Mars in Aquarius - Idealistic Battles & Contradictions

The gang rape of a 23 year old physiotherapy student, Jyoti Singh Pandey, her horrific injuries leading to her death triggered widespread protests in India with people coming together demanding justice in demonstrations and vigils. Women showed their rage and indignant anger towards the increasing number of crimes against women in India.The horrific crime against the young woman and her heroic fight to survive injuries so bad that 95% of her intestines had to be removed became a unifying symbol for women across India who continue their fight for justice 

The warrior planet Mars packed its bags and set off on its travels, it flew into the unique air-space of Aquarius on the 26th December, 2012, where it will stay until it slips away into the watery expanses of Pisces on the 1st February, 2013.

Mars here in Aquarius will be fixed and focused on any number of ‘issues’ whether personal, social or universal. During it’s stay, as it swirls and twirls on invisible threads through this most social of signs, Mars the planet of action will be driven to explore abstractions, concepts and group activities. We may find ourselves getting caught up in the whirl of current events, being suddenly grabbed by an idea as if out of nowhere something being fixed and embedded in our mind that we can’t shake off. We may use some extra ordinary channels, pursue worthwhile projects, do something that comes 'out of the blue', out of 'left field' and experiment with voicing our opinions. It may well seem new or novel for us but may possibly be ancient, eternal and universal.

'India’s political parties fielded 6 candidates charged with rape while 34 candidates were awaiting trial for crimes against women. In the state assemblies, 42 members had rape or associated charges against them at the time of their election.' writer Anuradha Roy's article

Mars love a good fight, and whilst it was in determined and ambitious Capricorn some real battles played out on the global stage. There were contesting boundaries and territories, financial and fiscal controls, as witnessed in the United States wrangle preceding the long hard look over the edge of the ‘fiscal cliff’. There was constitutional debate within the business of government in Eygpt, for example, with the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi and growing fears that Morsi was transforming into a new Pharaoh and 'adjusting' the nascent constitution in his favour. Conspiracy theories again.

Julian Assange has natal Mars in Aquarius, seen as either a revolutionary whistle-blower, a terrorist even a rapist. He published thousand of sensitive US Military records online from WikiLeaks website. On 19th June, 2012, Assange was given asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London after losing a court appeal to prevent his extradition to Sweden to face questions related to accusations of rape and sexual assault. some say that this could be a cover, in order to ultimately extradite him to the US, some say that the charge of rape and sexual assault is a serious matter that cannot be taken lightly. Six months after entering the Embassy Assange says, 'In 2013 we will continue to stand up to bullies'

Aptly, facing the future we can all wonder just what to expect of the slightly unexpected with Mars in Aquarius as it fixates on its issues and yes some of them are idealogical and some just plain contradictions. 
Where Mars in Capricorn fanned the flames of constitutional and financial battles, Mars in airy Aquarius takes idealistic or intellectual action. Whilst part of the picture is planning, thinking and preparing, in essence Mars wants to move, to spring into action, to flex its muscles. Currently there are emotional and heightened debate over the gang rape of a young woman tricked onto a public bus in India after her death. The rape of women is a continual threat the world over but is horrifically common place in certain parts of the world, India being a notable concern. The issue of rape rarely sparks such an outpouring of rightful outrage but with Mars in Aquarius this issue has taken on global magnitude and rightfully. In true Aquarian mode this is not just an issue for women but involves 'Everyman' and touches that spark of humanity within us all and will only change for the better with this emphasis (Medusa's Talking Heads - Astrology & Rape).

Actress Zhan Ziyi has natal Mars in Aquarius, she sued the the Daily Apple, a Hong Kong newspaper for libel after it claimed the Chinese actress was paid millions of dollars for sex with a number of Communist Party leaders.The paper claimed that the actress had sex with Bo Xilai the disgraced Chinese leader, who's wife was suddenly charged with murder. The paper also claimed Ziyi was paid about $110million for this prostitution. Zhang said the reports were 'seriously defamatory' and 'false'. The reports have subjected the actress to 'immense grievance and distress'. Zhang had 'been subjected to public odium, hatred, contempt and ridicule' as a result.

