On the 16th, Mars enters Libra where it stays until October 31st. Mars is a war god and represents the physical aspects of conflict, but also the internal values that ignite our movement. Mars energy is the physical response to human ideology. War is the physicality of protecting a belief so potent, we are willing to die. Mars in this way represents embodiment— a choice of alignment between the mind and body, the enactment of our values.
Our society, unfortunately, doesn’t hold a lot of space for anger, or aggression in our day to day. It is acceptable in films, and on the news, but when it shows up in our homes, and in ourselves, we don’t see how anger deserves our respect. We might not see the utility in this emotion. There is a hierarchy that we have in regards to feelings. We prefer to be joyful over fearful, or anxious, or sad. Marie Kondo’s “Spark Joy” turned into a phenomenon. I doubt a “spark anger” campaign could do the same, although now I feel challenged to try.
But when we can hold space for emotions to hold the same amount of value, we express ourselves differently, if we can allow ourselves to express at all. We can also start to examine the full spectrum of our experiences and cultivate more from them. We can not make choices or move in flow, if we are not expressing our feelings. If we are always avoiding anger —then we are avoiding ourselves. Avoidance leads to eruption and that’s not what Libra’s intention is for us.
Mars in Libra provides this equanimity. As the scales, Libra is the ultimate devil’s advocate, always willing to see the other side of things. And scales is a numbers game, it’s factual. And decisions made based on fact, verses emotion, generally has a better chance of a peaceful conclusion. And that is all Libra wants for us—balance. Libra takes no stance, but lives in the particular, and responds to the situation, not to the rule. Libra isn’t going to let feelings outweigh the concrete.
Libra as an air sign, ruled by Mercury, stays fluttering at surface level. But that doesn’t mean Libra is shallow, superficial. It means Libra energy is much more fair because it evaluates based on hard evidence. Libra doesn’t rely on how it feels—that is too biased. It compares based on the inarguable.
Libra has “don’t shoot the messenger” vibes. The container of the message is not the message itself. Libras can flake on accountability at times due to this—meaning again, deferring to physical evidence to provide a decision, rather than personal experience, intuition or nepotism.
Libra’s glyph is actually a depiction of the horizon (modern astrology refers to it as the scales). Again, the horizon is where sky meets land. This is very Mars too—idea transforming into action, something intangible materializing.
The horizon is as much a concept as it is a visual representation. And that is where Libra energy can be superficial, or lack substance. The horizon is a location, not an actual destination. You head towards the horizon, but you never actually reach it. In this way, Libra can sometimes be deceptive, although it is generally innocuous.
With Mars in Libra we are in the stage of war where we are in peace talks; or the conversation about if we should wage war, is it worth it. What can we learn about ourselves and how to respond to conflict? Mars in Libra warns us to be weary of whose voices are contributing to our decision to battle or not. As long as we choose authentically we can not fail.
With Mars entering Libra in mid September we are ready to settle and slow down. Mars just left Virgo who was the one running around the house gathering all the items to pack for the trip. Now in Libra, we are packing the car so that everything fits efficiently but also thinking about how to access these things that we have stored away, when we need them to survive hibernation.
To work with this energy, Write a list of your values-- Ask yourself what you value if you don’t know. Allow yourself to really ponder. Write them down. Then examine that list, to see how your lifestyle matches with it. What evidence do you have to support that you value what you say you value? Are your actions aligning with what you truly believe? What action could you take to align with them? What prevents the alignment?
When I did this, honesty was a top value of mine and yet, I was hiding the fact that I smoke weed from my family. When I articulated this misalignment, it made sense to me that those familial relationships were suffering; that I was suffering. Hiding that part of me, was actually me being ashamed of myself. It didn’t happen over night, but that illumination is what allowed me to eventually come of out of the 420 closet. My parents responded as if I had told them my favorite color. And even if they hadn’t, the work is to be self accepting regardless of external validation. Authenticity always wins.
Alignment of our values and our behavior is inner peace. This the invitation of Mars when in Libra.