Imagination, Mirages, and Magic: Unpacking Mars Retrograde in Gemini – Part One

Hey everyone, this is Adam Elenbaas from Nightlight Astrology, and today we're going to start unpacking Mars' retrograde in the sign of Gemini from an archetypal standpoint. This means we're going to look at the specifics of Mars in Mercury's double-bodied Air sign turning retrograde, especially considering the long-standing square to Neptune that was both a part of this transit as it came in, slowed down to station and is now turning retrograde and moving back through. As a part of doing this, I'm going to be working with some of the things that I saw and experienced as this transit was sort of getting itself ready. My family and I took a trip to Disney World. Our kids have a week off from school here in the fall every year while the teachers do conferences and stuff like that. So we just thought, you know, the kids have wanted to go for a while. And you know, we're mixed about it. It's super commercial and consumerist. But it's also, you know, magical, and our kids love Disney movies. We're like, alright, well, let's go. So we went, and for me, you know, as someone with a symbolic eye. It was a very magical experience, but magical in ways that are both connected to Disney and ways that, you know, sort of happened in spite of Disney. So anyway, I'm going to be looking at this Mars Retrograde in several stages.

In today's video, we're going to unpack five themes that really are focused on Mars is retrograde in the youthful sign of Gemini with a square to Neptune. So we're gonna be talking about this archetypal combination today. And I'll be sort of doing it through the lens of five different themes, all of which were sort of, like kind of were, conjured up, and I was taking notes as I was watching things happen, both with my family and just other human beings at Disney World for a week. I think you guys will find the metaphors and the images really fun and playful and, hopefully, in some places, you know, even insightful. Then we're going to, we'll take another episode, and we'll do some unpacking of it, you know, historically, like what has happened during previous Mars Retrogrades and Gemini and, and some other stuff as well. So, you know, and obviously, you know, we did horoscopes to start the week, so we kind of went right into horoscopes for Mars's retrograde in Gemini. So you've already gotten a taste of that through the houses, so Trump is trying to cover all of the bases.

Well, don't forget you have just a little time left to apply and join the next first-year program. Ancient astrology for the modern mystic is my one-year course or my first-year course; there's two years' worth of course material in Hellenistic astrology. That's ancient Greek astrology. It starts on November 12. We meet on Saturdays for two to three hours at a time, 30 times over the course of a year. And we look very deeply into the roots of natal astrology, which means learning how to read birth charts from the ancient mystical roots upward.

You can learn about it on the page, the first-year course page on my website, which is nightlight astrology.com. And in addition to the 30 classes, we also have guest teachers. We have an interactive group forum discussion where you can ask questions to get answers within a day from my tutoring staff. We also have breakout study sessions. So if we spend, you know, 12 hours talking about the signs, you're going to get a three-hour study session on a Saturday where you can sit in and ask questions with my staff. So we have a really great support system in place. There's extra reading and bonus material if you want to do it. Quizzes, flashcards, everything you need to go as deep as you want. Some people take it because they're like, You know what, I just want to go deeper with astrology because it's a tool of self-service like I'm doing myself a favor to learn how to read my birth chart, and those are the people that I love. But maybe you also want to read for other people. So if you have professional ambitions, this course is also great for you.

Typically, if you have professional ambitions, you're gonna go through both years one and two. But you know, your one is a great place to start. A lot of people start reading for people by the end of year one as well. Anyway, the Earlybird payment saves you $500 off; you got to take advantage of that before November 12. And you can't get it afterward if you join late 12 monthly payments of 150. You can spread it out over a year, or we do have need-based tuition assistance, and we are under; I think it's probably about 75 of those left with just a week more or so to go. So please check that out. Take advantage of it; if it would help you, just hit the Apply Now button and tell us your situation. If you're on a fixed income, if you're only part-time employed, or you're between jobs, or you're a single parent, whatever your situation is, even if you have a job but you're just you gotta tight income and you know, you can't stretch yourself too far. That is for people because we recognize that; I always have for 13 years of doing this, and it has been very important to me to recognize that everyone is in a different financial situation. And so to provide options for people who, you know, like, you're not, you know, a lot of astrology courses are going to be inaccessible unless an option like this is offered. And to me, spiritual science should not be only for people who have a ton of money. So that's why we say, Look, if you do have money, please use these options. If you're struggling at all, use the need-based option, and we'll be glad to work with you.

All right, well, I am really excited to be diving into this talk today. Let's take a look at the real-time clock first. And let me just show you why I'm taking the angle that I'm taking today before we get into it. So here is Mars. This is around Halloween, turning retrograde, and Mars is going to be turning retrograde in late Gemini. And as it does, so what I want you to notice is that it is within three degrees of Neptune in Pisces. Now, as that is happening, we are going to see, remember as this was as this transit was forming, if we go back in time, as Mars has been sitting at the square to Neptune, since you know, like, let's see, if you go all the way back, sorry, backtracking a little bit more. That square goes on. The square was exact, right around the beginning of October, and then it sat in the square with Neptune all the way until the end of October. And now it's going, you know, if you count the three-degree range, you're talking about late September. So Mars has been square to Neptune since late September.

