Its Got Teeth: Mastering Mars Square Saturn

Transcript:

Hey everyone, this is Acyuta-bhava from Nightlight Astrology, and today we're going to take a look at Mars's upcoming square to Saturn. Now Mars is in the sign of Taurus, making a square to Saturn in the sign of Aquarius. We're going to take a look at this from the standpoint of three themes and three spiritual insights. Been kind of pairing this doing this kind of pairing lately where it's like, okay, here's some archetypal themes, and here's some lessons that I seem to hear over and over again from clients. And you know, that I observed in my own life over and over again, when these planets get together, so not things I've mastered things that I've noticed, you know.

Okay, well, there are two transits on the seventh that we are going to be looking at this week. One is Mars square to Saturn, and the other is Venus trine to Neptune. Now they're happening over the weekend. But it's good to get out in front of these, especially since they're in that application process and coming into the engagement within three degrees; you can really start to feel them. So let us let me just put this up so we can see it. Here is August 7, Mars square Saturn. Let's take a look at the real-time clock. Oops, there we go. So you can see here is Mars in; I don't have the outer planets in right now separating from Uranus. And you can see the square from Mars in Taurus to Saturn in Aquarius now. In ancient astrology, Saturn is in the superior position. It is to it is its array is moving from its right-hand side toward Mars; if you imagine Saturn looking into the center of the wheel, and then you look to see which direction the aspect is in. Then notice that it's coming off from Saturn's right-hand side if that makes sense. So that right-handed aspect was considered to be more dominant or yang-like, which means this is a Mars Saturn square that features Saturn impressing itself upon Mars. And I think that's important and has definitely played a role in the way that I've shaped the three themes for the day. Just keep that in mind. Okay, so with that in mind, that's happening on Sunday, August 7, now, you're going to feel that probably a couple of days afterward. So it does kind of linger in the air for a little bit. You can take it through the middle of next week, in fact, and you should already be feeling it early this week. Because if we back this up just a little bit. You'll notice here we have a three-degree range by Tuesday, August 2. So we're already in that engagement range, which means Mars and Saturn are applying and perfecting by the weekend. So but all week, you'll be feeling this one; you might have may all have already noticed it. Although, you know, the start of this week is definitely a Mars Uranus thing. So you might be feeling like the Mars Uranus energy is really dominant, but watch because very soon, it's Mars, Saturn, and the theme sort of switches.

Alright, so Mars square Saturn, what are the three themes that we can think about with this archetypal combination, and then three lessons that I think are fairly common for both my clients, students, and myself, and sometimes you learn the same lesson over and over again, don't you? Well, anyway, here are the three themes; let's start off.

One would be principled or rational actions. So what I mean by this is the idea that I am acting because I am taking a strong or decisive executive strongly determined energy, action, right? That's very Mars-like because now remember, Saturn asserting its dominance over Mars, in an Air sign, because of a larger principle, Saturn in Aquarius can be very moral or political or ideological. And it says, because of this greater principle, you need to act in a certain way; I'm giving you the rationale with which to do something. Now the action can be strong, bold, controversial; it could be a little bit, it might drum up some controversy or conflict, because we're talking about Mars after all, but you would be acting because of a principle or because of some probably larger theory or idea. Now, this could be, you know, completely pragmatic and not harmful to anyone.

For example, here are the plans or designs for something that I'd like to build, especially with Mars and Taurus and Earth sign that Mars Saturn dynamic with Mars in an earth sign loves to build things. Let's start on a project or a process, and we have a plan, and this is what we're going to do. So that would certainly be possible. You can also think of this in terms of there are times in life where if you're going to get into a conflict with someone, I mean, at the, I would think the upside of this would be at least you're doing it because of some overarching principle that you stand for, like a belief or, you know, a political party that you're, you know, it's important to you or something, you could also see the same combination leading to someone, someone acting violently, because of a principal. So that's the kind of combination that's in the air.

