Effects of Mars Retrograde in the Natal Chart

annie oakleyOne of the most feared planets to have retrograde in the natal chart is Mars. People hear that and think they’ll never get anywhere in life, that they have no drive, or even worse, that they’re in danger. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. In my research, among the 10% of people with Mars retrograde, we find heroes and villains, creatives, athletes, and people who seriously pushed against the grain.

· Creative Force – People with Mars retrograde are often driven to create, and their creations often turn the world on its head. They look at an art that has been practiced for years and they find a way to warp it just enough to make it stick in our minds forever. Take Beethoven and Mozart, who both changed the world so thoroughly that they are now the first names that come to mind when we think of classical music. Or what about O. Henry or e e cummings, who both transformed the world of literature? These men all took a form of art that had grown stale and breathed new life into it.

· Making it Physical – Mars, of course, is associated with the physical, including movement, exercise, and sexuality. And Mars retrograde natives know how to make that work for them. Take Lord Byron, another literary visionary, who famously composed his poetry while taking vigorous walks along the British countryside. Or look at Freud, who not only helped pioneer a new field of study, but who rooted that study firmly in the physical, connecting various mental states to the physical development of the body. Mars Retrograde people know that there’s no life without the body that houses it, and that is the source from which their creativity springs.

· Emboldened Violets – One thing that struck me in my research is how many pioneering women had Mars retrograde. Because retrograde planets tend to turn inward, these women were unable to project their Mars onto their husbands as was expected at the time. Instead, they owned their Mars thoroughly and refused to let anyone tell them different. Look at suffragists Susan B. Anthony and Louisa May Alcott, or famed abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe. Heck, look at Annie Oakley, who lived her Mars so completely that she was famously quoted as saying, “I ain’t afraid to love a man. I ain’t afraid to shoot him either.” THAT is a powerful Mars.

Mars retrograde in the natal chart gives people a powerful ability to attack problems from new angles. From reviving lost art forms to challenging the status quo, these natives are true powerhouses. In fact, my research has shown that a well-honed retrograde Mars is a superpower. In true Mars fashion, they cut through the old and dead and bring new, bold, pulsing life into being. Just imagine where we’d be without them.

Do you have Mars retrograde in your natal chart? Do you know anyone who does?

18 thoughts on “Effects of Mars Retrograde in the Natal Chart”

  1. Yup I do. Me. I don’t think of myself as a powerhouse. However I am not sure others don’t. It trines my asc by a few degrees. Hadn’t noticed that before. My mother always said I did everything the hard way. On jobs I have been told more than once that I take the long way around but that I get results. So I guess it takes me longer but the shortcuts never worked for me. And yes, I had a lot to work through to free up my energy. When I first started that work, I got a lot of images (Mars rx in Pisces) from other times and places so that I considered past lives. That became neither here or there as I learned just to release all that. Images flashed lightning speed in my mind and poured out like water. Now I mainly experience mars rx as thinking before I act. Mindlessly reacting is never good as it makes problems.

  2. well, i dont, but by observing both my experience with mars retrogrades personal, and other peoples, and even now taking your research conclusions into account, id say depends greatly on which sign they have the rx natally, and do they have aspects that are supportive/an outlet to sexual frustration. Mars rx is deeply connected with an afflicted root chakra. is the moon supportive? Is saturn hard? Now i wish i could dive into your research more and discuss 🙂

    1. Could you explain what sexual frustration is? I take it does not have to do with having sex? Can’t get my head around that other than it would be a total energy block involving the first chakra? On a practical level I could see how when I faced roadblocks in my work, due to like system blocks or people unreadiness, I had to find a route around to achieve my goals. I guess my need to achieve beat out any frustration?

      1. Too, I think evaluating if a thing is doable with all factors considered is something I deploy. I don’t have a problem accepting what would just be spinning my wheels and walking away. That would prevent useless frustration. But I still can’t equate that with sex.

        1. Oh I double checked you. While mars is equated with chakra 1, sexuality is chakra 2 equated with Saturn. Reading about chakra 1 and mars is a mind bender as mars seems often equated with aggression. Equally bending is Saturn equating with sexuality. It most likely has to do with the body organ functions than my perceptions. As long as it works for healers and healers.