Now, if we take it forward through the retrograde, let's find out how much longer it stays in that square, just so you can see how profound the square really is. The square to Neptune is going to perfect again, not until we're about November. What is this about, like November 18, into the 19th? So last and then, if you take the three degree or begin, which we call the engagement range, that puts it all the way till December. So you know a huge amount of September to December, we're dealing with a Mars Neptune square, and remember that this retrograde is toned by whatever Mars is doing at the outset of the retrograde, so it is a retrograde toned by a Mars Neptune square.

Now the other thing that I find fascinating about this is that Mars in Gemini is in Mercury's double-bodied Air sign. It's a spring sign; it's a very youthful sign. It's a very playful sign. Now some of that playfulness can be sort of mischievous, and there's gonna be themes of like deception; we're going to have Mercury entering Scorpio pretty soon. And as that happens, then the potential for like subterfuge and cloak and dagger and cyber crime and stuff like that can get kind of get enhanced. But what I wanted to, and I'm going to talk about that in a future video. But what I want to talk about today is the youthful, curious, fun, playful side of Mars in Gemini, as well as combining that with a very magical magician-like side of Mars is square to Neptune. And the reason that this came up, you know, for me to talk about today, just so you guys are aware, is that I was contemplating these pairings as I was at Disney World for a week, and this is perfect.

Mars in Gemini for a long time has been associated; Mercury was associated with games, and Gemini with childlike games. And then, when you take Mars in Gemini, you're talking about competitiveness and games, and things like childhood playfulness are very Mars in Gemini. As a Mars in Gemini native myself, I can tell you that I love to play games. In fact, one of the things that I'm doing this week, as I do every year, well starting last year, I made it a tradition when I did it as a kid; my dad did it for us. I'm building an elaborate maze out of cardboard boxes in our basement for a fun Halloween game. And so naturally, and for me, like as a kid, it was video games. You know, I've always loved board games. I've always loved sports. Mercury was a god that was associated with games. Mars with competition and the sign of Gemini with youthfulness. And so there's a lot of, like, qualities in the air around Mars in Gemini that has to do with childlike, playful, competitive game games and playing of games and things like that. So that's in the air already. But then you're combining it with Neptune, and the Mars Neptune combination is often associated, for example, in the tarot, it's often associated with the magician.

So there's a very, and I've talked at length about Mars square to Neptune earlier when it first went through the square, you could go back and listen to some of that and kind of compare notes with this one because today we're going to turn the same jewel of Mars Neptune in a slightly different direction. Anyway, so all of that was coming up for me as I was at Disney World; I was like I was with my kids, playing a lot of games, doing a lot of very magical, childlike things. But also having to consider the difference between, say, something truly imaginal imagination and the soul's need for imagination and then, say, fantasy or mirages? Like, what's the difference? What's the difference between magic and, you know, just consumerism? These are the kinds of things that I feel like if you're a sensitive person, you're going to be faced with when you go to Disney World, like in general, that's just like, I don't know, it's my experience. And, I talked to other parents in the lines, you know, there and I witnessed and observed it that everyone was sort of a lot of people were dealing with some of the same distinctions sort of, it's like a, it's kind of like a philosophical crucible going to Disney World like you're being jammed into the melting pot of like the American psyche, and you're just being switched around a bunch. You know, you're like, I know that I identify myself in this craziness and magic, and I want to get the hell out of it.

So anyway, I have lots of stories to tell that will help illuminate, I think, these points. So what is Mars Retrograde in Gemini square to Neptune going to bring about? I think that a lot of what it brings about is the idea of a return to playfulness, a return to magic, and a return to imagination. Specifically the word playful, the playful imagination, playfulness, and magic. These are really important themes right now. There has to be a sense of spontaneity with Mars in Gemini; always we'll pair it with Neptune and pair it with a retrograde, and we're talking about trying to get back to a more intuitive, playful, quick, adaptable, flexible, changeable, experimental kind of quality, maybe one that takes us back in time a little bit, or that reverses our aging or something like that if you get what I'm saying. So that's where I'm going with this. And I want to unpack in five different ways. So I've got five themes to watch for.

Number one, returning to playfulness and returning to imagination. Now, as I was just alluding to this, let's go into it a little bit more deeply. So Mars, when Mars turns retrograde, it is suddenly going backward and going backward for us; often, with a retrograde, any kind of retrograde can mean going back in time, going back to something from the past, revisiting someone or something from the past. So I think that one of the major themes, especially given the connection to Neptune, which is a planet that is so deeply and intimately connected to fantasy, imagination, and romance. And so Mars is retrograde with Neptune sitting close by, to me is a symbol of trying to get back to something that is playful and fun and witty, maybe a little mischievous, but hopefully in a healthy way. And that makes us feel as though we're following; the soul is leading us through life according to spontaneous, playful, magical, imaginative things.

