Mars Direct, Retrograde Reflections

(Originally posted Feb 23rd 2025)

In just a few hours, Mars, the planet of war, enforcement of boundaries, and defense, will station direct in Cancer, the sign ruled by the Moon. The moon rules emotions, emotional security, and, of course emotional insecurity. This is a powerful moment to pause and reflect on the journey we’ve taken during this retrograde cycle, as Mercury sits in Pisces in an exact trine with Mars at the 17th degree of Pisces.

Mars originally stationed retrograde in Leo, a sign known for bold, fiery, and often theatrical expressions of anger. This was a time when we may have witnessed grand displays of frustration and ego both in our personal lives and in the collective.

Perhaps we saw people making statements that felt like emotional bombs, throwing their energy outward in an attempt to assert control or dominance... Maybe we even participated in it ourselves.

But as Mars moved backward into Cancer January 6th, the energy shifted inward, forcing us to confront the roots of these reactions.

Now, as Mars moves forward again today, the question becomes what have we learned though this process?

Cancer is deeply tied to our emotional foundations and how we learned to express (or suppress) anger, as it holds the roots of our emotional world. It shows how we defend ourselves from a primal level and what's important to our family's safety and stability. Cancer shows us where we seek safety when we feel threatened. With Mars here, we’ve had to sit with our emotional reactivity and recognize where it actually stems from. Was that anger really about the situation at hand, or did it tap into something older, deeper.. something more vulnerable?

This cycle has reminded us that there is power in a well-thought-out response, or even in choosing not to respond at all.

A reaction, driven by unchecked emotion, may feel like a powerful mic-drop in the moment, but it rarely holds real strength. A moment of cathartic release might feel like a victory, but does it bring resolution? Or does it just keep us cycling through the same patterns and showing the same vulnerabilities?

Today's direct motion before Venus and Mercury retrograde is encouraging us to trade reactivity for responsiveness. To ask ourselves the following-

Is my anger truly about this, or is it about something deeper?

Do I need to defend myself, or am I reacting from an old wound?

Would silence serve me better than engaging?

Can I use my emotions strategically, rather than allowing them to use me?

Can I pause for a second and think about the long term impact of what I'm about to say or do?

2025 is a time to move with intention, it's a 9 year, and endings are never easy. Now more than ever real strength isn’t in loud declarations or emotional explosions, but in the quiet confidence of knowing when to engage and when to step back.

Mars is our warrior, but Cancer reminds us that not all battles need to be fought in the open, or at all. Some victories come from choosing peace over war, sometimes by truce, and sometimes by total disengagement. Reclaiming our emotional security has become paramount over a need to find the validation in proving a point to someone else.

Today I give myself the gift of responding to stress not by reaction, but with purpose.