          1. Hi Notch, Im not a pro in chakras or kundalini stuff (not even close), please bear that in mind. What I find and I too had to check my suspicion, is the root chakra is the base of security. An afflicted Mars (which I have in the 1H opposed by Saturn) reflects on me as a neverending search for security around the many blocks that close relationships pose in my life. I did realize, with the recent loooong mars rx in aries (my 12H) that I did have a lot of sexual frustration. Not i the sense of the sexual acts or lack thereof, but in the sexual energy which is kundalini. As Freud explained also that all is sexual in some way of another (and psychology I do know a bit mire of) it’s about the power contained and often repressed in the individual. When you act your mars freely, you might not even get the results, but you feel secure in yourself, so not repressed, not prone to anger at others for what consumes YOU, even when things turn out different from what you expected. Thats true empowerment and control, when you control yourself regardless! So I kinda equated mars rx with an affliction, but as you well put it and Midara, perhsps thats where the opportunity resides. In your case, as you explain, you went through trial and error until you got a handle of how to properly use your mars rx energy, and you actually seem to enjoy the process of going the extra mile to get to your results. I found that too in this mars rx period! but i did have to deal with all the afflicted aspects in my chart that would havd been a pitfall for me… 🙂

            1. Put like that I get the mars 1st chakra energy. Martian energy probably usually gets a bad rap because the imbalance can result in destructive behavior. And then we have the social construct of the limited definition of what it is to be a man. That is really screwed up.

    2. Omg, the research is so amazing. It was a Herculean effort not to make this into a 20 page essay.

      The primary conclusion I am coming to is that placements that seem problematic early in life often become assets later on. In fact, they frequently become the defining energy of the person’s life.

      But it’s really striking how much variation there is. For example, Annie Oakley has Mars exalted in Cap while Susan B. Anthony has it fallen in Cancer, but they were both equally effective and both built legacies as trailblazing firebrands.

      (I love this topic so much. And I LOVE when I get to ramble about my research.) 😛

      1. The problematic is most likely to get the attention I suppose because of the tendency to want to fit in and a person knowing they are not like the others. Has a do or die feel to me. Glad you are having fun!

      2. Did you check when progressed mars went direct in their charts as to when they broke out? Big difference. I had some help as prior to that Mercury was retro in my progressed chart for many years. That was great. A wide variety of adventures. And then when mercury progressed direct I settled down. A different kind of adventure. And mars went direct a short time after so I could better apply my energy.

  3. Yes, MarsR 5 Scorpio 6th H, opposing Mercury 29 Aries & Jupiter/Venus in Taurus 12th H. It is also square BML at 5 degrees Leo & trine Saturn in Libra. I think it gives me an intensity that even now I don’t fully understand.

    I can drill down on work, no matter the complexity, and, like Notch, never take shortcuts or the easy way. Risking failure can be an imperative or else what’s the point? This occasionally works against me with people. Maybe they see it as a covert threat? It is perhaps smarter to work clever. Oh well. My Taurus keeps me in a straight line.

    I swim laps and aim for 0.85 mile 3 times a week. This keeps me relaxed & in pretty decent shape. A lover would have been nice over these years, but I don’t believe men keep their mouths shut, and I’m not willing to pay that price. It always gets out. There is always a cost, and with a husband & 3 sons, I probably wouldn’t have gone there. Still, in terms of physicality…

    Work – usually humbled; my standards kick in & I will go it alone. But it ain’t over yet, right?

    1. This threat thing, until people know me well they always think I am up to something. Suspicious minds. If only they knew that I am just tediously toiling along doing my work. Not very exciting at all. They can’t believe that’s all there is to me. I guess that left me with some esteem issues for some years feeling I was never enough.

  4. Midara, I can imagine you could easily write a whole book on this ? not so easy to just ditch parts, I relate! Astrology is one of my favorite rabbit holes ?
    I just did a quick check on their natals and find it fascinating that, as we discuss this, the sun is pratically conjunct Susans rx mars, AND opposing Annies (conj her Venus!), AND that this means the new moon this week is happening exactly in those degrees! Are their spirits meddling or what?!
    I couldn’t find Susan’s time of birth, so have no idea which house her mars fell in, but she had venus conj pluto and saturn in trine by sign, she might have had no choice but to set herself free? Venus is also involved in opposition to mars in Annie’s. But what really caught my eye is that both had NN in early degrees of masculine signs. Would love to hear what you think of this 🙂 ramble at your will

  5. Thank you so much for your research and positive words about retrograde Mars. My natal 3rd house Mars in Aquarius will soon station retrograde in my progressed chart. In some ways I look forward to this shift in hopes of lessening the Aries Moon/Sag ascendant fire bombs that are common in my life (Mars also squares Mercury/Venus in Taurus, sextiles Moon, trines Sun). I’m 50 with not great health and worry about the Mars energy folding in on me physically in a negative way. Any more words of encouragement on how to best express this new Mars energy?

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