This would also be number two, about restraining anger or the will. So let's just say that a principle comes in and checks Mars and says, don't act or behave that way. Don't assert yourself, don't build that thing. Don't. You can't do something you want to do. There's some way in which you're trying to assert yourself, Mars, but Saturn comes in and checks it and says, Yeah, but there's a limit. There's a rule; there's a code, there's a, there's a principle here that is restraining your action. And that might be a good thing. Or it could be a very frustrating thing. It just depends on the circumstance. On the other hand, learning how to restrain anger, will, temper, and rage that's all part and parcel of Saturn and Mars as well. Whether it's studying, you know, the martial arts, it's a very Saturn Mars kind of thing to do, or whether it is, you know when I was doing some Jiu-Jitsu last summer, which I really enjoyed, but unfortunately, I'm like a straw man, I just got beat up. And I know there are some people who listen who do Jiu-Jitsu, and I wish I had started it at a younger age, honestly, because I just got the crap kicked out of me but had fun doing it. I've never had so much fun getting beat up. But I was thinking, you know, martial arts very Saturn, Mars. In fact, it was the Saturn Mars transit that launched me into doing Jiu-Jitsu last summer. So Saturn Mars can be about like arm bars and restraints, and, you know, trying to hold someone until the police arrive like you see those videos where it's like, this man knew martial arts. And when the guy was trying to rob the clerk at the gas store, he restrained him until police arrived. So yeah, stuff like that.

You can also think of this as, like, if you, you're taking like, you're a hunter, and you're taking like a firearm safety class before you're allowed to go deer hunting, you know, something like that. I don't know if they do that or not. But I remember when I was a kid, there was a class that a lot of my friends took because I lived in a place where people did a lot of duck and deer hunting. And they would have to go and like, you know, maybe go with their dad or something. And they would like to learn all of the safety rules for guns before going hunting. So anything that has to do with like a martial discipline, or how to use a weapon, or how to restrain yourself or restrain someone else, or even like if you work like, you know.

I remember my mom worked at a place one time where they had to learn how to restrain people, you know, like a psychiatric setting where people could sometimes get violent. And they were like, the staff had to learn like all of these things that they would do if that were ever to happen. It did never happen to my mom, but you know, I remember her coming home and like showing me you like what she was learning in this training she was doing. It's also about; look Mars can represent states of high tension and emergency, so you think of Saturn Mars. You also think about staying rational or calm or cool under pressure, such as the training that you know a paramedic might receive or something like that. It's also about focus or concentration under pressure and the ability to be productive under constraints or deadlines. That's a famous Mars Saturn type of combination. So restraining the anger or the will or sort of like some kind of, you know, martial discipline that could be applied in a million different ways. It could be the training of someone who's, you know, on the rowing team, and they get up every morning and like, row.

Okay, so number three is domineering behavior. Now, this would be kind of the worst possible combination where it's like the principled controlling heavy-handed Saturn along with the domineering, bullying Mars. So you get like bullies, or you get people who are trying to control you, or you get conflict with authority rules or laws. And usually, with the sense for like, I want to be free, and you're trying to constrain something, or your someone's trying to limit me, and I will not be limited. So there could be a bit of a boxing match between Mars and Saturn, too; you can see that going the other way where it's like, like I said, like, you know, you have to learn how to control your anger at times in your life. I mean, that's just something that we learned since the time we were kids.

All right, so those, to me, are some of the big obvious lessons or themes that you should see as Mars and Saturn get together between now and the end of the week, through the weekend. But there are three lessons that I think come along with it. And these are just things that I've observed, again, through what students have said, as I've, you know, listened to 1000s of people, over the course of my career, talk about all sorts of different kinds of aspects and transits and so forth, or my clients or things that I've observed when I've gone through these.

Number one, rage will always say I am necessary. That's funny; I was just talking to some actually had someone really wonderful person that I had the pleasure to read a chart for, and also wrote into bhakti Wednesday with a question about rage and dealing with rage. And we were talking about it, and a super smart person really had good things to say. And I was kind of like; we were debating a little bit about certain aspects or dimensions of rage and anger. And I just kept thinking, these are going to be these are some really good points for not only Mars, Uranus, which is coming up as I'm meeting with this person and making the bhakti Wednesday video, but also, you know, dealing with the energies myself and just noticing them in the air. So, rage will always say I am necessary. And I think that there are some really interesting patterns wrapped up in this; for example, a lot of the time, rage comes because something has been excluded. So, for example, if we push some aspect of ourselves down and say you're bad, or you're unimportant, or I don't have time for you, or you're not worthy, or you're not special, or you don't deserve joy, or there's something wrong or different about you in within ourselves, or if society, Society. If people do that to other people, then there's a way that eventually that that repressed or that pent-up thing has to find a way out, and when it does, it often comes tearing out like a bullet. It has a velocity and a speed and a potential for damage behind it and is often described as rage.

Let's take a look at that word etymologically. You guys know how I love my etymologies. I always like to do this because I always learn so much from it. Yes, so isn't this interesting? Mid-13th century from Rajan. I don't know if that's how you pronounce it to play or romp.

