Mars Opposing Pluto — Psychic Self Defense Will Be Needed

Hey everyone. This is Adam Elenbaas from Nightlight Astrology [https://nightlightastrology.com/].

Happy Monday, everybody! Today Mars has just entered the sign of Leo and is now applying to oppose Pluto. This is one of the biggest Mars transits of the year. The Mars-Pluto opposition squares conjunctions are always very powerful, very dynamic. They can really kind of shake us, but good stuff can come up, and good work can be done under a transit like this.

So today we're going to try to straddle the line between being realistic and not being fearful, and hopefully this will be an informative way of understanding this aspect. It'll be one of a number of talks we're going to do on this as it comes up, including some horoscopes later in the week.

But the idea here is to give you a heart-centered way of approaching what is a very dynamic and sometimes difficult transit. So that's our agenda for the day. Before we get into it, as always, remember to like and subscribe. Give us the little thumbs up. Turn on notifications so you know when we're doing stuff here.

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Here we are, Monday, september 28, and where is my pen? Hold on, it was hiding. All right, now I've got it. So you can see here, Monday, september 28, that Mars has just entered the sign of Leo. You can see across the circle, there lies Pluto. Oh my God! So if we go forward, we're gonna try, and I'll give you the little banner with the dates.

I resent you. I'm just kidding. Okay, so if we go forward just a touch, we're going to see that by Saturday, october 3, Mars opposes Pluto. Now, then we're going to give it three degrees of separation fully, and this is where we get to october 8. So let's put that up so you can see the timeline. There, there you go.

I'm just kidding. People were bugging me to put these up, and I sort of resentfully did it, so it depends on exactly when you make that crossover. We're gonna give it just a little bit of extra time here. So I put Sunday the 27th because if we advance this just a little bit, we're gonna see that it's. It's it's pretty close to. Here we go. Ah, whoops.

There we go. So it's it's technically last night, september 27, that Mars enters Leo and gets to within that three degree range. So september 27 through october 8 is a good three degree range on either side. That's what you're dealing with, but the the exact aspect. Let's take that into account. If we're moving forward here, we get we're gonna go.

I'm gonna get it absolutely perfect for you. So if you are really like, when does it exactly happen? You've got it. So here it is, Saturday, october 3. It's exact, exact down to the minute by about six a.m. Central Time. That's going to be what about four in the morning Pacific, probably about seven in the morning Eastern if you're in the United States.

So that's your timeline, but what I want to do today is talk about this from one perspective of several that we're going to cover, including horoscopes in the week ahead. So some of you may know if you've been watching my channel a while that one of my favorite things to do when I'm prepping a talk is to consult the I Ching, an ancient Chinese oracle that is comprised of 64 different six-lined figures called hexagrams that are all the interaction of yin and yang lines that depict a different stage of creation in its unfolding through the interaction of light and dark.

It's a beautiful, beautiful divinatory system that is rooted in some of the exact same principles that Hellenistic astrology or horoscopic astrology is rooted in. This morning, when I sat down to craft my talk, I didn't think it would end up being a talk about the reading itself. But sometimes the reading is so loud and bright, as you know, I'll just tell you about it.

So this is a reading for what should we expect from Mars in Leo, opposite Pluto in Aquarius, and I'm going to tell you, the hexagram was 34 lines two and five changing to hexagram 49. Now I put these up just in case you're someone who studies the I Ching and you wish to maybe study the reading on your own. So hexagram 34, lines two and five changing.

The fifth line is the emphasized line, and the resulting hexagram is 49. So that's great strength, hexagram 34 leading to revolution. Great strength leading to revolution. Now, what here's here's how I map this out because this is a really profound reading and very appropriate for Mars and Leo opposite Pluto in Aquarius. The hexagram "Great Power" has everything to do with what is the wise way to yield great strength, and there's a lot of really evocative, interesting lines and teachings in this hexagram.

Because on the one hand, you have just like raw, brute strength that's just about domination and force and might and victory in a purely egotistical way, and then you have strength that is wielded responsibly for the benefit of all, or the benefit of others, or for the for the upholdment or protection of virtue.

And it sounds very basic, right? But it's it's a really really beautiful hexagram. Mars in Leo, in particular, can be very strong willed, right? Courage, pride, creative potency-these are Mars and Leo themes. When there's a desire to act from the heart and the core of who we are, or to distinguish ourselves, or to stand up and say, "This is who I am. This is what I'm about. This is what I will do. This is where I'm going, Pluto in Aquarius, on the other hand, introduces a totally different kind of power dynamic.

Both planets can resemble, or can bring up the theme of power, but in different ways. Pluto in Aquarius has to do with the power of groups, of systems, networks, various collective or social forces and pressures, like ideologies, social or political dynamics, cultural dynamics, and forces that are essentially just larger than the individual ego. So the opposition poses this question almost right away, which is what happens when your individual power, strength, heart, uniqueness encounter a social force or pressure that it simply can't overpower by itself, right? Or it has to have some kind of meaningful confrontation with.

