[Note: this prescient article by Maya del Mar was originally part 2 of a two-part article (see part 1 here) that Maya wrote in 2005 about the future of the U.S.
Upon rereading, I’m struck anew by how forcefully Donald Trump appears to represent the regressive tendencies and unconscious motivations that Maya describes here. It’s well worth a second (or even third) read for the light this piece sheds on the forces that appear to drive a large segment of Americans.
I’ve cut portions that refer to out-of-date configurations, but they’re still in the original version at the link in the paragraph above, —Susan Pomeroy, Editor ]
…All of these Mars catalyzers are important, particularly as they come together at this time. But what I want to focus on now is a Mars shift much larger, deeper, and more significant than any or all of these. It concerns the U.S. progressed Mars.
The U.S. progressed Mars is now in the process of turning retrograde. It will travel in reverse mode for the next 80 years.
Progressions are ways of abstractly moving planets to show their development through time. Progressions are slow. The U.S. progressed Mars, for example, is now at 19 Libra. It has progressed only 2/3 of the way through the zodiac in 228 years. Contrast this with the transiting Mars, moving through the sky, which travels completely around the zodiac in about two years.
Progressions mark major changes in a life, but those changes are often slow changes, in keeping with the slow pace of progressions. When a progressed planet changes direction, which is rare, it marks a very big life change indeed.
Changes of sign also mark big life changes. For example, the U.S. Mars progressed into Libra as the U.S. entered WW II. Libra is a sign of war and peace. Dwight Eisenhower, commander of the U.S. troops in Europe, was a sun sign Libra. He warned that the nation must watch out for the military-industrial-Congressional complex. We are now experiencing the ultimate destructiveness of that racing engine of which he warned.
This is the moment at which that engine is forced to stop, as shown by the U.S. progressed Mars literally stopping. Stop, re-evaluate, and change direction is Mars’ new mandate.
Re-evaluation is beginning, as Mars prepares to turn retrograde at 19 Libra. It is stationary now, and will actually reverse course in 2006. But the whole process is slow and gradual, and we are in the midst of it.
A stationary planet has a very powerful influence. It can act as a laser in the heavens, casting an intense beam. It is like experiencing Mars in living color.
Thus Mars is super-powerful for the U.S. right now, in a way that it never has been, and won’t be again for another 80 years—and after that for close to 1000 years.
This doesn’t mean, however, that it functions well. For one thing, a stationary planet indicates an unstable time. While stationary, the planet is not pushing along in a clear direction. This particularly offends Mars.
Another debility in this case is that it is Mars that is turning retrograde. Mars, the planet of energy, determination, and purpose is happy traveling direct, but is thwarted and distorted when traveling retrograde. Retrograde is backwards and indirect, apparently away from the goal rather than towards it. Retrograde is inward rather than outward, not Mars’ cup of tea at all. Retrograde goes back in time, while Mars likes to rush ahead.
It is, in fact, apparent to all that the U.S. Mars is having a very difficult time, and that U.S. aims and actions are confused. This condition will worsen until the U.S. learns how to work with its retrograde Mars. This will require several to many years, depending on how quickly we learn.
With a retrograde, behavior is not mediated through conscious reaction to a realistically perceived world. Rather, we are driven deeply into unconscious motivations, which seem unpredictable, and over which we do not have control. Prisoner torture, and the acceptance of it, is an example here.
We also tend to live in the past, and to respond to conditions as they were in our past, rather than as they are now. The retreat of much of the U.S. into its Puritan and evangelical origins, including the denial and ignoring of scientific findings, is one among many examples of moving backwards.
Libra is not an easy sign for Mars at best. It demands an “other” orientation which is not natural for go-getter Mars. Mars retrograde in Libra is particularly difficult.
Martin Schulman says about retrograde Mars in Libra that the individual does not truly understand what he wants, and that he keeps changing according to the person he is with (e.g., the U.S. people’s identification with GW Bush). He tries to inter-relate with the Aries quality of every person he meets. “Ultimately this creates in him a type of emotional paralysis along with gullibility towards his external environment.” (3)
This sounds very much like the U.S. public, particularly in this last election.