Mars in Aquarius wants to prove itself by defending a cause, attaching itself to a particular idea, and by winning an essentially intellectual battle. It may function in the social level making sure everyone in its group is treated fairly and equally. It may simply function on the more personal level so that you are treated fairly or it may function on the universal stage with large groups with issues concerning women, gay human rights, or the underprivileged, refugees and the disenfranchised generally.

Check out the Aquarius zone in our own chart. This area has the zealous avenger or defender passing through it. Used wisely this can be a healthy force, much longed for and welcomed but it may need a healthy dis-charge to avoid it overloading and getting out of control.

Superstar South African, Para & Olympic Gold medal sprinter Oscar Pistorius has Mars in Aquarius.

Known as Blade Runner he is charged with the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. She was shot four times, twice in the head. He kept a pistol by his bed and a machine gun at his window. A police spokeswoman said that there had been 'previously allegations of a domestic nature' from his home and that neighbours heard screaming and shouting during the night before the murder. The police will want to refuse bail. Pistorius granted bail 22nd February 2013 his supporters issuing a 'Yessh!' in court. Police chief, Hilton Botha conducting investigation was discredited by Pistorius defence, accused of being involved in shooting at crowded mini-bus. He is replaced by Vineshkuma Moonoo. 
Pistorius will be back in court on the 4th June 2013. He earns at least 5 million rand a year and bail was set at 250,000 rand (£18,000)

'I am the bullet in the chamber' Nike advert has been taken down from the Pistorius website.

The Blade Runners - Oscar Pistorius & Richard Whitehead
Reeva Steenkamp was to deliver a talk about a previous abusive relationship on the day of her murder. The 14th February 2013 was also a global day of action opposing violence against women, One Billion Rising
New Moon in Capricorn - Serious Changes Germinating

If this force crackles through your 6th zone you could join a workforce union perhaps or support the right for one. Through your 4th house zone you may take some action in order to open up your home to others.Your 8th house zone may see innovative moves to shift any stagnancy attached to your joint finances. Conversely if this opportunity is used more negatively you could find yourself just overriding opposition and dismissing it as less important than your own  more 'high-handed', 'noble position'. Or you could try to defeat any opposition by labelling it petty and refusing to hear alternate views. With a superior stance and idealistic parries you could still crush somebody/some bodies journeying with you along your path or just parade them around.  
Singers Robin Thicke & Pharell Williams have Mars in Aquarius

With over 38 million times on You Tube June 2013. 'Robin Thicke’s Summer Anthem, Is Kind of Rapey'. The subject.. itself is enough to make some female music fans uncomfortable. The song is about how a girl wants crazy wild sex but doesn’t say it, positing that age-old problem where men think no means yes into a catchy, hummable song.' Tracia Romano - The Daily Beast

 'Has anyone heard Robin Thicke's new rape song? Basically, the majority of the song … has the R&B singer murmuring ‘I know you want it’ over and over into a girl’s ear. Call me a cynic, but that phrase does not exactly encompass the notion of consent in sexual activity.' Lisa Huynh - Feminist in LA

If Mars in Aquarius is moving through your personal 11th house zone, people you value as friends or groups you belong to may take offence. While going through your 7th house zone a partner may end up pouting and frowning as a result of your action/inaction. Your 5th house zone will see your kids with the potential to demonstrate their huff! and puff!. It is logical that if we all blindly motor on through to get what we want without paying attention to road signs that clearly say STOP!, borders that legitimately need to see passports, protesters simply saying NO! to something or women simply wanting an education, a fair deal or simple respect, then no-one will win.

Student Jyoti Singh Pandey was brutally gang raped and beaten on a Delhi bus travelling home with her friend after watching The Life of Pi at the cinema. 
She died as a result of her injuries on the 29th December 2012.

