By Rob Moore

First, a little personal history lesson: I never paid attention in history class. I graduated from high school at the top of my class but the God-honest truth is I left not knowing a damn lick of history. As with other classes that I perceived to be holding me hostage at the time, I just memorized the list of facts and pushed ‘All Clear’ once the test was over.

With particular thanks to The Smithsonian Channel and Netflix, I have become quite the latent history enthusiast. Of deep interest to me are those individuals who carved paths others never dared to conceive.

Explorers like Ernest Shackleton, who not only lived through years frozen to the bone trying to get to Antarctica but managed to talk a team of men into enthusiastically going into the unknown to freeze right alongside him. Their inexplicably enduring spirits that kept them trudging onward following dead-end after dead-end had me in tears throughout the whole presentation.

This past week my every synapse was engaged in the story of a visionary with a different brand of perseverance, Theodore Roosevelt. I am so inspired by his life path — his difficult infancy a pivotal part of it — that I simply cannot dismiss the well of inspiration to bring key aspects of his trailblazing life forward today. Yes, today, in this astrologically inclined article about sex.

During the course of watching documentaries, I have noticed something from films of crowded streets shot between the 1890s into the early 1900s that I feel is telling about the collective sexual consciousness of the time. These early movies were frequently played back at a faster rate than they were shot, making for a fast-forward look to the action. Cars and carriages and people weave in and out amongst each other at a rather comically fast pace.

Looking at quickened crowds of pedestrians from this era, rather notable is a common gait among them marked by a swaying back and forth on stiff-looking legs and tightly held torsos. For my money, this spells all kinds of pent-up energy, not the least of which would be sexual energy at the base of the spine.

It’s no secret that this was an era of great sexual repression. I doubt anyone would find that to be any kind of news. I point to the tightly held movements, though, as an outward physical manifestation of that collective repression. And majorly so.

Then along came Theodore Roosevelt, who brought a very different energy to the scene. Rarely had a central figure exhibited such an exciting presence during that era and certainly not a political figure. Given his youthful exuberance and boundless drive, I thought for sure I would find he was an Aries when I looked up his natal chart.

But, alas, the Mars get-up-and-go bursting forth from T.R. was due to his Sun in Scorpio, Mars exclusively ruling both Aries and Scorpio prior to the discovery of Pluto. Even so, it was not until I learned he was described as ‘an unstoppable steam locomotive’ that the watery Scorpionic energy made perfect sense to me.

Eric has been taking a close look at this year’s Mars retrograde that is now in early shadow phase. As this journey is accentuated by working from the inside out, I find the life of Theodore Roosevelt to illustrate that idea in ways I never would’ve expected from a Westerner who emerged during his period. In a very real way for him, it was either find his way from the inside or perish.

Born on Oct. 27, 1858, Teddy Roosevelt spent his first years of life in the grips of severe asthma. His first memories were of the sensation of being strangled to death while gasping for breath and for his life. When he overhead his parents in the hallway discussing their expectation — given his frail and sickly body — that he would likely die soon, this stirred a spirit of determination within him.

After several very uncertain years, Teddy’s father — whom he completely adored — sat Teddy down and told him if he were ever to survive this life, he would have to build his own body from the inside out. This would involve dedication to exercise and regimented activity aimed at strengthening his organs as well as his outer body.

With that, Teddy Roosevelt was off and running. Literally. He taught himself complex gymnastics and eventually began rounding up guys for intense wrestling matches that tested the endurance of the best of them. Coming to embody the undeniable evidence that his intentions, actions and fortitude manifested real results, he set out into the world with that powerful outlook and paved the way for change after change after change.

I believe one of the major changes Roosevelt set into motion was making it okay to get down and get a little dirty. He was by birth a proper aristocrat who again and again got in touch with himself by connecting with literal earth. Hunting, ranching, building and basically rolling around in the dirt spoke to his soul.

After doing so, he’d climb back onto the podium and tell it just like he felt it. From the footage I’ve seen, he delivered straight from the gut; from the base of the spine; from the depths of his being. This impressive demonstration that it was within the realm of a dignified life to loosen up and let one’s authentic self hang out had to begin chipping away at the collective consciousness, if not take it completely by storm.

Whether or not Roosevelt had anything to do with it, about every twenty years from there a great leap was made toward embracing our humanness, including our sexual natures. Society really started cutting loose during the Roaring Twenties. Despite being born out of war propaganda, notable steps toward female equality began taking place via Rosie the Riveter in the Forties. And of course, the big crescendo: the sexual revolution of the Sixties. By that time, walking around stiff-legged and repressing energy was falling very much out of favor.

Oh, believe me, people are still very capable of repressing their energy. I was uptight and militant well into my late 20s.

As we are currently in the long, slow shadow phase of a Mars retrograde that will ultimately take us back over Sagittarius and Scorpio ground, release from the inside out is something I have in my sights to explore in upcoming posts. My own dramatic tale of energetic release will feature in at least part of that.

As for this weekend and the days to follow, I believe it is an excellent time to celebrate how far we have come and where we stand now. A key component to witnessing an influx of whatever we most desire is to practice genuine gratitude for the amount that it exists in our lives this instant. ‘Key’ meaning that it doesn’t happen until that component is in place. I let this one slip right past me for years, until I saw how things begin to blossom when I merely acknowledge what is presently working for me.

Whether sexual or not, consider an experience you had that exhilarated you to your core. How great is that?

What came together that made that experience possible? How great is that?

How has that made you the person you are right this very second? How great is that?

In the words of Theodore Roosevelt, as if a shimmering light from beyond the dark ages: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

How great is that?