At 2.45am London time yesterday, June 28th, Mars moved into his home sign of Aries. Usually Mars spends about 6 weeks in each sign, but once every two years it goes retrograde, meaning it spends a longer period in one or two signs. Usually this retrograde period will straddle two signs, but unusually this time around it spends the entire period in Aries – meaning that Mars will be in Aries for over 6 months now – until 7th Jan 2021.

As with all planetary placements, Mars in Aries can and will have a whole spectrum of expressions out there in the world. Mars is all about action, doing, making things happen. Drive, motivation and courage. When it its own sign, these traits are all able to be manifested more easily. So it’s a great time for taking charge of your life, starting something new and being self-motivated. You may be filled with more assertiveness and will at this time to go directly after your desires.

 

Mars is also the God of War in Roman mythology. And can symbolise anger, rage, violence and conflict. Aries is named after Ares, the Roman God of War. So we have the planet of war in the sign of war for the next 6 months!

Periods when Mars is strong are times when people are generally impulsive and willing and able to stand up for themselves, sometimes initiating trouble and conflict in the process. Given the current state of the world right now, this suggests that things are going to get even more heated over the coming 6 months. It certainly does not point to the calming down of protests, conflicts and violence.

Add to that the fact that Mars will soon begin squaring (a difficult aspect, itself indicating tension and challenges) the Jupiter-Saturn-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn that has been symbolic of the increasing attempts of control by governments (COVID lockdown) and the uprising against centuries of systemic repression and racism (the transatlantic slave trade begin in 1518, the last time Saturn and Pluto met in Capricorn), and we could be in for a very intense and combative period globally.

This will be most notable anywhere on the planet where tensions are already running high. Mars in Aries can symbolise the individual fighting against the prevailing societal structures (Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn). We saw something similar between 2011 and 2015 when Uranus (the revolutionary) was in Aries, squaring Pluto in Capricorn – during this time we had the rising up of the Occupy Movement against the 1% elite, and the Arab Spring revolts.

These were revolutionary-type movements of the individual (Aries) against those in charge (Capricorn) – the Plutocracy. Though the Mars transit is much shorter than Uranus, it carries with it a potential for more extreme behaviour, and people may go to war with their leaders.

The periods of the exact Mars squares to Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto are August, October, and late December into January. These are the periods when one might expect protests and conflicts to hit their peaks – especially the period from the end of September to late October, since the second (retrograde) transit is often the biggest of the three.

On the natural level, I wonder whether we will see some significant earthquakes or volcanic eruptions during this volatile period. The intense collective energy of humanity being reflected in violent and destructive natural phenomena at these times.

What is also interesting given that the US is currently the hotspot for much of the protests and Mars-like standing up for one’s rights, is that this Mars transit will also be squaring Pluto in the US national chart.

In fact Mars stations and turns retrograde within 1 degree of the exact aspect – meaning that from 25th August to 25th September Mars will be in close contact with the US Pluto, where the anger, rage and courage of the people clashes head-on with the forces of power and control (Pluto in Capricorn).

So in the US specifically, the entire period from early August to late October is likely to be a particularly heated and potentially violent time as fiery Mars triggers the Plutonian shadow that has been surfacing all year.

(By the way, the US is approaching its Pluto Return in early 2022 – Pluto returning to the place it was when the US was founded in 1776. This will be a huge deal for the United States as the planet of ‘creative destruction’ returns to signal a process of death/rebirth for the nation. You can find many articles already online about this impending massive transit).

Like I mentioned at the beginning, it’s not necessarily all bad. This is one possible, and highly likely, manifestation of Mars in Aries at the societal level. But it is also the time to make use of its strong energy on a personal level for embodying boldness, initiating action, being a pioneer and/or channelling your own inner warrior into whatever areas of your life calls for it at this time. Most likely this will relate to the affairs of the house in your birth chart that Mars will be passing through during this 6-month period.

 

Some famous people with Mars in Aries natally, who all embody the archetype of the pioneer or warrior in their own way:

Russell Brand
Che Guevara
Joseph Campbell
Jamie Oliver
Isambard Kindgom Brunel
Clint Eastwood
Prince
Steve Jobs
Oliver Cromwell
Conor MacGregor

 

For those of a technical nature, I’ve listed the exact dates of each Mars transit below.

square Jupiter – 4th Aug, 19th Oct, 23rd Jan (in Taurus)
square Pluto – 13th Aug, 9th Oct, 23rd Dec
square Saturn – 24th Aug, 29th Sep, 13th Jan (in Taurus)
goes retrograde – 10th Sep
goes direct – 14th Nov
leaves Aries – 7th Jan