The challenge with Mars retrograde in Libra is to find one’s own beacon, one’s own truth and clarity.
We will have decades to work on this process, and to develop alternative ways of using our energy, along with new ways of reaching our goals, and new goals.
In fact, as the Age of Oil winds down, a retrograde Mars could be a very big asset for the nation. Retrograde qualities can help us to make the kinds of changes in lifestyle which will be imperative.
Isolationism is another retrograde quality, and particularly when it is Mars that is retrograde. We have seen the U.S., for example, refuse to participate in such world consensuses as the Kyoto Treaty, the Land Mine Treaty, the World Court, and other world agreements, or in agreements with other nations.
What about the condition of this stationary progressed Mars?
Mars is stationary for several years, with 2004-2008 being the peak years. Again, progressions move slowly, and this is not a transitory condition.
The state of this progressed Mars now is particularly marked by the Total Solar Eclipse of April 8, 2005, which, at 19 Aries, exactly opposes Mars’ degree of 19 Libra. Oppositions often mean exactly that: opposing forces facing one another. Here we have challenger Aries facing a confused Mars.
Eclipses always catalyze change, and this is the signature for the retrograde shift. The eclipse itself very closely squares Saturn in Cancer, which shows that it has a Saturnian character. Saturn puts on the brakes, and we see the signal for a stoppage, and a change of direction, in the application of U.S. energy, especially in areas of war and natural resources.
Another circumstance of the U.S. progressed Mars now is that it opposes the U.S. Chiron, and conjoins the U.S. Juno. This will bring issues of weapons, of space, of health, and of abuse and of minority rights into focus.
Space war, for example, is very much on the Administration’s agenda. This is also a natural way of providing the isolation which retrograde Mars craves.
Space weapons and war are also indicated by progressed Mars’ square to Black Hole Hel at 19 Capricorn. She was the Norse Goddess of Death and the Underworld, and the root word of the English “hell.” She became immensely wealthy, with great tracts of land surrounded by high fences and a high, strong gate. Her knife is Hunger, her plate is Starvation, and her threshold is called Pitfall. According to Alex Miller-Mignone (4), she seems to have an affinity with vast energy and mass destruction.
U.S. progressed Mars is at 19 degrees Libra from about 1996-2015.
Group protest is, in fact, a likely direction for a retrograde Mars—particularly in Libra, the sign of justice.
This current cycle itself, during which we crossed into a new millennium, is like a Nine cycle. We see the end of an era, we see old myths going, we see most of the systems which we have known falling apart.
Even the degree on which transiting Mars turns retrograde on October 1, 2005 marks the end, and a big one. It is the degree of the last of the earth-element conjunctions of Saturn and Jupiter for another 600 years.
With the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius in 2020, we move into two centuries of working with the air element. Our stationary-retrograde Mars in another air sign, Libra, is helping us to prepare for the ascension of a new era, one where ideas and relationships are more important than material goods and consumption.
Cuba just flashed on me. Cuba’s North Node is at 19 Libra. Cuba has much to teach the world, and it just may be that the sturdy little nation of Cuba, who suddenly had to learn to survive without industrial support, is showing us new ways to direct our energy.
Notes
(2) From the Wilderness, December 8, 2004. Pub by Michael Ruppert, Sherman Oaks, CA. As the World Burns by Michael Ruppert, pp. 8-14.
(3) Karmic Astrology by Martin Schulman. Weiser, NY. 1977. pp. 95-96.
(4) The Black Hole Book written and published by Alex Miller-Mignone, 1995. pp. 91-92.
(5) An Astrological Mandala by Dane Rudhyar, Viking, NY. 1974. pp. 184-5.
Maya del Mar, master astrologer and life-long writer, founded Daykeeper Journal Online in September of 2000. She wrote monthly astrological features and her Daily Success Guide until her sudden passing in November 2006. From time to time, we publish more of her work. Learn more about Maya here; read Maya’s Daykeeper features here on an earlier version of this site.