by Robert Wilkinson
Mars is now direct in motion! It occupies 18 Cancer, a platform for everything Mars springs forth to achieve for many months to come. So what does this mean, and how can we use it wisely?
After 11+ weeks of extreme slow-mo, where much got put on hold, got diverted while other things were taken care of, or went into reverse while other things caught up, Mars begins to speed up very quickly. Things will develop rapidly from this point on, so get ready to rock and roll! 18 Cancer is now the platform from which Mars launches into its next long wave phase, moving from here toward its next conjunction with the Sun at 20 Capricorn on January 9, 2026.
So Mars is now direct at 18 Cancer. The Sabian Symbol for the 18th degree of Cancer is “A hen scratching for her chicks.” According to Rudhyar’s notes from the Marc Jones class, this degree symbolizes “Constructively practical, natural approach to life and its simpler joys,” “Concern over things,” and child-like group devotion.”
In The Astrological Mandala, he says this refers to “the practical concern with everyday nourishment necessary to sustain one’s outreaching activities.” He states this is about us finding that which nourishes whatever we’re putting our energies into, and caring for their unfoldment.
He says that we have to learn “the fulfilling of life’s responsibilities.” Here we learn to nurture whatever we’re doing to integrate our personality, or integrate ourselves within a social set up. This degree falls in the Span of Ingenuousness, and is the third, or synthesizing degree, of the Scene of Consolidation on the actional level.
Dr. Marc E Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, says this is a degree of “the maximum protection which life at large will provide” for individuals, where we find “high rewards for any effort which is self-consistent or industrious at base.” We are told that our creativity can “endow (our) own manifestations with a gift of self-continuousness.”
He goes on to say that our “Normality is exalted in the simple business of self-being.” He offers us the keyword PROVISION. He states that when operating in a positive manner, this degree is “a marked capacity for meeting every demand of existence advantageously and with a persisting self-fulfillment.”
From this symbol it seems we are entering an 11 month period of learning about Mars through these themes. As Mars is how we “attack the problems of life,” it’s clear from this symbol that our training is showing us we will be gathering the material and non-material substance we need to nurture something that is important to us. Here we need to honor what protects our outreach in society, and claim rewards for consistent and industrious efforts.
This indicates 2025 will help us meet demands in ways that are perfect for us, in simple and natural ways, growing into a more secure life. So we begin a time of seeing what needs to be cared for and nourished, and being consistent and natural in our concern over what will strengthen our life activities.
As Mars begins to speed up, you can expect more energy in the coming weeks, as well as a sense that the momentum is picking up, moving substantially faster than it has the past 11 weeks. Much we've been waiting for will now develop more rapidly than it has so far this year.
For some, a real sense of new energy as things begin to move forward. And yet, because Venus is slowing to go retrograde and Mercury will also soon slow down to go retrograde, while Mars will help thing move forward, there will still be the retrograde reviews, returns, rehearsals, and reversals coming in March and early April. As Mars trines Saturn on this station and tredeciles Neptune, this should stabilize the flow while opening some to a greater intuition, greater “non-local knowing,” and a greater sense of “reading the room accurately.”
This is the beginning of a new way of integrating our personality through our actions. The future is on the move, and whatever has been stalled or delayed up to now will begin to show up, rather dramatically.
Mars will still be in its “shadow phase” of 18 Cancer through 7 Leo until May 3, 2025. For everyone on Earth, during the coming weeks we’ll experience a third pass of Mars over this span of degrees in late Cancer and early Leo, offering us opportunities to act in some way appropriate to what we’ve learned and done since October.
We experienced the span during Mars’ first pass of this late Cancer span between October 5 and November 3, and the first pass of early Leo between November 4 and December 4, when it went retrograde. It then retrograded back from 7 Leo to 1 Leo in December, and on January 6 it retrograded back into Cancer, where it now goes direct. It will make a third transit of this span from now to early May, when it moves out of its shadow zone and dances with favorable aspects with Venus through the end of June just before making a series of Yods with Saturn, Neptune, and Pluto.
Since early October, this transit has stimulated our Cancer and early Leo sectors in pretty radical ways, reworking our life affairs and forms of how we express our Mars energies. We now have refined our expression, and can move forward with a sense of caution, self-protection, and what we need to continue our expression. In some way we’re all more direct than we used to be!
So from here we go on! Be focused, clear, and willing to allow whatever inspires you to transform your everyday life. Enjoy the accelerating process, and much that was promised earlier this year, will leap forward between now and the coming March Equinox with some dramatic twists and turns along the way, along with serendipitous connections, reconnections, remembrances, and returns.
This is when we move forward with confidence, knowing we can achieve what we’ve prepared for. Just get ready to embrace new internal and external connections, with sensitivity and care. We can now move forward with confidence, knowing the pace will pick up fairly quickly in coming weeks.
Be mindful as you do whatever you have to do in your own unique way while you “break on through to the other side.” Think in the future, since the future is NOW!
Copyright © 2025 Robert Wilkinson
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