One of the biggest takeaways of April thus far, felt largely through the Sun’s passage from Aries’ second decan to its third on April 9th, is the conjunction of Mars and Saturn in Capricorn.  The ‘unstoppable force meets immovable object’ conjunction.  The heavy-handed nature of this aspect has largely written the tone of the month thus far.

This joining together of the two traditional malefics, Mars and Saturn, might sound grim but is not thought to be necessarily so bad in evolutionary astrology and other modern schools of astrological thought.  But we must maintain a balance, as these sometimes excessive ‘it’s all good,’ ‘make conscious what was unconscious’, ‘it’s all what you make it’ type approaches can leave much of the Story unrecognized in its fullness.

Parts of life we might consider to be darkness or unpleasantry have their own roles, their own autonomy.  A period of grief.  The hearing out of a long, anger-laden We must let them exist and experience them in their own right.  And yes, seeking to bring together that which was separate, to unify more difficult aspects of existence with the binding light of our awareness, help us to walk the paths that call to us.

The problem is that Mars is about dividing, and Saturn is about saying ‘no.’  Under the conjunction of Mars and Saturn we risked running roughshod over others in our pursuit of a willful goal.  Those born under Mars-Saturn conjunctions often put the full force of their personalities into all they do.

So the unpleasantry of their recent conjunction, the stuck feeling, the gridlock, almost like a malevolent imp tripping your foot between the brakes and the gas to make you work extra hard… it’s a tough thing to make feel ‘unified’ in our awareness.  I’ve found that it’s best to put in overtime — not just on yourself — and not expect to necessarily feel better right away.

Mercury retrograde in Aries appeared to move backward to a degree point square to Mars and Saturn, emphasizing the gas-brakes tension of wills that can arise.  Fire and earth action have a lot more to do with immediate suchness than they do process, so it’s important during these times to cultivate careful and caring, ongoing ways to deal rather than fluctuating between extreme states.

The Full Moon in Libra which closed out March, and shares Venus-ian vibe with Venus’ tenure in home sign Taurus, reminds us to reach through conflicts of being and doing toward a harmonic plateau, however high or low they may be.

Peace be with you.

[ photo credit unknown ]