by Robert Wilkinson
Mars activates and accelerates the pace of events in our lives. People currently going through dynamic activity, a hectic fast-paced period, or having the hardest time the first half of August are Taurus born the third week of May and Geminis born in May and the first week of June, Leos born the third week of August and Virgos born in August and the first week of September, Scorpios born the third week of November and Sag born in November and the first week of December, and Aquarians born the third week of February and Pisces born in February and the first week of March. If you were born in these zones, focus on what constitutes responsible action, given these birth periods show more highly agitated energy than usual.
Mars tests us to get a grip on our energy and shows us how well we are demonstrating self-control or not. Mars is our "fight or flight" principle, and symbolizes what aggravates us, so beware of hasty action, argumentativeness, or impulsiveness. A way to use what I post here is that if you know your chart, examine the effect for the signs in light of planets you have in these signs.
For instance, if you have Mercury between 26 degrees of a Fixed sign (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius) and 16 degrees of a Mutable sign (Gemini, Virgo, Sag, and Pisces), examine the challenges relative to your mind, interpretations, or thinking patterns, as well as other planets influenced by Mercury. If you have Venus in those degrees of Fixed or Mutable signs, examine what is said in light of your likes and dislikes and other Venus-influenced areas in your chart.
If you have a Fixed or Mutable sign Mars between those degrees, regard what is stated in the context of Mars-ruled affairs and activities. This shows an important shift in your Mars cycle, so heads up! You can also apply what follows regarding this month if you have an Ascendant (Rising sign) between 26 degrees of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, or Aquarius and 16 degrees of Gemini, Virgo, Sag, and Pisces.
While the rest of this article deals with how Mars will specifically impact certain signs and birthdays, please remember to relate what is said here to yesterday's Stress Zones article, as it introduces primary considerations about the overall influence of Mars this month.
The first half of the month, Aquarians born in mid February and February Pisces are seeing the first emergence of something begun April 2007. This month shows a new life direction or the beginnings of new ways of expressing yourself, so get grounded, and remember that "as the roots, so the flowers." This applies the second half of July to Pisces people born the first week of March.
Effort now affects future success. Don't allow hassles or aggravations around the home or with family to put you off, and be a good communicator. You'll get new insights into how you view your early life and family situation. Just try not to get aggravated by neighbors and expect intense activity around the home.
Aquarians need to be less abrupt with family, and be more loving, playful, creative, focused, and do purification rituals, letting go of outmoded feelings and responses to others' demands. This affects Aquarius' way of viewing their environment, siblings, having people close, how they communicate, as well as their profession and public standing in the world.
Pisces also need to be less impulsive in home and family areas, and be more practical, pay attention to details, and cultivate largeness of vision and optimism as well as a sense of humor. This affects Pisces' way of viewing their values, resources, how they use what they have, as well as truth, their future, legal issues, and philosophy.
In the first half of August, Taurus born in mid April and Geminis born in May and early June confront the end of a 2-year cycle, so begin anew with an eye to what culminated in April 2007 of the cycle that began February or March 2006. This month speeds things up, so apply new skills and strengths, and face a future that's already underway. Quickly finish what you need to, realize an old way of life is over, and there is a need for new effort and directions.
In late August, this applies to Geminis born the first week of June, and they finish a cycle that culminated in April 2007 of whatever began in March 2006. Since it continues to be a time of endings and beginnings, embrace the new, get ready for the pace to quicken, and try not to be too blunt, impulsive, abrasive, or leap before you look.
This primarily affects Taurus in the areas of partnerships, opportunities for greater social effectiveness, karma, motive, and self-undoing behaviors that created sorrow in the past. It primarily affects Gemini in the areas of friends, goals, ambitions, group work, health, and forms of service. These are ending somehow, and a new two year pulse is opening up.
The first half of August fulfills an old cycle for Leo people born in mid August and Virgos born in August and early September. This period is one of following through on what's culminating in your public or professional affairs in the cycle that began late July and early August 2006. Learn as much as you can, prepare, then be willing to take responsibility, since this is a very high profile time for you. This occurs the last half of August for Virgos born in early September, and culminates the cycle begun August 2006.
Leos are very visible and at the end of a major period of matured activity due to Saturn occupying their sign since they began this cycle. Leos are primarily affected in the areas of truth, travel, philosophy, spirituality, home, family, and ways of relating to early childhood experiences. People of this sign need to stay focused, let of of unnecessary things and feelings, purify, and be detached, friendly, impersonal, and keep in mind the bigger picture of a greater service or set of goals.
