Mars transits out of Pisces and into Aries (per the sidereal zodiac) on Sunday, June 26 in North and South America (or Monday morning, June 27 in other locations). Mars will remain in Aries until August 10, when it will move into Taurus for its inordinately long transit into late next March 2023 (and I will say more on that important topic in a future article).
These charts below show the Mars Aries ingress for Sunday evening, at 8:09:33 PM in Washington DC. It is interesting that the ascendant for this chart is aligned exactly with the center of the Milky Way Galaxy in the Sagittarius constellation, and in the nakshatra called Mula (the root). This asterism is ruled by a fierce Kali-esque goddess of transmutation named Nirṛti, whose shakti is the power to break things apart. She represents the creative and destructive cycles of all nature within the realm of duality wherein we exist.
From June 22 until July 1, Mars is transiting in the last three degrees of Pisces/Revati nakshatra and then after that, in the first three degrees of Aries/Ashwini nakshatra. This cusp is known as the nakshatra gandanta (a karmic knot), where the elements of water and fire come together and create some strong potential for intense emotional sensitivity, all kinds of confusing upsets, and violent events.
Mars is also known as Mangala, Skanda, Kartikeya, or Kuja in the Vedic tradition. He is the mighty warrior, planet of fire, energy, courage, drive, initiative, and confidence. In astrology, Mars in his higher expression reflects astuteness, energy, ease, and a desire to act promptly and appropriately. In the less positive expression (when afflicted or weak), Mars represents phobias, anger, poor judgment, or a psychological state of persecution.
According to traditional astrology, Mars is the ruler of Aries and Scorpio. This is called “swakshetra” in Vedic astrology. Aries is also the moolatrikona sign of Mars, its stronger more active (“masculine”) sign. Planets in their own signs tend to give their most positive results and manifest their qualities beneficially when they are well placed by house and rulership in a chart, and when they receive favorable aspects and so on.
The most balanced features of Mars in Aries are leadership, a strong constitution, youthfulness, stamina, motivation, high energy, drive, quick reflexes, and an ability to push through obstacles with ease. If Mars is afflicted in Aries, its energy can be aggressive, reactive, impulsive, extravagant, overheated, or erratic. It’s best when Mars in Aries is strong and unafflicted, of course. Then, the warrior is aligned with his or her unconditional power and in a position of tremendous strength, so that there is no need to show force, which is what usually arises from a sense of weakness or frustration.
Mars is in a 60-degree sextile (3/11) aspect with Saturn in late June, at the Aries ingress, and into July 1. This aspect sets the stage for the entire Mars in Aries cycle. In its more positive manifestation, the Mars-Saturn sextile represents endurance, perseverance, practicality, and efficiency. In this case, Saturn can control some of the impatience and impulsiveness of Mars, and Mars can override some of the resistance and fearfulness of Saturn.
Mars at three degrees of Aries will square Pluto at three degrees of Capricorn. This is a potentially stressful and dangerous 90-degree tension aspect. It will be exact on July 1 but is in range of orb beginning on June 24, and it also colors the entire Mars in Aries transit. When operating in an imbalanced way, this aspect can signify anger, willfulness, forcefulness, and extreme acts of brutality, crime, or violence. When manifesting through a more balanced state, the Mars-Pluto square can reflect powerful willpower and the energy to achieve goals.
Starting around the solstice on June 21 and on into September, Uranus (the Awakener) and the Moon’s North Node/Rahu (planet of destiny), are closely conjoined in Aries. This conjunction can have a futuristic flavor and bring out powerful revolutionary and creative forces along with radically new ideas, initiatives, and inventions.
Fiery Mars will conjoin Rahu and Uranus in July and August. They will come together at 24 degrees of sidereal Aries in Bharani nakshatra. The deity overseeing this nakshatra is Yama, the God of Death who ferries newly deceased souls into the afterlife. Bharani’s shakti is the power to cleanse and remove impurities. It is both an ugra (severe) and krura (fierce) nakshatra, meaning it may be associated with destructive actions and events.
This conjunction will come into wide orb at the Mars-Aries ingress, and comes in close range in the last 12 days of July, and will be exact July 31/August 1, but the results of this conjunction will be activated into the second week of August. Bharani nakshatra can represent a sense of struggle and suffering, as in the bearing of great burdens. Symbolized by the female reproductive organ (yoni), Bharani literally relates to reproduction and reproductive rights. More metaphorically, it has to do with creative processes and the upheaval and change that come in the process of birthing and re-birthing new forms into the world.