Now, original sense now obsolete, it says, meaning be furious, seek passionately or go mad, be violently driven or agitated. But isn't it interesting that it also has the route of to play or to romp? I think that that is super fascinating. And here's why. I was also doing an I-Ching reading recently, and a commentator was talking about hexagram; I think it was 58, if I remember correctly, which is sometimes translated as empowering. And one of the, you know, this author was sort of, you know, waxing philosophical about the hexagram. And the I-Ching. One of the things they were saying is that every part of the psyche seeks its own joy, like its fulfillment in expressing its own nature is joy. Like if, if I am myself and express myself freely and naturally, I should feel happy, right? That there's, that's like a philosophical assumption. And in a sort of like, well, in ancient Greek philosophy, the equivalent that this author was talking about was the diamond, the idea that there are aspects or dimensions of ourselves that, you know, seek expression, and we'll find a way of expressing themselves, even if we try to keep them down. And I think that in a way, part of what is going on with rage and anger and trying to control it is that we don't, it's like, it's not just like, oh, well, I have pent up rage, it's usually that there are aspects of myself much more diverse and interesting than rage, that are seeking expression and because they can't or haven't when they show up there is there's rage is almost like the first thing you see.

And this was what the author was expressing, saying, you know, if we haven't given meaningful expression to all parts of our psyche, then we don't have joy, and often what we have is rage. And then it'll come out when it does come out. Will you know what it says? Interesting. So many people who have rage, including me, when I have to defend it. We say no, it's necessary. It's real. Don't tell me it's not. Don't hand me a bunch of petty garbage about pacifism, you know, because there's something in us that understands that the rage is part of some aspect of our soul or psyche that, you know, is seeking expression. And behind that, seeking expression is actually like joy, not cheap, rainbow unicorn joy, but the joy of reality, the joy of the soul. And so I think that one of the things that happen is that when rage comes up, you know, people will say, Oh, gosh, you've got a rage problem. And I, I almost always think it's more complicated than that. And that's why you sometimes hear people say rage is necessary. It's like, there's a reason for it being here. It's just it has a purpose, don't tell me to tamp it down. There's a lot of anger at people telling you not to be angry. And I don't. And the tricky thing is I really, most of the time, I think that if we take the time to get to know ourselves, through deliberate spiritual practice, we come to find out that all there's rage is almost like a byproduct of not allowing for some part of ourselves to be itself. And so not always, but I think that that's a big, a big reason why. And then we end up defending rage when we really should be figuring out what it is that we're angry about or who it is that's not getting expressed. And then we can move past starting to develop like a pathology of rage. Do you know what I mean? Where it's like, oh, rages my personality, because it's authentic. Don't tell me it's not; you know what I'm saying? So, anyway, rage will always say it's necessary. And I think there are some pretty deep reasons for why rage is always saying unnecessary, unnecessary, don't exclude me. So it's just something to think about, something that I often think about with myself and my own, like inner process with rage whenever it does come up.

Number two, this is part of the conversation I have with this person as well. And I hadn't had it many times in our yoga studio, we would have yoga teacher trainers, and we'd be talking yoga philosophy, and this came up a lot. So I have heard this so many times. And it was just reiterated in the conversation with my client, who also wrote into this bhakti Wednesday program about rage. And that's this. That's this week, by the way, that video on bhakti Wednesday about rage. Anyway, they said, you know, they were being really authentic. And I thought, and I think really smart. So even though I disagree with this perspective, I think it's really intelligent.

