Athena's Owl
MARS STATIONS RETROGRADE
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 4:54 pm PST
This morning, as we were headed out the door to make the drive to the bus stop, I noticed my daughter had the camera with her. Since it was still pitch black outside, I suggested that she not bother with it, but she just shrugged and took it anyway. And it's a good thing she did, for just a few yards down our street, sitting calmly in the middle of the road, was a tiny owl.
We often hear these little screech owls who live in the woods around us, but we don't often get to see them. So I stopped the car and we watched him for a while, catching and eating earthworms that had followed the rain runoff onto the road. When he flew up on a neighbor's fence post my daughter got this shot of him. On the way down to the bus, on this day that Mars stations retrograde in Virgo, I was thinking how fitting a symbol the owl is for this particular Mars retrograde. Virgo, the sign of earthy, practical wisdom, is ruled by Mercury, and the owl is associated with Athena, the Goddess of Mercurial Wisdom and Martial Warfare. Seeing our feathered neighbor, I decided was a good omen.
Stationing this evening at 23 degrees Virgo, the God of War — astrological archetype associated with passion, desire, sexuality, assertion and aggression — Mars will be marching seemingly backwards against the backdrop of the stars until April 13th, covering quite a bit of Virgo: from 23.05 to 3.41 degrees. This particular Mars retrograde, then, is especially relevant for folks who have chart elements that fall within this degree range in the mutable signs of Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces.
Mars Retrograde in Virgo
The Mercury-ruled, earth sign of Virgo is associated with those discerning practical, mental functions of rationality and grounded reason. Virgo is also strongly associated with the Sixth house of our everyday, workaday life — all of those daily routines that keep us functioning and on track with tummies full, beds made, teeth clean and bodies exercised. So with Mars moving backwards here, issues regarding health and well-being, how you manage your daily affairs, may become important issues over the next few months. Are you taking sufficient care of yourself regarding diet and exercise? Or like too many of us, are you only fitting that in when you can? Taking care of ourselves really should be one of our most important priorities, yet in a busy life it is way too easy to let that fall too far down the list.
The Virgo archetype closely correlates with the Tarot card, Temperance, shown here from the Rider-Waite deck. On the card we see the archangel Michael pouring the essence of life back and forth from the cup of the subconscious into the cup of the conscious. Symbolizing the descent of spirit into matter and the flow of the unseen realms with the physical realm in which we (only partially) exist. The square on Michael's breast is the symbol of reality, and contained within is the triangle, representing spirit. One foot is on land, the other in the waters of the subconscious, and a path leads from this pool to a higher realm of enlightenment.
Temperance, like Virgo, is associated with health and well-being in its connection to moderation: the avoidance of excess or extremes. To be temperate is to be responsible for self and others, to keep yourself within reasonable limits and exercise restraint despite all the powerful temptations that surround us. It is compromise as well, a willingness to see both sides and to be flexible and adaptable when that is necessary and WISE. Temperance is the "Middle Way," one of the guiding principles of Buddhist practice, the path of moderation away from both the severity of the ascetic and the gross perversion of the lotus-eater.
Mars retrograde cycles are felt more acutely because — unlike Mercury which always seems to be approaching yet another retrograde cycle; and Jupiter, Saturn, and the more distant planets, all of which are in retrograde motion for a large chunk of the year, every year — Mars' retrograde phases are separated by the rather long interval of two years and two months. Its last retrograde cycle began in December of 2009 and lasted through March 2010, when Mars was moving through Leo. Venus is the only other planet with a similar retrograde schedule to Mars, and who will also be completing her own retrograde dance this year.
An illusion, as planets do not actually move backwards, the apparent change in direction and speed of retrograding Mars is due to our view from Earth, which orbits the Sun at a faster rate. Mars appears to stop and then move backwards when the Earth passes by the slower moving planet. The effect is the same as when we pass a car on the highway and it appears, from our moving vehicle, to be in reverse motion.
To astrologers, retrograde cycles mark a time in which a planet's energy is not flowing well, and is not as readily available to us. The energies seem to work oddly and to also go underground, work more indirectly, more internally. The general consensus is that these cycles signal a good time to take a breather as much as possible with respect to the realm of life that planet represents, and to reevaluate how that area of life is working for you.
With Mars that is essentially the ability to get out there and do it. The natal Mars is our personal active agent that helps us fulfill our desires and ambitions. When Mars is stifled in some way, through a difficult transit or during its retrograde cycles, the normal rhythm of forward motion in life can become thwarted. Obstacles materialize, frustrations, and because it can be much harder to put one foot in front of the other and get somewhere, we are more vulnerable to the blues.
When Mars is retrograde it really is best to take off the battle gear, put it away for a while, and cool it. Chill as much as possible on that full-tilt pace at which we function too often in life. Mars retrograde cycles are much better used for re-assessing life direction, goals and projects, and to refine them. It is a good time for us to ponder where it is exactly we are headed in our lives and decide if we still want to go there. During the retrograde cycle, we often gain insights that enable us to reconfigure our life path so it suits us better. So frustrating though it may be, if we take at least some of this time to do some deep introspection, examine our priorities, simplify and focus our energy and ambitions a bit better, look more carefully at what we are doing with our lives, we can make some positive changes that will pay off in the long term.
The Sabian Symbol * for the degree of Mars' retrograde station tonight, perfectly underscores the Mars retrograde process of re-examination, especially in terms of Mars' issues with power and aggression, as well as Virgo's association with purity, and that ability to separate what is relevant and necessary from the meaningless "junk" of life:
Mary and Her Little Lamb — Keynote: The need to keep a vibrant and pure simplicity at the core of one's being as one meets the many tests of existence.
Dane Rudhyar's comments on this symbol, further clarifies the meaning here:
"...although great, spectacular and resolute efforts are needed in order to achieve one's higher goals of destiny, still the essential quality as one journeys on "the Path" is a pure, spontaneous, fresh and non-violent approach to all encounters."
If we go against this natural, more introspective flow over the next three months, and still insist on pushing ourselves as hard as we usually do, we may experience more frustrations, setbacks, roadblocks and an overal feeling of being stuck and mired. Taking at least some time now to complete this self-inventory, you might very well be in a better position to make good on your natal Mars's promise when he picks up his speed again and moves beyond the retrograde zone in mid April.
2012 Mars Retrograde in Virgo Important Dates
- November 10, 2011 — Mars entered Virgo
- November 17, 2011 — Entered Retrograde Zone
- January 23, 2012 — Station Retrograde at 23.05 Virgo
- April 13, 2012 — Station Direct at 3.41 Virgo
- June 19, 2012 — Leaves Retrograde Zone
- July 3, 2012 — Mars enters Libra
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References
The photo above is, according to NASA, the sharpest view of Mars ever taken. It was obtained by the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope on March 10, 1997, just before the Mars opposition, when the red planet made one of its closest passes to the Earth (about 60 million miles). Here's the link to NASA's photo caption with more information.
*Sabian Symbols are brief evocative descriptions developed for each degree of the Zodiac. Created in 1925 by astrologer Marc Edmund Jones in collaboration with the psychic Elsie Wheeler, they are used as a kind of astrological I-Ching. The reference above is from Dane Rudhyar's book on the symbols, An Astrological Mandala.
The Temperance Tarot card, shown above, is from the Rider-Waite deck. Authored by A. E. Waite and illustrated by Pamela Coleman, it was originally published in 1909 in England by Rider and Company.
© 2012 Elaine Kalantarian, all rights reserved