Mars Enters Shadow...
The unusual and seemingly very malefic energies of this year are permeating all areas of life and all arenas of activity and thought, yet if we turn inward we can find much that is actually positive, but only if we look deep and take the longview. I have even recently noticed a trend of astrologers in their writings and podcasts complaining about how doing astrology isn't "fun right now", and that they dislike delineating the negative aspects that are to be with us for the rest of 2020, but I kind of think that is just part of our job. I certainly don't want to be a bearer of ill tidings, but if the tidings are ill, then I kinda think it is my responsibility to just say so. Why sugarcoat a turd? It is still a turd, and the sugarcoating is really just a deception...
During the final six months of 2020 there is a plethora of difficult astrological influences. Does that mean that the "stars are out to get us?" No. It doesn't. What it does mean is that we have gotten out of balance and need to find a more balanced approach to many, many subjects, because if we were in greater balance, these transits wouldn't be hurting so bad. From the environment to our economic idolatry to our treatment of our fellow humans and the animals and plants, we ain't been doing all that hot for a while now, and sometimes bigger forces than ourselves intervene. And I don't even necessarily mean that in the sense of some conscious force or intelligence actively intervening to "punish" or "correct" us. It could be as simple as the force of entropy, as random as the forces that drive chaos theory, or as natural as the seeking of balance of the Tao. That which is imbalanced becomes unstable. So these times happen, and I can assure you, in spite of you not being able to go out to eat for a few months, or the real tragedy of the many, many deaths that have occurred and will yet occur because of our arrogance and stupidity, humans have lived through far, far worse, and yet, here we are. There have been better times, there have been worse times, but hard times can be good for the soul, and suffering can be the doorway to enlightenment. Nothing happens without a reason, and to the one consciousness behind all conscious, I suspect all experience is equally valuable. You say you don't like the movie you're in? Start dreaming up a new one.
As Mars goes through the shadow of its retrograde for the next six weeks or so, it is a very valuable time to consider how you spend your energy. Each human life has a finite amount of everything - so many years, days, hours, breaths and a certain amount of energy. We probably all have more energy than we realize, but we waste so much of it in pointless woolgathering, seeking and grasping for sensation and excitement, the eternal chase for our next adrenaline fix, wealth, fame, notoriety, or conversely depression, victimization, crushing defeat and stories of persecution. In the end, all extreme states can equally provide the rush of adrenaline (fight or flight), and finally, that is all about the ultimate goal - attention. We all just want to be seen and acknowledged, maybe even praised a little, made to feel special and unique. There isn't anything wrong with that, until it becomes your sole purpose for existing.
Of course, there are ways to increase our available energy. Most will seek to get energy from others, from chemicals (food, drugs, sex, social interaction, etc.) or through obtaining energy from the environment in some way, but most never stop to realize the greatest source of energy is to simply stop wasting their own. When we stop wasting energy on pointless inner monologues, investment in personal mythologies (the victim stories we tell ourselves) and the energy destructive habits that we engage in, then suddenly we find that we already had a lot of energy. Of course, it may take a while to get one's reserves back up to useable levels, especially if one has spent a lot of time and energy in energy-depleting activities and habits, but once the energy-wasting behaviors are given up, the energy starts to rebuild, and things you never thought possible suddenly become possible. You find yourself becoming a better version of yourself, better than your inner monologue told you that you could be, and functioning at a higher level of competence and engagement with your life and those creative acts you would like to pursue. In short, you reverse the energy depletion, opening yourself to the greater energies within you, which mirror the energies of the Universe, because you are the Universe. It just isn't found without - always within!
So during this shadow period of Mars, consider how you manage your energy, and whether you might manage your energy better and more constructively. Consider what you would really like to do, and where you would really like to place your valuable time and energy. Consider the habits and addictions that keep you trapped in an energy-negative spiral, and so keep you from achieving the things you would like to do. If you find yourself isolated, congratulations! There is no better way to explore the inner self. If you find your life falling apart, ask yourself if your life was really the authentic life you wanted to begin with. If you find yourself lonely, make friends with yourself. And through it all, consider how you could make changes to the inner stories you tell yourself, as well as where you could make changes to the outer expressions of energy that you expend through the day-to-day activities of your normal life.
This period of isolation, forced social distancing and sheltering in place in time may turn out to have been the greatest gift the Universe ever gave you. "How?" you might ask. Well, how many times in your life have you been given the gift of time to pursue something other than the endless, energy-destructive grind of work and socializing? Yes, this time is a horror in many ways. Truly terrible things are happening, people are sick and dying, there is injustice and inequality, people are out of work and there is hopelessness and fear, but within all that darkness light can be found, and within the fear, courage blooms and within the hopelessness new hope can be found. It all depends on the way you apply your energy to the cards you are dealt, and what you do with the time you are given.
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