When Mars Retracts

Amidst mayhem and revolution, 2020's grand rewiring is being delivered in no small way by the many retrogrades in motion. Mars hitting reverse gear brought their swelling number to six, including the Capricorn congress. Each and all rx planets pushing a revisionist agenda, one that incites revolutionising change through learning from the past. Looking back, knowing more, doing better, moving on.Of course, not everyone will get the memo. The flat earthers, no brainers and agitating meanies of the world already feel the shitstorm rising tempers. The undercurrent is palpable and broiling. So too those uneasily committed to a queasy status quo or too busy lobbing shots across the bow to notice. Making things worse is always ill advised but under this starscape it is craven foolism. Someone tell the politicians.Mars retrograde is always a horse of a different primary colour. His short sharp orbit means his rx opposes rather than dances with the sun. Two hotheads blazing at each other across the universe, a trial by fire and one that remakes our relationship to rage. Getting to know the anatomy of your anger makes it a formidable ally. Wrapping it in denial, red flags or blame renders you a weapon half cocked.When Mars retracts, we don't merely get a chance to pull the thorns out of the warrior's craw. In Aries, we are also called to sit for months by our own fire and relearn the nature of our flames and passions. What fuels us or snuffs us out. All that gets us leaping into action. What we burn for. How we get lit. All that flaming I Am and the smoking Once Was, laid bare on common ground.This transit is never about calm or compliance. It will feel unholy at times as Mars rx squares off on repeat with Saturn and Pluto in global renovation mode. Best not treated as a baseless call to arms, reactive warmongers or fightpickers will fare terribly. Instead consider it a dazzling invitation to nurture the phoenix that lives within you, sharpening its flint and tending to its flames.What matters most is how well you walk through the fire ~ Charles Bukowski Art: Le Phénix, form alchemy of the philosophers by Salvador Dali, 1976Words c. Kerrie Basha 2020