So hexagram 34, great power is really appropriate because the I Ching warns in this hexagram that just because you have power doesn't mean. That you automatically know how to use it, or have permission to use it like indiscriminately or without real careful discernment. Can I be strong without constantly having to show people that I'm strong? Can I feel angry but not necessarily act from the anger. Can can I know that I'm I'm right about something in my own heart, my own way, without needing to be right or to you know beat or conquer someone else? Can I withstand an oppositional pressure or force without caving in, and without making someone else my enemy, and can I distinguish power from just brute force? So Mars Pluto can be a very tempting transit when it comes to making us feel that something is so so so important and urgent that we have to push and demonstrate a kind of wild display of force.

The greater the power, hexagram 34 says, the greater the need for conscious restraint. Now, line two in that 34th hexagram is interesting. I'm going to read you the line from the Benibel Wen translation. Here we go. So line two reads: the second line says, "Auspicious to proceed, sign of great power. You have what it takes to succeed in your endeavor. Positive omen of success, attainment, the best possible outcome will manifest. So the second line is this line that speaks to sort of having the right will, the right way, the right principles, the right momentum, and just finding success and acting strongly from the heart with with strength in something. It's like, yep, this line is a good omen for acting from the center in the right way and getting something done.

So, when power comes from the center of the heart, and it's kind of the right time in the right place, you you just it's almost effortless. Something very strong, effective, and creative can just come forth sort of effortlessly. Think of martial arts a little bit here. The person wildly throwing punches may possess significantly less power than someone who's centered, balanced, attentive, calm, and waiting for the appropriate opening.

I'm thinking of like you know martial arts, the Karate Kid or something. Sweep the leg. That's also very Mars Pluto, right? Just totally cheating. Sweep the leg, sweep the leg, Johnny. I said that to my kids the other day, just like assuming that they would know what that was. It was it was a really weird moment where they were like, "What are you talking about? I was like, "Oh yeah, you don't know what the Karate Kid is, but someone can provoke you, someone can challenge you, someone can project something onto you, someone can threaten your pride, and you are like, "Oh, I have to do something. Maybe not. Maybe not. When someone else is swinging wildly, be composed, right? Anyway, it's a good line that's talking about composure and effectiveness in acting from a place of composed strength. Keep all these things in mind. These are good teachings for the Mars Pluto moment.

Now, line five is about it's it's the line has to do with losing the sheep. Let me read you the line. It sounds kind of ominous. It says, "Losing sheep in the kingdom of ye, there is no blame. Now, this is the principal changing line in the method that I use for for changing lines, and this line in particular, "Losing sheep in the kingdom of ye, there is no blame. And Benibel Wen's commentary, there's this legendary Ching ancestor who was very successful. He was like a successful sheep herder, if I remember correctly, whose prosperity and popularity and goodness provoked envy, right? And so some people who were really envious because this person was successful and had good character, and they were like, "Well, you can't be both successful and I don't know have a good character or something. Anyhow, these neighbors plotted against him and sought to seize his flock. So when Benibel Wen says that this line emphasizes the possibility of spite, envy, loss, and the need to be protective of something that is yours, while also emphasizing because this line says that you know anything you do lose in this process because of someone being aggressive toward you or trying. To like test you or push you is ultimately recoverable, and that you should continue onward. Sometimes our vitality-this is very Mars and Leo, opposite Pluto and Aquarius-sometimes your beauty, your strength, your character-something that's really truly beautiful about you-will attract opposition precisely because it's it's beautiful and vital and and attractive. Leo shines right and creates and has a kind of performative quality, and Leo possesses something that is unmistakably you, unmistakably me, and so one of the lessons that Leo often goes through is this kind of visibility and outwardness will attract projection, and the brighter that something becomes, the more visible it becomes. It can generate adm, imitation, competition, jealousy-people put you on pedestals only to knock you off later when you disappoint their expectations. Resentment, attempts to appropriate something that's yours, attempts to diminish what another person has. Right, all of these things.

Now, Pluto in Aquarius can symbolize this kind of complicated psychic social field, where individuality meets the group. And if a group is uncomfortable with something about how you stand out or how you are different from them or their values, they may try to squash you. They may try to harm you. They may try to project something on you. Groups need scapegoats, right? So this is this is part of what this line warns against: is to be aware of people who like, you know, be aware of of people who dislike something about you that's actually inherently successful or good. Now, the warning throughout this this particular line in the story of this gentleman, the sheep herder, is throughout the I Ching. It comes in many different places in the I Ching. The story of this guy who loses his sheep because he's doing well and he's really likable and so forth, people come after him. So, anyway, so the question is: Do we become what? Do we come to resemble the people that harm us, right? So, if someone tries to dominate you, do you become obsessed with dominating them? If someone misrepresents you, do you become consumed by trying to control everybody's perception of you? If someone envies you, do you begin obsessively watching them and guarding or something? Do you see what I mean? Do you burn the village down trying to get your sheep back? It's like the danger. In other words, is that our resistance to another person's shadow results in the exact same shadow? Now, Some losses are going. This line also says there will be some losses sustained, but don't worry, they'll come back. That's a good lesson for us too, because some losses are going to be cheaper for us to endure than the battle required to prevent them would be. So, there the line says there is no blame because if we get obsessed with I will not lose anything, no one can take anything from me. You know, sometimes it's like just let it roll off from you. Don't don't don't take the bait, right?

