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The retrograde motion of Mars is never an easy period to manage, the previous one took place in September 2020 in Aries, and it can represent a time of “confusion in action” that shouldn’t be neglected.
I invite you to read my article How to live through Mars retrograde on a daily basis? to get additional tips on how to get through this period.
Main signs impacted during this Mars retrograde:
All Mutable signs, especially the 3rd and 2nd decans
Should we follow our deepest aspirations or not?
This Mars retrograde takes place on October 30, 2022 at 25° of Gemini (middle of the 3rd decan), and while the planet insists on the middle term with its stationary phase, square to Neptune in Pisces…
Therefore, all the 3rd decans of the Mutable signs are more particularly sensitized by these forces, and must manage more directly this Fire/Water contrast which is not obvious in the medium term! But everyone can be impacted by these forces of the moment of course, according to their own birth chart…
Schematically, Mars represents the forces of action, volition, desire, while Neptune represents more sensitivity, receptivity, passivity, which can quite “drown” the Martian forces of ignition.
The whole transit of Neptune must be seen in relation to the important conjunction of Jupiter which marked the months of March/April, and could have formed an important impulse for the whole year 2022, and this Mars retrograde can activate some of these elements, perhaps by putting them face to face with their difficulties of realization/concretization.
Because the Neptunian and Jovian energies can also set a high bar in terms of idealization, aspirations, emotional receptivity, even fantasies or utopias, but these are forces that don’t always give the “how-to” for realization and there are points of reality that can “block”.
These “blockages” are not “discovered” just at the end of October, they could have been progressively installed since the end of the summer, and especially in September, when we could already feel some “bogging down”, or hesitations (social, relational).
What if the bar was set too high? What if we expected too much from a project or from someone? What if we were too unrealistic and we were chasing chimeras, illusions, trying to build “castles in the air”?
Clearly, these months of September/October are still major to analyze in their developments, as the Mars retrograde loop begins to set in from there, and whatever may happen in your life at this time, it is therefore likely to mark the medium term, and in particular to come back from the months of November and December to be put back on the front of the stage and settled.
Whether it is a confrontation or a conflict, a choice to be made, the decision about a creation, it may require more time than expected, reflection, adjustments, being part of the long term, it is really necessary to avoid any precipitation at this period, to not let ourselves be “hurried”.
The Fire is still burning brightly at the end of 2022 but may have difficulty to get out and remain very “inner”, it will be necessary to wait until the first quarter of 2023 to find a better dynamic! (more easily exploitable externally)
This retrograde is a bit of a “step back for a better jump” that we must try to maximize, in strategic and logistical terms, especially during the third ten days of November and the beginning of December, which will be much more favorable for this, in terms of “organization”, patience, structuring, we see that Mars retrograde will form a trine to Saturn in Aquarius.
Avoid, however, initiating any new actions or undertakings, or signing contracts, throughout the second half of 2022, as Mars retrograde will inevitably affect this in one way or another.
A large part of this half of the year will have to refine/confirm or close previous cycles…
Above all, try to capitalize as much as possible on the dynamics of May/June/July, which represent a much more interesting period for the Martian fire, and which may also condition the seeds of achievements in 2023 when Jupiter will once again ascend Aries more definitively!
In the best of cases, some people will be able to start finding a better Martian dynamic as soon as Jupiter returns to Aries (all the first decans of the cardinal signs), that is to say around the 3rd ten days of December (thus at the very end of the year).
That being said, for most people, it will be necessary to wait until January for the resumption of the direct course of Mars (on the 12th of the month), and especially until February, when the planet will quickly move up the sign of Gemini and will be able to come and “decide/finalize” the various points that have been pending since September/October!
Many things can be unblocked “quickly” during February and until mid-March, even in a rather “violent” way, decisions can be taken, because the Martian energies will have a “liveliness” and very few constraints on the period! On the contrary, you should take advantage of it.
Let’s note that the beginning of March will also be the period when Saturn will start to enter the sign of Pisces, which forms a major elemental energy change for this planet, passing under the Neptunian watery rulership for about 3 years, I will have the opportunity to come back to this!
But in any case this seems to open a period of several years where we will be able to realize more directly what will have emerged in 2022, where we will have more facilities to materialize/concretize in reality our fundamental ideals, our aspirations, our emotions, where Earth and Water will have to make some respective concessions to move forward…
And maybe this Mars retrograde is just one of the first steps for that!