So, for example, when I was at Disney World, one of the things you do is you go on all these rides that are, you know, mirrors in some way of the movie, so we went on the Little Mermaid ride. Now my girls really love the Disney animated film The Little Mermaid, and probably most of you have seen it. So what I recognized when I was on the ride for me, it's like okay, you know, it's the Disney ride, and I'm really doing this for my kids. I'm having fun, but like I'm doing this for my kids because it's very magical for them. But as I perceived them, like watching them have the experience of going on this ride where they could see like Ursula, the sea witch, and Ariel, the mermaid, and Eric the Prince, and she's lost her voice so that she can become human and Sebastian and the songs and everything. And I had this memory, and it was a memory of my childhood bedroom. And it was like I was able to fully I was I became fully aware of how big my bedroom was to me. Like, as a kid, my bedroom was like a whole world. Now my bedroom is not that mysterious, you know, it's not that big. It's not that I knew every single nook and cranny of my bedroom, in large part because I had a whole collection of Star Wars characters. And they inhabited different parts of my room like they were different worlds, and they became different worlds. You know, my sand-colored carpet was the desert. And I remember standing them on the, you know, like the vent, that was, you know, it's like a metal vent or whatever the heat comes in, and the graded vent, and I stood my characters on that vent. And I remember them looking like, from my perspective, they're looking out over the carpet. And it was a desert. And it but it was, it was amazing how it was like, I entered into an alternate reality where I was like, I was transported back into my childhood and how, how big and rich my imagination was and how big my bedroom was. And it was just a really random memory. But I remembered so many things of how I played, and how, you know, like a plant like, you can see plants in the background of my office back there. A plant could become like a giant forest jungle for my Star Wars characters. You know, it's like that. So you probably had this, too. I think most kids do.

But what I was able to perceive in how my daughters were experiencing that Little Mermaid ride was that they literally felt like they were under the ocean. It wasn't like, Oh, isn't it cool? Is it just like the ocean? No, they went into the ocean. And that's what was so profound about it for them was this experience of seeing these characters. For me, that plant with my characters like it became that, and my imagination allowed it to become that. Now, you know, from an adult perspective, we might say, well, it's really just a plant or, you know, whatever. But that's not how the soul works. Right? I think a lot about James Hillman, who said a lot about the soul. For example, he said about relationships, love alone is not enough. Without imagination, love scales into sentiment, duty, and boredom. Relationships fail not because we have stopped loving but because we first stopped imagining. Now, what I could I so appreciated about their experience of Disney World was when we went on these different rides, they went into worlds. And those worlds are life-giving; they are fertile.

And I say that because when we got back to our little hotel room, and I watched them play afterward, it was some of the most creative, some of the most organic, interesting, funny things that I've seen. I mean, they're imaginative kids, but it was like, you know, the plant got watered because they went under the sea. Do you see what I'm saying? We need that throughout life; if imagination might look and I'm not playing with my Star Wars characters on plants anymore, maybe I should write. But my life is still a playground. And the world is still big. It may be the scope has changed a little bit, like I do not see my bedroom as this massive world like I used to. But the world is still there to be had and to be loved and to be reached into with my imagination. It is there to be a playful, mischievous place where I can explore, and if I'm not, going under the sea, you know, if I'm not finding a way for myself to go under the sea, and I'm thinking to myself stubbornly Well, that's just something for children. I'm going to be bored. And you know, boredom with Mars Neptune is often what leads to things like deception deceiving ourselves or others creating fantasies rather than following imagination. Now a fantasy, by contrast, would be something that I'm making up that's preposterous that involves self dilute, you know, deluding myself or, you know, getting inflated in some way, blowing up my ego, making something completely into something that it isn't because I feel bored and I'm and rather than addressing my boredom and trying to find the spirit of imagination, I'm, I'm chasing mirages.

So, for example, if you think about why a lot of love relationships fail, it's because without imagination, as Hillman says, love stales into sentiment, duty, and boredom; relationships fail not because we stopped loving, but we first stopped imagining, it's like anything that you love, whether it's an instrument or a person or astrology, if you're not feeding it with imagination, it grows stale. And what is imagination? Well, it means I think it's the most elusive thing to try to define. But I saw it on my girl's face when they went under the sea. And they had no idea it was a ride because they didn't care. They didn't care to make the distinction. It wasn't that they willfully denied that this was not a ride; it was real. No, they just forgot that it was a ride. And they were able to just immerse themselves in the aesthetics and the wonder of it. And I think that this world's most divine quality is that it is there to be loved with a deep, rich, imaginal quality. So could this Mars Retrograde with the square to Gemini be about fight returning or refinding our playfulness or imaginative spark? I think that that is the thing that I took away from this the most is that kids do it easily. And we can forget, you know, adults can forget that we're imagining our lives along or we're, you know, we're sick. But we're so sick because we've forgotten how to imagine. So that's number one.