So this person said, I just feel like when people tell me to develop a more peaceful attitude that you know, peacefulness and pacifism, and mindfulness and all these things are sort of like, yeah, it's a privilege. You know, it's like you you get to be that way or do that thing because you're privileged. That's interesting. I think that sometimes it's true. It's true when you see people who are, you know, like, let's say, they're not really practicing the art of peace, which, in my humble opinion, is very hard. Like, it's not easy, I mean, it can be, but it's not easy to practice pacifism. Pacifism does not mean that you'd have teeth. It doesn't mean that you don't have criticism, it doesn't mean you don't have judgment, doesn't mean you don't have discernment, it doesn't mean that you dismiss the difference between good or bad, or become some kind of neutral automaton. It doesn't mean any of those things. Pacifism as a practice is, to me it's like learning how to flow with things in a way that is non-violent. Essentially. It's like it there's a way through as the Tao teaches. There is a way through, and the Tao flows and moves through everything with flexibility and intelligence. And compassion is sort of part of that, and peacefulness is part of that. But it's not some like Kumbaya. Pacifism is not the same as Kumbaya. It is very much described in Eastern philosophies in relation to martial arts; for example, peacefulness, as a way of life, is very attentive and very smart. And it's not easy to stay in a consciousness of peacefulness, which is why it needs to be cultivated. It's much easier to just be spinning around in reactivity all the time, and in those cycles of reactivity, It's really hard. It's just difficult to be in that space, which naturally makes us quite defensive. When we react, we say, Well, how could you blame me? You know, I'm just I'm doing my best. But how could you blame me? And you know, there's behind that, like, how could you blame me is there's often a sense of being responsible for everything. And peacefulness is also about moving beyond being responsible for things and moving through things with acceptance. It's like moving from responsibility, like a responsible moral complex. And while we recognize that, that there's a dimension of experience that involves responsibility and morality, it's about moving through life, moving through experience, with a kind of very, you know, intelligent, present form of acceptance, and making choices rooted in the unique context of every moment, with an eye for harmony with an eye for unity.

And to me, there's, first of all, it's interesting that almost every tradition that has pacifism, or peacefulness, or mindfulness or something like that, as a practice is not coming from people of privilege, it's coming from people of that generally practice austerity and renunciation, which means that in order to get better at the practice, it helps if you have less things and if you have less, like material desires. So I don't really see people like that, that I've, you know, like the Pujari sitting in a loincloth in India that I've, you know, seen and talk to, you know, the lifestyle that they cultivate in order to embody yoga, for example. Or if you read, there's a great documentary called Amongst White Clouds. It's about Taoist hermits living in the mountains; look at the life that they cultivate, look at the devotion and care that they give to their practice, and look at how humble they are at the roots. The Masters of these great traditions are not privileged people. They're not like movers and shakers in society, society.
Every time we say it's like, I have to, like a sound effect button, I have to press anyway.

So that's my rebuttal. Is it possible that pacifism is kind of like a privileged hoity-toity lifestyle? Yeah, of course, it is. And that's what's so obnoxious about it, but think that's all that it is. That's just, you know, to me, that's just kind of unimaginative, or it just doesn't, it's not seeing the world very, with which with much like, nuance or depth, you know, of course, pacifism can be espoused, you know, like, oh, like, you know, look at my, you know, it's like, you know, celebrities who are on the cover of Vogue, who are like, I practice yoga, and I'm peaceful or something, and it kind of annoys you, you know, I'm not trying to be cynical, but you know, I get where that comes from.

The other thing I would say, the reason that, for me, the practice of pacifism isn't a privilege is because it's freaking hard. Personally, learning how to work with anger, judgment, and critical voices toward me or others. And learning to adopt a yogic form of consciousness or try to cultivate it has been, it's required nothing less than my heart, soul, and a good portion of every day of my life. So, and from that position, often, what comes back to me is not a sense of my own privilege but a sense of my own spiritual bankruptcy. Like I don't have many good qualities. That's what I feel through my spiritual practice. When I mean, you know, brag-worthy quote, I don't, I feel when my practice puts me in touch with is, you know, stay close to your hypocrisy stay close to the fact that you know, you're not better than anyone else. And it's that doesn't, it's like because of that I can't get up on some moral high ground, and it becomes a lot harder to get into states of like conflict and rage with other people because I'm like, I can't convince myself that I'm not that I'm that elevated. Do you know what I mean? But I'm not talking about, you know, I'm talking about my everyday life. I'm not saying that there aren't principles that I wouldn't fight for or sacrifice for morally or spiritually, of course, but anyway, I hope I'm making some sense.

