Motion and discourse

I have several favorite features of this Mars retrograde so far: first, at work, people keep asking me questions that have nothing to do with my job. Sometimes they start with "I know this probably isn't your area..." and sometimes they don't, but it's almost daily that I get a left-field inquiry. Mars is in Gemini, which is the sign that rules random information. When Mars is normal, I get a lot of questions, but they tend to be at least somewhat relevant. I'm also talking to someone I normally don't talk to about subjects I don't normally talk about. Talking is an issue right now: I can't get some people to stop talking and I can't make other people start talking when I need them to talk. All are Gemini matters.

Mars is actually starting to move, as it remained basically in the same place for all of October and most of this month, so while it is still very retrograde, you might see a change in some action over the next few weeks until it slows back down again and camps out around 8-9° Sagittarius (late December and all of January). This week, Mars is trine Saturn (nice for sustained efforts) and opposing Mercury (watch your mouth) and Venus (be nice). Next week (December 8) it opposes the sun, which actually means that the earth comes in between Mars and the sun, and also marks the midpoint of the retrograde. This is major insight time for those of us who are Mars-sensitive and Mars-ruled, and it just so happens to be a full moon that day, so for all you werewolves out there, it's gonna be a doozy of a transformation (translation: people will be weirder than normal).

Saturn is starting to pick up speed, and given that it is extremely on my sun right now, I wish it would move a little faster. I've spent 2022 in reality-check world, and, oddly, talking to people whose suns are in similar degrees to where Saturn has been camping out. The first aspect Saturn made to this point was in March, the second was in September, and the third is now, and this is how Saturn works: the first hit is a reality check, the second tests to see how you're coping with the reality you must deal with, and usually the third time is about making adjustments to the lessons Saturn is trying to make you learn (often against your will). If you know astrology, you have a leg up, because you don't have to rail against the setbacks and delays that Saturn confers: you can see quite clearly that it's being annoying, but you can also see trends. In some areas, I've been taking too much responsibility for things that are not mine, and in other areas, I have not taken enough responsibility and I've needed to step it up, usually when it is the LAST thing I want to do (I usually have a nagging feeling that only lets up when I do whatever it is I know I need to do).

Of the people whose suns are close to where mine is, two of them had surgery and spent most of the year either preparing for or recovering from their surgeries. One of the two also got really sick (not COVID and not related to the surgery, either), and if you are trying to move too fast, Saturn will sometimes slow you down like this and give you extra bonus time to *think* about whatever it is Saturn is making you work on. Also, life is life and you can't help when you have to have surgery, but Mars retrograde AND having Saturn on your sun both indicate slower healing, so it's not a great combo when they're combined. If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, just go easy on yourself because you literally do not have another option.

I'm the type of person who moves fast, generally speaking, but I've learned (over time, the hard way—I'm dumb) when you have a slow Mars in the sky and a heavy Saturn presence in your life, there will be certain areas in which no amount of effort is going to be productive, no matter which tricks you try. Mars is pretty binary: either action or lack thereof, and Saturn is more about right timing than anything, so again, knowing which one is where and having what impact is really key to unpacking it.

Hit me up if you need help decoding what's doing what, or for ✨spirit guide readings✨.

XO,J