Number two, magic also happens off-script. One of the things that I absolutely could not stand about Disney World is that, my God, everything happens there on a schedule. And I don't remember it being like that when I was a kid; maybe it was. But now it's like, every single you can look on it, you get an app, you have to purchase these bands that you wear. And then, you know, you go on this app. And the app tells you which rides currently have, which wait times, and what time of day to go. If you prefer to have like a better wait time, rather than two hours for one ride that's three minutes long, you will have to wait 45 minutes if you go at this time of day, that kind of thing. First of all, the wait lines are absolutely crazy. So there's this weird way in which Disney World gets you. It takes you out of your imagination in a very frustrating manner by virtue of the fact that you have to stand in lines and you're moved through like it's a machine. And then you get on a ride. And after this deeply impersonal, exhausting experience of standing for 90 minutes, then you're shuffled through a machine really quickly, and you get off it. Now, for the most part, my kids were occupied with things. So they didn't have that experience as much as I did. But I had that experience, right? So it was hard for me, even as an adult, to, like, let myself go into the imaginal world of whatever ride we were doing or whatever characters my kids got to meet or whatever it was.

Everything there at Disney World, in a sense, is on a script, you stand in lines, you wait for your move through turnstiles, you flash a little thing, it turns green, then you can go on, and you can purchase for 25 bucks extra per head per day, a genie pass, which allows you to go into a lightning line where the wait time is reduced to 20 minutes or five minutes or whatever. But you have to schedule it, and then you have an hour, and then between that hour, your magical wristband starts to glow. You better get to the magic; you better get to the magic. It's maddening. And so one of the things that I had to adapt to is I was like okay, I started off super type A just ridiculous being like Alright, here are the rides we got to get on. We're gonna hit this ride first and then this ride, and it'll all be very magical. Not just white-knuckling the shit out of it. You know, my wife is like she's three planets in Aries in the 10th house, and she would be kind of like, you know, on board, but then we get to a certain point in the day. This is the difference, in my opinion, between Capricorn and Aries. You get a little bit of Mars Saturn mix with Capricorn Mars being exalted in Capricorn, you know, Aries in the Sun. Aries is more interested in freedom, and you know,

So about halfway through the day, when this plan started getting exhausting, my wife would be like, why don't we free freestyle this shit? Sorry, I'm swearing a bit. Why don't we freestyle and just see what happens? I would be like, well, we won't get through all the magic. Don't do that. And it wasn't it. I think it was probably day two or day three when I finally just gave up the Capricorn schtick. And I was like, You know what, this is ridiculous. The more that I let go of trying to follow in the turnstile rat race, hamster wheels, lemmings falling off the edge of the cliff, and Disney Experience, the more magical it became. Seriously, we went to a restaurant, and the fire alarm went off. There were automatic gates, like closing off certain parts of the restaurant, and people like, get out, get out. And we were like running out of this restaurant that we were eating in.

And, you know, then we ended up, we ended up sitting on the ground outside of a restaurant with, like, a massive amount of people. But it was really, really interesting because my daughter has started to get interested in signs and omens because I've kind of explained to her what they are. She was like, what does it mean? And then we were sitting there puzzling over, like, what does it mean? And it was, it was moments like that, where, like, that was totally off script. And that was for me. And you know, obviously, my kids probably like the rides more than sitting out. But my point is that, like that event, there were many other events throughout the week were, because we started going off script and not trying to, like, accomplish everything on the list more and more. Then, I think that more magic started to happen. And by that, what I mean is there was fun had, there was, you know, the entertainment was good or whatever. But there was a sense of spontaneity. Where will we go next? What will happen? Let's go over here. Oh, that'll be fun. And then, oh, my God, the lines are not that long over there. And it just, I started realizing that, you know, my kids were having more fun when I was going off script and being spontaneous. And if there is a genie of the park, that's not one that you purchased to, you know, maneuver your schedule around. The real Genie of the park was spontaneity.

So the lesson that I took from this and I kept thinking about as Mars is about to retrograde and in square Neptune is, can we let our lives go off script a little bit? It doesn't have to be in a big way. I mean, sometimes, you know, I hear myself say that I can imagine someone out there being like, that's yes, I'm gonna move to Bali, you know, like, Rodrigo and I will get engaged or like, whatever the story might be the, you know, the amazing lover you met. It doesn't have to be that big. It could be. But what I mean is, when the next curveball comes, when the next little curveballs come, most of the time, the magic comes in through cracks that are small.

For example, I specifically remember when we got stuck in line waiting for Dumbo. And there was this little waiting area, it was kind of like a circus tent playground that kids could play on while you were waiting, literally, they give you like, you know, the things that the restaurant they give you and they're like, when when we call you it'll buzz. So we had like, we had like one of those. And they were like, you know when it's your turn to go sit in the elephant that flies will read will buzz you. And we were so exhausted. And it was such a bummer that we thought the line was short. And then it turned out it was really long. And they hadn't like mark the time outside. So we're like, okay, we're stuck in a circus tent waiting for our ride buzzer to ding or whatever. So, as we were sitting there, well, first of all, we started playing games with our cameras and taking silly pictures.

Then we spotted across the tent, a dad who was literally passed out on the floor like a spread eagle, just I'm magic'd out. And seeing him so completely surrendered to his like Disney exhaustion. I can't even tell you how much joy and humor it brought me. And then I suddenly felt like I was in a very magical place. Because it was like they were the spirits that were there that were guiding me and making me laugh, and all of a sudden, your thing is ringing. And then two seconds later, we're riding Dumbo, with stuff like that, where I just let myself go off script. And I realized that's where the magic happens. And similarly, I watched my girls play over the week, both in the park and how they were inspired by what they saw, what they brought back to the hotel room, and the way that they played at night. So much happens off-script. So can you let small little moments in that are totally off script and let those moments be like little, you know, little cracks for the magical lights to enter through? I think that's a challenge for all of us to just pay attention to and have fun with it.

