MART RETROGRADE, REBELLION AND REVOLUTIONARY ... WITHOUT CAUSE?

Dolors Ferrer. Published by Cyclos Nº 5 (summer 1994) The retrograde planets in the horoscope continue to be a slightly disturbing secondary issue, since it seems that their behavior is still enigmatic and difficult to understand in the totality of a topic.

Astrologers like Schulmann at the karmic level, Bill Tierney or Erin Sullivan with more psychological tendencies, have investigated these planets and have contributed new perceptions and ideas that help us to understand the role that "journey in the opposite direction" has in the life of an individual . It would summarize these perceptions in three basic points: retrogradation could be equated with rebellion (manifest or not), subjectivity and peremptory need for reflection and self-examination.

On the one hand, the retrograde moves "against" the Sun, a center capable of giving the individual the authentic sensation of being oneself. On the other hand, in the retrograde phase, the planet is closer to the Earth, closer to the vital impulses. Finally, this counter-direction offers a unique opportunity to examine and delve into the motivations of these impulsive and apparently antisocial behaviors.

In the case of Mars, inseparable companion of the Sun as an active vehicle of the survival impulse - vital and unconscious force -, the need for integration of these two forces becomes even more peremptory. Mars is that peculiar ambassador of the Sun, the transmitter of personal energy that allows us to mark our terrain, affirm ourselves and win if necessary; In short, "Be in Action".

The negative emotions of Mars appear when these qualities can not be expressed, distorting what in its essence is no more than a clean impulse to manifest. We have then on the scene the anger, the jealousy, the rivalry, the envy, the resentment. With Mars retrograde in the subject, the already natural difficulty for a healthy self-affirmation is probably complicated since childhood, since it has been more difficult for him to obtain the external recognition of his assertiveness. Do not forget that Mars, in the retrograde zone, is usually in relation to the Sun in aspects of sexquicuadratura, biquintil, quincuncio or opposition, that is, it is easier than that relationship of the two masculine principles, Sun - Mars, that in principle it should be fluid, reach positions of confrontation, struggle and mutual agony.

Often, the relationship with the father in the first years has been competitive, being able to go through the whole range of feelings: from feeling that the father suppresses or steals all the heroic force of the self, until needing that same father admires me and recognize me as the possessor of that force that denies. Mars retrograde often opts for the underground road and denies its own power, although sometimes it is decided by open battle, to death. Whichever option - never lukewarm - of a retrograde Mars, the only authentic way of understanding oneself is to verify that this battle with the father, with the world, with external aggressions or even with sex, is actually a battle with himself. We must accept that in the vision of the world with which one was born, confrontation and battle were printed.

The only way to satisfy that unconscious need of struggle is to create oneself external activities and challenges that are not destructive neither for one nor for the others, that is, to wage a healthy war with one's limits to reach the best of oneself, to the most refined and constructive action, the one in which one is aware that a battle is fought in which there are no winners or losers, but one that is reborn most powerful. It would be, in Nietzsche's words: "that which does not overcome me makes me stronger".

Leon Trotsky became the apostle of the "permanent revolution"; Freud revolutionized all previous theories about human behavior, and was not Michel Gauquelin also a revolutionary within the astrological field, fighting against the scientific establishment with his own weapons - statistics - to show the world that Astrology works?

Leon Trotsky became the apostle of the "permanent revolution"; Freud revolutionized all previous theories about human behavior, and was not Michel Gauquelin also a revolutionary within the astrological field, fighting against the scientific establishment with his own weapons - statistics - to show the world that Astrology works?