You know that feeling when you have a late flight and you’re trying to enjoy your last day in Amsterdam on vacation? And you’re kind of walking along the canals, pretending everything is all good and fun? But then you can’t really relax because in the back of your mind there’s the anxiety of airports, security lines, and many hours of cramped airline seats looming? Yep, that's how it feels knowing that the Mars in Gemini – stretching from August 20, 2022 to March 25, 2023 – transit is almost us.
Despite the good placements this year (dreamy Jupiter-in-Pisces, say), we’ve also known that the dreaded late night flight of August was coming. Three major transits in particular are vexing us this month: the aggressive triple conjunction of war-like Mars/North Node/Uranus on August 1st, which has coincided with China’s geopolitically destabilising military drills near Taiwan after US politician Nancy Pelosi’s rash, pro-Taiwan trip to the Pacific Rim; wildcard Uranus going retrograde in Taurus on August 25th, which will double unpredictability around Taurean themes of food, money, and security; and now, on the 20th, Mars entering talkative Gemini for an abnormally long jaunt until March 25th, 2023.
Whenever a planet overstays a welcome, as Mars will be doing soon, we should be on high alert. Usually Planet War spends roughly six weeks in each sign. This year it will march through Gemini for a whopping 7 months and 5 days due in part to a hellacious two month retrograde, beginning Halloween, October 31st (more about that transit closer to the time).
Aside from the Halloween retro, the other intense moment of this transit will last from August 20th until September 4th, when Mars’ ingress into Gemini will be most potent. What should we be on the lookout for?
Let’s prepare for intense and confrontational modes of communication, where words will be especially weaponized. Indeed, the ancient’s called Mars the Knife because it can be so cutting. Expect reactive and heated exchanges over the next few weeks–online, over dinner tables, on public transportation (basically wherever other people are). While Gemini deals with conversation, typically of a more airy nature, the Warmonger Planet is going to make pleasant discourse far less breezy.
In addition to brutal speech, anticipate frenetic mental activity (too many thoughts, the mind racing. anxiety). In Tarot, Mars-in-Gemini is represented by one of the most difficult cards, the 9 of Swords, also known as Cruelty. This card usually depicts a woman crying, unable to sleep, with 9 ominous swords in the background. Experientially, this transit (like the Cruelty card) betokens things like warring ideas, worry, and even sleeplessness caused by an overly restless mind.
On the global or political level, Mars-in-Gemini will manifest in cyber attacks, data breaches, hacking into emails–again forms of violence related to communication. As a kind of preview, Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort was just raided by the FBI in search of illegal documents. The Feds literally hacked into Trump’s safes for info on his communications. This is pure Mars-in-Gem and we can expect this kind of stuff to continue.
Here's how to tackle to aggressive, frenetic and unseemly Mars-in-Gemini energy.
1. Word audit
If words are going to feel more weaponised, let’s make sure that we do our part to broker peace. No angry texts. No online screeds. No sharp words for the waiter. Of course, we should never engage in such behaviour, but the ingress of Mars-in-Gemini is going to make not doing so more difficult. Look before you leap and zip-it before you speak.
2. Matter over mind
To help get us out of the heated headspace that might provoke us to send that aggro text, take some time to attune yourself to the primacy of the body over mind. Exercise to neutralise the excess mental activity lurking on the horizon of this transit. Again, exercise is always important–but more so around now. A jog will be your mind’s best friend during this transit.
3. Multitask within reason
Perhaps we have been coming down too hard on this war-like transit. Let’s use this last bit of advice to extend an olive branch. Mars-in-Gemini is an excellent time to get stuff done. Gemini is a dual bodied sign (the Twins). What’s more, it’s mutable air, meaning great for managing multiple projects with high turnover. Caffeinated Mars will bring even more espresso energy to our upcoming days. Using this transit to our advantage would look something like this: mobilise Mars-in-Gem to get two important things done (not 20) over the next couple weeks. If we let Mars-in-Gem move forward without some discipline, then we can anticipate finding ourselves in the frenetic mode (or words as weapon mode) that we’ve been discussing so far. Multitasking within reason will lead to high productivity.
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