NCGR: Boston Chapter -- Article

Mars was at perihelion, closest to the Sun, on July 17, and by the time it reaches its closest approach to the Earth on October 30 it will be much higher and brighter than it was in 2003. The Summers of 2001, 2003 and 2005 have all experienced Mars closer to the Earth than at any time in the last 60,000 years nor will it be as close again until sometime in the 23rd century. On June 20 Mars crossed the celestial equator and began heading north. The opposition of Mars to the Sun will not take place until November 7 at 15 degrees of Taurus-Scorpio, but the closest approach to the Earth will be October 30 with Mars retrograde at 17 degrees Taurus, 10 degrees before the opposition to the Sun.

What makes this year's Mars transit so unusually powerful is the fact that it will station October 1 at 23 degrees of Taurus and turn retrograde, close to its own North Node, which means during late September and early October it will be in alignment with the Earth and Sun. The North Node of Mars is at 19 degrees of Taurus and the late Zipporah Dobyns wrote that the nodes of Mars offer "predictable areas of stress, action, health concerns, self assertion, an urge for freedom and sometimes violence." But Zip adds that the Mars nodes can also give a sense of "personal uniqueness and the courage to pioneer." Three of our most unique astrologers today were born with the Sun and Mars conjunct in Taurus close to the north node of Mars: Gary Christen, Don Cerow and Susan Allen. All three were born the same week in May 1951 and all three were recognized as unique by their teachers and mentors while still in their twenties. Gary holds the first BA in Astrology awarded by Rutgers, an accredited university, in recent times and is currently president of Astrolabe. Don has been touring the country presenting planetary shows of mythic-astrological phenomena and several years ago he constructed a miniature Stonehenge in New York. Susan is also a world-renowned harpist and assistant director of the music department at California School of the Arts. She has written for the magazine Parabola and will celebrate the Mars station on her Sun-Mars this September by taking the Orient Express.

The Mars energy has already expressed itself this Summer with record-breaking heat, violence in all parts of the world, and an increase in activism as in the case of anti-war activists who have rushed to the side of a woman whose son was killed in Iraq who has taken up her post near President Bush's Texas ranch and insisted he come out and talk to her about her grievances.

The Mars transit in 2001 coincided with the planned attack on the World Trade Center. Mars stationed at 29 degrees of Sagittarius in May and reversed its motion for 60 days until July 19. What happens when Mars stations just as it had begun to move out of bounds is that it then turns away from the ecliptic and remains out of bounds for five and a half months. This long out of bounds period for Mars happened in 1975 and in 1969. Man walked on the Moon for the first time in July 1969 two weeks after Mars had turned direct. That same weekend Senator Edward Kennedy's car plunged off the bridge at Chappaquiddick Island and efforts failed to save a young woman whose body was found on the back seat of the car where she had been sleeping. Cartoonist Gay Trudeau began the comic strip Doonesbury at that time commenting on U.S. involvement in Vietnam and he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1975, the first comic strip to be so honored. Mars was out of bounds and retrograde in Cancer and Gemini.

Even though Mars turned direct in July 2001, it did not move past the degree where it had stationed and turned retrograde until September 8. The morning of the attack on the World Trade Center the Moon was in Gemini and void of course, meaning the action could not be stopped until the Moon moved into Cancer and opposed Mars in Capricorn. Record breaking heat continued all over the world that month until mid September. That was also a summer of predators, both human and animal. Sharks feasted on dolphins and other fish off Cape Cod and snapping turtles were on view. Crows and mosquitos raised fears of West Nile disease. Other violence that Summer included the Texas mother who drowned all five of her young children, and serial killer Gary Sampson who returned to his hometown to begin a killing spree. Similar acts of violence have been noted this Summer including unprecedented road rage shooting. The heat wave will most likely continue into the Fall, punctuated by hurricanes and violent storms.

As spectacular as Mars has been in July and August, it will appear six times brighter and twice as large by October. Astrologers who have studied the chart of President Bush are concerned about his progressions and transits and whether he will initiate a military attack on Iran or Korea if these countries do not submit to demands . His approval ratings have dropped recently and as Saturn moves rapidly over his ascendant and rising Mercury and Pluto to station in November at 11 degrees of Leo, before retrograding back over his Pluto-Mercury-Ascendant during the Winter months, there is concern about his tendency to abuse power and to play the international bully. He prides himself on "staying the course" and not changing direction, even when the public begins to doubt that this War in Iraq was worth the terrible price paid by both countries. Mars will remain retrograde in Taurus until December 10 when it stations at 8 degrees, square to President Bush's Mercury and Pluto at his ascendant. Six days later the Sun will conjunct Pluto at 24 degrees Sagittarius. Saturn in Leo will station on his natal ascendant, Pluto and Mercury.

Astrologers have noted that President Bush has Aries on the midheaven and that Mars can be considered the ruler. Mars moving back to station square to his natal Pluto-ascendant can activate his own terrorist tendencies and his desire for power. The replay of astrological transits of 1975 and the Vietnam War, not to mention Watergate, cause many to wonder if he will finish his term, though he is not a man who would resign no matter what may happen. Other worries concern the U.S . relations with China, Japan and Korea. There has been talk of providing nuclear armaments to Japan to offset the threat of Korea. Japan has been asking for permanent status in the United Nations, and Communist China is not apt to accept this move without a fight. The possibilities of a serious political storm developing for the remaining years of the Bush presidency are alarming indeed. In just a few short years our country has managed to lose its moral and economic clout, and even our scientific clout has been damaged because of the President's stand on stem cell research. What an irony if we end up arming Japan with nuclear energy! Remember the two atomic bombs we dropped on that country sixty years ago? Have all things come full circle? We have now sent a man to the United Nations who is hostile to that body and wants to transform it if not actually have the United States withdraw. Woodrow Wilson must be whirling in his grave.

The positive use of Mars energy is creative activism. And there does seem to be something stirring in response to the suppression of our freedoms in the name of homeland security. Whatever happens in the next few months we should fasten our seat belts for a bumpy ride.