Mars will enter Gemini shortly after 10:40 pm EDT Monday (02:40:12 UTC Tuesday). In doing so, Mars will symbolically be following the act of Venus, which is departing Gemini for Cancer later today (as discussed here earlier this week). The allegory of a following act is appropriate, because when a planet changes signs it is as if a performer were changing costumes, and (implicitly) roles.
That’s one way to anticipate what Mars in Gemini might offer for you. It will be a chance to grasp Mars and its role in your life as it takes on the raiment and role being relinquished by Venus.
Mars is not Venus, even when wearing the same metaphorical costume of expression through a given sign. For that reason, we can expect the Martian tenure in Gemini to correspond more with a departure from, rather than a repeat of, what Venus has been expressing over the last month or so.
Nether, however, can one consider Mars to be the opposite of Venus. Rather, the two astrological energies of Mars and Venus are complements.
As with all complementary principles, Mars and Venus can be fully understood only in relation to each other. Daylight would not mean as much as it does without the experience of darkness. Yin is only an abstract concept without the context Yang provides. Every coin requires two sides to be tangibly real.
Hence, perhaps the greatest opportunity while Mars is in Gemini until June 24 will be a chance to observe and compare how Venusian and Martian energies manifest in relation to you and your life.
Of course, not all things will be equal in Gemini or in the sky. While Venus traversed Gemini, it was getting brighter and higher in the sky with each successive night. The Martian tour of Gemini, on the other hand, begins just as Mars is disappearing into the glare of the setting Sun, not to become visible again until August.
Mars will also share outfitting with Gemini’s ruler, Mercury, which will be moving through its home sign in one of its famous retrogrades at the same time. Indeed, Mercury and Mars will meet in conjunction while moving in different directions at 10+ Gemini on May 27. Nothing like that happened for Venus as the act preceding Mars.
Nonetheless, Gemini remains much the same as any and all planets pass through. It remains an air sign. It continues to be a mutable sign. Its orientation to the other signs of the zodiac never changes. Mercury will always be its ruler. Mars will not alter any of that, any more than Venus did. Instead, it will be a question of what Mars will bring out of its role in Gemini garb. Also, and probably most importantly, it will be a matter of what you must bring in as a responsive and responsible child of the universe.
A lot will depend on how Gemini is placed in your personal astrology. Even so, there is one general guideline that will apply to almost everybody.
That guideline has to do with the fact that Mars is undeniably more about action than charismatic Venus. Therefore, expect doing to upstage being as regards to the field of Gemini’s expression for the remainder of this season. Just to cite one example, that field would include the use of words for communication. With Venus in Gemini, it was the value of what you said that probably mattered most.
With Mars in Gemini, expect a shift to prioritize the tone of your communication. Accordingly, you should make allowances by resolving to be even more careful with your expression than with your words. Even if you feel Mars in Gemini goading you to be brash, consider the advantages of occupying higher ground as opposed to including yourself among the unsavory things that tend to roll downhill.
Correspondingly, you should be prepared not to take overly energetic or assertive communications from others personally. For to do so would only perpetuate a vicious cycle counterproductive to the free and resilient exchange of ideas that represents some of the best of what Gemini is about.
Indeed, if you can remember just one thing about your role while Mars is in Gemini, it would be the time-honored proverb “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.” If you can be as careful with your own words as you are in observing and making allowance for the possibility of careless communications from others, the act (and actions) that follow should work out to complement rather than undo all that has transpired before.
Offered In Service
Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.
. .and Gemini is NOT a one size fits all costume is it? Thanks for your sage advice Len, and my thought today, now that you bring it up, is what’s to happen when Mars reaches the U.S. Sibly chart Uranus at 8+ Gemini? That’s on Saturday through Sunday, May 23-24, followed by the Sun (on May 29-30) in the same degree. . .8+ Gemini.
That degree conjures up the essence of the Pluto-Neptune conjunction of August 1, 1891, which took place in that degree. What a chart that was, with Mars-conjunct-Chiron at 8+ Leo and conjunct the Sun at 10+ Leo as well; a pattern that could produce words meant to cut and confuse. Or maybe it will instead bring forth words divinely inspired to transform. In the beginning was the Word. Still, it’s so easy to misinterpret the intention of words.