Don't take the bait. The bait is there for you to react, and then it's a no-win situation. It's being tempted into a fight you can't win, and sustaining a little bit of insult or mild injury, so to speak, is better than walking into a trap. So you got to protect what matters without becoming paranoid and without fighting the wrong fight. It might be worth it to just let something go, knowing very well that you're being the bigger person, you know. And then things will come back to you in time. There are things worth defending: your time and your body, your creative work, your family, your reputation, but to what extent, and to what, to who do you have to prove anything to? That's part of this. Now, the second hexagram that comes up is revolution. So, what? What this sequence tells us, though, is that what what can happen here when we sustain this kind of encounter? Maybe we have to stand our ground, let something roll off from us, be careful of how we react. Some kind of meaningful power struggle in ourselves or externally, but it leads to revolution. In other words, something has to change as a result of this encounter. It might be time. Hexagram 49 has to do with shedding an old skin. A transformation has to occur, but that transformation doesn't have to be what someone else or some kind of pressure or force outside of yourself is dictating that it has to be.

Don't. In other words, don't just change because you're angry or reactive or you're trying to conform to something to avoid some. You know, it's like don't adapt for the wrong reasons for the wrong people at the wrong time too quickly just to get something uncomfortable out of the way. Where is your actual strength? Where is your actual center? Protect what genuinely matters to you, and then ask yourself: As I'm seeing this, is there anything that can change? Is there a form that can change? Is there an approach that can change? Is there something about my own consciousness or awareness that can change?

The revolution might be quite internal. I'm no longer going to relate to anger this way. I'm no longer going to fight for everyone's approval. I'm not not going to hide my gifts because they attract criticism. I'm not going to confuse being strong with being invulnerable. Right? Like, there's so many deep lessons that can be the revolution that the second hexagram points to. Something challenged me, and I have to respond. Right? Yeah, maybe. Maybe the revolution is realizing that a truly strong person doesn't need to respond to every bullshit that approaches it. You know, and maybe that's maybe, but maybe there is a response. Your discernment will tell you, but you have to tap into that discernment. You can't just react. This does deserve my energy. This doesn't deserve my energy.

What what's the revolution here? Might be the revolution of how I'm processing and how I'm choosing to respond to something like this. See, when we're challenged, there's ways of the way that we choose to respond can ignite within us a total revolution in our lives, in our consciousness. So, the deepest expression of power may ultimately be the willingness that I find within myself to change shape or form, not because of what someone else is demanding or pushing me to do, but because of how I'm receiving this challenge or this conflict. And I'm I'm saying, okay, let me give you a little example.

There are there are certain points along the way where maybe you're a part of a creative team at work. Let's just use this as an example because I'm sure it fits for some people out there. You're part of a creative team at work. That creative team at work says, you know, you you tend when you put something out there, you you contribute your your piece. Someone more dominant, more vocal, squashes it down, puts theirs forward, and you can tell it's kind of personal. You're like, you know what? You just don't like.

There's something about my creative influence or my creative ideas here on this in this group that you just don't like, and it's not that you think your ideas are better. Is there something you're you're threatened about something, right?

You can feel this in creative, collaborative situations, and so you might have a way of like your head may have a way of trying to get them to like you, so that then your ideas could be more safe. So you spend a lot of time outside of the group, like trying to buddy up with them and whatever. And every attempt to do so, you're you're like, I feel like I'm cheapening myself here. But then all of a sudden, in a meeting, when that person resists your idea for the first time, you just advocate for it a little bit more strongly, not in a mean way, not in a you don't you know you're not lowering your horns toward the other person, but you're just being a little bit stronger, and then, you know, the group decides to go with your idea or not.

But from that moment forward, a revolution has occurred within you, which is the revolution of recognizing that I'm not threatened by their dislike of me. I can just be a little stronger about my idea, and I don't have to take any of this personally.

That's quite a powerful revolution, right? And if you've ever experienced something like that, just being a little bit more confident without any need to get personally entangled with someone else, okay, right?

That's a big revolution because before you were trying to figure out why they didn't like you and what you could do to make them like you, just so your creative contribution could be a little bit more. Well received in a group where they had some voice. I hope that example made sense.

Anyway, I'm going to leave it here for today. A good I Ching reading for this dynamic coming up. We're all going to live through it. Some of us will see it in the environment around us, or you'll see it in the news, I'm sure. And you're also going to encounter some of it personally, especially if you have planets at those early degrees of fixed signs, but we're going to do a lot more work with this transit as the week goes on. So stay tuned for more. And next, I'm going to tell you about the year one program. If you want to come study with us, November 14th is the start date of our next program. It is an absolutely excellent program. I'll tell you about it next. Bye.