We are now in the last days of the Sun in Capricorn and looking toward the middle of the northern winter season. The Sun changes signs Thursday. Before that happens, though, Mars catches up with Chiron in Pisces. This takes place at 9:14 pm EST tonight (02:13:50 UTC Tuesday).

Image by Jon Zander.

Mars, the archetype of masculinity, has been traveling through the deeply feminine sign of Pisces since Dec. 19.

This placement challenges Mars perhaps more keenly than any other sign. The god of war is in an atmosphere of merging and surrender. One might as well try to wrestle chocolate as wage a head-on battle with the Fishes.

Yet the most positive qualities of the red planet, such as courage, open desire and enthusiasm, get something of a polish in this sign. Here, as befits the final part of the zodiac, the warrior ripens to maturity, and opens to a new perspective that contains healing of all kinds.

Any meeting with Chiron usually represents a lesson, and in this case that involves self-acceptance and self-integration. No-one can hold an aggressive position forever; eventually, there must be a laying down of arms, and an embracing of vulnerability. Ideas that are not seen when one is defensive now become clearer and easier to understand.

If you’ve felt unwilling (for whatever reason) to comprehend a different point of view, especially one that requires you to make bold changes, you will probably now find that mood starting to dissipate, while new facts emerge. Try to consider these rationally, as you would wish another to consider your opinion, and dismiss nothing out of hand.

Remember that healing and growth are your prerogative as a human being. As E. Nesbit wrote in The Railway Children, “Courage, courage! That’s the finest of all the virtues!”