Meet the Planets: Mars

Mars is the Archetype of The Warrior. The Warrior sees the world in black and white. The Warrior chooses an objective, and then follows the most direct path to reach that objective, overcoming any obstacles in the path with single-minded focus, and utter disregard for the consequences. All that matters is the goal. Mars, the Warrior, is the part of us that goes after the things that we want. What Mars lacks is perspective. Mars excels at achieving immediate objectives; however, Mars is not capable of long-term planning or strategizing, and as a rule, Mars relies on force rather than negotiation, cooperation or finesse.

We may be most familiar with Mars by other names. We know mars as the “ego” or the little “s” self. In Freudian terms, Mars is also the id, the inner child who wants and desires and gets angry and frustrated when he is not instantly gratified. However, desire is merely a tool that Mars employs to motivate us to take action. What Mars really wants is to expend energy in a focused and directed manner. The Warrior doesn’t care what he’s fighting for; he simply wants to experience the sheer joy of channeling energy. This is of critical importance. In order to be in right relationship with Mars, Mars must always be operating in service to the Sun. The little “s” self must follow the guidance of the Big “S” self. The Warrior must fight to defend and support the Hero. Without this guidance, Mars can easily run amok.

How Mars goes about getting the things that it wants, and to some extent, how Mars chooses what it wants is determined by the Sign that Mars inhabits in your chart. Although the how is solely determined by Mars’ Sign, the what is also influenced by Venus’ Sign, because what it is that we want is always informed by what it is that we value and appreciate.

When we are in Right Relationship with Mars, our lives are the epitome of elegance. We know exactly when it is time to take action, and the action we take is simple, precise, focused, and perfectly balanced. Martial arts masters are, not surprisingly, masters of Mars. They know how to apply exactly the right amount of force at exactly the right moment to create the maximum power with the minimum effort. We become masters of manifestation because rather than forcing things into creation, we simply remove the obstacles and allow the Law of Attraction to do the rest. We experience deep satisfaction and fulfillment as we achieve each goal and overcome each obstacle, because our energies and our efforts are in full alignment with the expression and expansion of our true Self. Right Relationship with Mars also gives us a truly healthy and supportive relationship with anger. We understand that it is possible to defend without attacking. And we are able to channel the power and energy that anger provides in ways that are creative and supportive rather than destructive and aggressive.

When we are out of alignment with Mars, we experience driven behavior. We are always expending energy, always taking action, always doing something, and yet we are never satisfied with the results. While we may be powerful at manifesting our desires, everything that we manifest is created through sheer force of will and tremendous effort. Nothing comes easily, and everything is a battle. We are obsessed with reaching our goals and obtaining the things that we want, and a part of us believes that the end fully justifies the means. We are so driven to get the things that we want because we believe that when we get what we want, then we’ll be happy. This is never the case, however. We experience little or no satisfaction when we complete a task or reach a goal. We are convinced that we just need to work harder, to be better, to acquire more, and then we’ll be happy. But happiness is not on Mars’ agenda. All Mars wants is for us to keep driving, to keep fighting, and that’s what we do. When we are out of alignment with Mars, we experience the world as a hostile, competitive, aggressive place. We are always defensive, fearful of being attacked. We lash out with anger to defend ourselves from attack, which only provokes retaliation in kind.

Restoring Right Relationship with Mars is a two-fold process. First, it is essential to create a healthy outlet to channel Mars’ need to expend energy in a focused, directed manner. Martial arts are, in fact, an excellent way to channel the energy of Mars, but any strenuous physical exercise can serve to channel Mars energy in healthy and supportive ways. Opening a consciously-directed channel for Mars to express can help to alleviate the pent-up energy of Mars from leaking out in other, less appropriate areas of our lives.

If we are out of alignment with Mars, the underlying reason is universally that we are out of alignment with the Sun and/or Venus. If we are not feeling fulfilled or satisfied when we obtain the things that we desire, the reason is that the things that we desire are not aligned with the things that we Value. As we get into Right Relationship with Venus, connecting with our values, and the Sun, identifying our core standards of integrity, Mars will once again act in service to these directives.

To begin to connect with Mars, meditate on some of these questions:

• What do I want?
  


• How to I take a action?


• How do I attack?


• How do I defend?


• What motivates me to take action?


• How do I manage energy?


• How do I manage anger?