However, through skillful negotiation, attention to other people needs and our surroundings, a win-win path can be found more easily. We can all use the power of Mars to motor us through to our goals, to ignite our passions, fuel our issues and drive us ever onwards but and maybe especially now, as Mars occupies this social collective and universal sign of Aquarius we need to pay close attention to others who share our time, space and place on earth.

Scorpio Solar Eclipse - The Path Of Totality

A total solar eclipse involves the Moon passing between the Earth and the Sun
The Moon's circular shadow is cast over the earth under 'the path of totality'
 we appear to see the Moon covering the Sun.

On the 13th November, 2012 there is a burst of Scorpio energy in the form of a Total Solar Eclipse. A jab of Scorpio energy that focuses the attention and wakes up the system, whatever it touches seems to draw blood and healing antibodies towards it, a combination which occurs at deep subterranean levels, often outside conscious knowledge or control. This eclipse will occur at the point of 21 degrees Scorpio and this is where ‘the system’ will receive its injection of 'kill or cure' Scorpio serum. 

Scorpio wants us to feel something so what do we feel about this eclipse? Lets imagine lighting a fuse on an impressive firework like a roman candle or rocket, then standing back and looking up to watch the display. We feel safe enough no doubt from this distance and we will be absorbed, engaged and delighted by it. Get too close, however and the danger is immediately apparent because it will be blinding, ferocious and completely out of any comfort zone we know. Our Sun is that magical gift of fire that keeps on giving and in return we have given the Sun our awe, admiration, honour and respect throughout the ages. A Solar Eclipse, when the New Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth blocking out the light from the Sun reminds us of the importance of this connection. Although we can often take our relationship with the Sun for granted it is almost impossible to imagine a moment of life without it until an eclipse breaks that connection, even if it is for just those few moments.

Ancient cultures would honour the Sun and they would worship Sun deities and readily acknowledge its intrinsic importance. In the past, an eclipse was often associated with a time of disaster because it was impossible to accept the 'disappearing' Sun at all. Apocalyptic famines, floods, deluges, droughts and general panics, due to unusual events with plagues and en masse disease all appearing to be connected. The ten Biblical plagues of Egypt, for example, are now explained as a chain of natural events leading to a possible solar eclipse. Water turning to blood coming about after the eruption of the island of Thera, now Santorini in Greece and the resultant volcanic pollution. The Thera eruption polluted the water causing the fish to die, the frogs also left the water which led to an increase in insects and disease. The volcanic eruption caused really unusual weather conditions meant hail ruined the crops, bringing in swarms of locusts who love the wet bred fast. The unusual darkness, however, the ninth plague, was the volcanic dust in the air and a probable Solar Eclipse.

Even when we understood more on a rational level the time of an eclipse still continues its long associated with periods of menace when anything unexpected, life threatening and harmful could have the potential to burst on the scene. Equipped with our ‘modern’ mind sets, to this day, we can still feel the hairs rise on the back of necks as we watch the Sun literally disappearing during a solar eclipse, the stillness in the air and the unnatural imposed dark (Vampires, Gemini & The Solar Eclipse). Whilst marveling at the spectacle we all know the Sun will come back into view but for many of us, if not all of us, unconsciously triggered within an ancient part of our psyches and deep inside our brain there still is some part of us that registers a full alert.

As for the fireworks well they are so much more impressive on a clear night than when it is cloudy or overcast but this solar eclipse will not be visible in the northern hemisphere and if we want to literally see it we will have to follow it across the International Dateline, twice. It is especially visible in Cairns, Australia, New Zealand and Chile and is listed to start on the 13th November, 2012. It will be seen in north east Australia at dawn on the 14th November, 2012 but as the shadow path heads east, it has to cross the International Dateline again, moving back in time to the 13th November, 2012 as it heads off towards a west of Chile sunset.

