Movement Toward Life – Sun in Aries square Mars in Capricorn

The human being does not find the difficulties of the beginning easy except if you recognize the panorama of the end, and especially if you taste of that a sweetness of the reaping, and you get some of what you wish.

~Shaykh Ibn al-Arabi

The Sun in Aries squares Mars in Capricorn at 3 and 4 degrees Aries-Capricorn from now through March 25.

The overall tenor of this astrological moment is tension and vision and conflict. More on that in posts coming shortly.

Sun in Aries square Mars in Capricorn illustrates that the urge to act now in interest of advancing one’s life is meeting a less urgent but no less dynamic movement. This latter approach is more calculated and more substantive. It takes into account history, track record, procedure, legacy, and the trajectory of the future.

At this equinoctial moment, these planets in conversation point to the actions of today preparing for the fruits that will blossom later. They point to the need to take calculated action. To be in touch with one’s desire, but not to let one’s ire create unnecessary damage, or to generate a situation that is out of control.

But whether you put salt or fertilizer in the soil is up to you.

The malefics are so called because they are the most difficult of the celestial energies to harness and direct purposefully. And they are the most likely energies to get the best of us before we can get the best of them.

Yet, woven in with the Mars dominant theme of this time is a broader balance of the tension between yin and yang now.

Yang, fiery Sun in Aries points to taking outward action in the general direction of an aspiration. This serves as a moving prayer; a petition to the gods; a signal of seriousness.

A short story to illustrate this —

Right around the time of Mercury’s last station to go retrograde — conjunct Saturn in Sagittarius! back in December — I attended a talk by a man who was near the end of a monumental translation projection. He was translating the grand vision of the Youth the Sufi mystic Muhyiddin Ibn al-Arabi had while circling the Ka’bah at Mecca — 10,000 pages of material.

Previously people in this field said that this was an impossible feat, and that even a group of highly qualified and trained scholars could not do this.

Presumably they said this because there are so many philosophical layers, so much background information, Ibn Arabi’s use of different types of language — poetic, legal, theological —  to convey his meaning,  decisions about ibn Arabi’s meaning, several skillsets to be brought to bear to the work that it made the feat heretofore undone. Despite its existence for just around a millennium.

And yet, this man was in home stretch of the translation, with some assistance from other devoted, specialist scholars.

His devotion was a sweet aroma that filled the room where he was giving his talk, and that transported us in the small audience to another place, where we could receive his meaning.

During the talk he was giving, he recounted the struggles of Job, and said that Job’s highest prayer was asking for his afflictions to be removed. That he did not resign himself to go on suffering, but asked that it be lifted.

So this asking for improvement in the form of substantive movement, is the heart of this cardinal square.

Note the heroism and the pioneering of the man’s accomplishment. The dedication, pacing, and the substance required to be able to move through such a task. He had resources and support as well — Capricorn themes.

These cardinal signs of are pointing to taking action in the service of life itself, of self-development, of the vitality, furthering, and strengthening of one’s life. This planetary combination is about calculated daring, and about action as a form of devotion to some heroic task.

Mars, in a surprise twist, is this celestial dance’s yin component. Mars in Capricorn is embodying strength in the form of gracefully waltzing with time. The action that is taken now is calculated and confident. Action is taken with eyes set to a dristi, a fixed visual point from which one is unwaveringly focused.

 This action is a part of the calculus that serves the vitality of the self. And this opens the way to more action and, more fresh life.

Love,
Ichrak