I spoke of this a few days ago in the article Astrology in February-March 2012 – Gear Jamming During A Sun Opposition Mars. Please revisit that to get a sense of what everyone’s going through right now. I also note which age groups and birthdays are most affected.

This period when the Sun (Vitality, Life) is opposing Mars (Energy, Effort) is a great time to see how our Mars is functioning. If there is impatience, frustration, pushing and pulling internally or between externals in our life, or an inability to bring Self to effort at appropriate times, then you can bet there is a malfunctioning Mars. This is the time to bring “right effort” back into alignment with our Illumination or our integrity.

That doesn’t mean all things are possible, or even that we are supposed to be doing anything other than whatever we’ve been doing to bring past actions and/or inactions to fruition. While the pace is slow, maybe even seems bogged down, at the same time there are things to be done in order to prepare for the time of Mars speeding up beginning Monday, March 5.

Venus is also opposing Saturn through Sunday from late Aries to late Libra. This can help us get clear about what responsibilities and voluntary limitations we value and which old rules and fears connected to resources and people we can let go of. This can help us see the value in focusing our potency in ways that will pay big results in the Autumn of 2012.

The Sabian symbols for the Venus opposition Saturn clearly indicate that we should learn to “listen to the inner voice,” and embrace a value or something that has proved its worth resulting from the initiatives of April and May 2011. We all began some new directives, and this is the first time an inner planet has returned to late Aries since then.

This opposition can assist us to sense a greater mission, a greater purpose, and a greater way to relate to ideal of a better world. This will be the natural expression of a new ideal in relationships, and what qualities we’ll be valuing in the future as we move into harmony with that greater “civilizing” influence.

That said, don’t allow heaviness or rigidity to spoil what should be a time to understand what part we play in a greater wave of conscious evolution. And avoid tugs of war, passive (and active) aggressive people and situations, and get ready for a final period of reworking your methods, plans, and details as things begin to speed up over the next few weeks.

Additionally, Mercury just entered Aries, and is slowing, about to go retrograde on March 12, 0:49 am PDT, 3:49 am EDT, 7:49 am Greenwich (which doesn’t go on daylight saving time until March 25, 1 am UT.) So this weekend marks a point where Mars begins to pick up speed as Mercury begins to slow. Still, after the two oppositions are past, we’ll all begin to feel like things are again moving forward.

I’ll of course be offering you quite a few articles about the coming Mercury retrograde next week, so that you can get prepared. Use next week to finish up paperwork, agreements, repairs, and purchases of electronics, and then prepare for the research, rehearsals, reversals, returns, and new insights coming once Mercury goes retrograde.

Also, on a final note about this weekend, the Moon is now in Cancer, squaring Uranus, opposing Pluto, and will form a T-square with Venus and Saturn on Sunday (Western hemisphere, UK, and western Europe) and early Monday (east of Central Europe). The early T-square with Uranus and Pluto challenges our balance, perspective, and sense of proportion, while the late T-square with Venus and Saturn challenges our self-discipline, organizational skills, and maturity.

As this cuts across both early and late Cardinal degrees, those most affected are those I mentioned in the linked article above, as well as anyone with planets in the first 10 degrees of Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn, as well as those with planets in the last 3 degrees of the same signs. This obviously affects just about everyone so be self-reflective, move slowly through the fogs and bogs, when in doubt don’t, take a new look at a mission you might like to embrace, or find joy in valuing, and try not to take things personally, even when they are.

Figure out what you care about, and which habit patterns you want to shift. Put the brakes on whatever needs to slow down, and follow through on things that have been hanging for awhile. The gear jamming is about to clear!

© Copyright 2012 Robert Wilkinson