Mars Turning Direct in Gemini and What it Means

Hey everyone, this is Adam Elenbaas from Nightlight Astrology. Happy Monday, everybody. Today we are back to our regularly scheduled program, and we are going to be taking a look at the impact that Mars will have on us this week as Mars is slowing down, ready to station and turn direct after a long retrograde that we have been working through since late October right around Halloween. So today, I'm gonna give you ten things to watch for this week. And given that Mars is slowing down to station in turn direct.

Now tomorrow, we're going to be looking at horoscopes. So today, we'll look at the archetypal meaning of a planet like Mars turning direct. And then after we do that, tomorrow, we'll spend some time looking at the whole sign house that the station and turn to direct motion is happening in your birth chart by whole sign house. So horoscopes for your rising sign. So that'll be the way that we break it up today and tomorrow.

Later this week, we're going to be talking about the fact that Venus is moving into a square with the planet Uranus. And we're going to talk a little bit about the concept of the malefic enclosure, which is something that we mentioned right before the New Year.

Just a reminder, before we get into things today, as always, please like and subscribe, don't forget to share your comments, and click the notification bell for updates. You can find transcripts of any of my daily talks on the website nightlightastrology.com. This month, our Roots and Spheres program begins. It's a monthly Moon circle that meets before the new and full moons; my wife and I are leading these circles. We are looking at the astrology of the month ahead in depth and then pairing the astrology of the month with different plant teachers. So if you want to check that out, go to nightlightastrology.com and go to the Courses page and look at the Roots and Spheres program.

Alright, also, for those of you who donated to the Kickstarter, we have gotten rewards sent out to everyone. So if for any reason you are missing the reward you did not receive it for some reason, email us at info@nightlightastrology.com, with the exception of the personalized mini Birth Chart readings that I do for the year ahead. That one tier takes me several weeks. So that would be the only tier that we haven't finished yet. Otherwise, we've sent out all the rewards. So just make sure if you didn't get it, then email us.

Okay, well, I'm really excited to get into it today. And I'm going to pull up the real-time clock so that we can take a look. So we're looking at the 11th and 12th. Mars will be stationing and turning direct, and you know, different sorts of programs will give you a different symbol for when that is happening. The retrograde station changes from retrograde to stationing, meaning it's not moving any longer, right around January 11 and then into the 12th. And then it's really starting to move forward again Thursday; you could say Thursday, Friday, Saturday, let's stretch it out. And we'll say the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th, which takes things really into Saturday. So let's say Wednesday through Saturday of this week, you're going to be seeing Mars stopping and turning around and moving in direct motion. Now, as I said, we'll be looking at horoscopes tomorrow.

Today, what I want to do is just take a moment to talk about what you might notice with a planet like Mars turning direct. In order to do that, we need to just revisit what Retrogrades are and, generally speaking, what they mean; whether you're talking about a Mercury Retrograde or Venus or Mars or any planet, the gist of a planetary retrograde is that the planet is moving against the normally against the grain of the prime primary or diurnal motion of the sky.
So the planet appears to be moving from the western horizon toward the eastern horizon very gradually, day by day. You can see the planet moving along the zodiac. At nighttime, for example, ancient astrologers would look and notice that Venus was moving and progressing through the zodiac; even though Venus might also rise and culminate and set in the West within 24 hours gradually, day after day, Venus would be moving in the opposite direction against the grain of the primary motion through the zodiac.

So all of the planets move through the zodiac against the grain of the diurnal motion when from our standpoint or geocentric perspective on Earth, they appear to move retrograde, which is kind of an optical illusion that's created from our geocentric perspective. But that retrogradation was taken symbolically as a kind of Omen, and it would affect the way that a planet was a planet, meaning or symbolism was read. So when a planet is moving retrograde, suddenly it's moving back into it's like it's falling back into the primary motion.

