We’re now in the middle of Mars Retrograde, and likely you are wondering whether this Mars retrograde is a doomed failure. You might feel extra tired, lethargic, heavy, scared, or apathetic – or you might be feeling explosive, irritable, and over-stimulated. This is normal. But it doesn’t mean you should have cancelled everything and crawled under a rock for the entire winter. Quite the contrary. If you are an alchemist, a transformer, a threshold tender, as most of you reading this are, this is the dark night when we re-light our fires. This is the time when we learn what truly lights us up, and what subtly hampers us down.
It’s during Mars Retrograde that we re-calibrate how we use our energy (where, in what ways, and with whom) so that our fires grow by our actions and core beliefs, instead of being depleted. Mars Retrogrades are a time for deep empowerment.
If you’d like to amplify this process, here’s an astrological method for lighting your inner fire.
Astrological Method
— What areas / houses in your life is Mars Retrograding through as it cycles from Leo into Cancer? (if you need a refresher on house meanings or your natal chart, you can find those for free on Chani.com)
— Are there any personal planets / asteroids that transiting Mars is touching in your natal chart? Look especially at points between 07* and 00* Leo and 29*-17* Cancer,
— Where is Mars in your natal chart? Write down the house and any signficant aspects that your natal Mars is making to other natal chart planets / asteroids.
Meditation
1. To start a fire (empowerment), you need fricton to create a spark. Take a moment to reflect on the past month, especially those areas of your life that relate with the houses that Mars is transiting through (Cancer and Leo) and the house that your natal Mars lives. What kinds of friction have been coming up in these areas since September? Can you imagine what your life might feel like if these area of your life was empowered and in alignment with this stage in your life’s evolution? Jot those down.
2. Now we need tinder for the spark to light and start the fire. Look at your natal planets and/or asteroids that transiting Mars is aspecting. Conjunctions, Oppositions and Squares point to areas where growth pains are,happening (growth pains usually result in growth spurts). Sextiles, Quintiles, and Trines point to areas where magic and support are active. What kinds of growth are you feeling in these harder aspects and their houses? Are there daily or weekly activities, behaviors, or rituals that you’d like to experiment with until Mars stations direct in late February, ones that can amplify the magical aspects so that your growth areas can be a bit more easeful and supported?
3. Then we need to add progressively larger sticks to the fire, slowly with tiny sticks at first, and then with larger sticks once the fire is going. What beliefs and behaviors related to your natal Mars’ house and aspects are depleting your energy? Since September have you noticed changes in those patterns that have brought surges of energy? Experiment with replicating those energizing patterns, noticing when the old patterns re-surface with their overwhelming fatigue, and then experimenting with the new patterns of behavior and belief. How do subtle changes affect your energy levels?.
At the end of February, when Mars stations direct, this process of re-writing our behaviors and beliefs will shift from experimentation into a final practice, as Mars goes forward over all the areas of our life that we are currently reviewing. Come late spring, the energy patterns can coalesce into solidity that will carry us for the next two years until the next Mars Retrograde in Leo-Virgo (we won’t have another Mars retrograde in Cancer until 2039).
Bowing to Mars: empowering our actions, empowering our inner fire, iempowering our will to live, to love, to be alive.
Further Resources
For a deeper dive, look at the ephemeris for 2024 and 2025, specifically Sept 2024 – May 2025, under the column for the glyph of Mars:
An accompanying instagram post that emphasizes more of the shining (Sun / Leo) and nourishing (Moon / Cancer) aspects of this Mars Retrograde:
