STARFIRE

November 2007

November 2007 - Mars Retrograde.
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Mars Retrograde: Inner Conflicts Rise Up Again

Mars retrograde in Cancer as we enter the winter holidays reminds me of all those old sitcoms where family feuds got stirred up over holiday turkey dinners. At its worst, Mars retrograde can turn into family feuds with everyone feeling justified not only in their positions, but for starting the fights.

I deal with Mars retrograde, on the whole, by telling clients not to start a business or buy anything with moving parts when Mars is retrograde. That advice seemed a little thin for a column about a potentially explosive aspect that continues from November 15, 2007, until January 30, 2008.

So do buy toys with moving parts before November 15th this year. If you miss that deadline, just pay for the extended warranty. If your family finds a bargain and buys a new house for the holidays, pay for the best inspection and warranty you can get.

The longer I stared at the chart, wondering what this particular Mars retrograde would bring, the better I understood how emotional the 2007-8 holidays will be.

Mars is never at its best in Cancer. Mars rules Aries and is exalted and shows off in Capricorn, where the God of War becomes the driving force of corporate business. In Cancer, Mars is ill-at-ease, self-conscious and given to saying he couldn’t help being violent and starting a fight. You know, the little boy who just had to punch out another little boy for saying a bad word. You can find those little boys grown big in New Mexico bars if you say the wrong things about their mothers. They’re the gang members who shoot first and think later if it sounds as if someone is “dissing” them.

One of the best articles I’ve read on Mars retrograde is currently online at <http://www.astrologycom.com/marsret.html> The author, Rob Tillet, talks about Mars retrograde as leading to compulsive, irrational, and depressed thinking and to sexual and relationship problems. Because Mars rules physical energy and is now moving inward instead of outward, Tillet makes good points about Mars and introspective thinking.

In our chart drawn for New York City (home of the publishing and the stock markets), we see Mars retrograde at its most mental, in the 9th house as the most exalted planet (closest to the Midheaven at the top of the chart). Mars turns the mind inward and, in this chart, links it closely with emotions. Mars is always emotional in Cancer, always introspective in Cancer, always a clue to family problems and even family violence in Cancer (where Mars retrograde leads to sexual and violent behavior at its least appropriate worst.) Mars and the Moon are parallel by declination, which has the power of a conjunction, so we can’t expect dispassionate thinking about anything this winter (at least not on the East Coast).

If you’re a writer with erotica to sell, don’t miss this market. If you’re a therapist hoping to catch a wave for the healing of domestic violence and sexual issues, get your book to New York now.

If your family has issues that need to be resolved, and sexuality or violence is part of the issue, make this the year for therapy. You’ll not only avoid what could be unpleasant holidays, but you’ll strike when the mood is right for digging into old feelings and clearing them up.

New York publishing will be studying end of year trends, and sales will be down in unexpected corners of the market, so expect major trend changes to develop after Mars goes direct next February. The suspense, gothic and paranormal markets are predictably the ones with the greatest change within the romance industry, but both the horror and thriller markets and even cozy mysteries will be under scrutiny.

Internationally, we will see someone’s homeland invaded, but it’s not likely to be on our continent. More violence in our streets, yes. More rhetoric from Washington about spreading the War on Terrorism into additional areas to protect our own security.

But for our government and our industries, it’s more likely to be a transit stirring deep and lasting changes in the laws about immigration and boundary protection. Without studying any specific bill (which would be affected by its own filing date), I expect changes to immigration policy that allow more people to enter our country with less difficulty. The final bill may be filed while Mars is retrograde and passed after Mars goes direct.

Overall, though, the greatest implications of this retrograde are for introspection and the healing of wounds within our own minds. That’s a clear dynamic on the East Coast. In the Midwest and Mountain States, we may be applying the lessons of Mars retrograde to careers and public work more than to learning and philosophy. By the time Mars retrograde shows up in California charts, the emphasis will switch to personal goals and friendships and associations. It’s all pretty public for such private feelings.

Mars retrograde offers great opportunities this year, but no quick fixes. On a personal level, I recommend the journaling methods developed by James Pennebaker, a psychology professor at the University of Texas. You can read them at http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/Faculty/Pennebaker/Home2000/WritingandHealth.html

It’s a fine season for affirmations of forgiveness and for repairing damaged feelings and relationships. Forgiving doesn’t mean being gullible. It does mean removing fear and stress from your own body so your own life can go on.

Begin by forgiving yourself. That’s the hard one, but Mars retrograde makes it easier.
Just sit quietly for a few minutes a day and forgive whatever drifts up in your mind. If you can’t forgive it today, ask your inner guidance to help you learn to forgive it when you can, and move on.

You probably can not resist having old angers surface now. But you can get out your mental scalpels and dig them out like splinters while they’re “visible”. It’s not easy–but it’s a lot more comfortable than another cycle as the victim of emotional pain and anger.

Mary O’Gara, Ph.D.