That chart also had Black Moon Lilith, Borasisi and Salacia all at 22+ Virgo, the same degree as the U.S. Sibly chart’s Neptune. Can you imagine the variation of energetic words and thoughts that group of symbols could evoke? On the positive side it might mean words/thoughts of compassion for those who feel rejected, clarity for those who have been deluded, and calm for those who have been fearful. I dare not think (much less speak) of the negative possibilities.
The 1891 Neptune-Pluto conjunction seems to focus much energy onto the people of the USA as there is Ceres, Hades, Juno, Magdalena, and Nessus in Aquarius all centered around the U.S. Sibly chart’s Moon, a symbol of The People. The Neptune-Pluto conjunction chart also had Uranus (27+ Libra) trine the U.S. Moon/Pallas conjunction at 26-27 Aquarius. As well, the 1891 Neptune-Pluto chart’s Vesta at 25+ Sagittarius and it’s Iris (messenger) at 28+ Sagittarius favored the U.S. Moon with an ability to understand both words and devotion to family. Shades of Galactic Core.
It’s this chart’s Hybris at 8+ Capricorn that gives me pause. The sextile between Chiron-Mars at 8+ Leo sextile Pluto-Neptune at 8+ Gemini (conjunct U.S. Uranus) makes this 1891 chart’s Hybris at 8+ Capricorn the focal point of a yod, meaning something related to this symbol needs to make an adjustment.
On April 18-19, transiting Venus gently activated that degree of Gemini where sits the U.S. Uranus, as well as the 124 year-old-and-counting Pluto-Neptune cycle. Later this month it will be Mars, then the Sun to reinvigorate that degree. But tonight and tomorrow it will be Mercury who sounds the alarm for this degree, retreats, and returns again on the last day of this month and the 1st day of June, and finally one last time (for now) on June 21-22 just in time for the Summer Solstice, followed by his barely noticeable square to Neptune for good luck.
I don’t know about you, but I’m gonna keep a diary of these Gemini transits. . all of ’em!
be
or not to be
Great advice Len, lucky we get to be forewarned and adjust our behavior to avoid conflict.
Thanks 🙂
With Mars on the strong side (for me at the moment) perhaps it’s just as well he’s getting slowly swallowed by the sun’s glare…and it’s just as well to take note of how I say what I say when I say it all around. Thankfully term papers are all written and it’s only final exam essays that are left to be said.
And not a-Word of Shakespeare to Be found.
(good pun-ny, Be!)
Say a-Word, I think Len said to expect doing to be upstaged by being, rather than the other way around! Very well then, go and do what needs to be done and when all has been said and written, we’ll think of something else to make us laugh. 🙂
What’s interesting, is that now that I’ve decided that I’ve only gone half-way on my journey north to a “new home” and now that the time to go has stalled and stopped and re-arranged several times and each time come back around to being over this Merc retro–what needs to be done (all this Mars–my 10th house) really is To Be (Merc is retro-ing in my 11th). That is, the (now) first-half of my journey trained me for this upcoming additional journey and so I have far less “to do” and more to “let be” since I am basically re-inacting, or following, a previous plan of action. Or some such.
And if only I knew Shakespeare, Be, I’d try to come with more pun-nys but your’s totally takes the cake.
Apologies to all who commented for my lack of a reply until now. Please don’t take it as a lack of appreciation. i was “burrowed in” over the last handful of days working on a knotty astrological problem.
Barbara: Thank you so very much for the astrology/history lesson. As regards to transiting Mars conjoined the Sibly Uranus please allow me to only add that it is not rare but worthy of note. It’s not rare because the apparent motion of Mars brings it back to the position of Uranus in the US natal chart every other year (more or less). It is worthy of note because the late, great astrologer Rachelle (“Rockie”) Gardiner referred to “hard aspects” between Mars and Uranus (conjunction, square and/or opposition) as “earthquake weather” – in other words, high in energy and better if attention is duly paid. Thank you especially for referring to the last Neptune-Pluto conjunction. As you probably know, a subsequent (and more recent) period when Pluto’s orbit was “inside” of Neptune’s orbit made their apparent speeds more or less equalize for a long time. As result, beginning at about the end of WW II and through to the present day, Neptune and Pluto have more or less “held” a sextile aspect (a separation of 60 degrees) relative to each other for an unusually long period. Now that period is coming to an end, and when Neptune achieves its next sextile to Pluto it will continue to separate into an eventual square – but not soon, there will be much to happen before then.
elediamond: You are most welcome.
aWord: Congratulations on completing your term papers. i sincerely hope that the energy which corresponds to Mars will contribute to your success in final exams.