• How am I cooperative?


• How and why am I competitive?


• What is my driven behavior?


• What pulls me out of the present moment and into the future?

Meet the Planets: The Moon

The Moon is the Archetype of the Reflection. The Moon reflects the light of the Sun, and like all reflections, it distorts and filters the essence of the Source, depicting a facet, a shadow, some single element of the original for deeper reflection. In a very real sense, our lives are a journey through an endless hall of mirrors. Everyone and everything we encounter is simply a reflection of our True Self. And yet, we wander, endlessly, searching for the one that is Real. We seek safety, security and comfort. We long to make a connection with the reflections we encounter, but the connections we perceive are themselves merely reflections. We long to reconnect with the true Source, and must discover that contrary to all appearances, the Source is within us.

The Moon defines the Nocturnal sect. It is all appearance, and appearances are always deceptive and changeable. Everything is reversed in the reflection of the Moon’s mirror. We must discover the Truth that what we perceive to be without is merely a reflection of what is within. To navigate the maze, we must develop our intuition. Our eyes are deceived by appearances and reflections. Our feelings are our only true guide. We long to be whole, and yet we resist the simple truth that we already are whole, and all we need to do experience this truth is to close our eyes to the reflections and illusions that surround us, and allow ourselves to align once more with the true Self and Source within us.

When we are in right relationship with the Moon, first and foremost, we feel Safe. We are free from fear and anxiety. We have confidence that all of our basic survival needs will continue to be met, and do not require our conscious attention. We experience comfort, balance, harmony and sufficiency. We have enough money, enough food, enough shelter and enough love. We are willing and able to be present with our feelings, both enjoyable and uncomfortable. We are able to feel them without needing to react, simply allowing them to express, acknowledging them, and then releasing them. We trust our feelings, our intuition, and our emotional guidance system. We are self-sufficient, yet not self-contained. We freely exchange energy and emotional connections with others. We give and receive nurturing easily and without attachments.

When we are out of alignment with the Moon, we feel unsafe. We live in a constant state of fight or flight. We are stressed, anxious, and fearful. We are obsessed with lack, with the idea that there is not enough, and with the belief that we must protect and defend things so that we can continue to survive. We actively avoid feelings, especially uncomfortable ones. We are disconnected from our intuition and react out of fear rather than respond out of wisdom. We are needy and believe that we cannot survive on our own. We either depend on others, or else we become a caretaker, meeting others needs as a way to distract ourselves from the pain and the fear that our needs are not and cannot be met.

Getting into right relationship with the Moon requires practice. In a very real sense, we must learn to navigate using a mirror. We must learn to move in the exact opposite direction that we think we should move in. We must learn how to disengage from the story, ignore appearances, and follow our intuition and emotional guidance, even when our intellect and our perceptions scream at us that we are moving in the wrong direction.

The most important thing that we can do to facilitate this process is to cultivate a new experience and awareness of Safety. Remember that we are infinite beings, and that everything that we experience in the hologram comes from within us. It is all story, and none of it is real. The only thing that is real is this moment. The past and the future are all illusion. Cultivate an awareness of the Present Moment. This will immediately begin to alleviate fear and anxiety.

As we begin to feel more safe, we can then begin to soften any judgments we may have on our feelings and emotions. Consider that feelings do not require action; they simply need to be felt. When we are willing to be fully present with our feelings, witnessing the experience without judgment, the feelings move through us quickly and then are gone. Each feeling experienced deepens our unconscious understanding of who we are. While our feelings are valid and important, they are also independent experiences that have no meaning other than what we give them in the story. Our feelings have nothing to do with anyone or anything. They simply are. When we are able to detach the feelings from the story, we are able to surrender fully to the experiences, and maintain right relationship with the Moon. We become more attuned to our inherent emotional guidance system, and are able to navigate the maze of mirrors with confidence.

To begin to connect with the Moon, meditate on some of these questions:

• How do you feel safe?


• What threatens you?


• How do you react when you feel threatened?


• What emotions are safe? What emotions are unsafe?


• What do you remember? How do you remember?


• How do you experience the past?


• How do you stay in the present moment?


• What pulls you out of the present moment?


• Where and to what do you create attachments?


• What keeps you locked in the past and fearing the future?

