Surviving Mars retrograde

Energy workers are familiar with the very frequent Mercury retrograde (of which we are about to have another), but not a lot is said about Mars retrograde periods. Unfortunately, with Mars entering its retrograde cycle in Virgo and the day after the year of the Dragon (this time a water element dragon), we tend to feel it a litter heavier. This is in part, due to the fact that anyone that is involved with people at all has to deal with them on some emotional level. Even if it's just a co-worker you have some measure of emotion invested in them (whether you love them or hate them). The other reasoning is that quite a large number of human babies are born in Spring, a fraction of those are born under the influence of the sign of Aries. That guarantees that when Mars turns retrograde, they are going to be heavily affected by the energy this causes.

As with Mercury, retrograde periods aren't really points where the planets are physically rotating backwards. They simply have an altered form of energy during those periods that give the illusion that they are moving backwards. For the time span they are in retrograde, the energy they send our way can make or break our day to day lives. In Mars retrograde periods, a certain amount of temperence has to be used to make sure we still have the loved ones we arrived with when it's over. Tempers tend to run high and tolerance relatively low. On an individual level, any small thing could turn into a monumental fight. Since Mars is also retrograde in a water element year, it will heavily affect emotions and emotional processing. It's very hard not to over react if you have Aries in your birth chart. At this point, expect people to be crakier than usual, more aggressive about getting things done, getting from one place to the other (road rage), and more hostile.

Mars is the planet of action, aggression, force, passion, and power. During this period, the best way to use this energy is to take the time to check your desires and goals, to re-evaluate a situation, make sure you have all of your bats in a row, and work on restoring vitality to your life and projects. This is not the time for retribution, anger, or to push political or personal agendas that involve others.

From the standpoint of the water dragon, this is the time to try and balance your emotions, to sit back and use this retrograde period to bond with the ones you have balanced emotional ties to and to release issues about those you don't. This is not the time to act in anger or to spend time reflecting on what has happened in the past. This is the time for emotional resolution over past hurts and injuries. Those that are heavily empathic will be feeling this big time. In fact, this is the year for empaths to really hone their gifts. If there were ever a time for them to learn balance and control for this ability, this is it.

Mars is released from it's retrograde cycle April 14th and with it there should be some mellowing out of mood. Until then the best action is no action. Refrain from making snap decisions that could cost you big time in the near future, especially those that deal with work or relationships. If you're energetically inspired, refrain from working any kind of energy that involves vengeance, anger, or general malice. While this is normally not a problem for energy workers, being a little out of balance and emotionally and tempermenatly charged could be a disastrous combination as Mars retrograde periods cause that sort of energy work to work in reversed.