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Although, most people are hoping for quick correction and “getting back to normal” one of the most intense periods (I know it’s been super intense, how can it get even crazier? I will tell You that in a second) is just around the corner.
The planet of war, aggression, and violence (among other things but just to add the dramatic effect to it all) will be going retrograde.
In the following article, I will describe the upcoming Mars retrograde period of 2020. The actual dates of the period are the 9th of September — 13th of November.
It is also worth a mention that each retrograde period has a shadow period before and after the actual retrograde. This means we can roughly give the period a timeframe of September 2020 — November 2020. Or the beginning of September and the end of November.
It is important to understand that the planet going retrograde usually gives the biggest results 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after the retrograde period. I’ve personally noticed that it very often happens right around the day when the planet goes officially retrograde or comes out of it. Some dates to pay attention to, 9th of September and 13th of November (or around those days). What happens during those days can give an indication of things to come. Especially during the beginning of the period.
What is a retrograde period?
A retrograde period means if a planet is really close to the earth. And it seems to the observer like it has gone backward. But it actually has not. It is just seemingly moving really slowly and backward because of the optical illusion.
Here’s a scientific description of the retrograde period:
Although I don’t agree with her calling astrology a pseudoscience and her general condescending view towards this science, I like the way she describes what is actually happening in the sky.
Astrology is a science like every other kind. You make observations, You get the data, and then You see if it holds up in the real world. If it doesn’t, or new observations have been made, You make adjustments and corrections!
What does retrograde mean in astrological terms?
This is a time when the planet is usually considered weakened and a lot of problems associated with the planet come up to be dealt with.
Although, in my personal observations I hold a different view. What I’ve seen and observed is that actually because of the close vicinity of the planet, the so-called problems come up because there is an abundance of the energy of the planet.
Or in other words, the planet is so close to us, there is a lot of energy associated with the planet available for us that we subconsciously (or consciously for some) start to use that energy in our daily lives. If You do that, problems associated with the planet are bound to come up and issues need to be dealt with.
But it’s not because the planet is weakened in some way. In a lot of ways, retrograde planets can give better results if people learn to work with the energy.
If You have retrograde planets in Your natal chart, this means that You need to put in more effort to get results. But what happens when You put in more effort?
You become a master.
Of course, this is hard work and annoying at times for the human mind seeking instant gratification but I’ve seen this work in a real-life environment.
Now that we have established the meaning of the retrograde period, let us look at what the planet Mars itself represents.
The positive side of Mars.
Mars rules (or represents) our ambition and drive, competition, our desire to win, our physical energy, our muscles, our bodies, blood, the color red, quickness, movement, fitness, entrepreneurship, start-up companies, the desire to be the best, our inner and outer warrior, surgeries, fire, our willpower, martial-arts, engineering, sports, sharp objects, construction, building.
The negative side of Mars.
Mars also rules aggression, conflict, violence, war, stress, inflammations, arguments, abrupt behavior, selfishness, impatience, forcefulness, fires, fighting, combat, anger.
To emphasize, even more, all of these themes will be in our faces so to speak and will be dealing with these actively during the retrograde period. Globally as a society and in our personal lives.
A general overview of the period.
I will now describe the overall influences of the period and later will divide the period into three parts. I will look at some of the aspects during the retrograde more closely.
Whenever Mars retrogrades we are called to bring out our inner warrior in our personal lives. We might have let others cross our boundaries and now with the fiery push from Mars, we will want to reassert ourselves.
This reasserting ourselves can look quite intense because Mars doesn’t really consider others in it. It has its mission and will do anything to fight for it. In this case, our boundaries.
There is a higher chance of getting into arguments, conflicts during this time because of the aggressive side of Mars. But I must remind You of the grown-up and mature warrior which Mars can also represent.
This type of warrior asserts his or her boundaries without the emotional drama and cry baby side of Mars. This is the strong warrior side of Mars, who knows the damage violence can do. He is not afraid to use it if worse comes to worst but he or she will do it’s best to achieve its goals without it.