Virgos are also in a high visibility phase, and preparing for Saturn's entry into their sign, which will primarily affect August Virgos for the next year. Virgos are primarily affected in the areas of communications, siblings, environment, neighbors, shared values and resources, desires, and loss/regeneration. People of this sign need to say optimistic, be good multi-taskers with vision and humor, and end what needs ending with compassion and forgiveness.
During the first half of August, Scorpios born mid November and Sagittarians born late November are tested not to get aggravated, sidestep oppositional people, and decrease agitation or impulsiveness while correcting things that began December 2006. The last half of August this applies to Sagittarians born in early December.
People with these birthdays are moving through a period of tensions in relationships, and have had to shift in how they regard their health, work, or how to serve your world. If this applies to you, detach from relationship dramas that scatter you. Avoid unnecessary confrontations and don’t get hassled by impulsive, abrasive, aggressive or argumentative people.
For Scorpios and Sagittarius in a relationship, it's an intense time for your partner. This is opening new doors of perceiving and acting with others where you are an equal rather than a follower or reactor to them. For Scorpios, areas coming to surface include new forms of self image and ways of relating to their physical bodies, as well as new work opportunities, new health regimens, and new ways of relating to those in their service. For Sag, areas coming to surface include new forms of relating to children, play, creativity, self expression, motives, reaping of karmas, and old sorrows.
Scorpios and Sagittarius should embrace new ways of relating to others, since this time is a breakthrough in your way of being in relationships, and allow others to take the initiative in new ways of expressing themselves. You are finding new forms of self-expression and self-adjustment to practical necessities.
The quincunx effect significantly influences 27-30 degrees of Libra and Sagittarius the first week of August, 1-5 degrees of Scorpio and Capricorn the second week of August, 6-10 degrees of Scorpio and Capricorn the third week of August, and 11-16 degrees of Scorpio and Capricorn through the end of August. Quincunxes are associated with physical, emotional, or mental health issues requiring sacrifices and adjustments.
Thus the first week of the month most impacts Libras born between the third week of October and Sag born the third week of December. The second week of August most impacts Scorpios born in October and Capricorns born in December. The third week of August most affects Scorpios born in late October and early November and Sag born in late December and early January. The end of August most impacts Scorpios born in early November and Capricorns born in early January.
Through the quincunxes, Libras and Scorpios will have sacrifices and adjustments in the areas of loss, regeneration, shared values and wealth that will help them learn focus, discrimination, attention to details and procedure. They will learn how to get their magnetism and desires straightened out and eliminate that which cannot be carried into a future already taking shape. Sagittarians and Capricorns will also have sacrifices and adjustments in the areas of work, health, and those they do service for or who do service for them that will whatever needs to be done.
The first week of August, Aries born in early April and Cancers born in early July are extraordinarily affected by the Mars semisquare to their Suns. The second week of August primarily affects Aries born April 3-8 and Cancers born July 5-11. The third week of August affects Aries born April 9-14 and Cancers born July 11-17, and the last 10 days of the month affects Aries born between April 14-19 and Cancers born between July 17-22.
The semisquare is a 45 degree aspect indicating internal crises of direction, or a sense that something is beginning to open (or close) with decisions to be made. They show important factors regarding things that are emerging or ending, and offer information about hidden or unconscious influences at work.
For Aries birthdays mentioned above, new developments and challenges in the cycle that began in late May or early June 2007 don't have to be a problem if you become more visionary, adaptable, future oriented, organized and mature in your values and relationship to things and money. Cancer people with birthdays mentioned above need to end some things they began May 2006, so capture the harvest and close out what you need to without getting aggravated at friends or the goals that you couldn't fulfill.
Cancer people are entering a fallow period where you'll need to do closure rituals, preparing for a new cycle to come in November 2007. However, due to Mars going retrograde in mid-Cancer in November 2007 and moving back into late Gemini in January 2008, you may have to re-do, undo, or rearrange the plan, preparing to launch the idea in February or March 2008 when Mars is direct.
As I've explained the past three months, sometimes Mars' influence extends far beyond whatever is going on in the sky. Notably, the Mars article from November 2006 offers an insight into why things are changing the way they are:
Since the Mars degree of the recent September 2006 Lunar Eclipse is highly active and was also the exact degree of the Solar Eclipse take note of what is liberating you from a previously "narrow destiny" and hear the call that can help you joyously rise to some larger occasion. Here's an article about the September 2006 Solar Eclipse in terms of its general meaning and effect, while in this article you can find out what it means for each sign specifically. December 2006 and January 2007 mark turning points in the liberation process.