1st Antarctic Total Solar Eclipse viewed by mankind 2003, unusually right on the horizon

As a solar eclipse it should be relatively unobscured by any celestial ‘traffic’ either as it passes along its visible path in the Southern hemisphere. The only red light along the celestial path seems to be a square aspect between Mercury and Neptune, causing more than a little muddle for the clearest of thinkers and orators. OK, so on top of all this emotion we will have to watch what we say as well and that is easy within our present Scorpio-complex. What else can we expect when both the Sun and the Moon are in Scorpio but more complicated emotional landscapes. Like glaciers made up of ancient water with labyrinths and hidden arteries of emotional material teetering on the edge, waiting to break off into a series of icebergs, calving into an endless ice field that still needs to melt and then what? Will we be overwhelmed in a tidal wave of emotional material that has previously never seen the light of day. (Mars in Scorpio - What LIes Beneath).

We have also been under a Scorpio Sun that has been operating its follow-spot on the world stage as well as on our own emotional minefields. Now it is being followed by the Moon so closely that for a moment it will be eclipsed. Main stage we have also got Saturn acting as a life jacket in Scorpio or maybe 'Saturn's strait jacket' urging us to be a bit more dispassionate, or at least 'keep our heads above water' and 'stay afloat' until he gets the measure of things. Here we have Saturn in Scorpio, sleuthing with objectivity and compassion and systematically contending with not being drowned in feelings. It appears that Scorpio is generally where the action is in our charts, just now. Saturn will be continuing to carry out investigations there for a couple of years and the solar eclipse wake-up calls will be stepping across the Taurus/Scorpio polarity until 2014. This is also where the moon's Nodes are until March 2014. (Axis of Power & Possessions -Scorpio/Taurus) Not an easy time then as none of us are really willingly to go to 'Pandora Box' openings. Those boxes are really heavy to carry around, everything starts to rot in all this icy Scorpio water and anyway things either unexpectedly bob to the surface or get washed up and discovered by Saturn in Scorpio beach combing. (Saturn in Scorpio - Snake Charmer Karma)

Cairns in Queensland, Australia will be the place to be about an hour after sunrise on the
14th November, 2012, where the moon will completely cover the solar disk and then display
a total eclipse of the sun for about two minutes. 50,00 visitors are expected but cloudy skies are predicted.

We will have to look to our Scorpio planets, houses, zones or angles in our charts. If this is your Ascendant, Sun or Moon you will have to start to take notice the potential changes that can come with these intense circumstances. This will also involves the couple of degrees either side of the eclipse path of 19/23 degrees Scorpio and pulling in its opposite sign of Taurus and also the other fixed polarity of Leo and Aquarius.

What could it mean for us if we are caught up in its sweep as the infa-red Scorpio searchlight begins its scan? If it is your Mars, for example, or your 1st house zone then it is these aspects of your psyche that will receive an invitation to entertain the wake-up call of this Scorpio eclipse. With Mars, your attention will become much more focused on what you need to do to ‘get what you want’ and how to express your drive as well as your frustration, which is only thwarted drive, in a more productive and healthy way. On or around the eclipse you may want to initiate a project or at least instigate a situation and know that you will have to wait for the fruits of this energetic, brave, proactive play in a few months time. Mars will always be up for a fight though so bear in mind the need to exercise some caution and as much patience as you can.

Listed here are Heads of State and countries whose birth charts have the 19-23 degrees of Scorpio falling on a natal planet. I have used the Whole Sign House system aware that some added variables could alter or change some of the charts.

China: Has Venus at 19 degrees in its 9th zone of ‘International Relations, Ethics & Legal System’.

India: Has Jupiter at 19 degrees in its 6th zone of ‘Service, Workers & The Public Servant’.

Pakistan: Has Jupiter at 19 degrees in its 8th zone of ‘Financial Institutions & Transformation through Crisis’.

Iran: Has Uranus at 20 degrees in its 12th zone of ‘Hidden Enemies, Subterfuge and Corridors of Power’. 

