Mars 2020

Mars has had an outsized influence on the first half of 2020. It will continue to be a major player throughout 2020. The sudden appearance of the Covid-19 virus can be attributed in large part to the Saturn-Pluto conjunction of January 2020, but it was the entry of Mars into Tropical Capricorn, the Tropical sign also occupied by Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto and the South Node at that time, that saw the virus burst into a major event around the world. While the slower planets and the South Node were all involved, Mars served as the activator of action. 

By the end of February, Mars made the first conjunction in Tropical Capricorn to the South Node, opposing North Node, then by the 20th of March March conjuncted Jupiter, then conjuncted Pluto two days later on March 22nd, and finally conjuncted Saturn at 0 Tropical Aquarius on the last day of March. On April 7th Mars squared Uranus. Now Mars will be slightly calmer, being past this series of conjunctions and the square to Uranus, but in Pisces it has been nebulous and has brought up long festering wounds. On May 15th Mars completed its journey of Tropical Aquarius and entered Tropical Pisces. Ten days later the murder of George Floyd happened, triggering off riots throughout the United States.

In the beginning of June, Mars made a square to the Sun and retrograde Venus as Venus conjuncted the Sun making the Cazimi to become the Morning Star. Mars and the Sun remained in square for a full week until around the 10th of June. By the 27th of June, Mars squares the Lunar Nodes. Then on June the 28th, Mars changes signs, leaving the winter quadrant, crossing into Tropical Aries, though in the True Constellation Sidereal (TCS) zodiac Mars entered constellational Pisces around June 13th-15th (where it will be until January 02, 2021 when it enters 00 degrees of TCS Aries, which is about 28 degrees of Tropical Aries). This then begins the pivotal Mars transits of the last half of 2020. The square to the Nodes, now in the last degree of Tropical Sagittarius and the first degree of TCS Sagittarius, sets off the series of transits that Mars will make in its long transit, and retrograde cycle, through Tropical Aries/TCS Pisces.

The Tropical signs that are most highlighted through the Mars transits of 2020 are Capricorn and Aries. In the True Constellation Sidereal (TCS) zodiac, the signs are Sagittarius and Pisces. We can see the aspects of the sign Sagittarius in the February and March Mars transits, in the global shutdown of travel and commerce, and the way political institutions were caught flatfooted and unprepared due to over-optimism and ideological delusions. We see the effects of Tropical Capricorn in the negative impact on global markets and economies, and the massive shut-down of cities and commercial activity. As always, both the Tropical and TCS sign placements are at work. I wanted to mention that before I proceeded, because I will mainly focus on the upcoming Mars transits through the lens of the Tropical signs, but the True Constellational Sidereal signs will also be having an effect, if more subtle.

As Mars prepares to enter Tropical Aries, it squares the Nodes, activating its first aspect from the end of February, the conjunction to the South Node and opposition to the North Node. Mars then immediately crosses the Vernal Equinox point, exiting the winter quadrant and entering the spring quadrant and Tropical Aries. I have seen very little discussion of the fact that Mars will square its transit aspects from February and March, while also squaring Jupiter, Pluto and Saturn, all three in Tropical Capricorn at that time, and conjuncting Eris. To me, this is extremely important. 

By the time Mars enters Tropical Aries, Venus has gone direct and Mercury is retrograde. Mars and retrograde Mercury in Tropical Cancer square on July 8th. On July 28th Mercury, now direct, squares Mars again, and then begins to oppose all the degrees of the Mars conjunctions from March as it transits through Tropical Cancer and into Tropical Leo. On August 4th, Mars makes its first square to Jupiter from 19 Tropical Aries to 19 Tropical Capricorn. By this time Mars is beginning to slow down as it approaches its retrograde station. On August 13th Mars squares Pluto from 23 Tropical Aries to 23 Tropical Capricorn, while also conjunction Eris. The conjunction of Mars to Jupiter occurred at 22 degrees Tropical Capricorn, the square to Eris from 23 degrees of Tropical Capricorn and the conjunction to Pluto occurred at 24 degrees of Tropical Capricorn. This means the squares and conjunction occur within one to three degrees of the original conjunctions and square. This will set up a very strong echo of the original aspects as Mars squares both transiting Jupiter and Pluto, and squares the original conjunction it made earlier in the year, while also conjuncting Eris and from the degree that it previously squared in March. Jupiter and Pluto are both retrograde in August as these squares happen.

