Mars Trine Neptune: Sacred Missions, Martyrs, and Sacrifice

Hey everyone. This is Adam Elenbaas from Nightlight Astrology. Today, we're going to take a look at Mars's upcoming trine to Neptune in the sign of Pisces. This is occurring just before Mars makes its opposition to Pluto. We've already spent some time this week looking at Mars opposite Pluto. Honestly, we'll probably look at it again because it is one of the more significant transits of the year happening right before the election, probably signifying some of those October surprises that we see in the news around this time of year.

Election year, it's pretty common to have a little bit of drama right before the election. I've been saying this for a while, but I suspect that this is probably one of the more dynamic and intense transits of 2024; one of the really interesting parts about this development of Mars opposite Pluto is that right before it happens, Mars in Cancer will Trine Neptune in Pisces.

So, I want to look at this combination today because it's coming through over the weekend, just prior to the upcoming opposition. So, I'm going to show you the timeline and talk to you today about some of the themes that are common for the combination of Mars and Neptune. So that will be our agenda for today. Remember to like and subscribe. It really helps us grow the channel. We appreciate your support. We are trying to get to 80,000 subscribers on this channel by the spring equinox, and so helping us out means so much to us. It helps us grow our business and community.

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So, I am going to talk today about Mars-Neptune themes, and I will say a few things about how I believe they may be connected to Mars-Pluto themes. But one thing to notice is that the Mars-Pluto opposition coming off from the trine to Neptune will occur here, and this is November 3, so it is, yeah, just about a week later, after the trine, that we get the opposition. So they're connected, and I'll say a few things about how I think they might be connected. But let's talk about Mars and Neptune as an archetypal combination.

There are five themes, and I like my list of five. Number one, when Mars and Neptune get together, you can expect that there will be sacred missions that will somehow arrive in your life. By sacred mission, I usually mean that there is a sense of larger, emotional, and sometimes political or religious or philosophical motivation behind the need or desire to take action, to advocate for something, to stand up for something, or to do something courageous on behalf of something bigger. That sense of something bigger and transcendental, whatever it may be, whatever kind of cause or mission or vision it may be, is typically Neptunian. And the urge to fight or act or protect or advocate or do something on behalf of it is Mars; like now, when the two come into a trine with one another, it's nice because of this energy.

Can work together a little bit more harmoniously, and you'll often see some natural, flowing, harmonious way in which things are connecting. And so Mars and Neptune connecting in this way may be a little less like beating the war drum. You know, it doesn't have to be as polarized or as polarizing. I don't see warriors with blood-soaked faces running into the battlefield necessarily, with a Mars trine to Neptune, but we do have Mars opposite Pluto in the mix of this, which makes it a little complicated, and in which case, we do have some interesting ways in which a sacred mission could take on a much more violent and eruptive and cathartic and polarizing effect.

That's what makes it a little tricky. Mars Trine Neptune, I would often see with, you know, someone taking up a mission or a purpose that feels sacred to them but that has a fluid and kind of harmonious quality behind it. It's not as agitated and polarized as, say, a Mars-Neptune opposition might be, but add the Mars-Pluto opposition in, and you get the idea of people whose political or religious zeal or some kind of emotional fanaticism could drive them to do very violent or destructive things because we also have that Mars opposing Pluto, that's when it gets a little problematic.

Now, personally, I think that we have to be careful of letting our feelings and a kind of emotional intensity and reactivity lead us into, you know, the power struggles that are not healthy, or actions or choices or reactions that are very explosive and dramatic and maybe severe. Those are the things to be careful of. It also isn't a bad thing if you are feeling the need to take some strong actions based on some strong, emotional convictions; that's okay under this transit, I would say; just be careful that you're not burning bridges or harming yourself or, you know, doing something that you can't live with later.

Number two are martyrs. Now, obviously, the word Mars and the word martyr share roots etymologically, if I'm not mistaken. And so the willingness to die on behalf of something is very Mars. Neptune, Mars, in its fall opposing Pluto trining Neptune, could lead to some very intense acts of martyrdom. The willingness to die for something. Now let's just say that you know the most extreme cases that could be literal, but for most of us, that will be figurative or metaphorical, not literal, which means that we will be compelled to fall on the sword metaphorically for something or for someone.

And there could also be ways in which we think about martyrdom as an unhealthy complex, like a martyr complex. We say that's a phrase we use to describe someone who maybe is overly self-sacrificing or overly self-sacrificial. So, we probably want to avoid becoming a martyr in the negative sense, and we want to pay attention to the things and people that we feel the urge to sacrifice for or on behalf of.

So what kinds of causes are we willing to sacrifice something on behalf of? These could be very strong motivations and potentially problematic or potentially engaging us in conflicts or power struggles or very intense life and death, you know, kind of critical scenarios, energetic intensity, healing crises. These are what would be common for us to see or experience ourselves or see in someone else, and then some choice or some act of sacrifice or compassionate and charitable intervention or something like that could come about in the midst of it. And that's kind of combining that Mars Trine Neptune with Mars opposite Pluto.