Firmly stand Your ground!
Mars will also push us either from the inside or outside to achieve our personal ambitions and goals during this time. It is a great time to take some action and show Your warrior in Your material lives as well.
(Business, financial, fitness, etc. You will have to work harder with these but the results after can be worth it. If You truly put in the effort!)
Mars is both inner tension and outer so it can come to You from an outside place like a partner, business associate, boss figure. Or the inner tension and ambition to achieve something in Your lives will get so great that You will push Yourselves to new heights. Or towards some goal in Your life.
This will inevitably bring more stress into our lives. Because taking on bigger goals and tasks often does. There are new horizons to conquer and unknown variables. But Mars will help You with these feats. (Mars also represents courage). Just remember that more efforts are required. And You have to push Yourselves as well.
It isn’t going to be easy to achieve Your goals during this time but You will have the opportunity to do so.
With the tension within ourselves building and within others, when this energy isn’t put to good use (for example achieving Your goals, fitness, sex, exercise, construction, building) outbursts of anger are more common during this period.
Now some astrologers say that because of the weakening of Mars it will be hard to harness the positive energies of Mars. Like willpower, ambition, the desire to achieve something great, etc. And although I have witnessed some parts of this, I do not entirely agree with them.
Rather, there is an abundance of Mars energy available for us. How we use it, will depend on our choices.
It is also important to mention the sign Mars is going retrograde in. This time it’s Aries, Mars’s home, or domicile position. This means that Mars is quite strong by sign and the energy should be more easily available for us. The negative side of Mars being in Aries is that the fiery side or the aggressive side of Mars is amplified as well.
There is something to be said about the domicile planets being more stubborn. This is a widely accepted fact in the astrological community and I have observed this myself.
What does it mean in practical terms or in real life?
The conflicts set to take place will be fierier in my opinion. And the resolutions are harder to come by because of this stubbornness. But the stubbornness also applies in a positive sense. Meaning, we will figuratively “fight to the death”. Or give it all we got until we don’t have anything more in the tank to give.
So, on one side or opponents will be fiercer but we will have the ability to harness similar energies. I expect a quite intense time where people are not willing to let go of their side of the coin.
An important reminder with all retrograde periods, they bring out the problems associated with the planet within ourselves and society at large. In more practical terms this means we might see bursts of aggression, or own personal ambition and drive needs to be looked at, as well as used more in our lives.
Just to give an example. Last Mars retrograde period during 2018 in my home country of Estonia videos and news leaked of violent (Mars) youth (Mars is younger) gangs that were beating up other youth in our nation’s capital. And at the same time in one of our bigger suburbs, there was again news of a youth gang terrorizing citizens with violence and aggression.
The first incident even required the police to set up a guard in one of the parks to soothe the situation. Which it eventually did.
This is to illustrate one of the ways Mars retrograde can manifest.
The beginning of the Period.
Let us focus on the aspects of Mars during these evaluations of mini periods within the bigger retrograde period.
The most intensity is (and this is throughout the period) between Mars and the stellium in Capricorn consisting of Jupiter, Pluto, and Saturn. Right from the start of the period, they are sending a square (a difficult aspect or influence) to Mars. With Saturn being the most exact one.
This immediately speaks of more stress, arguments, and conflicts in our government organizations. Those foundational entities that hold our society together. And control our society as well. They have been on shaky grounds with the Pluto conjunction and Jupiter expanding it all as it is. Now the God of War, Mars steps in with an uncomfortable aspect and will mix things up even more.
Government personnel and figures will be under a lot of stress. I expect to see visible conflict and arguments between the members of different governments.
With Mars also ruling men and younger people, I expect to see their fire burning and their agitation being shown towards governments. Some form of conflict between these two parties will take place during the retrograde period. Or the existing conflicts will intensify and will be more visible to the public. Just a reminder (again!) that during retrograde periods the problems associated with the planet are so in our faces that it will be hard to ignore these.
