At What Cost?

On the Mars square and the Venus/Saturn conjunction

“rhe weight of our actions” by me, not AI

"Inspiration is a perishable commodity."

-Naval

We have entered a recovery period. Now that we have survived the Dragon Hole (eclipse season) and the retrograde static from all the inner planets, we have moved into a liminal space with a chance to resupply, reflect, and reassess our approach to it all. This week begins with the waning square of Mars to the Sun and ends with Venus cloaked by Saturn. The hope is that we will finally understand our cost basis, allowing us to see our debts clearly and give ourselves some credit as well. It hasn’t been easy, and yet here we are. Having survived some of the most chaotic alignments so far in the year, we try to understand this stretch we are now in and what comes next…

When it comes to synodic cycles, the Mars one is the most challenging to understand. Probably because it’s the longest (26+ months), or perhaps not as interesting as tracking the love crumbs of a Venus one, but like all cycles, there is great value in putting in the time to understand. Similar to the Hero’s Journey, from conjunction to the opposition, we leave the familiar world and enter one completely unfamiliar to us, filled with all the ingredients of a good adventure along the way, like: fear, uncertainty, doubt, and on the other side of our perseverance, victory! Often, it’s during the opposition when Mars is retrograde, when we get a taste of the victory, yet we are still far away from holding the trophy—halfway there, in fact. It’s in the waning part of the cycle—especially around the square (where we are now)—when we begin to notice what still needs to be done. It has to do with reconciliation and a sober clarity of how we are meant to spend our time and energies moving forward. It has lots to do with boundaries being set and defended as well.

As you can see, this Mars cycle began in November of 23’, just a few weeks after Hamas paraglided into Israel, ushering in the next brutal chapter in the history of the region. Now that we are 3/4 the way through the cycle, at a crisis point in it, the prayer is that a lasting peace can be found. It seems impossible, but often it does in our own lives as well. Applying this information to ourselves, we can spot it when we contemplate the timeline of our dramas. Whether it be with enemies, frenemies, or some entities that won’t leave us alone, it can be spotted if we know where to look (hint: those dates above, and then to your own chart to see where it all falls). Again, it’s a challenging cycle to track, thus to understand. It’s worth a try, though. The insight Mars can provide into our battles is strategically important.

And so, as the week begins with the long return home to ourselves with the Mars square, the week ends with another tough conversation between Venus and Saturn. The last one was when she was retrograde at the beginning of the month (HERE). These conjunctions often conjure experiences that force us to consider the cost of things. From blowing your savings to make sure you made it to Coachella this year, to wasting too much time and energy trying to figure out the heartstring patterns of that old relationship during the retrograde, there is a cost to everything. Nothing is free==which is beautiful and sad at the same time. It’s all about no-thing.

The conjunction on Friday the 25th is different than the one earlier in the month, in that Venus is no longer retrograde. With all the inner planets now direct and Mars at this critical juncture, there is a wisening up to be expected. It’s where we take back our time and energy. It’s where we begin to get serious about our debts and perhaps make a plan for the future. It’s where we find closure. So the hope is that we get to see this in the big world as well. With peace talks underway and a 90-day pause on the tariff madness, it could very well shape up to be a lovely Spring of reprieve. The feeling I get when making sense of the current sky is that we have nearly two months to breathe before it gets really wyrd again. The Jupiter/Saturn square in June, with Uranus’ ingress into Gemini in July, is going to be historic. The peak of the 4th Turning shall begin. But until that comes, enjoy this consolidation period.

onwards,

~adam

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