One of the images that I sometimes use is of a salmon fighting its way upstream. I just did a Google search. I just did a salmon upstream Google search, this one over here on the right with the salmon trying to leap up the waterfall. In a sense, what planets are doing when they're moving through the zodiac against the grain of the primary motion is they are representing the path of the soul as an individuating. Being moving against the unifying or undifferentiated forces of the cosmos, it's a little bit like saying that there's a struggle involved to become who you are, whether it's coming out of the birth canal, that's kind of an epic struggle, it's beautiful. But it's a kind of struggle for life.

So one time, I was in an Ayahuasca ceremony, you know, years ago, and I had an image of myself in the ceremonies; I was struggling really, really bad and just feeling really weak. In an Ayahuasca ceremony, I've ever been in one, you can feel weak physically, mentally, emotionally, but also, like, existentially, so I was feeling like, I'm a weak, like being, and the Ayahuasca showed me and the image of the forces and energies that were kind of pouring over me making me feel so weak, like water running through me. And then I had this image of the pink flash of like a, a trout, or like a salmon shooting up upstream. And it was a simple knowing in that moment life is like this, the reality is like this. And that's not it's not a cruel thing, right, because there's an infinite amount of patience; it can take us as many lifetimes as we want. And there's this ultimate love that the forces and currents of reality that are sweeping through us all the time can make us feel weak. And also we can move through those currents. And they can be very empowering; that can be something that lifts us up.

And that by moving through with integrity, heart and courage, and love, we can become who we are, we can discover who we are. And we can discover so many treasures that the universe holds for us. But there is a kind of struggle involved at times, right? So the planets as a whole, when they're moving through the zodiac against the grain of the primary motion, symbolically for ancient astrologers, represented the struggle of life against the grand unifying, like forces of reality, the energies that the huge model like the cosmic force, right.

So when a planet turns retrograde, it's actually really special because a planet is, in a sense, for a period of time letting go and being swept back down. I'm not suggesting it for some people. I know fishing is probably very cruel. So I don't mean to offend any of my vegan friends out there. But I did a lot of fishing when I was younger. My grandfather taught me to fish my dad fished with me. And I didn't fish a lot when I got older. But when I was a young boy did a lot of fishing. And one time, when I was in college, I went home, my parents lived in Ludington, Michigan, which is right on Lake Michigan, and I went salmon fishing with some people from my father's church; he was a minister. And they took us out on a boat, and we went salmon fishing. And one of the things that I was really impressed by because we brought in some salmon that day that were pretty big, and they and they fight really hard on the line. And one of the things that I thought was interesting about that was it was kind of a metaphor, and I'm not a hunter Fisher really.

So again, I apologize; this is sort of a cruel image. But it was the fact that in order to bring the fish in, you'd have to fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, and then you'd have to let it go for a little bit. And like, give it a breather, and it was, and then you'd have to fight, fight, fight, pull it in, pull it in, pull it in, and let it, like, let the line go. And then it would like in over time. You know, this was how you brought the fish in. And sometimes that image has come to me, and I know it's kind of a messed up image. But as someone who has, at times, fishing has been a really meaningful part of my life. It's been something that's really connected me with some of the men in my family and stuff like that.

At times, I feel like God is sort of doing that with us, right? It's like; he's pulling us through these currents. And we're fighting on the line. And there are times when you just have to let go for a while and stop fighting. Right, and you just let go on the line. And it's like you just lie back in the currents for a while; you can almost imagine like if a fish is fighting its way upstream, and it's moving toward the ultimate destination of, I guess it would be, a spawning bed or something like that. That at times it's going to fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, and then it's going to have to drift back a little bit. And then it starts again, and it Fight, fight, fight, fight, and then it drifts back again. Retrograde planets are a little bit like that, in the sense that the planets represent for so many different individuals in so many different ways, the struggles of life, the individuation process of life, the beauty of it, the bliss and amazement of as well as the challenge and pain of it.

