I live in a house dominated by Mars.

My husband is Scorpio (ruled by Mars and Pluto) with Mars also in Scorpio. My daughter has her Sun, Mars, Mercury and Saturn all in Mars-ruled Aries. As for me? I have Mars in Scorpio and Venus in Aries. To say that there have been rumblings of late would be an understatement indeed.

Mars, you see, is retrograde – and retrograde is not the mode of movement that Mars is comfortable with. The people most likely to feel frustrated, restrained, caged, held back, blocked, whatever, are those with Mars signatures in their charts – personal planets or points in Aries or Scorpio.

Normally I don’t have that much of an issue with this. My extreme Piscean-ness (if there is such a word) helps me navigate the seas when they get a tad stormy and it also helps during Mars retrograde periods that my Mars is natally retrograde. It’s an energy that I’m used to. On the upside, it means that I can temper (for want of a better word) some of the intensity of that seriously intense Scorpio Mars, but on the downside, I am often frustrated by my own delay to act or to assert myself.

Of late I’ve been conscious of anger around me. I can’t count the number of people who have said that they’re feeling it too. I’ve been angry a lot too – for no real valid reason. It’s a latent anger, one borne out of frustration, impatience, perceived claustrophobia.

There have been times where I’ve felt as though I am the proverbial fish in a bowl – able to see what’s outside but constantly banging against the walls unable to get out. I’ve felt myself snap and snip at people for no good reason. It’s not them – it’s me. Ok, it’s possibly a little bit of them, but mostly it’s me.

That’s where tomorrow’s eclipse and the current astro weather comes in. You see Mars is currently square my natal Mars, and Uranus is opposite it. There’s friction in the air – and plenty of it.

I had a full-on overdue meltdown yesterday, triggered by nothing in particular, but by plenty of things in general. It was as volcanic in nature as it’s possible for a Scorpio Mars can be.

Of course, it was over quickly – as these things with me usually are – but it did what a good storm often does after a hot day: it cleared the air. I suspect that it was also the eclipse “crisis” that needed to happen in order for things to change.

That’s the thing with planets in fixed signs – they are by nature change resistant. There’s nothing wrong with this attitude in itself – why change something that’s working? So you hang on and hold on and deliberate and hold off taking action until along comes a crisis and there’s no longer a choice but to take action. And that’s usually when things become super uncomfortable and painful. That’s when they blow skyhigh.

The crisis that occurs at a lunar eclipse is generally one that’s within you. That’s not to say that an external event hasn’t triggered it, but the realisation is coming from within.

This is, even more, the case this time around as we currently have five planets retrograde – Mercury, Mars, Saturn, Pluto, Neptune – with a sixth (Uranus) virtually stationary and retrograde by August 7. That’s an awful lot of energy turned inward.

Given that Mars is the planet being triggered for me at this eclipse I’m looking at the fears that are holding me back. Sure, I’m frustrated by external forces – I’m working longer hours, finances are tighter than they have been, I’m not selling enough books and yadda yadda yadda – but I can’t blame any of that. Nor can I blame anyone else – although I absolutely have tried to do just that. The source of my impatience and frustration and anger is actually within me. I’m the one that needs to take action.

To help myself understand it, I pulled out a previous Moonshadow* report.

“Mars describes what we do to ensure our survival. When we are angry, there’s always a reason: we feel blocked, hindered, under attack. As surely as though we were in a showdown at high noon, we fear for our survival. Steven Forrest says of Mars and the survival instinct that “you can be a hunter, or you can be prey.” If you find yourself feeling attacked or challenged by others during this cycle, perhaps the threat is real. Perhaps you are in “prey” mode, and you are being called upon to learn how to defend yourself. On the other hand, you may be attracting enmity because others sense the aggression or competitiveness you haven’t acknowledged within yourself. Make sure you are feeding Mars by “hunting” what is healthy and challenging for you – the right challenges, the right career – instead of allowing that energy to be diverted into anger and aggression.”

I’d suggest that with Mars sitting next to the Moon at this lunar eclipse this message is one that’s pertinent for many of us – especially those of us with Mars prominent in our charts. Further, Uranus is also square this point.

Normally when there’s a square involved there’s also tension and frustration – and yes, I’ve used that word, frustration, a lot in this post. Something happens which forces you into action…it’s an action that’s the result of something happening rather than a decision that you’ve made.

As for Mars and Uranus? Mars can help us get what we want, and Uranus can help us be who we need to be. When these planets are square, restlessness, rebellion against restrictions, and impulsiveness can occur. We rail against that which we feel (rightly or otherwise) is holding us back, slowing us down, blocking our way.

The danger is if we throw all our obligations out the window – the baby with the bathwater so to speak – and create our own little revolution…which might achieve precisely nothing – except to cause pain to those who might not deserve it.

That’s not to say that a revolution or a rebellion isn’t required – it might very well be. A better solution, though, is one of continuous change rather than sudden upheaval. If you really listen to what’s going on – both within and without yourself – you’ll be pointed to the direction of where this change is required. If you’re constantly feeling the knives in your back or the explosions happening around you it’s a pretty good sign that something has to give – and you’re the one who needs to instigate that.

It’s very easy to blame others or a situation, but far harder to look internally at where the root cause might really be.

Ok, I haven’t even talked about where this eclipse is falling – in Aquarius and Leo…but I’ll do that in part 2.

*If you want to order your own Moonshadow report, follow the link in the sidebar. In full disclosure, I do get a small percentage of every report ordered.

Not sure about eclipses or how to work with them? Check out this post.