Number three, nostalgia can heal. Nostalgia can harm. Look, I will say there was some real there's some real dark stuff at Disney World. I'll say that. Like I'm not here to slam or promote Disney World. It's just an experience that I had, and I'm pretty unattached to whether it's a good or a bad one; I just thought it was a lot of things. So one thing that I noticed, though, there is a, like a like, I do feel like if you walk around at Disney for a day, you are getting a pretty good picture of at least one good picture. There are many but one good picture of like the American psyche.

I can't tell you how many adults I saw there who were clearly there trying to recapture something that was lost. And that something that was lost, I suspect, is the same thing that I've been talking about, you know, with my children, what I still need as an adult, which is magic and imagination. And I saw people there trying to get it back. But it was really hard to watch. It was hard because a lot of it involved. Look, it's a mistake, in my humble opinion, to think that imagination lies in the past, when you were a kid, like if I could just get back to my childhood bedroom, then I'd be imaginative again. I mean, there is a sense, great teachers in all traditions, people like the Dalai Lama, Jesus, have said, you know, be like a child in the kingdom of heaven is like accessible if you're like a child. And I think that that's specifically talking about imagination. William Blake famously said something like Jesus, the imagination. I think that the imagination is the eyes that we have to see and experience what is in terms of art, the beauty, the multi-valence, the multi-dimensionality, with an appreciating art inspired, like love and reverence. So it's both what it is and so much more. And like the soul needs those kinds of experiences all the time, and it needs it in mundane things. You know, it can't just be like the big trip to Disney World. But I think that's what a lot of people are trying to do when they go to Disney World, maybe even including myself; I don't know.

You go there, and you're thinking, it's this, you know, this, I need to like recapture something that I lost. And I just, I don't know, maybe I'm judgmental. And maybe I'm making this up. But I just felt like I perceived not in everyone, but in like a fair amount of like the adult population at Disney World, the desire to recapture something that is utterly personal, deeply individual, soulful, magical, and imaginative, that each one of us should be living a life that feels like a fairy tale. And I think that's true. I don't think that's just the loudspeaker at Disney World, which was definitely they're saying; everything's magic. But I think that that is what life is for. I think that life is for the magic, for the imagination, for love, for the romance, which includes pain, and it's bittersweet. It's not just; that is exactly what I saw in many people that was lacking. The, you know, kind of like Disney will take away my pain, childhood innocence before trauma, imagination that I lost somewhere along the way. And if I can go back through this experience, right, and you know, what was really interesting is just the look on people's faces at times.

Now, there are people of all different socioeconomic brackets who like to go to Disney World, but I saw a lot of people who, very clearly, maybe two or three years' worth of like saving up to do this, right. And you could just see, I mean, I don't want to sound like a jerk, but you could just see like, they're getting fleeced by how expensive everything is. And they're handing over something that's, you know, precious energy in their life that they've earned through hard work. And they're handing it over to recapture and experience; it's super fleeting. It's not going to deliver the real, soulful, imaginative thing that they're trying to somehow return to. And I'm telling you, it was just palpable, that there was a certain and not and that was that could be true for people who had a million dollars to spend, you know, it's not something I'm trying to a distinction that I'm making purely along economic terms, but It was like, can I buy this? Can I package it? This will heal me. This will save me; this will return me to something. And you know, you'd see, it's just crazy. At the beginning of the day, you see the people entering the park with slight hope. And at the end of the day, you'd see them walking away with like a bite, you know, like a balloon and a half-empty, Sundae and just looking kind of empty.

And I felt so sad about it at times, you know, and I just kept thinking, you know, nostalgia is so strong in the United States, at least in my opinion, we're Cancerian, you know, Born on the Fourth of July, so we're cancers and as a Cancer sun myself, I know what this like how strong nostalgia can be for Cancerians, and I just thought, wow, this is really, there's so much nostalgia here. And a lot of that nostalgia is super sad because it comes from trauma and brokenness and, you know, all different kinds of injustices and unfairnesses and cruelties that exist. And people come here, and they try to get back to that soul spark and live a rich, imaginative life. I live in my own fairy tale. And we do, we, we each have our own personal mythology. But you know, if nostalgia can if, and I saw people and I felt like myself included, the nostalgia for childhood was real there. And it put me back in touch with something that I'm really thankful for. And I think it did that for a lot of people.