It's a painful, beautiful, miraculous process. But at times, we're fighting. And then, at times, we have to let go. And in this way, we're sort of, it's like a mysterious divine tractor beam is pulling us in and gradually catching our soul. While the retrograde periods for planets are like that, when the planet moves backward, it's falling back into the primary motion. And it's as though it just has to give up for a while. It's as though something else has to take over a different philosophy, a different approach, a different strategy, a period of revision, frustration, delays, all sorts of, let's call them, the interventions of a higher power or a higher force, sort of take over the volition of the planet. And it's as though the planet has nothing you can do but surrender to that higher power. But in this way, what's happening is the will of the planet as it is reflecting our own lives, and our own karma is slowly surrendering to and learning to align itself with the higher power, which is actually always pulling it along, even if at times it feels like we're fighting with it.

So Retrogrades, from a sort of deeply philosophical place, are times when there are higher forces that are gradually helping us to align our understanding or our will, or our desires or intentions; they teach us these valuable lessons. And they often do so by frustrating the will, or we couldn't express it differently, the will of the planet, the power of the planet, the autonomy or agency or of the planet, the individuality of the planet, that the planet is, in a sense, overwhelmed by these things, all of which means symbolically that aspects of our own lives, our own will our own process, our own desires and ambitions, our own ego and so forth gets overwhelmed.

And that can be a really good thing; it can be a positive thing. Sometimes the larger Hand of Fate taking over through the symbol of a retrograde is the process by which we come to surrender to something bigger, even though it might be frustrating, or it might involve delays and setbacks or reversals of fortune. And a lot of lessons learned. But we can, you know, we can learn something from those periods or and they can, they can be really beneficial to us.

Sometimes we think our ways, and the best retrograde happens our way can't work out. But actually, we are given the gift of something that's going to work out even better. On the other hand, sometimes the retrograde comes along and, you know, it really feels like something is thwarting us, somehow, you know, something is messing with us. But with hindsight, and if we stick with the symbolism and be committed to the idea that every retrograde is like a meaningful interlude of a higher power, then we stand to learn a lot from Retrogrades. They are some of our best teachers ever.

So that's the general meaning of a retrograde whether we're talking about Venus, Mercury, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, or any planet; of course, the sun in the moon doesn't ever go retrograde from our perspective, but the rest of the planets do. And they all generally speak to the same theme.

So hopefully, that makes some sense, I would put it broadly, to just return to my metaphor one more time. We're fighting upstream. But that fighting upstream is also a picture of there's a there is a sort of like a spiritual journey that compels us to move upstream and to individuate. So we're all, even though it feels like we're individually trying to propel ourselves somewhere, discover ourselves, we're actually being pulled along. And the times when we realize that it most that this is not my will but thine, so to speak, or that my will is a part of a Divine Will my need to individuate. And to have this idiosyncratic, totally unique personal journey is also authored by a higher power; we tend to feel those periods of alignment most when planets are retrograde. So I hope that makes some sense. I don't know if my again and I again, for those people out there who think you know, who aren't into fishing, I hope the metaphor wasn't too offensive.

Anyway So, I want to talk to you about ten things that you might notice when a retrograde planet is turning direct because that also has a very specific set of implications. So I'm gonna go through 10 things that you could watch for this week, given that Mars is turning direct.

Number one is that delays and frustration sins are over. Whereas the planet turning retrograde is surrendering to a higher power which can be translated into delays and periods of frustration where what you want or what you thought you were going toward or moving toward is sort of delayed or frustrated, you'll often find that when a planet is turning direct that the delay or the frustration is over, now, you may make some adjustments or that delay or period of frustration could have been very informative and meaningful, and who knows where things will go from here. But at least for a good number of people, you'll find that if you've been delayed in something or just kind of generally struggling with something since the rest of the retrograde started, that you will find that it's coming to an end, which is nice.

Number two, setbacks or periods of review or revision are completed. So when a planet goes retrograde, it can also be that some higher power, so to speak, is forcing you to look inward or reflect upon something or revise or revisit something from the past. These periods of review or revision, when a planet turns direct, are often coming to a close. And so that's another thing to look at. Now.