Iranian Fajr-5 rockets launched Gaza strip

On the 15th November, 2012 sirens sounded in Tel Aviv for the first time since the Gulf War, causing panic, crippling the mobile phone service after missiles were fired from Gaza towards the city. The Israelis have said that the missiles fell short or into the sea while the Palestinian militants issued a statement claiming responsibility saying that they had fired Iranian made rockets. Tel Aviv is about 80 kilometers from Gaza suggesting the use of the Iranian Fajr-5 rockets, which have twice the range of the rockets previously used by Hamas. On the 16th November, 2012 one rocket landing in a field outside Jerusalem.

Spain: Has Saturn at 20 degrees in its 10th zone of ‘Government, Ruling Classes and Status’.

The U.K Prime Minister David Cameron: Has Neptune at 20 degrees in his 2nd zone of ‘Personal Finances & Assets’.

Poland: Has the Sun at 21 degrees in its 11th zone of ‘Helpers & Governing Legislature’.

Afghanistan: Has the Mars at 22 degrees next to Pluto at 24 in its 1st zone of ‘Personal Space & The National Mythology’.

Palestine: Has the Sun at 22 degrees in its 3rd zone of ‘Communication and Transportation Networks & Neighbouring Countries’. 

Hamas declared 'Open War' with Israel after the assassination of Hamas leader, Ahmed Jabari on 14th November, 2012, he was held to be responsible for extreme terror attacks inside Israel. Hamas then declared that Israel had 'Opened the Gates of Hell' and began to set off longer-range missiles, thought to have been provided by Iran and reaching Tel-Avivi and Jerusalem the densely populated cities of Israel. Palestinians are posting tweets and blogs focusing on the Isaraeli attacks on Gaza, recording and transmitting drone attacks and explosions and then broadcasting live to the Arab world, in particular.
'We don't want to get into Gaza if we don't have to. But if they keep firing at us … a ground operation is still on the cards....'If we see in the next 24 to 36 hours more rockets launched at us, I think that would be the trigger.' Israel's deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon (CNN 17th November, 2012).

Hamas one of the two main political groups in Palestine won a majority of seats in parliamentary elections but never took control of Palestinian, still led by President Mahmoud Abbas, of the main rival party, Fatah who control the West Bank. Hamas is regarded as a terrorist group by the U.S., Israel and Europe. Hamas really wants to encourage its growing alliance with the new Islamic leadership in Egypt and other Islamic regimes in the Arab world and so its aim is not only military but diplomatic. 

Jordan’s King Abdullah: Has the Moon at 23 degrees in his 11th zone of ‘Helpers & Hopes for the Future’.

Bear in mind the recent American presidential elections on the 6th November, 2012. Right on the day of the election with a Mercury station all the political pundits appeared stumped and baffled saying that it was too close to call the winner. (U.S. Presidential Election Astrology - Obama vs Romney). One of the major astrology markers indicating President Obama's re-election was this solar eclipse occuring in his 10th house zone of Status, Reputation and Authority.

Also keep in mind that an eclipse will leave its fingerprints on the celestial windowpane for about 6 months. It may be easy to forget about it as it passes over and we move on with our lives but remaining conscious around the issues highlighted by this Scorpio eclipse for however brief a period will prove worthwhile. Our eyes are drawn to the area anyway. On the weekend of the eclipse there may well be an incident a surge of emotion an easily identified event which will mark the spot. X may be where the ball lands but the ripples will continue to reverberate for up to 6 months later, remember. What happens during this solar eclipse is the seed that will sprout in a few months time.

Read Julie Demboski's A Little Something on the Upcoming Eclipse for a great interpretation of the Eclipse Sabian Symbol here
Read April Elliott Kent's Big Sky Astrology for her insights on where the 2012 Eclipse falls in your chart here
               
credits: universe-beauty.com & nasa/getty & earthsky & nasa & astronomical association Queensland & wired science & CNN & Haaretz
Gloria project
posted by pippa ponton & jphibbs