In that sense, I want to be fair and say that I think it is a magical place. But I also saw people just hoping for something and just seeing their just their money being taken. And something that like they were longing for that just wouldn't be delivered. And I felt really sad about it. It made me feel. Yeah, it was a deep experience. I could say a lot more about it, but I'll leave it at that and then make this point. When Mars goes retrograde, it's going backward. And as I was saying earlier, I feel like this is retrograde with a youthful spring sign. A Mars Retrograde in Gemini connecting with Neptune in Pisces, a sign on the brink of spring. There's so much hope and desire and longing, and it may be of the type that is nostalgic, wanting to return to something. But I was in seeing this; I was reminded that the only way nostalgia could help us is by reminding us of the ever-living, ever-present spirit. That was there maybe at childhood or maybe at some other point along the way. Maybe we lost touch with it. But the point is that you, you can't go back in time, you can't try to go back and make something, you can only get in touch with that spirit, that living spirit that was there then, that's there now.

So if nostalgia can reinvigorate the imagination and sort of awaken it back up and catch that spirit and open it up again, then it's served its purpose, but if not, I fear that we will just be, you know, like any other, you know, cheap desire, it's just a mirage. It doesn't take us there; it doesn't deliver in that way. And I saw my own kids experience this, and I saw myself experience it and wanting to please them when they get out of a ride and the day would be ending, and all that was magical. I don't want to go back to the room. You know, it's like, you know, and they, of course, hit you with every possible sale on the way out, right? They've got all the shops and all the goods and candies and toys. And so as you're walking out, you have to sort of like walk through it in a sense. And as we were leaving, and my kids didn't want to lose the magic of the fireworks, all this stuff, reaching at these toys and then me being like, well, I want them to be able to hold on to this forever. So I better buy them this thing. I'll tell you; I was really conflicted by it. I didn't think I would be. I feel like I'm a rather stoic guy. But no, no.

So, in this process of Mars turning retrograde in a square with Neptune, be careful of the desires you know it comes up, and it tells you that you can recapture something you can hold on to, something you know for forever, and usually there comes a like if you just purchase this thing. You know, it could give you some temporary pleasure to temporary satisfaction. But the real treasure is the living spirit, the spirit that carries us through and makes the magic. And that's always been with us. And so anything that can serve and reawakening, recapturing and helping us follow that spirit onward again, I think that's a good thing. Something reminds us of the past and where we were when we felt free. I think that's a good thing. But we can't literally walk back into time and recapture something that was lost, especially since it's never been lost.

Number four is you can't consume or purchase your way to soulfulness. And I sort of just accidentally brought this into point number three. So I won't say as much about this, only that Mars is the planet; one of the planets that both Venus and Mars can be related to desire. Mars Neptune can present you with the mirage. This is what I need. If I consume or purchase this, then it'll make me happy. You know, the Beatles said Can't Buy Me Love.

Finally, I talked a lot about Mars and Neptune in an earlier video in relation to loss and failure, and weakness, as things that are valuable to the soul. The soul, surprise, surprise, the soul actually values loss, failure, disappointment, and weakness. Why? Not just because, well, those things are means but the means by which you grow stronger. You know, it's like Hercules just steps on top of everything, doesn't he? No, because if you fail regularly, and this is something that I've been watching my daughter deal with, by the way, she's learning to play an instrument right now. And I'm learning. I'm watching her learn to develop a relationship with failure, which is important for anyone practicing anything guitar for me in my past as an instrument, astrology, learning, astrology, and so many other things. It's not about, well, you know, failure is just part of the process toward perfection. From the soul's point of view, as far as I've understood, in my own life, and what some of my favorite thinkers have had to say about this. When you cultivate a relationship with failure, loss, and weakness, it's only then that you can actually you can refine and diversify what strength, courage, persistence, and perseverance look like and mean. You have to have an appreciation of some kind for failure and loss in the same way that you have an appreciation for the bitter taste in food. If you have a more diverse experiential, existential palette, in other words, life is better. You have to have an appreciating capacity that's full-bodied.

Now one of the things that I think is really important. Listen to a few other things that James Hillman had to say about imagination. Of course, a culture is manically and massively materialistic, as ours creates materialistic behavior and its people, especially those people who've been subjected to nothing but the destruction of imagination that this culture calls education, the destruction of autonomy, it calls work, and the destruction of activity it calls entertainment. He also says we need to get back to trusting our emotional rapport with children, to seeing a child's beauty and singling that child out; that's how the mentor system works. You're caught up in the fantasy of another person, and your imagination and theirs come together. So two really good quotes. And then, you know, the reason that I like Hillman quite a bit is that he has a way of, like, for example, in this quote, when he says that, especially in those people who've been subjected to nothing but the destruction of imagination that this culture calls education, the destruction of autonomy, it calls work and the destruction of activity it calls entertainment. So he's not saying that entertainment, autonomy, or education are bad things in contrast to the imagination. What he's saying is that there is a way to make any of those mundane things imaginable.

Similarly, we're maybe not doing a great job of it all the time. And similarly, if we want to mentor people, if we want to bring up children or future generations in the right way, we have to enter into their fantasies and their imagination. We have to let their imagination be something that attracts us and that we move into with them more so than educating them, telling them, you know, teaching them facts; we have to share a landscape of imagination, we have to honor their imagination. And when we do that, education becomes possible. Because we're speaking in the language of that person's soul, that's the language that they speak. So if we want to educate, we have to speak in the language of their soul. But anything is material for the soul. That's the point. Absolutely anything can be material for the soul.

