An incendiary dark moon descends over us all now, its pull to rest and recalibrate at odds with broiling revolution. If you needed an omen for the eclipse season incoming, the days between now and the Pisces new moon will likely deliver it. Try not to baulk when it lands like a bomb, like a blast of past angst, or dripping in blood. The gloves have actually always been off.

This week begins in the hazy daze of Neptunia, its surreal half light obscuring and conjuring by design. Its been a wild weird wired weekend on planet rebirth. Emerging from the fray like a blessed slingshot, Mars finally concludes his months long hamstrung retrograde in Cancer. Though this will not instantly dry up all the tears nor quell the shouting, it does offer significant hope for fresh resolution and resolve on the way.

Every two years or so, Mars and Saturn bring their hot and heavy heads together, and the world groans and shifts. The last time this happened during March 2020, it set the stage for breakdown and the world followed suit. Most everything was shutdown and wildly shunted by a pandemonium that plunged us into uncertainty and chaos. The game was changed, irrevocably.

Out of his depth Mars cultivates a familiar cardinality now, teasing changing emotions to the surface. Intuition vies with impulsivity. Sensitivity is fuelled with mixed results. Moods swing like trapeze. Cancer is wildly emotional territory. Mars here is tethered to the moon's shifting tides, easily made queasy when flung out this deep ocean.

It isn't really an encounter. More like a spell cast of yearning, thoughtlessly tossed into the wind by a changing mind and a shifting heart. Mars in his twin skin and out of bounds. Venus in Aries taking her leave from the world of men. Their sextile a long distance conversation without voices. Their mutual reception a sleepover at each other's houses while the other is away.

A welcome change in the planetary weather today as Mars finally departs his truculent time in Taurus for the fresh air of Gemini. All the better to fan his flames and bust the regular ruts we may have found ourselves stuck in, spinning wheels and digging further into the same old ground.

Batten down the hatches and don the Aquarian cyberproof lady armour, darklings. February's day of reckoning has arrived in a strange huffy haze designed to get under your skin. Merc in full retrograde flight today squares off with our twisted firestarter hankering for the clash like a bull in a china shop.

Feeling the snap, crackle and pop, darklings? Welcome the curtain raiser to tomorrow's full moon peaking as Mars glowers at Urania. Their square dance is disruptive and reckless, unlikely to play by the rule book that was tossed out the window

Mars has strapped on a dodgy ancient facemask he found in his kit and finally made it through the crumbling carnage of Capricornia. Fighting an enemy he couldn't see as the towers fell, Mars crossed the threshold into Aquaria. Momentarily neutralised, the briefest respite to lay down his sword and grab a pitcher before the flames leap again.

As we walk the path to our brave new world - individually and at a safe distance - most all of our planets are in earth signs except for a small clutch in Pisces. The cosmic message could not be clearer: get grounded in your own space and feel those feelings as they crash on your shore. Mars in Capricornia is soon to dance with the congress responsible for January's gamechanging events.

Two significant movements in the cosmic choreography over the next day proffer a whole new terroir and a strange union of opposites. Merc turns retrograde in Pisces as Mars charges into Capricornia. The former a nebulous dive and the latter a rocket sent from the planet Ambition.

In the midst of the dark moon and the dour imperatives from Capricornia, Mars' move into Gemini late last weekend has delivered some welcome fresh air and fuel for his fire. Ours too darklings, even if the kindling still feels wet and heavy.

This week is a warm up in every sense with Mars dominating the outer reaches of Aries. Next week we enter a period of epochal change overflowing with once in a lifetime seismic shifts. The kind that tilt worlds and herald revolution. But first Uncle Mars is having his way with us, offering the kind of life coaching that is low on saccharine and heavy on imperative. All the better to set a fire beneath us.

You know by now darklings that I never send you hurtling towards potential astrofuquery without a strategy. Our twisted firestarter is throwing his significant weight around this week. See post below for why this isn't a terrible thing. See list below for what to do when Mars attacks.

After nearly eight weeks of our twisted firestarter in tell it like it is Saggilands (yes simmering beneath us all right throughout eclipsia) well may we be due for a more productive fire in our bellies. Mars move into Capricornia hot on the heels of the new moon in Pisces augments the fresh start vibe and gives us the impetus and desire to grab our life by the horns.

For the next few days Mars and Chiron dance again in a capoeira style face off at the tail end of Pisces. All too soon Chiron will be joining the Aries party, having ideally prepared us for the ram's playing field by drowning us in our unresolved merde for eight years. Bless.

Aaaaaand everyone back in your corners. The weekend's Mars Venus stoush coinciding with the quarter moon delivered a veritable shitfight. Trouble in paradise shitting questionable magic all over your relationships, darklings? Hardly surprising when these two are operating at cross purposes.

This guy is a walking community service announcement for the back end of this particular eclipse season and we all have Uncle Mars to thank for this. Our planet of Get Shit Done can fast turn into a war mongering trail of destruction when engaged the wrong way.