Nothing, but nothing, is flowing easily around here these days, and I blame Mars retrograde (December 20, 2009 – March 10, 2010). Everything – I mean, the most trivial, pedestrian daily tasks; let alone work, which is just killing me – is taking at least twice as long as it should. And headaches! Are you having more headaches than usual? Because I am. Mars rules the head, so I assume the headaches are a result of repeatedly banging my cabeza against the wall in Mars Rx frustration.
For those playing along at home, here’s how to mix your very own Mars Rx Frustration Cocktail:
- Fill a jigger with some really irritating Essence of Mercury Retrograde.
- Shake vigorously until it’s about ten times more frustrating.
- Voila! – pour yourself a generous tumbler of Mars retrograde in a fixed sign (currently Leo).
As Erin Sullivan points out in her excellent book Retrograde Planets, Mars retrogrades so seldom – only every two and a half years – that its retrogrades take us by surprise. We don’t develop the same practical or spiritual reflexes we have for dealing with, say, Mercury’s retrograde periods, which occur approximately every fifteen minutes. (Okay, more like three times a year, but gah, it does feel like every fifteen minutes, doesn’t it?) So we tend to get caught in a psychosis-inducing loop of work – work – frustration – head banging -throw something – work some more, until we finally hit a brick wall and end up on the sofa in a fetal position, whimpering softly.
All retrograde cycles are good for something, though. And Mars’ retrograde periods are perfect moments to ferret out the myriad conflicts and resentments that we’ve been shoving under the rug for the past couple of years.
The tension’s been building for weeks, and next week provides the tipping point. The chart for the January 29 Full Moon features the Moon conjunct, and the Sun opposed retrograde Mars – of which Sullivan writes:
The opposition externalizes interior energy which has been gestating and cooking in the unconscious. The Sun-Mars opposition is particularly dramatic and highlights the two houses in which one has been experiencing a build-up of energy, whether hostile or constructive. The conflagration is particularly spectacular if the Sun-Mars opposition is aspecting a natal planet or within orb of the angles.
Retrograde Mars is currently smack on my natal Sun, so I’m already feeling a bit like Seinfeld’s Frank Costanza, kicking off his self-made Festivus holiday with the traditional “airing of grievances”: “I’ve got a lot of problems with you people!” (at 2:48 in the clip below)
Feeling a little frustrated?
Pour yourself a Mars Rx
Frustration Cocktail
and air your grievances!