We must also remember that traditionally Saturn rules the so-called common people. With the crisis, the larger part of society will feel the stress of the situation more strongly. Governments will have to use their force (Mars) to control the situation. Because the square aspect will stir and enliven the people up. Lots of aggression will be shown towards the governments across the globe.
Both Saturn and Mars are in their domicile positions so both are strong and stubborn. Who has the upper hand? It is quite difficult to say because we can make a case for either one looking at different influences surrounding them. But the important thing here to realize is that neither side is going to bow down easily here. A battle for the ages.
When Mars is agitated, meaning, there are hard aspects to it, the self-control of people can be lacking. Outbursts of emotion, anger, yelling, can be abundant. The emotion that arises is fierce and fast. For the person receiving it or being on the receiving end of it, it does seem like it’s a lot of emotion and anger for something very little.
But for the person losing their control, they have almost no chance of handling themselves any differently. Especially for those people who have more Mars energy, or more prominent Mars energy in their charts.
For some members of the government, this can be the end of their tenure as well.
If we talk about the Pluto influence with Mars or the square aspect between those two then we can start building a case for the rich and powerful of our society not having such an easy time as well. This combination to me speaks of death, destruction, violence around the globe, unfortunately.
Pluto rules our subconscious and with the hard aspect from Mars, our subconscious will be filled with aggression, violence, tension, and stress.
The thing with square aspects is that it usually boils over or comes out to the surface to be resolved. With Jupiter close by and expanding (hopefully it will bring some benevolent things and higher understanding to the picture but You must remember that Jupiter is weakened or not strong in Capricorn, this does not look extremely good here) the conflict, tension, it will, unfortunately, be brought to the surface to be transformed.
Acts of violence will grow during this time in the world. If possible then I recommend staying in rural areas in nature during this period. In the bigger cities, the energy is running rampant and it is much easier to get into conflicts etc.
Some positive influences to consider during the beginning part of the retrograde. The Sun is sending a lovely trine from Virgo (not it’s strongest or weakest sign to be in) to the stellium in Capricorn. At least during the beginning, Sun supports all three planets with its energy.
Meaning, we will have the energy (Sun) to take on this difficult task (Saturn) of going through the crisis. Saturn and Sun together will give the strength to take on harder challenges. And considering everything, we have our work cut out for us during this time.
Sun and Jupiter will increase our belief that it’s possible to make it through it all. Will give some confidence to male leaders of the world and increase their vitality to some extent. For them to be able to take on these challenges. At least for a short period of time.
Pluto and Sun in a positive aspect increase our power within. I believe it is possible (considering all the difficult influences) even through all the difficulties of finding some inner strength here for everyone involved. I also get the sense of some new leaders emerging here.
We also need to mention Neptune here who is sending a healing sextile towards the stellium in Capricorn. We are going to need all the help we get, so my hope is that Neptune, being also in its domicile position will help to soothe the conflicts. And if I’m being really optimistic, maybe even help to resolve some of them without violence. Luckily for us, this influence is valid for the entire retrograde period, so there is support for us.
It is important to convey the other side of Neptune here even in a positive aspect. It brings up and raises the question of the vaccine. As Neptune is medicine and it is in a positive aspect to the epicenter of the crisis (Pluto is disease and crisis), I do think that a vaccine is close.
If the vaccine is a positive thing, in my opinion, most probably not. But it will be made to look like a positive thing. Neptune can gloss over things with a haze, even in positive aspects. Misty Neptune can be the Joker card during the retrograde period for us. Seemingly bring healing but at what cost?
The Middle part of the retrograde.
As mentioned above the square between the stellium and Mars continues. But now the square between Jupiter and Mars is exact. Both are sitting on 19 degrees in their respective signs. Luckily Jupiter is a benefic so it’s not so bad but still worth a mention. Jupiter brings in the religious leaders of the world and all sorts of spiritual figures.
They are under a lot of stress with the stellium and south node being in Sagittarius and now Mars sends a violent square to the great benefic. More tension and crisis around spiritual circles will continue.
