7th.’

(Me) ‘December 7th…?’ My brain was already busy checking references.

And just as obviously, his wasn’t.

(Him) ‘Sure - December 7th . We’ll finish the conversation then. Celebrate a little.’

CLICK: my brain delivered the answer. And being one of those Pisces girls who can’t resist a good line) I gave him a smile. ‘You mean we could get bombed, right? I can’t actually think of a better day to get bombed on than December 7th....’

Hearing myself say those words, the writer in my soul sighed in pleasure. And yet, bright and brainy as he is, he still didn’t connect: for my painful pun I got one of those ‘what the fern are you talking about now?’ looks.

(Me) ‘December 7th is Pearl Harbor Day…what better day to get together and get bombed?’

So today is December 7th and it is indeed Pearl Harbor Day and I am duly grateful for the peace my life and my nation is graced with. I give thanks to those who have served.

It’s also the beginning of the Geminid Meteor Shower which brings up that whole conversation we had on November 28th about Rock Comet Phaethon.

Link to: PHAETHON, ROCK COMET

Phaethon energy has a reputation for being (overly) headstrong - possibly to the point of destroying an aim or ability to achieve that aim, at least for the moment. And since Phaethon’s radiant (the ‘place in the sky’ the comet appears to ‘come from’) is in constellation Gemini, the inference is that Phaethon's 1.43 year-long cycle is saying something to us about our mentality or something experienced on a mental level.

In being like ISON (you remember ISON – the comet which failed to die?) in that Phaethon’s orbit takes it all the way inside Mercury (in other words, 'right into the face of the Sun') speaks to how close or personal we might take such matters now...or how people or forces from 'out of the blue' may bring to us some perspective on what we're doing in our lives. As a ‘rock comet’ (a comet with no tail and thus no dapples of meteoric insight), Phaethon’s origin in the asteroid belt and its lack of ‘spark’ says good or bad, mundane or magnificent, what we're going through is just part of life - and thus something we have to live with or get through.

And so, on this Pearl Harbor Day, as our thoughts are being touched off, as we're going about our efforts (some of which, in true Phaethon style may be hasty or not as yet 'matured')…THIS is the day that Mars enters Libra at 8:42 in the evening, UT/+0 time.

The lower reaches of Mount Sharp, as photographed by the

Mars Curiosity Rover (photo credit: NASA-JPL Caltech, August 2012)

 

Of course once inside the proverbial 'door' of Libra, Mars comes into the orbish auspices of M87…the black hole of relationship alternatives (whatever that means to us at the moment)…and that's a quality, an energetic which may well affect much which happens between now and  mid-December, when Mars leaves M87's orb. Wherever we are coming from, we are either able to see or maybe graced to see or at last willing to see things from a different point of view.

And yes, that perspective might be the perspective being held by somebody else.

Then again, you may now see ("perceive") possibilities in or for your own life which you have never seen before.

Or as you have never seen such an idea before.

Whatever that becomes, Mars entering the orb of opposition to Uranus on December 12th (which happens at about the moment Mars that emerges from M87 territory)...that becomes a time of restlessness or energy, when the need to 'do something' (or change things) becomes rife. And though ordinarily we would think of Mars-Uranus in opposition as explosive (and it may be despite all) there is that relatively genteel Mars-in-Libra energetic to provide us some critical negotiating room with ourselves and others...so instead of being explosive, this may just be when we finally get 'to' something. When we make that change happen. When we 'break through' our own reluctance or hesitation. And that’s the genius of Mars in Libra: it’s ability to ‘trip the balance’ of some situation not through assertion but through asserting yourself in the cause of getting the results you truly want.

There are a few challenges however, with Mars in Libra. One comes from Libra being an air sign. Air signs deal in theory and Mars is an energetic which is all about ‘can we just get on with this?’ (You know…the making it happen part.)

Then there’s the fact that Libra is one-third of the zodiac’s 3rd or interactive quadrant and Mars’ primary rulership is of Aries – the quintessential Me-I-My Ego/Aim sign, one which comes from the ‘I’m Learning About Who I Am and How to Be Me’ zodiac quadrant.