Signposts of future developments connected with 30 Virgo presented themselves in late March-early April 2007, with important points occurring the second and last weeks of May 2007. Expect more definitive developments in September 2007 and December 2007 through early April 2008.
June through November 2008 shows Pluto exactly square the degree, Saturn conjunct the point in October 2009 and April through July 2010 opposed by Uranus April 2010 through March 2011, setting up some fairly volatile developments. Escaping from a "narrow destiny" may be destabilizing, but it's also guaranteed to put you and your dharma on track and remind you that life on Earth is one of endless change.
More from the Eclipse article:
In December, Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter all conjuncted... Wherever we have Aries, Gemini, Virgo, Scorpio, Sagittarius, and Pisces energies, they were fused and renewed in whatever house we have early Sagittarius... a very important area of major focus and attention in the next two years for us. I hope you enjoyed December and January since the wild ride accelerated toward a more amazing vision, freedom, and group involvement than we've known in a long time. Welcome to February through June 2007, the edge of dynamic change!
As I've noted previously, Mars activated the March Lunar Eclipse Sun conjunct North Node position around April 21-22 when it conjuncted that point. This launched the next phase of that eclipse, and the simultaneous triseptile to Saturn triggered an important fork in our destiny helping us dump old social rigidities and find joy in fellowship despite the general tension.
Mars in the Grand Fire Trine in June brightened up our lives in multiple areas, assisting understanding, harmony, and flow. Mars helped us secure a new momentum even as we navigated the twists and turns of the multiple septile series aspects between the visible and invisible planets.
This should be a very important month since July showed us major changes in our direction or intention, where we left behind old paths while entering into new, if unknown futures. Of course, we've been preparing for some time, so don't sweat the changes while you plow forward into new paths. We should have secured what we need for further effectiveness, and will open to new information, new perspectives, and new ways of adapting to what is this month.
We are preparing for Mars to slow down soon, so get as much accomplished as you can, open your heart, be practial, and gratefully embrace your new work, shaking off old difficulties, worries, heart restrictions, and limitations. There's new work to be done, so do it joyfully, prepare and adjust, and welcome what comes.
This article completed, I'm on the road and cannot answer comments for at least three days, maybe four. Enjoy the articles that will be autoposted the rest of this week, and I'll see you on the flip side! Mahalo, Aloha, Sayonara, Later Easy, and it's off into the wild blue yonder!
© Copyright 2007 Robert Wilkinson
Hi Robert!
"Cancer people are entering a fallow period where you'll need to do closure rituals, preparing for a new cycle to come in November 2007": November it's when I'm moving back to france, it's when I'll be saying goodbye to a very special friend...I will be starting a "new" life with "past" and "known" surroundings, and people...Mars will be in my 7TH house at that time, Pluto will still be transiting my Ascendant + opposing my Venus in Cancer...I know it will not be a pleasant time for me, could it be that I'll be "reviewing" my 7TH house and taking impulsive decisions?
Posted by: Leana | July 31, 2007 at 02:32 PM
hi. thanks. i cannot being to tell how traumatic everything else, late november sag here, its now also on a physical level, but i am working on my breathing and it should work :-) its simple and maybe thats whats required. god bless, all around
Posted by: abacus | July 31, 2007 at 02:38 PM
Suddenly had this wild desire to go to New Zealand! I'm leaving November 23rd.
What's up with this? born Dec. 11 and I will celebrate my first "summer" birthday!! Don't want to come back..........
Posted by: carrie ann | July 31, 2007 at 08:30 PM
Hello Robert,
Happy Trails!
Juliet :-)
Posted by: Juliet | August 01, 2007 at 04:58 PM
Hi Leana - Not impulsive but taking new initiatives if your Mars is healthy. PL opposition Venus is a time of separation from old relationships that have outlived their time, and finding new ones that show "destiny in motion." Congrats on your new life.
Hi abacus - Glad to hear from you. Breathing is always good when in traumatic motion. I'm still moving, packing, unpacking, etc. Just finished phase 2 of the move, with phase 3 to come in a month or so. Phase 4 will be Nov-Dec when packing another BIG truck and finishing the actual move. Maybe can catch a breath then! ;-)
Hi carrie ann - I've heard NZ is great! Want to visit there someday myself. It may very well be your future.
Hi Juliet - Thanks! Am very happy on my trails, though life in motion is not conducive to stillness. Yet am having the sensation of being alive in ways I haven't experienced in years.
