Planet Mars is closer to Earth these days than it was in the last 15 years, and this means that it looks very big in the skies. Those who are up late (or wake up early) can see the vigorous wonder: Mars rises in the East at around midnight, travels the skies during the night, and sets in the west at dawn.
Mars is one of the two planets closest to us. Venus is the other one. The two – Venus and Mars – are Earth’s closest neighbors in the solar system. Venus’s orbit is near us, but closer to the Sun, while Mars’s orbit marks the path outwards, towards the more distant planets and stars. Mars is connected to the masculine force and to the ability to do, strive and achieve. The Romans viewed him as the god of war.
It takes Mars two-and-a-half years to complete a whole journey around the Sun, and therefore from our point of view here on Earth Mars moves from one astrological realm to another every two and a half months. Once every two-and-a-half years Mars enters its retrogression period, meaning that at this time Mars would seem to be going backwards in the zodiac, instead of moving forward. Obviously during this time Mars is not really going in reverse. It only seems this way because during this time Earth and Mars are as close as they can ever be, and faster Earth “bypasses” slower Mars. The “distorted” signal coming from Mars during this retrogression period has a definite effect on us, not least because of the proximity between the two planets during this time. We are getting closer and closer to Mars’s retrogression these days, as Mars physically looks bigger and bigger every night in the skies. Not like the Photoshop pictures that run around the web from time to time, yet noticeably bigger than usual. As big as we are used to seeing Venus or Jupiter.
These days Mars is entering a new astrological realm – the Realm of the Diamond. Usually Mars resides in each realm for two and a half months. But due to the coming Mars retrograde, his visit this time would be much longer. Mars will start his retrogression on June 24th. And this means that in two months’ time, instead of getting out of the Realm of the Diamond, Mars will start “going back” in the same realm – travelling the same realm again – but backwards! After Mars’s retrogression period will end, on August 10th, Mars will travel for the third time the Realm of the Diamond, this time moving forward and completing almost half a year of journey in it.
These days, as Mars is going forward in the Realm of the Diamond, we will get acquainted with his positive aspects. Mars will enable us, now and for the next two months, to focus our activities and concentrate our powers, so we can really accomplish things, like a radiating and condensed diamond. But during Mars’s retrogression we will get to know its less fortunate traits (but all in good time… let’s stay with the positive these days…)
In your weekly forecast you can read about Mars’s specific influence upon your own astrological tribe.