Mars is now retrograde in Aquarius for the first time since 1971. Mars is retrograde for about 60 days every two years. However, by some astronomical quirk, the retrogrades are not evenly distributed through the signs, and tend to lean more in the direction of Leo.

Detail of view from NASA’s Curiosity rover of Vera Rubin Ridge on Mount Sharp, Mars, taken a year ago. Image by NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

When Mars is retrograde, the Earth is passing between it and the Sun. Since the Earth takes a year to go around the Sun and Mars takes two years, it takes the Earth a while to catch up and pass it on the inside lane. That’s what’s happening now, and the result is that Mars seems to be moving backwards through the zodiac, from the standpoint of a viewer on Earth.

Mars is also visible in the night sky; it’s difficult to miss: it is red.

We’ve been under the influence of Mars retrograde since May 12, when Mars entered the degrees where the retrograde occurs, sometimes called the shadow or echo phase. Note the changes and developments in your life since that time; note the climate you’ve been living under, and the direction things have been moving. That is what you’re working with, developing, learning and integrating.

What is so interesting about Mars retrograde in Aquarius is that it tells a story about where the individual (Mars) meets the community (Aquarius). This includes the thought forms and patterns that are made by the “group mind,” which can be overbearing, and pressure people into thinking and feeling ideas and emotions that are not really their own — sometimes on pain of shunning, or other punishment inflicted by the tribe.

Electrical Media and the Global Village

And tribal we are, these days. One of Marshall McLuhan’s core theories of media is that the electrical environment tribalizes people. His reference to the “global village” was really about radio, though the name was picked up by a well-known manufacturer of modems used to connect to the internet.

He attributed the tribal attitudes of the 1960s to the impact of television — the thing itself, not the programs. In my day hanging out with Marshall’s son Dr. Eric McLuhan, who passed earlier this year, I asked about the impact of high-resolution screens. Eric said that the impact would only be greater.

My personal theory is that the binary nature of the internet, which reduces everything to zeros and ones, radically polarizes an already partisan and in-group driven environment. For those of us wondering when society is going to calm down and people are going to start working together, we may as well ask when people are going to become conscious of the impact of digital technology, when young people are going to start reading books, and when those who hide within a tribal environment are going to have the guts to express their own opinions, violating the norms of the community around them.

I have not mentioned that Aquarius is the perfect representation of the patterns imposed on us by the digital environment. In a late-night conversation I once had with astrologer Rick Levine, we explored an idea (for science fiction) that the internet is really an extraterrestrial “being” that incarnated through the electrical systems of the planet, thereby infesting everyone’s mind — as what we call the internet (his name for this being was Aquarion).

Of Groups and Masses

Now that Mars is moving retrograde in Aquarius, some people will be in a position to challenge the seemingly mandatory norms that we presumably must adhere to, uphold and contribute to, on pain of excommunication. Mars retrograde provides a countercurrent that anyone with some courage can insert themselves into, and get a little extra energy added to their process of individuation. To do this, it’s necessary to rise above one’s fear of conflict and rejection.

In her wise and (thankfully) abundant discussion of the sign Aquarius, Alice Bailey defines the difference between “mass consciousness” and “group consciousness.” The main difference is that a group is a group of individuals, relating to one another as such. Mass consciousness is the crowd cheering at a football game.

For a group to be a group, it must be composed of people who have gone through some experience of individuation. Often, that takes conflict, because we’ve left one another very few other options for how to find or discover ourselves. Another would be the honest transaction of sex and sexual desire; however, if one actually “comes out” about their real sexuality, rather than their political conformity to a group, one likely result is conflict.

Marshall McLuhan in 1963; photo by Erik Christensen/The Globe and Mail.

Getting into all this deep philosophical stuff, I almost forgot to mention that at 7:48 am (11:28:17 UTC) on Thursday, July 5, Mercury in Leo opposes Mars in Aquarius. This will push the issue of individuation, and it may come with some conflict.

In any event, Mercury draws attention to what it makes contact with, and this opposition will likely flip the lights on when it comes to what this Mars retrograde is about. The idea of independent thinking is currently so alien to our society that it verges on impossible to describe.

Yet you do have your own thoughts, and your own ideas: about yourself, about life, and about who and what you want. That is a good place to start.

I would add one other thought. Perhaps part of the struggle with individuals choosing to be free at this time is that we know it comes with the solemn responsibility to allow others to think what they want and be who they are. This is more than most people can handle. We are noticing that the allure of controlling others is, for many, greater than allowing them to be free.

We need a good dose of live, and let live; of think, and let think.