Number three, anytime a planet turns retrograde, it can indicate a reversal of fortune, meaning just a dramatic change of circumstance. But when a planet is turning direct, it's also turning around once again. And so you can see yet another change of circumstance, often going back in the original direction. So, for example, I'm not going to do this thing, or I was planning on doing this thing, the retrograde comes, I can't do this thing, the Retrogrades turning direct, oh, I guess I can do this thing. You might see it like that where literally, there's sort of a loop de loop of circumstance; something was going one way, it turns around starts going the other way. And then, all of a sudden, it's going the other way. Again, you get to the airport, and you find out your flight is canceled. But then that's the retrograde but then station direct, they put you on another flight, and it turns out you'll actually get in an hour earlier, that kind of thing. Now, those are just metaphors, right? They are like little made up examples.

Number four would be conflicts mediated. Don't be surprised if you see that things that you've been conflicted about internally, intellectually, ethically, in relationships at work, that you will find that you're starting to, you know, you're mediating those conflicts are coming to resolution around conflicts. That's a great thing for a Mars turning direct after a retrograde.

Number five would be lessons learned. And this has kind of been implied all along. But the idea here being that you, when it's planted is turning direct, you kind of go, Oh, right. Okay, I get it; you really learned something that you have been in the process of learning suddenly crystallizes. So watch for that kind of light bulb moment.

Number six is a stronger, wiser Mars. A lot of people through the peer process of a Mars Retrograde will learn to be more assertive and more courageous; they will learn to fight more; I don't know intelligently like what fights are worth it and which are not worth it's learning to stand up for yourself, and so forth. You know, one of the things that happened to me, and I'll just give you a little example, is I'm on Instagram; if you ever want to see what I'm up to on Instagram, it's nightlight astrology on Instagram.

All right, well, um, so I was raised basically with the very Christian notion that you should turn the other cheek. And I don't always do a good job with that. But like, you know, throughout my life, like, if someone sends me a really crappy DM with unsolicited advice, or commentary, or criticism, I usually just ignore it. And I've always felt like, well, that's the Christ-like thing to do because that's how I was raised, you know? Well, during this Mars Retrograde, one of the things that I started doing was when people would, and this happens to me, like as a YouTuber with, you know, I guess a, like, middle-sized audience at this point, I don't know, relatively speaking what's big and what's not, but I get unsolicited advice, commentary, criticism, really nasty comments, like at least a couple of times a week, if not to personal emails than DMS, or comments on YouTube, whatever. So I just had this, this is my natal Mars in Gemini. And it was retrograde, obviously. So I was like, You know what, I'm going to say something to some of these people. Because although sometimes it's easy to ignore and just move on and not get stuck on it, not take it personally, which is generally speaking, I think, the better philosophy, but sometimes also, if you don't stick up for yourself, you can carry or harbor secret resentments, and then you can start projecting a persona that you're like, you know, impenetrable, nothing bothers you and that you're this kind of like Christ-like person when really you know Are some of these things really, really do bother you, and it's probably a good idea once in a while to like, stand up for yourself and say something. So, you know.

That's always been, like, hard for me to figure out where that line is. And I attribute that to, like, just the public facing expectations of being like a preacher's kid in a family that had a certain role that had to play within a church community. At least part of it has been, like, confusing for me because of that, right? So this is one of my main Mars Retrograde lessons was that you know, occasionally I just need to like, you know, say something or kind of, like, when someone says something that's really crappy, like, say something back, not necessarily trying to hurt the person, but like, standing up for myself.

So this person sent a message, and they were, you know, saying something pretty crappy. And so on Instagram, I just posted back, but I posted it publicly so that people could see it. And also, in the hopes that you know, seeing it publicly might also, like, ward off other people from sending me crappy messages. And it was; actually, that was actually like, one of the hardest things I think I've ever done publicly on social media was like, posting here, look at what someone, this is what someone just sent me. And here's my response. And it felt kind of like, you know, this moment for me of just developing my own natal Mars.

