What the hell was that! Mars, planet of violence, speaks from the center of the Fire....

Our classic image of Mars is the Roman warrior dressed in the ultimate refinements of the gladiator. The planet Mars accompanies the sharp and momentous events of life. Here is our planet of war, of athletes, of blood, testosterone, iron, machinery, weapons, and violence. As of October of 2009, Mars has moved into Leo--the sign of the leaders, the Sun, the hearth and the light of the world.
From October to mid December Mars is going forth with the tools of Leo, pride, show, expression, and magnanimity. In the sky it appears by 9pm, in the southwest, a ruddy amber glow which will grow in brilliance through the next several months. Because its retrograde is a perceived motion and measurement from our relative motion here on earth, it is an unusual and disturbing phenomena to see a planet hold still in the sky and hover in the same place every night. On the eve of the Winter Solstice, December 21st, Mars will actually travel backward in its orbit, until March 10th when it comes back into forward motion in the early degrees of Leo.
For all Leos and Mars-ruled Aries and Scorpios, this time is dangerous. It carries a warning of change. But not the kind of change that can be controlled, the kind of change that hits you; stops you and requires surrender. Surrender to what? Well, life. Become a listener, a user of the second wave of natural motion. Think before you act, and maybe stall the action for a few months. Be careful around fire, machinery, knives, guns, autos, trucks, and sharp objects. Sex is ruled by Mars, and this is a different kind of sexual energy, stay in the good and true, avoid the twisted and shadowy.
The whole world feels these planetary changes and people and earth creatures are responding to the Mars cycle of backwards motion, in definite but varied ways. Look for sudden reversals of action, of intentions, and of promises. Avoid forcing issues, because they will break--irreparably. Use the Mars retrograde as a time of rest and reconsideration, a time to polish the tools, and catch up with the real work which is the inner work of the truth and of the heart. The test is to take action to a new refinement, and it will require our whole concentration.

The Great Shift of 09--All Hallows Saturn--moves to Libra

History is made when Saturn arrives to crystallize and give form to the issues of the sign Saturn passes through. Think of your life in cycles of 29.4 years, or 30, to make it simpler. Each one of those periods marks one orbit of Saturn around the Sun. This week, coincidentally enough on the feast day of All Saints, Saturn will leave Virgo and enter Libra, the great Cardinal sign of Air, keeper of the Autumnal Equinox, the high holy days and New Year of many cultures and religions.
Libra is the seventh sign, the furthest we can go from the beginning sign of Aries. Its symbol is the Omega, the opposite of the Alpha of Aries. The Omega is also the sundown, the finishing of the promise of dawn.
Its symbol is a pair of Scales, held by a balance beam. As this sign is placed at the end of harvest, Virgo, when all life is sustained by what is gathered at the end of the growing cycle, the Scales come into service to balance, and evaluate. The Day of Atonement is in Libra, where we behold the great relationship--ourselves to the almighty. This is one of the first religious moments in human development, where we realize that there is something beyond our immediate shelter, something that is the world itself. The not me.

Ancient Egyptian Goddess Maat held a scales that weighed the human heart against a feather. The afterlife conditions were decided from that balance.
Libra in the chart rules the 7th house, the place of marriage and our most characteristic needs and desires around our personal alliances. Of the three conditions of human interaction, this is the strongest one. We live in tribes (Gemini), we are part of a world of humanity (Aquarius), as the other two Air signs illustrate. These are inevitable conditions of being born, but Libra is the one conscious place where our choice of humanity is based on our own individual identity.
Even in arranged marriages, the identities of the two--much influenced by rank and family-- still are considered in a one-on-one consideration.
Symbolically, Libra is the dividing line between the separate individual with all its talents, values, point of view, feelings, and inclinations-- and the outer world. The outer six signs, starting with Libra connect us to society, to others, the outside world, other peoples power and money, the places and teachings of the whole world and the tools to connect in the most extended manner.
Here are the cycles of living that move our lives along without our own initiative.
We may create the resume, but it is only the receiving of it that moves our life to the next step. Libra is the action of them, not I.

Being born in Libra gives orientation to everyone else. One's own inner self is seen and regarded through the eyes, opinions, needs, and lives of others. To find the focal point of the Libra ego, it lies in the refraction of self to the other, or the outer thing. All Libra persons, and Libra rising persons will be much affected by events while Saturn is in this sign. Saturn rules mastery, truth, duty, responsibility, law, structure, careers, fathers, bosses and the things that have authority over us. The result of this cycle will bring truth in relationships, which for Libra is truth in self.
For everyone in the world, relationships and our identities through relationships are the emphasis facing us right now. We are seeing all around us with unveiled eyes. We are seeing the other person's reason, and our own obtuseness where others are concerned. Watch the global relationships. Alliances are changing, partners are shifting, deals are coming apart and finding new connectors. Make choices because of relationships, because of justice, and because of who you most belong to. This time is not about things, it is about relationships. In every sense all our relationships are being reviewed now. What formed us, what did we think was supposed to happen when we hooked up, how did we form that conception, misconception. What relationships were easy, who were not? Whose fault was that? Time to honestly and openly review the whole roster of what makes each of us relate and want to belong. The guiding truth of the next two years lies in our relationships.
What is not as important as who. Who's on first? Who. What has definitely moved to second. Who is on first.