Warrior at Heart - Mars Retrograde in Cancer & Leo

“I can't go on, I'll go on.”
I find this S. Beckett’s quote a perfectly fitting introduction for the ongoing Mars retrograde process. „I can’t but I will.“ We can sense heaviness in those words that is unbearable yet, there is determination, a choice not to give up, to keep going. Mars is always working within the sphere of discomfort where conflict and challenge are present. Mars won’t give us anything for free. We need to fight for it. We need to put a little bit of „blood, sweat, and tears“ into the process. Mars is a great ally when we find ourselves in difficult life circumstances where we need to show courage and perseverance. Mars is about what we desire in life. We need to show up over and over again and burn for what we want. Mars is about a choice. We need to sacrifice to achieve what we desire.

Mars Retrograde periods are about comebacks, breakdowns, and reconstructions. During the Mars retrograde periods, we are put to the test.  Mars retrogrades are intense periods when we are asked to deal with our fears and tensions that we might have deserted in the past.
 
Mars stationed retrograde at 6 Leo on December 6. It will reenter the sign of Cancer on January 6, 2025, where Mars spends seven weeks before it stations direct at 17 Cancer on February 24.
The current Mars retrograde cycle is playing out across the signs of Leo and Cancer.
 
Leo and Cancer. Fire and water. Hot and wet.
Masculine and Feminine. Individual and relational. To express and to process.
 
So different and at the same time, so perfectly supporting and complementing each other.
Water can put out fire but this combination can also produce hot steam.
 
I can’t think of a sweat lodge ritual that I regularly go to. You’re sitting in a completely dark crowded space and all you can see is burning red rocks that are emitting heat. When water is poured on them, you hear the sizzle and you are almost immediately hit by an extreme heat wave. It is challenging to breathe „breath of rocks“ but this extreme pressure mediates the purification of mind and body, moving the stuck energy so that the release can follow. Once all 4 sacred rounds of South, East, North, and West are completed within the ritual, you come out feeling light like a newborn baby. This is Leo and Cancer at its finest, working together to create necessary pressure so that you are forced to face your darkest fears, express them, and let them go.
 
Archetypally, Mars is a masculine principle linked to personal will and so we tend to connect it to external, worldly things like ambition, purpose, and achievement. But Mars is a great ally for our internal work as well when we need to apply pressure to confront the uncomfortable spaces within when we need to separate ourselves from influences that are toxic for us.
 
Working with Cancer and Leo during this retrograde cycle, I find it more than appropriate to let Mars into our intimate emotional world and let him help us with our internal work, work that is a precursor to external success.
 
Mars is as much about courage as it is about fear.
What happens to our body when we feel threatened, when we are preparing for attack? Our muscles tense up as our body is naturally guarding itself against injury and pain. Tension is a natural defense mechanism and it is a healthy expression of martial energy. When our muscles contract for a long period though, they become rigid. They become stiff as the body doesn´t naturally release the tension once stress passes. If we don´t treat the problem, it becomes chronic. The remedy is to get physical, to stretch the muscles, to stay active.
The same goes for our emotional bodies. What happens when we get hurt, when we become cautious and scared? We start shielding our hearts. We can’t take any more pain and so we assume if we can control the situation, and control our emotions, we can avoid the pain altogether. What we don’t realize is that our hearts become rigid and stiff. Like Grinch, we have a heart that is "two sizes too small". We stay away from the world as we’re too scared to take another risk.
 
Mars retrograde period is a perfect time to go within and confront our fears as Mars is not in its usual „go-getting mode“. Extreme discomfort, frustration, and anger – this is Mars territory. During Mars retrograde, we can build up enough friction within that is necessary to come to a breaking point. These are the difficult life circumstances where Mars can help us become "warriors at heart". Emotions can feel overwhelming, even frightening but they are meant to be felt. We won’t save ourselves from hurt when we retreat from our feelings, we just sink deeper into our fear.
 
When we experience a heartbreak, we are shattered. We become more fragile and vulnerable. But with time, we heal. The heart is a muscle, it has to be used, it has to be trained. Imagine what would happen if our physical heart stopped beating – we would die. The same goes for our emotional heart.
We must confront our feelings courageously like a fearless warrior. We must stress-test our heart’s resilience by lingering within the unbearable.
 
Recently, I read a beautiful metaphor about heartbreak. Heartbreak is like a typhoon. It can knock you down to the lowest point, it ruins and breaks everything in the affected area. People born in countries prone to natural disasters are used to them as they are a regular part of their lives. They are very resilient. They go with the flow in order to live in an unpredictable environment where you can lose everything at once. The same goes for the heartbreak. If you had been rejected, you would feel pain that is beyond words to describe but with every other heartbreak, you become more immune to it, you become resilient and it will be easier for you to bounce back.
 
In this Mars retrograde, think about what was stirred in the water…
Where are the undercurrents in your emotional pool?
What is burning within? What needs to be expressed?
Where in your life do you feel the desire to move from weakness to confidence?
 
"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." S. Beckett 
I am scared but I am getting back out there. Will you join me?

Keep hope alive, keep dreaming.
Petra