Now that's probably because I have Mars in Gemini. Right. But that was like, that was, it sounds stupid and private. For a lot of you, you're probably like, Dude, that's such a simple thing. But for me, it was kind of hard. So anyway, a stronger, wiser Mars, whatever that means for you. It probably has something to do with your anger, your temper, being assertive, being courageous, standing up for yourself, or learning how to be more of a peacemaker if you tend to be too aggressive, but it's like, how are you leveling up with Mars right now, you know what I mean? So that's number six.

Number seven is a revolution ready to be integrated; maybe you've made some significant changes, or maybe you've gone through a big period of growth or transformation through this Mars Retrograde. But now the big process of revolution is kind of winding down, and it's ready; there's something that's ready to be integrated. So it's ready to be normalized; the revolution period is over. And it's like, okay, how do we stabilize things now going forward?

Number eight is a philosophical or intellectual revolution, which means your ideas or your mind, or the way you communicate, could be changing or ready to, you could be ready to implement some kind of change philosophically or intellectually. And I would add to that maybe even technologically, as Mars in Gemini is sometimes a sign, especially during the Retrogrades of a transformation and technology or, you know, some way in which you're using media or a different technique or something like that.

Number nine would be important conversations ready to be had, maybe a bit like what I was just saying, where there's something you realize you need to say you can't just roll over. Something doesn't necessarily have to be contentious. But it could be that Mars, especially in Gemini, a Mercury ruled sign that you are ready to, you know, have a difficult conversation or say something that you've been just holding in. And maybe it's not even that big of a deal, but it's just ready; it's time to say it.

Number 10 would be something that is abnormal is now normal. So by that, I mean that if the Mars Retrograde has brought on some kind of period of experimentation or something that's like, whoa, that's different. Well, it may be normalizing now. So those are the different things that I would watch for now; a couple of other things, I want to pull up the real time clock again. The other kind of cool thing about Mars turning direct remember is that Mars is the dispositor or host of Jupiter in Aries. So last week, we were also talking about why some people have been; why is it that we're not seeing more out of Jupiter in Aries? Some people I've been getting people complaining about it like I was expecting Jupiter in Aries to be this rocket fuel transit. And it sort of hasn't lived up to the hype yet.

Well, one thing we failed to mention last week, which a bunch of people pointed out and I just failed to put in there, is that, well, let's not forget that Jupiter's ruler Mars is retrograde. So now they're configured to one another by a sextile. But now Jupiter's ruler or host, Mars, is turning direct. So you may also notice that the transit of Jupiter starts to pick up steam, so look at the whole sign house of Jupiter in your birth chart. The other thing that I want to mention is the fact that although Mars has turned direct, one thing to keep your eye on is the fact that mercury Mars is host is still retrograde. So it's gonna take a little bit like Mars, or Mercury turns direct right around the 18th, 19th, or 20th of the month, as the New Moon is coming through. Right around the time, January 1.

So right around the Dark Moon, new moon, Mercury, turns direct, and Mars is picking up speed. So the other thing I feel like is to think to ourselves, Mars turning direct may very slowly start to deliver some of these ten things we looked at today, because A, it has to take it takes a little bit for it to pick up speed again and be its own host Mercury is still retrograde, going all the way into about January 19.

So, I hope that with all of this in mind, you have some helpful guidance for the week ahead as Mars turns direct. Tomorrow, we'll be looking at horoscopes for all 12 signs and just refreshing. Okay, Mars is turning direct in this house? What area of life? Might I notice any of these things that we just went over delays and frustrations, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So look back over this list, maybe one more time before tomorrow because tomorrow we'll take a look at the whole sign house. And then, with these archetypal themes in mind, we'll take a look at what topics you may be specifically implicated in the transformation that Mars is going through.

Okay, that's what I have for today. Hope you guys are having a great New Year and a nice start to your week, and I look forward to talking to you guys again tomorrow. Take it easy, everyone. Bye.