The last time we had these three planets conjoining like this in late Aries was in May 1855 during the Crimean War and Siege of Sebasatpol (Sevastopol now). Events at that time led to the first ever global economic crash (Panic of 1857), as well as a monumental reshaping of global alliances such as we are seeing now again. The Crimean War began a new era in economic warfare, which the current conflict in Ukraine is mirroring to some extent.
This conjunction is a possible trigger for not only major disruptive economic events, but also other kinds of heated, violent, dangerous, and explosive geopolitical events, and could possibly include any one of the following: growing fuel and food shortages; burgeoning supply chain issues and ongoing societal chaos; mass psychosis; protests, riots, rebellions, and rising crime; air travel pandemonium; broader awareness and exposure of the ET/UFO presence on our planet; major accidents; seismic and meteorological events; floods and fires; problems involving satellites, major utility stations, and power and communication networks; political unrest; cybersecurity threats; and, incidents or concerns involving the oceans as well as nuclear energy or nuclear weapons, drones, and microwave, magnetic, or hypersonic weapons.
The Crimean War was the embodiment of a “modern war” that used new technologies that would go on to characterize the wars and medical/nursing treatments of the future. Similarly, we are now in an era of major medical, technological, and scientific discoveries that will impact the whole world. Whatever unfolds with this conjunction has the power to turn the world upside down in multiple significant ways. This of course can have both positive and negative connotations.
Saturn, lord of karma, will square the July-August conjunction within a four-degree orb. Months later on October 23, the 24-degree point in Aries will be squared exactly by Saturn at 24 degrees of Capricorn at its powerful direct station (when it turns forward after having been retrograde since early June). Whatever is set into motion this summer and around this conjunction, whether it is in our personal lives or more in the collective reality, may continue to unfold and go through transformation at least through October. Saturn’s square aspect tends to crack open literal and metaphoric foundations, and may represent various erupting crises within society, governments, individuals, and within mass consciousness.
I have only one chart in my database among thousands of horoscopes that has the Mars-Rahu-Uranus conjunction near the 24-degree point of Aries. And it is the birth chart of an auspicious personage, the late great yogi and saint, Jnanavatar Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, whose birth name was Priya Nath Karar. He was immortalized by Paramahansa Yogananda in his autobiography. Sri Yukteswar was a Master of Divine Light, a Kriya Yogi, Jyotishi (Vedic astrologer), a Vedic scholar, educator, author, and astronomer, and Paramahansa Yogananda’s guru. Yukteswar was born on May 10, 1855, no time known. He died in 1936.
You can see Sri Yukteswar’s lineup of many planets in Aries (and Mars-Rahu-Uranus around the same degree that is coming back in line this summer). Aries is a sign that I believe represents tapas or tapasya. This Sanskrit word means the “generation of heat and energy.” It is the practical spiritual discipline that involves deep meditation, yogic austerities, moderation, self-discipline, and efforts to reach self-realization. Based on the Swami’s chart, I have wondered if this coming alignment in Aries and in Bharani nakshatra represents a call to strengthen our spiritual practices through tapasya.
This makes even more sense as Yama, the deity that rules Bharani, also correlates with the moral disciplines and vows called “yamas” in the Yoga Sutras. These five yamas, according to Patanjali, are ahimsa (non-harming or non-violence in thought, word and deed); satya (truthfulness); asteya (non-stealing); brahmacharya (right use of energy); and aparigraha (non-greed).
Perhaps events unfolding in the coming months will serve as an evolutionary impetus to bring greater wisdom to humanity, to set us in a new direction and back into some balance. Sri Yukteswar once said that “wisdom is the greatest cleanser.” He also delineated his own unique yuga system (a yuga is an epoch or era). He believed that we are currently in the ascending cycle of Dvapara (Dwapara) Yugu, the Age of Energy and Technology, and that the Sat Yuga, Age of Truth and Enlightenment, will not occur for some 5000 years in the future.
Though humanity has a long way to go for its collective awakening, every day progress is being made somewhere. We are on a slow upward trajectory, though it doesn’t always seem that way with all the ignorance, aggression, corruption, greed, and divisiveness in this world. Nevertheless, in any yuga, we are fully capable as individuals to work toward Self-actualization, no matter what is happening in the outer reality.