On August 24th, Mars squares Saturn, now back in Capricorn and also retrograde, at 26 Tropical Capricorn. On the 25th Venus, now in Cancer, opposes transiting Jupiter, and then two days later, Venus opposes 19 degrees of Capricorn, the degree of the Mars/Jupiter square. On August 30th Venus opposes Pluto, and then on the 31st opposes the 23rd degree of Tropical Capricorn where the Mars/Pluto square occurred, while also squaring Eris. On September 2nd Venus opposes Saturn, and then on the 3rd, Venus opposes the 26th degree where the Mars/Saturn square occurred. On the 4th of September, transiting Venus squares transiting Mars at the 27th degree of Tropical Cancer to Aries. On September 6th Mercury enters Tropical Libra, setting up squares to Tropical Cancer and Capricorn, and opposing Tropical Aries. On September 10th Mercury squares the point where Mars conjuncted the South Node from February. On September 11th Mars turns retrograde.

Mars will have been in Tropical Aries for nine weeks by the time it turns retrograde on September 11th. The retrograde begins at 28 degrees of Tropical Aries, which is within two degrees of the conjunction of Mars and Saturn from March 31st, and is also the last degree of TCS constellation Pisces. Once retrograde, Mars will again make the squares to Saturn, Pluto and Jupiter, and the conjunction to Eris, as well as the squares to the original conjunction degrees from March. The retrograde squares occur as follows; Retrograde Mars square retrograde Saturn at the 25th degree on September 28th and conjuncts Eris on October 5th, then retrograde Mars squares now-direct Pluto in the 22nd degree on October 9th, and finally retrograde Mars squares now-direct Jupiter at 19 degrees (again, for the second time) on October 18th. Note that these squares also square the original conjunctions from March for the second time. The 22nd degree is, of course, the degree of the Saturn/Pluto conjunction from January, and is within one degree of square to Eris. 

During this same period, Mercury and the Sun will have both squared the Tropical Capricorn transiting planets, and the original Mars-conjunction-points in Tropical Capricorn from Tropical Libra, while opposing retrograde Mars and Eris. Mercury then goes retrograde in Tropical Scorpio and crosses back into Tropical Libra on October 28th, going back to 25 degrees, which will make a second pass of several of the points in late Tropical Aries/Capricorn. Venus also enters Tropical Libra on October 28th. Mercury goes direct on November 3rd, and immediately crosses back over those degrees again for the third time. 

For the week leading up to November 13th, Jupiter and Pluto are both in 22 degrees of Tropical Capricorn, with the conjunction exact on the 13th in the last minutes of that degree. Venus begins making the squares to the critical degrees of Tropical Capricorn from Tropical Libra on November 11th, carrying through late November, leaving Tropical Libra on November 21st. Mars goes direct on November 15th, at 15 degrees of Tropical Aries. 

