Do you feel like you’re in a frenzy right now? Too much energy to do too many things? Not nearly enough time? Getting frustrated—even a bit angry? Blame it on Mars. The Red Planet is making its closest approach to the earth in over 50,000 years!

Does It Have to Be War? Not Necessarily

Mars indicates energy in your horoscope. It shows where you put most of your energy, and where you can really get pumped up emotionally. As the Sun and Mars move through the zodiac in their endless dance, they appear to be together in the same part of the sky (conjunct) and then about a year later they are opposite each other from the earth’s perspective.

The Sun and Mars are closely associated in astrology. Both are described as hot, dry planets. Through their cycles of conjunctions and oppositions, they indicate how and when we take instinctive action, and how or when we get to evaluate our actions.

This summer an unusual set of circumstances brings Mars closer to the Earth than it has ever been in human history.

The Earth was near its greatest distance from the Sun (called aphelion) on July 4, 2003
Mars reaches perihelion, its nearest approach to the Sun, on August 30.
This combination coincides with the Sun-Mars opposition on August 28, 2003, at 6:00 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time, or 2:00 p.m. in Washington, DC.

Then

At the conjunction on August 10, 2002, The Sun and Mars were at 17 degrees of Leo. Whatever you were doing at that time set in motion events and attitudes that have carried through to the present. Here are some characteristics of actions that may have begun then:

You became involvement with very assertive people
You felt a rush of creative energy from the less conscious part of your mind
You desired to become a leader
You demonstrated great self-confidence
You threw yourself into work and other activities
Your ego became over-inflated
You took on greater responsibility

You have had nearly a year to work with some of the above potentials. If you have the Sun, Moon or planets near 17 degrees of any sign, you were among the hardest hit by instinctual desire to take a giant leap forward in your career, relationships, or some other area of your life. Now, Mars is at 5 degrees of Pisces and the Sun is at 5 degrees of Virgo. With Mars coming to the opposite point in the sky from the Sun, you get to re-evaluate what you have been doing all year.

Now

Whatever problems have arisen due to your burst of Mars energy a year ago will have to be solved now. This can be a really scary time. You will be facing whatever demons you have held at bay, and the picture may not be very pretty. Here are some hints about what may happen:

You engage in a fault-finding mission to keep attention away from yourself.
You find you have created some enemies, or at least that’s how it feels.
You work silently, hoping for recognition.
You become an unreliable romantic partner is some way, probably because of your heightened, even frenzied, emotional state.
You lose control.

These possibilities don’t sound so good. If you fold under the pressure, you will react from a place of fear, become angry, or even violent. Any attempt to escape your just desserts will result in even greater confusion, more self-centered posturing, and more problems to add to those you already carry from the past.

But there is a silver lining in this dark cloud of angry energy. Even though you are scared about what may happen, you have grown wiser over the past year. You now have the chance to recognize how your own decisions and behavior have shaped your present situation. If you can do this, the second half of the Mars cycle promises to open up conscious possibilities—you can become more considerate of others, more self-confident without arrogance, and more effective in all your activities. You can clear up old relationship Karma and move forward afresh.

You can’t go back and change the past. You can accept what has happened, make allowances for other people even as you make amends for your own errors, and transform your understanding of the past. Slow down, give yourself time to think things through carefully. Turn off your email (at least part of the time) so you can just reflect. Take some time outs! It works for kids, and it can work for you.

Not easy!

But we are talking about Mars and the Sun. The Sun delivers the will power we need to make a major change, and faith that change can and will occur. Mars delivers the courage we all need to face the disasters and tragedies in our lives, and the enthusiasm to begin again after a realization about ourselves. In the very aspect that presents the problem to us, we can find the solution.

The Sun and Mars are not enemies. They understand each other quite well. If you can get your ego and your impulsive nature to work together, you can make powerful changes in your life during August of 2003.

Now is your chance to consciously mediate between yourself and the people around you, and also within yourself. Perhaps you need to look into yourself first and see your own conflict. Often we must have compassion for ourselves before we can have greater compassion for others.

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