Four of Wands reversed/Nine of Swords. The Four of Wands (Venus, beauty, allure, relationships, in Aries, “I want,” action oriented, assertive, enthusiastic) is about building enough to become established, or celebrating the successful efforts of the Three of Wands.  My Four of Wands is reversed today, and taken on its own, it could be telling me that now is not the time to sit back and celebrate.  I could end up missing something important and valuable if I relax my guard.  However, my other Llewellyn Welsh card gives me a bit of clarification here. The Nine of Swords (Mars, action, spontaneity, aggression, in Gemini, “I think,” curious, talkative, social, dual) represents brooding and worrying, usually self-caused, and usually unproductive.  Often the worrying represented by this card stems from the perception of a situation being bad (and not necessarily that the situation is actually bad).  Things are only overwhelming if I believe they are, and perhaps if I remember this fact, and if I visualize good things happening rather than wincing because I expect to be slammed, I will actually reach the point where I can sit back and celebrate. 

My Thoth card is the Ten of Wands.  “Oppression” is Crowley’s keyword for this card.  The Ten of Wands (Saturn, discipline, responsibility, limitations and resistance, in Sagittarius, “I seek,” philosophic, fun-loving, blundering) is a card that tells of being taxed to some perceived limit.  I think the thing I need to remember today is that limits are not always bad.  They do define certain “safe areas,” and they do allow me to learn and remember just how much I am capable of.  Granted, sometimes we need to burst through those limits, but not today.  I need to be careful about how I spend resources, because I might be running low.

My Legacy card is the Knight of Swords reversed, flavored by Faith reversed. The Knight of Swords (the cusp of Taurus, “I have,” sensual, stubborn, cautious, and Gemini, “I think,” curious, talkative, dual, intelligent) is brave, insightful, courageous, and logical, as well as rude, domineering, critical and sarcastic.  Since my Knight is reversed, I might need to worry more about the manifestation of those negative traits today.  I should not be the hero, or volunteer to be the savior today.  Faith/The Hierophant corresponds with Earth (cold/binds and dry/shapes), Taurus (“I have,” sensual, cautious, stubborn), Vau (the nail which holds tradition in place), and the Path between Chesed (the place where forms and structures are stabilized and nurtured), and Chokmah (dynamic male energy, the origin of vital force and polarity) is flavoring my reversed Knight of Swords, and perhaps my reversed Faith card is offering a solution to my warnings today.  Perhaps I have let myself be a bit bound by the traditions and culture that I hold important.  Sometimes we need to bring in a bit of new blood, or try new methods, in order to see things in a new way.  Again, I don’t think I should be The Fool today, for care is still needed, but I should look to non-tried-and-true methods for attaining my goals of the day, and I might want to stop worrying so much.  Occasionally, not planning or going by the book is a good thing, and not imposing rules upon my day might lighten my load a bit.

My 6-digit date number is 7, the number that indicates a slowdown as growth ends and stagnation begins, often accompanied by a choice or crossroad. 

My horoscopes: “There may be a great deal of fuss over something that seems quite insignificant to you, Sagittarius. Try to see the beauty and importance of everything around you. At the same time, make sure you give yourself enough credit for being the person you are. Egos are apt to go through a bit of a transformation that will affect the way you react to the outside world.”

And: “You may feel the need to act out aggressively in regards to the climactic period in your life that is going on right now thanks to long-term trends. There is a great expansion of energy today that is encouraging you to take action. There may be opposition in your way, but keep in mind that you have a great deal of strength on your side. The warrior inside you is ready to fight and you have a great deal of fire burning within.”

My Shadowscapes Insight is regarding The Sun.  What I love about the image on the Shadowscapes Sun card is that it does not show midday, rather it shows dawn and the golden light the floods our landscape once the sun completely clears the horizon.  Serenity, calmness, and lots of potential, are the feelings I get at that time of day!

Today, we talk about Mars.  Mars is the ruling planet of Aries and Scorpio, and the First and Eighth Houses.  The two signs ruled by Mars are opposite Libra and Taurus, which are ruled by Venus. Any aspect between Venus and Mars that shows up in a chart shows how the subject relates to the opposite sex and decides when to be aggressive or when to be passive.

Mars is the Roman god of war and bloodshed, both the planet and our blood are a deep, rich blood red because they are rich in iron. Mars is the first planet outside the Earth in our solar system, and thus we can easily see it during the entire evening, rather than right around sunrise or sunset.  Mars orbits our sun in 687 days, spending about 57 ¼ days in each of the Zodiac signs.

Astrologically, Mars is associated with confidence and self assertion, aggression, sexuality, energy, strength, individuality, yang passion, independence, ambition and impulsiveness.  Mars governs sports, competitions of all kinds (including the arts of soldiering and warfare!) and physical activities in general.

In medicine, Mars presides over the genitals (particularly the male genitals), the muscular system, red corpuscles, the nose, the gonads and adrenal glands. It was traditionally held to be hot and excessively dry and ruled the choleric humor. It was associated with fever, accidents, trauma, pain and surgery. In modern astrology, Mars is said to rule the first and eighth houses; traditionally, however, Mars ruled the third and tenth houses. While Venus tends to the overall relationship atmosphere, Mars is the passionate impulse and action, the masculine aspect, discipline, will-power and stamina.

Although Mars and Venus, like Mercury and Venus, can be seen as opposites, they are alike in their sensuality and passion.  Venus unites, but Mars, like Mercury, divides, but for different reasons.  Mercury takes things apart out of curiosity and in order to understand them, but Mars is the active force of the individual, exhibiting outward-thrusting energies, expressing the Self, and fighting for the rights of the individual.  Mars symbolizes the human libido, not merely sexualized energy but human life essence, the Chi. This planet can be one way to define how we go after what we want, and it can be about our aggressive urges and our survival methods. 

These tendencies represent the subjugation of spirit by matter, or the primacy of the desires of the flesh over higher aspirations. With Mars the need to be an individual is more important than the need to relate or connect to others.  Men are indeed from Mars, and women from Venus!

Mars is retrograde 11 weeks every 25½ months. Since Mars symbolizes the exteriorization of our energy to go after what we want, the internalizing and delaying aspects of retrogradation are the most problematic when Mars Rx appears in a chart. Mars retrograde individuals need to turn their desire energies inward to discover their own motivations, perhaps doing things repeatedly until they understand why they are doing them. This can be the result of early life experiences that blocked the normal expression of desire energy and the ability to prove themselves.

Lots of power here!

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