Once Mars goes direct, it will then make the third pass of the squares to the Critical degrees of the March conjunctions, and to transiting Pluto, Jupiter and Saturn, and will also make the third conjunction to Eris. By the time Mars goes direct Jupiter has finally moved just past Pluto in preparation for its upcoming conjunction with Saturn and sign change, which will conjunct the degree of the Mars/Saturn conjunction from March 31st. By December 19th Mars squares the 22nd degree of Capricorn, goes on to the third conjunction with Eris and then on the 23rd, Mars makes its third square to Pluto while still in conjunction with Eris. Also on the 19th, Jupiter and Saturn change sign to Tropical Aquarius/TCS Capricorn, and on the 21st Jupiter and Saturn make their historic, phase-changing, cycle-resetting exact conjunction. The Sun and Mercury enter Tropical Capricorn on December 21st and 22nd. Mars moves into TCS Aries on January 2nd, 2021 and finally crosses out of its retrograde shadow on January 4th, 2021, and then exits Tropical Aries on January 7th, 2021. With Mars moving into Tropical Taurus it will make a conjunction to Uranus and will square Saturn and Jupiter one last time in the Tropical fixed signs of Taurus and Aquarius throughout January 2021 in conjunction with Uranus. We will consider that in a later article. For now, the exit of Mars from Tropical Aries, and the exit of Jupiter and Saturn from Tropical Capricorn closes down the specific cycle that dominated 2020, changing its dynamics for 2021, and by the end of January 2021, Mars has moved beyond the final squares to Saturn and Jupiter.

So what can we make from all of this? Well, I don't use astrology as a divinatory tool, so I won't make predictions about events, but what I will say is that we can expect a revisit, throughout 2020 and especially during the Mars transits direct and retrograde through the later half of Tropical Aries, of the themes that were set in motion during the Mars conjunctions of March 2020. The many transits hitting the 22nd/23rd degree of Tropical Aries, Capricorn,Cancer and Libra (and any other sign, too, really) is extremely important, because there has been so much action on those two degrees, and also because Eris is in 23 degrees of Tropical Aries. Eris sows chaos wherever it is found, so its presence in this degree makes it particularly important in this whole series of transits. 

What I would strongly recommend is that you go through this article and take the dates I have pointed out, especially those squares of Mars to Pluto, Jupiter and Saturn, from Tropical Aries to Tropical Capricorn, and mark them in your calendar. They are dates to take care in what you do, and you should watch the period around those dates for major world events. If you know anything about Mars, you will know it is not generally associated with fuzzy feelings and gentle energies. Mars will be especially strong in Tropical Aries, and it will feel very, very edgy and restricted during its retrograde in the sign it rules. The combination of Mars with Eris will only intensify this energy. In the TCS zodiac Mars will be in Pisces and will be squaring TCS Sagittarius, so we can expect the impatience and aggression of Tropical Aries to be combined with confusion, frustration and global events dealing with restrictions, politics and beliefs thanks to the TCS Pisces influence. Watch out for delusion, jumping to conclusions and aggression based on feelings rather than facts. I am not writing this to spread fear, gloom and doom, or to make prophecies, but to point out how important the transits of Mars will be for the entire year of 2020, and what the most intense dates for the rest of 2020 are so you can be aware of them and apply a little bit of Saturnian caution and care around those dates.

Addendum

The above was written in April 2020 while Mars was in the middle degrees of Tropical Aquarius/TCS Capricorn. Since that time, we have seen the Mars ingress into Tropical Pisces/TCS Aquarius beginning around May 10th - 13th and then by June 14th, Mars crossed into TCS Pisces, creating a period of two weeks when Mars was in Pisces in both Tropical and TCS zodiacs, with Mars finally crossing into Tropical Aries on June 28th. This period has seen some very specific events. While the period of March and April are defined by the Covid-19 lockdown, the period of May and June have been defined by the lifting of quarantine restrictions and the civil rights protests that have occurred in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. While the civil rights protests have been justified, the break from quarantine, for any reason, will prove to have been ill-advised. 

Here in the end of June, we see that Covid-19 deaths have continued to increase each day since it began and now the number of cases are again spiking in many areas. I am not blaming the civil rights protests, which I support, as black lives do matter and a sea-change in the systemic racism in the US has been long overdue. The ill-advised reopening push happened well-before the murder of George Floyd, and actually saw the first wave of protests, the anti-lockdown protests at state capitols throughout the country that began in mid-April, that led up to reopening. When we note that there have been protests from both right and left, though granted for very different reasons, I believe we are seeing the effects of Mars in Aquarius, both in Tropical Aquarius through April and part of May and then in TCS Aquarius during the month from May 10th to June 14th.