So failure, loss, disappointment, or any of these things can actually be the gateway through which engagement with the world, imaginal engagement with the world, takes place. That's really, really important because Mars Neptune will also sometimes provide us with again; it can bring up boredom. And it can bring up this feeling that such things need to be magical and they need to be bigger than life. And there needs to be some grand sense of mission, purpose, or calling. But this is why the exact same planetary transit is often associated with disappointment, boredom, failure, loss, and weakness because oftentimes, the need for the great big epic mission is coming from an inability to have a relationship with an acknowledgment of boredom, suffering and mundane, boring things as a part of reality. It's like, No, I refuse for those things to exist. So I need a huge epic narrative, right like that.

So for magic to occur, we need mundane, small little things, especially the frustrating ones, the hurtful ones, or the painful ones; we need to stay curious about them. Where there is loss, frustration, failure, or boring, mundane things, we need to be doggedly curious about them so that they can open up and show us something.

I want to tell you a story to close today. So as we were heading to the airport to go to Disney World. My daughter had been hearing me talk about signs and omens, as I was telling you earlier. And she said, Oh, I just saw a couple of birds sitting on the fence. Does that mean something? Is that a sign? And I was like, Oh, it could be. It's really interesting that you saw that. And I was like, I don't know. And I said, one thing I know is that, and then we kept going. And before I said this, actually, we kept driving. And then, like, both of my daughters started being like, I see this, I see that. What does this mean? What does that mean? And I was like, Well, you know, you can't; if you try to pick out signs in everything, then nothing will really mean much anymore. You just have to kind of stay ready and observant and thoughtful, and then suddenly, something will pop. And it will be from the normal, natural stuff around you. And when that thing pops, it could be like maybe a bird or a color, or it could be anything. And you'll just know that that's something different. So I was trying to explain to them like it's not just like, you know, I mean, in a sense, the world is teeming with signs. Everything's a sign; everything's just, you know, synchronicity, but I was also trying to impart to my kids the idea that, you know, a sign is something special; you stay observant. And when you when, it pops out, you know, and doesn't happen all the time every single second; it's not something to get like, sort of manically obsessed about because that would, you know, that's not magic. That's just some it's like, some, like, sometimes it's just, it's 11:11. It doesn't mean a damn thing. And it has to be that way for the time that 11:11 really does mean something to mean something. So you get what I'm saying? Hopefully, doesn't sound too jerky.

So, at any rate, we get. So I say, well, you know, sometimes the things that happen, that are signs are, you know, they might even be like they might even hurt your feelings or they might even be like you, you know, they might be challenging things or difficult things. So my daughter went what? I was like, well, like what? And I said, well, one time, I lost some prayer beads. And I was really, really distraught. And I lost them before I got on an airplane trip. And actually, they broke all over the floor. And so you know, I just gathered them up and what I could because I was like in the line, so I couldn't even gather all of them. Anyway. So I told my daughter that story. And she said, Well, I said that was to me, that was a really big sign. Sometimes when you lose a sacred necklace or a sacred, a piece of jewelry that's sacred to you. You know, when you lose it, it means that something new is going to come into your life, for example, and I said, You know what happened not long after that, Moonstone, prayer beads broke. We had you. That's a true story.

And so, you know, and to me, do I know for sure that, but I had always taken that as a sign that something was about to shift. And then, very shortly after that, my wife got pregnant with our first. So I said, you know, just pay attention. And you will see, I bet you will see, a sign on our trip. So we are on the airplane on the way home from Disney World, and my daughter is suddenly, I hear her, like, I'm in the, they had a whole row, and I was sitting right in front of them, the girls and my wife, and I hear my daughter, like kind of flipped out and I turned around and my wife goes, she left Lovey at the airport. And I was like, oh, no, Lovey. He is her little lamb, little lamb, a stuffed animal. And she left it, you know, gate 75 Orlando airport. I can tell you exactly where we were sitting. And she left that stuffed animal she has had since she was born. It was given to her by my wife's grandmother, you know, that thing was discolored, raggedy looking, but it was very dear to her. And I watched her. It was like she had lost might as well lost a pet or a friend. I've never seen my daughter that sad. It was really devastating. To the point where you know, both my wife and I were tearing up because we were like, Oh my God, we have a million pictures of her with love, you know, I mean, that's like, she can't go to bed without it. It's like, that's her thing. You know? So I was like, Oh, God, this is terrible. And all of a sudden, I remembered, Oh, my God, I told you the story about losing a necklace as I got onto a flight. And I just thought, Okay, well, now is not the time, we're just gonna, but I'll I'm gonna get to that later. So we're in the car on the way home, and she had sort of settled down by the time we got, you know, flew all the way back to Minneapolis. And we were driving home. And I said to her, you know, remember what we talked about with the sign, and you know, you lost, Lovey? And remember, I told you I lost my necklace before I got on a flight. And she goes, Oh, yeah. And I go, Well, maybe it's, you know, maybe it's a sign. Like maybe, maybe something's going to change, maybe something's about to come into your life that's really, really special and important. And she got really excited. She was crying on and off for the next 24 hours. But then she was talking about it, and she was really, really curious. Really curious. And at one point, I asked her, so what do you think? She said, Well, what will happen? What will it be? What will the new thing be? And I said, Well, I have no clue. That's part of the magic is; you have to just kind of wait and find out. But I think it's a good sign.