A very negative and hard interpretation of this aspect is also violence in the name of religion. I do see the potential for extremists (Pluto influence) religious (Jupiter) sects to be violent (Mars) during this period. Or in other words, violence in the name of religion will be very likely. Terrorist attacks are quite possible.
During the middle part of the period, the Sun again becomes an important player. This time negatively. It is weakened in the sign of Libra, opposing Mars and squaring our friends in the stellium.
What does this mean?
Mars will have the upper hand here in the fight between the two. Sun rules people (especially men) in leadership positions. But even women who have achieved some sort of status in society will be under heavy stress. Even violence directed towards those who are in positions of power.
One thing I do see here is aggression and anger directed towards celebrities in some shape or form by the common people. The Sun is getting hammered left and right here in a weak position, with no help to it whatsoever.
But what about the square to the stellium from the Sun?
Sun and Saturn in a square again speak of heavy duties being put upon people who are in the limelight. Without any support and Saturn being stronger, the potential for some famous people to also leave this planet (dying) is a high probability. Especially if we add the square from Pluto (the planet of death) to the mix.
Sun and Jupiter square is a bit of an easier one. Because it mostly just brings the inflation of confidence and ego in situations that do not warrant it. Be aware of those people in leadership positions being overly confident when the situation seems bad.
They will flock their golden mane but to no avail.
If we really want to be positive then Mercury is sending a sextile to the stellium buddies in Capricorn.
Mercury and Saturn in a positive aspect will bring level heads, practical ideas, and the ability to organize everything in an orderly manner (things we so desperately need here). But Mercury is in Scorpio, not the best position for the planet (also not the worst).
Hopefully, the sextile will still help us uncover deeper (Pluto) information (Mercury) that can help us during this time. Especially with Mercury being in Scorpio, deep research and esoteric information should help us here.
With Jupiter, it will be positive and optimistic boost for our thoughts and mind. A needed break and a short optimism transit. Although, I wouldn’t expect too much of it. I’m just doing my best to see some of the things that can help us through this time filled with tension.
Carrying on with the theme of finding light in the darkness, Venus in Virgo is sending a trine to the three musketeers in practical Capricorn. Being weakened in Virgo, the influence of Venus will be felt but I’m afraid that the rest of the influences are still more prevalent. Don’t get me wrong, it will still help but not as much as it would if it was for example in Pisces.
Venus will do it’s best to bring it’s diplomatic approach to our current situation. Hopefully, it will soothe the situation and in combination with Neptune, the conflict areas will get at least some relief from the healer Neptune and the diplomat Venus.
The end of the period.
And the culmination of the even. I cast this chart quite randomly for the end of the period. What I immediately noticed that on the 10th of November both Jupiter and Pluto are on 22 degrees of Capricorn. The degree of “to kill or to be killed”. It is also associated with assassinations.
There is at the very least a potential for a powerful spiritual leader (Jupiter) to be killed (Pluto and Mars) or assassinated during this time.
Especially considering the square from Mars and the fact that Jupiter is in its fall (a weak position for Jupiter) position Capricorn. It doesn’t look too good for different religious and spiritual leaders here I must say.
The general situation has changed somewhat. Mars is now directly opposite Venus. Both are in their domicile positions and strong. I expect some conflict between men and women to escalate here. And in our personal lives, the relationships with the opposite sex are full of tension.
On another note, as Venus is also squared by the three amigos in Capricorn in addition to the opposition from Mars, I do suspect some difficulties for women here in general. Hopefully, it is not anything violent, and rather some arguments, conflicts. But the potential for women to be marginalized is somewhat in the air.
The Sun is now positively affecting the stellium with a nice sextile from the transformational Scorpio. The positive effects similar to what I explained in the beginning part of the period apply here as well.
To summarize, the period will be intense, especially considering all the tensions brewing in the world. We will unfortunately see aggression and violence throughout the planet. I do not think we can escape this entirely. How bad it gets depends entirely on human beings themselves. We each get to make a choice on how we are going to use this time.
Ian Altosaar
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