Mars and Pluto Retrograde 2016 – All Stop (Part 1)

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It’s finally here. Mars Retrograde. Pluto Retrograde follows in less than 24 hours after this point. Don’t expect a lot of forward momentum at this time. Nay, if you try to force things now, it’s probably not going to go very well. Since Mars and Pluto are both going retrograde within one day of one another, I’ve opted to combine this series for both as there really isn’t going to be much of a difference in placements overall for both retrograde stations.

To recap about retrogrades, the planets themselves are not going backwards in space. Instead, the orbits of Earth and the planets are at such a point that the planets that are retrograde appear to be moving in reverse from our perspective here on Earth.

Mars Retrograde begins it’s backward motion on Antares, a fixed star in Sagittarius. This is going to be rather interesting, as Antares is a pretty incendiary star all on its own, and Mars is the planet of action, war, anger, and fire. Mars, when going forwards, things progress and advance, and initiating actions seems to go a lot smoother. Once it’s retrograde, it’s pause-and-reassess time. Sure, you can force things forward, and you may have situations where you can’t wait. Make sure you know if it’s that kind of situation, or if it’s a situation that you can take some time to think about and plan things out better.

Regarding Mars conjunct Antares… From [url=http://www.constellationsofwords.com/stars/Antares.html]Constellations of Words:

With Mars: Detrimental habits powerfully affecting the life, quarrels with friends and relatives, fairly favorable for gain. If at the same time the Moon is with Aldebaran, danger of death by sword or hanging. [Robson*, p.138.]

Fortunately, moon is not with Aldebaran so we don’t have to worry about that last part. Still, for this Mars Retrograde cycle, we can expect more arguments and incidents, some stemming from people trying to force things through, and others just because people are more argumentative.

We do have some good news though… We have an Earth Grand Trine with Pluto in Capricorn trine Mercury/Vesta in Taurus trine Jupiter Retrograde in Virgo. This should go a long way in smoothing over some communications with others (though get things in writing, as Mecury itself is in it’s Pre-Retrograde Shadow Period right now)… And the trine to Jupiter retrograde will allow us to take some things to heart and apply what we learn to ourselves. We’ll be able to somewhat go forward with this before too long as Jupiter turns direct next month, though Mars will be retrograde until June 29th.

Saturn is also retrograde right now, and will be retrograde for the entire Mars Retrograde cycle. At the station for Mars, it trines Venus and to a lesser degree Uranus. We should have a little more stability with our relationships to others and will be looking inwards regarding our role in said relationships, and what we can do differently. Saturn squares Jupiter, so we will have conflict within ourselves regarding our relations wtih others, in romance and jobs. After all, Venus is Quincunx Jupiter at this point.

Truth be told, we do have a Fire Grand Trine between Saturn Retrograde in Sagittarius trine Venus in Aries trine 55 Pandora in Leo. Our looking inwards regarding these relationships is going to unlock some uncomfortable truths, most likely, and this will be like Pandora opening that wonderful box that unleashed all sorts of fun stuff into the world. But there was still hope in the box when all was said in done, so whatever you find out, don’t despair too much. Take stock and take steps to rectify what you find. If all you find is good things, then awesome! Keep that stuff up.

Asteroid-wise, we have a rather nasty trio making a conjunction. 37117 Narcissus, 433 Eros, and 149 Medusa are all conjunct in Aquarius. Now Eros itself isn’t bad, it’s love. Romantic love, to be specific. The problem is with Narcissus, which of course portrays narcissism, and we have Medusa which in my experience has represented betrayal by or involving women. Ladies and gentlemen, if you’ve got any planets in hard aspect to 16-17 Aquarius or conjunct around there, do be wary of self-centered suitors looking to bleed you dry. Now, these do make a Minor Grand Trine to Saturn and Venus, however, the orb to Venus makes this weak, and Medusa really only factors due to the conjunction to Narcissus and Eros which are within 2 degrees orb of sextiling Venus. So there’s some possible mitigation here as Saturn in the back of your head might be telling you “Hang on, this might be too good to be true”, and perhaps Venus’s influence smooths things over too… or makes it easier to fall head over heels in love with someone who isn’t all that great for you.

100 Hekate and 157 Dejanira square Pluto isn’t very nice. We could see more revelations of victims of ritualistic abuse or other abuses come to light. Do be careful.

Ceres conjunct 4386 Lust might be something to spice up the homestead’s love life. Or maybe you see a proposal come at this time. However, do remember that with all of this retrograde action going on, you may want to hold off on this. Rather, strengthen the bonds you have now and think things through before going full matrimony-mode.

In part 2, I will further examine some asteroids, and give further focus to Pluto.