Meet the Planets: Saturn

Saturn is the Archetype of the Judge. Saturn represents the Law, the ultimate authority, at least within the context of the story and the game. Saturn is what creates the appearance of form, the experience of structure. And Saturn is the enforcer of the rules and regulations. One of the ways that we experience Saturn is as our internal authority figure. Saturn is the archetype that monitors when we step out of integrity with ourselves, and creates the appropriate consequences so that we can become aware and choose to move back into integrity. Saturn represents responsibility, both as individuals, and to society. The experience of being limited, and of being told “No,” is rarely pleasant, and so from a very early age, we develop very strong opinions about Saturn. Generally, we resolve to have as little to do with Saturn as possible. Saturn is, to put it mildly, no fun.

Most of childhood and adolescence is spent rebelling against Saturn. And yet no matter how far we run, Saturn is always right there with us. We cross boundaries and we are chastised for it. We break or ignore the rules and we are reprimanded and punished. We refuse to listen to directions or warnings, and we run full-speed into brick walls. During the first part of the game of this human experience, this is how we learn about the shape of the story. Our passage into adulthood, however, is marked by our readiness to shift our relationship with Saturn.

When we are in Right Relationship with Saturn, life is infinitely more pleasant than when we are not. The secret is that we finally accept that if we don’t break the rules, we don’t get punished. And once we know where the limits and boundaries are, we don’t have to worry about crossing them, and can enjoy absolute freedom to create and express within them. Instead of feeling trapped or limited, this relationship brings a deep and abiding sense of security. Being in Right Relationship with Saturn means that we accept personal responsibility for our actions and our choices. We have a clear and healthy understanding of where our personal responsibility begins and ends, and we steadfastly refuse to exceed those boundaries. And when we stand in this place of personal integrity and power, we discover that while Saturn enforces the rules, we are actually the ones who create the rules. If we decide a rule does not serve us anymore, we can petition The Judge to review the law. And we discover to our amazement that Saturn, The Judge can indeed say “Yes.”

If we are out of alignment with Saturn, we have given away our power to Saturn, and we operate out of Victim Consciousness. We whine and complain and argue that life is unfair, that the rules—clearly stated and impartially enforced though they are—should not apply to us. We plead our case arguing that we are special, we are entitled, we should be the exception to the rule, and Saturn is entirely unmoved. We are unwilling or unable to recognize that the laws exist to help us to align with our standards of integrity and claim our power. We project the inner discomfort that we feel from being out of integrity onto outer manifestations of Saturn as authority figures who punish, limit, or discipline us. We, of course, believe that this treatment is utterly unfair. We fear the pain of punishment and believe that the way to avoid that pain is to avoid accepting responsibility for our actions. Of course, the more we avoid accountability, the more we are out of integrity, the more pain we experience, and the more we project and externalize that pain experiencing it as authority figures who victimize us time and again.

Often we are not aware that we are refusing to accept personal responsibility for our actions because we tell ourselves that our lives are nothing but responsibility. In fact, we are weighed down and burdened with all of the responsibilities that we have to live up to. Closer inspection, however, will reveal that the responsibilities that we have taken on are not, in fact, ours. We are crossing boundaries and taking on other people’s responsibilities as a way to distract ourselves from the fact that we are not taking care of our own.

Getting in to right relationship with Saturn requires shifting our relationship to authority and accepting full responsibility for our choices and our actions. We must step out of victim consciousness and let go of our need for excuses. We must begin to be accountable for all of our choices and actions. The first part of the process requires that we begin to honor and obey the rules—all of them. And we must increasingly do so without any story that tells us that the rules are wrong or we shouldn’t have to follow them. We must accept responsibility for when we cross boundaries and break rules, and with genuine humility. Only when we are in right relationship with the rules and structures that are currently in place can we, from this place of integrity and personal responsibility, begin to petition that the rules be changed. We must also recognize where we are taking on responsibilities that do not belong to us, and relinquish them. Our responsibilities to others do not begin until we have first met all of our responsibilities to ourselves.

To begin to connect with Saturn, meditate on some of these questions:

• How and why do we limit ourselves?

• How are we responsible?

• What is our relationship to authority?

• How are we accountable?

• How are our boundaries?

• Where do we set limits?

• Where and to whom do we give away our power?

• Where and why do we take on too much responsibility?

• Where do we overstep boundaries?

• Where do we judge too harshly?