Posted by: Robert | August 02, 2007 at 07:10 AM
Hi Robert,
From everything I have read, it seems so though this will be a exceptionally eventful month for me- in regards of family live and important love relationship. And it seems as if it all began toward the end of last year... or I would even say back to last year's late spring.
My father is back into my life after 14 years, (my parents are getting back together after being divorced for all these years, imagine!!! )and anytime prior to that, well, I hardly got the chance to really get to know him. I have always wished for a closer, more "real" relationship with my father...I guess I am finally getting it granted after these years. It's really wonderful how a string of eventful brought things to be the way they currently are, but as I look back, none of these things seem relevent at first. Is it just me or does anyone else also sometimes just stop and , to just marvel at LIFE.
Along my way here, I also encounter issues... let's just sat I had one of those "aha" moments and while I was at first a little angry and upset and the "oh, so that's why and that's why I am this way with men..." I just want to fix these issues and begin a better more fulfilling, HEALTHY, LOVING relationship with the man I am in love with.
Robert can i just give you my birth info and will you just tell me if it is true that I am just experiencing a period of great tremendous changes because of the stars?
Or have I just gone crazy and wishfully insane? So I can get some help... because right now, I feel like there're just bolts of lightning inside of me, and it's too intense to contain... and everything- my feelings, thoughts of love, future, commitment, childhood issues, relationship issues... etc have just been so overwhelming,
Is there something wrong with me?
Thank you so much for reading this. I really don't mean to be asking for a freebie. I just want a plain and simple, "yes, gloria, you are nuts," or "no, this too shall past" =) thanks
may 15, 1981, 3:25 p.m victoria, hong kong, china
p.s i have been having flashes of insights and ideas... REALLY STRANGE! Recently, I have just been coming up with comversations between other people from out of nowhere- when I am alone in my own room just thinking about them. Or, even more evident than ever before, when i MISS or think of someone, whenever I get this rush of endearing loving feeling you always get when you think of those who you love... THEY CALL ME THE SAME DAY!! of, they come around to my work, or I'd run into someone close to them, and they'd get in touch with me. This is great and all, but sometimes, well, to be honest, it freaks me out. a little
Posted by: gloria | August 03, 2007 at 12:40 PM
Hi Gloria - Many wish for a closer relationships with their fathers. It is a huge field of exploration, and part of why many feel a lack of power or confidence in what their lives are about, since almost all of us got little or no contact with that part of our makeup.
When I was promoting gatherings in the so-called "Men's Movement," the biggest wound for most men was an absent father, or one who had no starch in his spine, or was subservient to external forces in ways that were humiliating or stripped them of power. It seems that regardless of how "enlightened" or whatever else, men have not been very good parents or partners due to not accepting their power and responsibility within the social contract.
Glad you're able to have an opportunity to establish a deeper connect. Many do not have that chance, so definitely, enjoy the miracle that it's occurring. One thing about the stars - they never make anything happen. It is we who are acting, reacting, or being acted upon. The stars merely show the mathematics (timing) of the process. Many are going through a period of tremendous change, not BECAUSE of the stars, but going through changes INDICATED by the stars. It's not causation, but more of a dance where "As above, so below."
The "going crazy or wishfully insane" phrase clearly indicates you've hit one of those forks in the road indicated by The Grand Irrationality, or the recent Saturn triseptile Uranus, or perhaps a septile series aspect or two specific to your chart. How you ride these waves of "bolts of lightning inside of me, and it's too intense to contain... and everything- my feelings, thoughts of love, future, commitment, childhood issues, relationship issues... etc have just been so overwhelming..." clearly shows you're at a point of breakthrough into another way of experiencing life, perhaps one of those "once or twice in a lifetime" moments that define how our future is different from our past. So no, there's nothing wrong with you, unless these feelings are creating destructive or toxic behavior, which isn't what I get from your post.
Your flashes are showing you the way to cultivate true intuition, but it takes patience and discipline. Intuition is a power we have that is latent in the human condition, and involves both sending and receiving. It sounds like you're getting a dose of both. Just move slowly in your new awakened realm, and enjoy all that is opening that is helping you evolve on levels you're not yet aware of, but will be in the future. Namaste.