So to capsulize Mars in Libra – (and I’m being very blunt here) - we could say it’s all about how to be (Mars) me while caring enough about them that I get what I want…which is sort of asserting ourselves by being nice enough to not go around being a butthead.

(Actually, there are those who in reading that would immediately insist that there’s time enough for Mars assertiveness to take on that butthead thing once Mars reaches Scorpio come JULY 2014.

(Wait, I hear you say. Did she just say JULY of 2014?)

I did, I did – I did say July 2014. As of December 7th (Pearl Harbor Day), Mars will be in Libra until late July, 2014.

That’s seven months. You know...over a half-a-year.

So it’s pretty much your choice: are you going to be ‘having to deal with’ relationship issues from here until late July 2014? Or are you motivated to pay attention to how you relate to people and to work with(in) yourself on whatever will get the responses or results you want from one and all (personal and professional, platonic, familial and intimate)?

It’s our choice. The things which cause us to choose along these lines (eventually getting us to think more about the subject as a whole, most likely) will occur in many a different venue. We’ll probably make such choices thousands of times between now and July, and slowly we will come to understand why what we do or don’t do…or how we do something (or don’t do it) makes all the difference – both to ‘them’ (whoever they may be) and to how ‘they’ and ‘things’ and the world as a whole responds to US.

Which yes, is what we tend to care about most. Even when you are barely breathing with concern over a loved one – or over some grievous threat to somebody else, there is some degree of not wanting to feel that tension. That (Mars) wanting to act but knowing your Mars actions are being curtailed. That wishing there was something you could (Mars) do but knowing the situation isn’t yours to (Mars/Pluto as Scorpio) control.

If you’re thinking that this super-sized cupful of Mars in Libra must include a retrograde, you’re right. Mars will go retrograde in Libra on March 1st (with Saturn following suit on March 2nd, should you need any convincing that something needs contending with, lest it become problematic). Mars in retrograde can be very annoying, granted. And with this one occurring in Libra, that ‘someone else’ or ‘them out there’ side of the Libra quotient may well be bothering you. If you can turn that ‘bother’ to self-examination without getting defensive, you may well come to understand, appreciate and benefit from what your learn now.

And if you can’t redirect that ‘they’re bugging me’ energy? Then either that energy turns inward (not pleasant!) or you are likely to attract people who will “own” that energy for you…which could be helpful, but might manifest as criticism.

Obviously this is a looooong, long transit. With regards to December (specifically), especially as the Sun will be moving towards the end of Sagittarius as Mars opposes Uranus on December 17th things may get out of hand – or (alternately), you may feel sufficient conviction… motivation… courage… whatever it takes to get past some sticking point. And as this happens just barely prior to Venus going on station to turn retrograde as of December 21st, it is to be guessed that Mars/Uranus is also a stepping-stone in some greater process, though Mars-Uranus connections are plenty vital to herald an event you’ll remember.

And maybe learn from.

That Mars reaches that singular degree of 8 Libra on December 24/25 suggests a couple of days when feelings may be touching, haunting, telling…or even overwhelming – and it’s all in how you use it. This is not an energetic which works particularly well when focused on the Self, particularly not under a Venus retrograde except where self-denial is a conscious choice made for the benefit of someone else.

The overall sense of Mars in Libra is connective. It’s about working with others and on ourselves in connection with how well we ‘work’ with - or get along with, or are able to get what we need from - others. Every time Mars goes retrograde (a bit less than every two years or so), we experience a period of testing where we are ‘pitted’ against ourselves in some regard. The last Mars retrograde began in January 2012 in Virgo, when we dealt with our own ability to keep ourselves on track.

Now we’re seeing how…and if…and how well we are able to ‘take’ our (Mars) efforts out into the world. The who and the what and the why and the why not and the highly Libran question of what and who am I equating myself to? in life…?

These are all important questions.

We’re not going to answer them all at once…but by and by we’re going to know we have to answer them –lest we either lose our Self, our life, our sense of identity and ability to fulfill ourselves.

This is just the start of a process. And a conversation. Where Mars is concerned, being aware is a positive. Being overly certain is iffy. With Mars entering Libra, there is always what the ‘other guy’ has to say...and at the moment they're busy going through their own Mars in Libra issues - which are as important as ours, but not more valid, nor more human.

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