So now we find ourselves at the end of June going into July with Mars moving into Tropical Aries, preparing to make the series of repeated aspects over the next six months that I have outlined in the above article. I would stress that Mars will also be in TCS Pisces during this time period, and so we can expect a blending of Aries' aggression and impatience, with Pisces' dreamy, confusing, contradictory and delusional energies. I stated above that I do not wish to turn this article into a series of predictions, but I have an unshakable feeling, which has only grown throughout June, that we are heading toward a critical period that will repeat many themes from the period of mid-February through mid-April. I suspect that over the next six months we will see a drastic increase in cases of Covid-19 probably in waves aligning with the Mars squares I outlined above, and I expect that there will be further setbacks in the economy, possibly in coincidence with renewed quarantine/lockdown protocols. I also expect protests and unrest to continue, both for racial justice (and possibly for other social justice issues), and in reaction to any potential quarantine/lockdown protocols that may continue or be reinstated. This may inadvertently increase the number of cases of the Corona virus. 

New issues may arise as well, though these issues that have been simmering for the last few months will remain. New political scandals may unfold with potentially major events occurring as Mars makes squares to the US Pluto at 27 Capricorn. That will happen three times between September and January 2021, with the Mars retrograde beginning at 28 degrees of Tropical Aries, only one degree past the square to the US Pluto. I expect the first couple of weeks of July, the end of August and the majority of the month of September to be especially intense and volatile periods. The final series of squares will occur through the last two weeks of December and into the first week of January, coinciding with the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction and sign-change. That time-period is not the end of the themes of 2020, but changes the tenor of those themes and is the doorway through which real and profound changes will begin to occur with all these themes, though time and patience will still be required as the sign-change and conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn are not an instant solution to all problems, nor do they signal the "beginning of the Age of Aquarius", and with it some magical instant golden age. 

Jupiter will still be in Saturn's rulership for another year in the Tropical zodiac and two more years in the TCS zodiac, with Saturn still in one of its own signs for about three years in the Tropical zodiac and about six years in the TCS zodiac. The transit of Tropical Aquarius/TCS Capricorn by both Saturn and Jupiter will make squares to Uranus, and the US Pluto return approaches in 2022. The period of 2020 through 2024, and then on to the end of the decade, is a doorway to profound change, but as it began with a series of major aspects in Tropical Saturnian signs, and then involves Saturnian signs in one way or another for many years yet to come, it will require discipline, patience and effort to achieve lasting, fair and realistic outcomes. The 2020 transits of Mars may prove to be the spark that lights the fuse, but one Martian explosion is not enough to carry us through the long haul, and for that we need to turn inward and find our Saturnian perseverance and stamina.

What I would like to encourage you to do at this time is to be safe. Take care and don't be led into precipitous action during the long Mars transit of Tropical Aries. The tendency will be toward action, fueled by over-excitement and possibly anger, whether justified or not. What I want for each of you is to still be here come 2021, to still be healthy and to be able to be effective in advancing your dreams. In all decisions over the next six months, I would ask you to consider where you can apply Saturnian wisdom to your actions and through your choices, and how you can then transmute your impatience and anger into solid, grounded, realistic progress that allows you to flourish in life. My wish for you is to still be in the world for 2021 and for all of us to begin to build a fairer world where all people can thrive, where Black People do matter, where Native American (Amerind) and all Aboriginal peoples matter, where science is recognized as a real thing, where LGBTQIA+ People matter, where Women matter, where all minority groups have a place at the table, and especially where we start to actively and effectively address the looming environmental issues that we face as a species.

May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness;

May all be free from sorrow and the causes of sorrow;

May all never be separated from the sacred happiness which is sorrowless;

And may all live in equanimity, without too much attachment and too much aversion,

And live believing in the equality of all that lives.

Traditional Buddhist Prayer

Back

to

Main Page