Number three, discipline isn't the same as devotion. Mars Saturn will often tell you like, for me, I'm, you know, like one of the things that there's a lot of controversy around Jordan Peterson. I'm sure you guys are familiar with who he is, and you love him, hate him, and whatever. I have listened to some of his talks, but not many. And they've not really resonated with me for a variety of reasons I really enjoyed. He had a talk that I listened to where he talked about fairy tales and Disney movies. And he had like a union excavation of those movies and fairy tales, and that I found very meaningful. Like, speaking as a Jungian, I liked what he had to say, political stuff, I don't, you know, it's just not I don't get into that stuff for what anyone, I'm not into political stuff across the board. So that's just, it's just not, doesn't entertain me. But one of the things I did one time was I just, I was like, okay, he has a new book, I saw a lot of people talking about on social media, it was like, 12 rules for life or something. And I saw a lot of rules that, you know, felt like my Capricorn Moon was like, I think one of them was like, get up in the morning and like, make your bed or something like that. And I was like, okay, you know, okay, this is like one of that self helpy developed discipline, no one can do this, but you pull up your pull yourself up by your own bootstraps like I like, you know, it's like, this stick is archetypal. And it is, you know, as old as time. Do you know what I mean? Like, and I wasn't very impressed by it, because I'm what really moves me are people who say things, you know, that are really different from anything I've ever heard, or that make me think about something in a new way. And this, this, for whatever reason, this just wasn't doing it for me. And if other people out there like really like it, that's cool. But my one beef with it. My one beef that was really simple was that I kept thinking to myself, as I read, like a little bit of the Kindle sample, or whatever it was that I was reading. I said, you know, this is so much about discipline and like principles. And the truth is that we can try to hammer the heart into submission through discipline, and there are a lot of things you can get in life or master or accomplish through discipline, you can feel stronger, you can feel more confident, you can win a gold medal through discipline.

But one of the reasons I love bhakti is because bhakti replaces the word discipline with devotion. And it says, look, at the end of the day, anything, any discipline you're doing without heartfelt loving care and tenderness, if it doesn't make you kinder, if it doesn't make you stronger, but also gentler, if it doesn't, help you to be more empathetic, while also more confident, you know, because that's what devotion does. And it's different than discipline. And when I was reading the book, I couldn't get into it because I just feel like this world needs more than discipline; it needs devotion. And there's a big difference in how we can change our lives through the energy or mood of devotion compared to just, you know, rules for life that may be very good or helpful in some for some people or, you know, or whatever. But, you know, it's like, the heart is who we are. It's like, we're all like little beautiful pink hearts. And if we want to grow anything, you know, it all comes through that heart, and if you care for the heart in the same shape that the heart is made in, good things grow, good things grow that last, and you become the kind of person that you know, engenders love and devotion to other people and from other people to you. So to me, I would be very careful, I think. I don't know, off the top of my head, actually, it makes me want to look; let's just look at his birth chart. I feel like I'm not trying to pick on him at all because I don't know him, and I honestly have not watched almost. Yep, okay, look. Could you can't make this shit up. I did not know. I swear to God, I did not know this. He has Mars in Taurus exactly square to Saturn in Aquarius. That shit is that's crazy. I had no idea. I promise you I hadn't even looked. I didn't. I wasn't even planning on mentioning it. In fact, I was as soon as I said it, I was like, Oh God, I mentioned Jordan Peterson's name. I'm screwed. Like why did I even say that name? Because it's so loaded. But that's a perfect example of astrology.

Anyway, I was like, I get a major Mars Saturn from the vibe of this book. Again, like I'm, I have the Moon in Capricorn. So there's definitely been phases of my life where I feel like the rules for life thing has it has a lot of appeal. Like discipline has had a lot of appeal to me, but bhakti came into my life, and it was like, you know, what? Replace the word discipline with devotion, and you're set. And I was like, yes, yes. And it came into my life. It came in when I was becoming a dad. And I realized like my, like, I was like such a discipline reader and writer and like my daily practices and I was just like, not soft enough, you know, I can tell you right now that I was just I was thinking about Mars, Saturn and I was as I was making this talk and I was like those rules for life that that little excerpt that I read that was very Mars Saturn. I didn't even know that he had Mars Saturn. I literally just looked that up right now in the same signs. Wow, that's powerful.

Anyway, I hope that you get the point without really it's really not about to me it's really not about Jordan Peterson you know, but I like I'm like, for me the I just I feel like right now in the world. When I look around across the entire political spectrum, there's a lot of Mars Saturn. There's like, I stand by my principles. That is so admirable, like, honestly, like, there are worse things in the world and people being like, true to their principles. I think most of the time, that makes for admirable human beings. But I feel like Mars Saturn could use a flip of the word, discipline, and replace it with devotion. Anyway, those are just my thoughts. I hope that you guys found this interesting. Please don't slaughter me in the comment section. I'm human, and I do bleed.

New classes will be up next week. I hope that some of you will be able to join those new classes. We'll be advertising those next week, one on planet and plant new and full moon circles in 2023 that Ashley and I will be leading, and then a new masterclass series that will be taking place quarterly. If you're looking at anything on my websites, readings, or courses, you have questions, email info@nightlightastrology.com. That's what I've got for today. We'll see you again tomorrow. Bye.