Posted by: Robert | August 04, 2007 at 06:41 AM
Robert,
Appreciate your comments above about us acting. Yet looking back at history, the strength of culture and the effect of the stars, it seems to me that we are acted upon by life as if by strong tides, rushing in & out, rip tides, large economic currents, gravity keeping us from flying, ie strong and powerful forces which bind us and keep us from going in to shore when we want to but the tide is going out. So many times it seems like the only thing we have control over is our emotional reaction, and what little rational thinking we are actually able to accomplish. But even in doing that we cannot create a strong economy where one does not exist. I cannot sell expensive art to people who lack funds. I cannot sell traditional art to people who love Picasso. Another analogy that comes to mind in brainstorming this, in the days of sailing ships many ships were reliant on the wind and ended crashing on rocks because they were limited in their direction and speed of movement. Now we have ships that have self-contained power and can avoid the rocks if they steer correctly as they are not beholden to the wind. So I guess I am struggling to see how do I, and others, become more self-powered and less reliant on the fickle outside winds?
Posted by: Richard | August 04, 2007 at 06:56 AM
Hi Richard - You raise issues that are the key flashpoints of our times regarding how our world relates to Culture. We ARE acting within larger tides - that's why I maintain we do NOT "create our reality," rather we create our experience of, and response to, the reality we find ourselves within. We who would further the world Culture through peace and creativity do NOT "create" the price of oil, child slave labor for cheap chocolate, Halliburton war profiteering, Executive branch malfeasance, the racial imbalance of how the death penalty is applied, and so forth. We simply do the best we can in the reality in which we find ourselves, and occasionally do get to affect that reality, whether in small or large ways.
Part of your lament about art is exactly what I've been telling artists for a while. It used to be those with power and wealth were patrons of the Florentine and other artists who created the Renaissance, the Dutch Masters, and so forth. Now it's all corporate profits decreed by legal fiat, and so it's not about personal taste any more, but how much an art investment will appreciate over time. That makes it very tough for the arts to thrive, especially when billions that should go to creating art are being spent to destroy the cultural treasures of the world in foreign lands.
The trick is to launch your boats when the tide is going out, but have your nets ready when the tide is coming in. To reverse these only creates frustration. And in fact, you are correct when you state that "the only thing we have control over is our emotional reaction, and what little rational thinking we are actually able to accomplish." This is Saturn's lesson. We control and create NOTHING but our response to our external reality. However, we can create, through our initiatives, alternate responses to what is, or seems to be, knowing that with time and tide things change, and our job is to think in the future so we can prepare for expectable conditions down the road.
In your analogy, while we don't control the winds of destiny, we can anticipate which way the wind is blowing and prepare accordingly. And of course, "you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows," to quote the modern American bard. To carry the analogy further, we aren't confined in our lives to the caprices of wind power, but do have an internal engine that can help us chug along against the wind if necessary, even if it seems that we're making little if any progress in moving against the storm tides.
The self reliance that overcomes passive acceptance of difficult circumstances comes directly from cultivating inner powers of discernment, dispassion, detachment, and generation of goodwill and positivity despite the outer appearances. We have the refuges of the Wisdom, the Way, and the Community. These are eternal, and provide us sanctuary in the chaos of external worldly impermanence.
Also, since we live in a multifaceted world, for several decades I've been encouraging people to find at least two things to do in the world - one for love, one for money. Sometimes we get "lucky" and find something we can love AND make money at without burning out. Mostly I've seen that this life is about learning skills and realizations that we apply to make our lives better, and hopefully make our world a better place. We do this by overcoming unhelpful responses to old karma creating lousy events this lifetime, replacing our tendencies of ignorance and suffering with positive endeavors and generating altruistic responses that will create better karmas down the road. Eventually we become part of "the corrective force of Nature," and so are part of the on-going solutions (however that looks) rather than suffer in ignorance or perpetuate the causes of future problems. My answer to your final question? Look to the permanent, detach from reacting to the impermanent as best you're able, and learn to think in the future. After the present weird era passes, humanity will move beyond this delusional spell and reclaim its Divine heritage of peace through honoring World Culture that unites us all through time.
Posted by: Robert | August 05, 2007 at 07:45 AM
Thanks, much to consider here.
Posted by: Richard | August 05, 2007 at 09:09 AM
any advice for an aquarian born february 1st 1965 at 2:45am
Posted by: cindyfrances | August 28, 2007 at 10:25 AM
Hi cindyfrances - Yes, be as productive as you can be at present. The obstruction is past, whether it looks that way or not. Be more creative as you move into new uncertain realms. You're moving into a greater adventure, so just try not to get scattered as you open doors to new foundations of being.
Posted by: Robert | August 28, 2007 at 05:42 PM
Thanks Robert, you always inspire me.
Posted by: cindyfrances | August 28, 2007 at 09:15 PM