Mars Retrograde in Libra

Rushing Forward and Back Together, Mars Retrograde in Libra

Relationship means something complete, finished, closed. Love is never a relationship; love is relating. It is always a river, flowing, unending. Love knows no full stop; the honeymoon begins but never ends. Osho

In this same talk discussing the difference between relationships vs. relating, Osho explains that the word relationship is a noun, and so by it’s very nature something static, complete, and stationary; relate on the other hand is a verb, hence, something that requires action and movement. Here’s a great example of elementary grammar leading to an intense discussion of love.

What better time to discuss this difference then this moment in time when Mars, surely the big verb in astrology, the planet of will, apparently (from the view of us here on Earth) slows down, stations, and then moves retrograde through the quintessential sign of relationships (or relating, certainly) Libra.

Mars is not generally observed to be it’s most comfortable in Libra for obvious reasons (Mars relates to independence in an astrology chart/Libra to involvement with others) so there is more than a little to pay attention to in the next few months and I would consider most of all, whether you are relationshipping or relating in your life.

When a planet is in retrograde motion it is an inversion or counterpoint to it’s usual function. Mars retrograde may create an inner tension, a resistance, kind of like wheels spinning under a car stuck in mud. My sense is that if your feeling like this, particularly with the people you are most intimately involved with, it may be your inner zodiac suggesting that you’re taking your people for granted: you’re treating them like nouns, not verbs.

It’s easy in partnerships to do this. It’s easy to think that you know your friend, lover, teacher, business partner so well that there’s nothing else to learn. Heck, it’s easy to think that you know yourself so well. You may be treating yourself like a noun!

One of the many things that Mars retrograde in Libra may be suggesting is to tune into how you are balancing your will to relate with your need for independence and growth. In an ideal situation, neither you nor your partner will be considered so complete so as to become an artifact, a picture on a bookshelf occasionally admired and remember. Instead your loves and intimacies will be in a constant state of interest, mobility, and curiosity.

The moment that Mars stations (stops it’s apparent forward movement) it will have just passed through a square (a 90 degree angle-think back to early geometry lessons) with Venus in Capricorn where the need to relate is administered dutifully and seriously this question of relating vs relationshipping is significantly highlighted. A square represents an inner tension, a learning moment, so there is an opportunity for all of us to take deep, careful, and thoughtful reflection on where this tension may in our lives.

How it manifests depends on the house placement in your birth chart. Consult your local (everything’s local now) astrologer for an internal weather report.

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