All right, so delusional violence. This is basically saying that with Mars opposite Pluto trining Neptune, you could see people who are having fantasies, delusions of grandeur, you know, intoxicated and, you know, unclear states of consciousness, or even unbalanced or unwell or sick, or, you know, just delusional that is very fluidly, which is the problem of a Trine. Not everything fluidly connected is necessarily good. Like for example, I was, like the classic example, with a connection a Trine was. Something, which is Jupiterian trines, is because you don't really want a tumor to experience a trine with a symbol of growth behind it, right? It's like smooth and easy progress for a tumor is not necessarily a good thing.

Well, a fall in Mars, trining, Neptune, smooth and easy inflation of delusional thinking and violent, agitated, you know, emotional reactions, then the opposition to Pluto can lead to something like delusional acts of violence.

Now let's take that down a notch and say delusional acts of bullying or willpower or dramatic conflicts that are unnecessary being fueled by emotional fanaticism within our relationships. Do you see what I mean? So you can take that down a notch and just watch for the tendency to get swept up in emotions and engaged in conflicts that are very dramatic and sort of explosive. And you want to be careful about that, honestly. And some conflicts are worth having, right? You may have to. There are certain conflicts that are a part of our growth, and we have to face things, and that's a Mars-Pluto thing, too, facing your fear, and with Neptune behind us, it might be that we have some emotional conviction that's helping us to face the fear.

That would be a really nice expression. I mentioned this through the second note on my list, which was martyrs. And I said there could be some theme of sacrifice. Sacrificial acts are slightly different in that we may be compelled to put money into something, and it's sacrificial because we know it's an investment, and we know that it's going to stretch us a little bit a lot of the times, and that's just, and that's just an example, but a lot of the times when we know something is worth effort and sacrifice and determination, will you know, we'll sort of cut a little put a little skin in the game. We'll cut a little skin off of ourselves.

Metaphorically, the universe, through so many ancient traditions, runs on sacrifice that there's a way in which the universe is like a boiling cauldron. That's like eating and cooking itself as it churns out life; it is naturally sort of destroying and eroding its own essence in order to recreate itself. Ancient people observe this. Physicists sort of observe this in different ways, too, you know.

So it's interesting. It's not an easy reality to live with. I don't think so, but when we consider that anything worth creating requires that we burn something, I mean, I think about this literally every day with my very amateurish hobby of bodybuilding. And I have a coach who's a bodybuilder and professional bodybuilder and so forth, and I've learned so much about the science of nutrition and the, you know, my muscle connection, and so many different movements I've learned, and but I realize every day I'm in there, and even when I have to practice eating foods where I'd rather eat something a lot saltier, you know, like more sweets or whatever.

Like, the diet is very clean, and the sleep patterns have to be dialed in. And there's a way in which to feel as good as I think we want to feel in any kind of fitness endeavor, we have to burn a little, you know, that's like a part of it. Even in yoga, like we had a yoga studio for a decade, practicing yoga is a kind of act of sacrifice. Practicing meditation is a kind of act of sacrifice. Practicing art or writing on days when you don't want to, but you better because when the Muse shows up, it shows up, and you never know when it's going to happen.

So you better sit your butt down and do your practice. You know, there's an element of sacrifice involved in anything that is worthwhile. I wonder what kind of tremendous moments of catharsis are in front of us right now because we recognize what kind of heroic sacrifice something requires of us. If we want to really experience the creative potential within us or within something we recognize, I better put some skin in the game. I better throw a little ghee on the fire. So what is that sacrificial act that is being asked of us right now and again? How much is appropriate? There could be a tendency to sacrifice too much. And you know, we want to be careful that, obviously.

And then, finally, one of the most charitable ways of looking at Mars Neptune's contacts is through the kind of heroic act of compassion. You think, for example, of those bodhisattvas who refuse to enter Nirvana because until all sentient beings are freed from suffering, they will continue to incarnate and do that compassionate, heroic work. You know, I love that story. It's very from grew up in the Christian church; I feel that, in essence, the mythology of Christianity, if you want to call it that, unless you're obviously if you're, I don't mean an insult to anyone, wherever you may be at religiously if you take it as a literal story, or if you or if you do not, the story of Christ is also a story of heroic, compassionate redemption. Compassion, right? That's very Mars Neptune.

So Mars Neptune has this sense of sacrifice, forgiveness, compassion, courageous acts of compassion, and even the charitable response when something happens and something in you says, I'm going to donate to that hurricane relief fund. I don't have the money, but it doesn't matter, those people have nothing, you know, it's that. That's Mars Neptune. Mars Neptune, running into Mars-Pluto, could be quite a cathartic act of charity or giving, for example.

And this is a really, I like, you know, extreme sort of caricatures because I think they help, but I don't want people to get freaked out. But, like, let's just say someone that you knew suddenly was in need of an organ, a kidney, I don't know, donating an organ to someone who's going to die without one would be very Mars trying Neptune Mars opposite Pluto at the same time. Are most of us going to run into needing to donate an organ? No, right, but you get the idea.

So, all right, I'm gonna end things here for today. I hope that this has given us, as always, solid themes archetypally to consider and bring into our consciousness as these symbols and their interactions pass through our linear time and space container. I hope you're all doing well. These are intense energies. We have an intense Mars-Pluto opposition. A lot, I think, a lot more to talk through about that opposition been trying to kind of prep us for it because, again, I think it's one of the biggest transits of our year as we're coming to the end of the year here.

So I'll leave it there. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. You can find information about the upcoming program that starts on November 16 after I sign off. I hope you're having a good day. Bye.