Q. I am wondering what significance the Mars retrograde through Libra is going to make in my life. It will be going back through my 12th house, over my Venus at 23’Libra and although not quite hitting my Mercury at 1’Libra it is close and all happening in my 12th House. I don’t know whether I’m Martha or Arthur or where I am heading and have been like this for some time. Help!!
A. Something like Mars going retrograde (or forward motion) in the Twelth House is like any Twelth house transit in that it is very complex and multi-layered. The kind of layers that happen with this Mars transit is that we get to have a good look at various self-sabotage mechanisms within our lives. This is where we basically do ourselves in by not expressing our warrior energies, our assertive energies, and we don’t express our anger cleanly or clearly. Although it is a rather unpleasant look into this territory, it does raise our awareness.
Another layer that is here is the likelihood of very old past-life patterns to do with the same. This includes experiences of betrayal, of being undermined by others, of being persecuted for having spiritual power, for memories of imprisonment, isolation and persecution in general. This can obviously be scary stuff if it is still present in our psyche’s and is nevertheless important to work with.
A. Something like Mars going retrograde (or forward motion) in the Twelth House is like any Twelth house transit in that it is very complex and multi-layered. The kind of layers that happen with this Mars transit is that we get to have a good look at various self-sabotage mechanisms within our lives. This is where we basically do ourselves in by not expressing our warrior energies, our assertive energies, and we don’t express our anger cleanly or clearly. Although it is a rather unpleasant look into this territory, it does raise our awareness.
Another layer that is here is the likelihood of very old past-life patterns to do with the same. This includes experiences of betrayal, of being undermined by others, of being persecuted for having spiritual power, for memories of imprisonment, isolation and persecution in general. This can obviously be scary stuff if it is still present in our psyche’s and is nevertheless important to work with.
On another level, Mars going into the Twelth also enhances the actions of the spiritual warrior within us. Any Twelth house transit is an opportunity to dive more deeply into our personal unconscious, but also into the collective, into the archetypal and mystical layers of being. Part of that diving in is to reclaim parts of self that have been at least temporarily lost or hidden from us. This way we can bring them to the surface and build them into the next Mars cycle, once Mars crosses your Ascendant.
It can also be a time of refining the energies of Mars so that it is more in synch with our spiritual gifts and the latent and hidden skills that the Twelth house represents. It is about being able to align our capacity to assert ourselves and express our desires, with much more refined accurate intuitive and psychic assessments of situations. So this notion of linking our warrior energy with spiritual skills and abilities is also a major theme.
So these are some of the layers inherent in this transit.
For you personally, certainly there is some major work to do here. It is coming quickly. From May and through to early June transiting Mars goes stationary at around 9 degrees of Libra. This means that it will conjunct your progressed Mercury and progressed Black Moon (who in themselves are conjunct at that same degree). This is a very potent transit and we need to see it against the backdrop of this particular progressed conjunction.
Progressed Mercury conjunct progressed Black Moon means that there is a very powerful desire from your inner self to delve into, to understand, to purify and to reclaim the power of the sacred feminine in her darkest and most powerful forms. The Black Moon is associated with the dark faces of the Great Mother. She is associated with Durga, Kali, Black Tara, Black Demeter and the Black Madonna in their different spiritual traditions. This is something that colours this entire period of your life. It has been building for the last year or two, will peak in two months’ time, and still be very present for the next two years. This is a life-changing event in anyone’s life.
The Black Moon in the Twelth house is expressing how she has been profoundly buried and thus distorted. Therefore, as with all distorted forms of the dark goddesses, initially all the unresolved grief, trauma and rage to do with the persecution of the sacred feminine is drawn up. All this arises from our past life records, family systems, trans-generational transferences as well as the general distortions of the sacred feminine within our culture.
On a personal level a distorted and buried Black Moon operates as very dark toxic, destructive energy which can drag a person into depression, despair and even suicidal tendencies. The capacity to really own our full power, to be able to flourish successfully in the world is often sabotaged. The unhealed rage towards the masculine also can make a major mess of intimate relationship experiences.
Beneath these distortions are some of the purest and most powerful transformative energies within our individual selves. So there is a lot of work to be done here spiritually and therapeutically. By working with this you have the chance to understand the deepest layers of both your psychological and spiritual self, the karmas you have brought into this lifetime. In doing so, you have the potential to be able to step-up as an agent of transformation and a voice for the sacred feminine.
During these next six weeks this Mars energy is combined with longer-term processes to intensify them, particularly as the Mars energy is operating via the ongoing Grand Cross. There is the opportunity to heal a lot of really ancient territory here. You have the chance to get your inner masculine, your conscious will, your masculine warrior energies in alignment with the Great Mother – to work with this hidden energy more consciously. So it may not be pleasant, but it is incredibly important that you take the opportunity to consciously work this territory.
When a woman is able to own her Kali-like Black Moon she owns her full wild potency. This is a level of freedom that many people never get to experience. With the Shakti of the divine mother manifest fully through her self, her body, her sexuality, her relationships and what she brings to the world. It is magnificent energy when it is working well. There is much to achieve by consciously working this particular transit.