She was blaming herself, she felt terrible, and, you know, and so forth. And then she started saying, Well, why would something bad be like a good sign? It doesn't make any sense. And I was like, well, it can be both. It can be a challenging thing, a loss. You know, she said, I'm a bad mom. She, like, thinks of Lovey as her kid. She's like, I'm a bad mom. I left Lovey there. And it's okay, you know, failure, disappointment, weakness, how could any of these things be good? She was asking. And I said, well, they can be both. You could have maybe you've messed up and left her there. It's a mistake, you know, but you can feel a little bit bad about that. It's terrible that you lost love, and you can feel sad about it. And you can be curious about it because it may also be a sign.

Finally, later on, she says, I think I know what it means. Is that what she says, I think I'm going to lose my teeth. Wow, really? That's cool. She said, Yeah, because the dentist said that I'm going to lose my teeth this fall, probably. And get my big girl teeth. And losing Lovey is painful, and losing my teeth will probably be painful too. But maybe that's a part of what's new. Like for a six-year-old, you know, Wow, I'm so proud of her. So, I'm gonna cry if I start talking about it more, but I was just like, Man, I'm so proud. I'm so proud of you. You know? She was having trouble sleeping at night. And I gave her my cross necklace. I have a cross that I wear, and I gave her this cross necklace, so she was sleeping, having trouble sleeping, and so she could I get I'll give her that sometimes when she's afraid. So anyway, so she comes down, I'm watching a basketball game, and she comes down just sobbing. What, what's wrong? And she's like, I'm really, really sorry, but I broke your cross necklace. I was like, This is crazy. This is nuts. So I've had it for a long time. And it's, you know, it's special to me. I said, Okay. Well, I just looked at her. And I said, maybe this is a sign for me, too. That's really interesting. Really interesting, Virginia. I am sad that my cross is broken. But I'm not mad at you, sweetie. It was just an accident. I said I'm now. I'm going to have to stay curious about this. And now you and I both have something to stay curious about, don't we? She was like, Yeah, wow. What do you think it means? I don't know. I don't know.

So anyway, the last part of this. We were reverse image searching with our pictures of Lovey to find this lamb. And it turns out that it was a lamb that my wife's grandmother bought at like a Christian bible bookstore. And it was like the Lamb of God, a Christian lamb. And then my Christian cross, we had some moment where we lost these things together. And only to wait for imagination to find us again in a new way. But it was really fascinating that we would have this experience together. Interestingly, in our birth charts. Neptune is squaring my daughter's Sun, which is a symbol of the father, while in my chart, Neptune is training my Sun. So we have simultaneous Neptune Sun dynamics happening. And I took that as a beautiful sign. So right now, although I will probably, hopefully, you know, at some point, oh, I may might find a new cross necklace. And we might find it. You know, we asked it was like, Do you want a new Lovey? We can order one, she said, Yeah, and I don't know if I'll like it or not. Because yeah, of course, because it's not Lovey, you know? She said the thing is, and all week at Disney World, she was asking, Well, you know, is this real at different points, my four-year-old, not so much, but her at different points, she would say, This isn't real. This is just like a show, or this is just she would make that distinction here or there. Although a lot of the time, she was just immersed.

Finally, she said, I know she told me she was like when I was asking her if we wanted to reorder her one of these because we found them online. And she said, well, I don't know because I know Lovey was just a stuffed animal and that this other one should be just like it. But Lovey was real to me. She said, like, I told her things that I couldn't even tell you, and mom was like, what? Wow. Like, well, you can tell us anything, sweetheart. You know, like, and I consider us very open parents. We talk to our daughter. I feel like we talked about everything. But I was like, wow, that's really special that Lovey was like that for you. And you said, Yeah, and so it wasn't just the stuffed animal? I said, Yeah. Because, in my opinion, Virginia, Love is what makes things real. It's love, more than anything, that makes something real. Just yeah. I don't know if I'll get the new Lovey or not. I don't know if I'll get across or not, you know what I mean? So I'll leave you with this last thought, which is just that.

If we stay curious about our experiences, then even loss, failure, ineptitude, boredom, then the most mundane qualities of like life can be portals through which signs, omens, messages, magic, and the spirit of imagination that wellspring of life can pour back in and lead us back into a feeling of being connected. So I wanted to talk a lot about sort of, you know, magic today and how to capture that imaginative spirit. So Mars in Gemini square Neptune. And I hope that these thoughts have been, you know, not just some boring rant about Disney World, but hopefully, it's been as substantive for you guys as it has been for me. And, yeah, I fully plan on making the Tooth Fairy a real thing around here. I'll tell you that. So I'll keep you posted. If she loses teeth this fall, we'll post a picture or something anyway hope you guys are having a great day today and that this adds something to your preparation for Mars as long retrograde in Gemini with this big opening square to Neptune that's what I've got for today. Take it easy, everyone bye.