It is also important to say that you don’t have to get it done in the next six weeks either. Mars retrograde on this conjunction is pushing the whole thing along but this depth of work takes time with persistent effort while opening to the grace of the Great Mother. In order to do this work I recommend a combination of any of the expressive therapies like primal and breathwork, along with deep purificatory meditational practices like Andrew Harvey’s Golden Kali meditation, any psycho-spiritual practices that help move psychic-emotional toxins. Also consciously reclaiming the sacred feminine through meditation, ritual, ceremony, invocation, and mantra is equally important.
This is not just in the short-term here, but a long-term process and one which will transform your world. This is reflected very beautifully by the fact that as progressed Mars is on the Black Moon/Mercury conjunction, it is also sextiling your North Node in Leo in the 10th house, conjunct Ceres (the Great Mother) Vesta (the Priestess) and Juno (the Goddess of Marriage and Tantra). So this work on the Black Moon energies will empower you to connect more fully with your ultimate soul-purposes. Your chart is very clear about you being an agent for the Great Mother in all her forms, the light and dark.
So this is great work, please go for it.
It can also be a time of refining the energies of Mars so that it is more in synch with our spiritual gifts and the latent and hidden skills that the Twelth house represents. It is about being able to align our capacity to assert ourselves and express our desires, with much more refined accurate intuitive and psychic assessments of situations. So this notion of linking our warrior energy with spiritual skills and abilities is also a major theme.
So these are some of the layers inherent in this transit.
For you personally, certainly there is some major work to do here. It is coming quickly. From May and through to early June transiting Mars goes stationary at around 9 degrees of Libra. This means that it will conjunct your progressed Mercury and progressed Black Moon (who in themselves are conjunct at that same degree). This is a very potent transit and we need to see it against the backdrop of this particular progressed conjunction.
Progressed Mercury conjunct progressed Black Moon means that there is a very powerful desire from your inner self to delve into, to understand, to purify and to reclaim the power of the sacred feminine in her darkest and most powerful forms. The Black Moon is associated with the dark faces of the Great Mother. She is associated with Durga, Kali, Black Tara, Black Demeter and the Black Madonna in their different spiritual traditions. This is something that colours this entire period of your life. It has been building for the last year or two, will peak in two months’ time, and still be very present for the next two years. This is a life-changing event in anyone’s life.
The Black Moon in the Twelth house is expressing how she has been profoundly buried and thus distorted. Therefore, as with all distorted forms of the dark goddesses, initially all the unresolved grief, trauma and rage to do with the persecution of the sacred feminine is drawn up. All this arises from our past life records, family systems, trans-generational transferences as well as the general distortions of the sacred feminine within our culture.
On a personal level a distorted and buried Black Moon operates as very dark toxic, destructive energy which can drag a person into depression, despair and even suicidal tendencies. The capacity to really own our full power, to be able to flourish successfully in the world is often sabotaged. The unhealed rage towards the masculine also can make a major mess of intimate relationship experiences.
Beneath these distortions are some of the purest and most powerful transformative energies within our individual selves. So there is a lot of work to be done here spiritually and therapeutically. By working with this you have the chance to understand the deepest layers of both your psychological and spiritual self, the karmas you have brought into this lifetime. In doing so, you have the potential to be able to step-up as an agent of transformation and a voice for the sacred feminine.
During these next six weeks this Mars energy is combined with longer-term processes to intensify them, particularly as the Mars energy is operating via the ongoing Grand Cross. There is the opportunity to heal a lot of really ancient territory here. You have the chance to get your inner masculine, your conscious will, your masculine warrior energies in alignment with the Great Mother – to work with this hidden energy more consciously. So it may not be pleasant, but it is incredibly important that you take the opportunity to consciously work this territory.
When a woman is able to own her Kali-like Black Moon she owns her full wild potency. This is a level of freedom that many people never get to experience. With the Shakti of the divine mother manifest fully through her self, her body, her sexuality, her relationships and what she brings to the world. It is magnificent energy when it is working well. There is much to achieve by consciously working this particular transit.
It is also important to say that you don’t have to get it done in the next six weeks either. Mars retrograde on this conjunction is pushing the whole thing along but this depth of work takes time with persistent effort while opening to the grace of the Great Mother. In order to do this work I recommend a combination of any of the expressive therapies like primal and breathwork, along with deep purificatory meditational practices like Andrew Harvey’s Golden Kali meditation, any psycho-spiritual practices that help move psychic-emotional toxins. Also consciously reclaiming the sacred feminine through meditation, ritual, ceremony, invocation, and mantra is equally important.
This is not just in the short-term here, but a long-term process and one which will transform your world. This is reflected very beautifully by the fact that as progressed Mars is on the Black Moon/Mercury conjunction, it is also sextiling your North Node in Leo in the 10th house, conjunct Ceres (the Great Mother) Vesta (the Priestess) and Juno (the Goddess of Marriage and Tantra). So this work on the Black Moon energies will empower you to connect more fully with your ultimate soul-purposes. Your chart is very clear about you being an agent for the Great Mother in all her forms, the light and dark.
So this is great work, please go for it.