Astrology with Alice: Ready for another retrograde?

Mars goes retrograde this month on Dec. 6. And if this sounds familiar, it’s because I talked about another retrograde last month, but that was regarding Mercury. In fact, the two retrogrades will overlap between Dec. 6 and Dec. 15, which doesn’t often happen.

What does that mean for us? It means we’re going to be in our feelings—lots of emotionally soupy and potentially frustrating feelings. Also, lots of reevaluating, reconsidering, and reviewing. With Mercury wrapping up its retrograde and Mars starting its retrograde, December will be a month of reevaluation.

We went over the meaning of the Mercury retrograde last month, but it helps to remember the universal rules of retrogradation, regardless of the planet. Retrogrades bring a sort of backwards energy. Once at a lecture, astrologer Jodie Forrest said the energy of a planet goes widdershins when it retrogrades, which I love because the word sounds wonky and that’s exactly how retrograde energy can feel. (Widdershins is Gaelic for counterclockwise, which was considered unlucky because it went against the direction of the sun.)

So when a planet retrogrades and goes widdershins, it looks like it’s going backwards from our vantage point here on Earth. It’s not actually going backwards in its orbit, but it seems like it because we’re all moving from different points and at different speeds around the sun. Astrologically, it heralds a period of reevaluation—especially with the issues represented by the planet going retrograde.

The difference between Mars and Mercury retrogrades

Last month, we discussed how Mercury going retrograde in Sagittarius invites us to confront our belief systems. We can see that happening now, especially in the United States where the Democratic party is now reevaluating its approach and priorities in the wake of their loss to Donald Trump. So how is a Mars retrograde going to be different?

First, Mars retrogrades only happen about every two years, compared to Mercury retrogrades, which happen about three times a year. 

Second, Mars retrogrades last a lot longer. Mercury only goes retrograde for about two weeks, while Mars stays in retrograde for about two months.

Therefore, right off the bat, you see that Mars retrogrades are more notable because they don’t happen as often. In fact, out of all the planets, Mars goes the longest between retrogrades, so we could say that these are the most uncommon retrogrades that we experience.

Third, the Mars retrograde is happening in a different sign from the Mercury retrograde, which changes the flavor and the purpose of the retrograde. Whereas Mercury went retrograde in the fire sign Sagittarius, Mars is going retrograde in the water sign Cancer. In astrology, water represents feelings and the emotional body. Also, Cancer is, in my personal opinion, the biggest crybaby out of all the water signs. (Before the Cancers come at me, please remember that I wrote you all a heartfelt defense last summer. I’ve also accused my own sign, Aries, of being the tantrum-throwing toddler of the zodiac, so I’m an equal opportunity astrological hater.)

Cancer also represents close friends, family, and home, and it really cares about safety. Like its symbol the crab, it just wants to stay home and be safe. And because of its focus on nurturing, Cancer energy wants to make sure that its loved ones are fed, clothed, warm, sheltered, and safe. (Fun fact: Almost all my clients in the food industry have either strong Cancer placements or Taurus placements. I think it’s because Cancer likes to feed and Taurus likes to eat.)

If we need to shore up our boundaries somewhere in our life, the Mars retrograde may dig into the issue.

Okay, so any planet going retrograde in Cancer means that we’ll be reevaluating issues concerning our safety, security, home life, and kin. And since Cancer is also emotional and has a tendency towards seeing itself as a victim, the stuff that triggers our victim mentality will also be up for review. If we need to shore up our boundaries somewhere in our life, the Mars retrograde may dig into the issue.

This is very different from the Mercury retrograde in fiery Sagittarius, when it was our worldview being reevaluated. Mars is more about our agency and our will.

The meaning of Mars and what happens when it retrogrades

Mars is an action planet. When I want to see how a person gets things done—how they go about getting their way in the world—I look at the placements of their sun and their Mars in their chart. The sun is the ego, and Mars is like the agent that the sun sends out to perform its will. 

The other planets don’t represent how we take direct action. The moon feels, Mercury thinks, Venus feels. But Mars? Mars does. So yes, the other planets can affect our actions, but the way we take action will always be colored by Mars’ condition in our birth chart. (For example, Mars in a firecracker sign like Aries will anger and calm quickly while Mars in a slow burn sign like Scorpio will seethe and wait for their opportunity to act.) Mars also represents how we fight, get impatient, get angry, and can also describe our impulses. There’s an entire spectrum there, where “high road” Mars is like Captain America—a strong protector and leader, empowered and confident—and “low road” Mars oozes insecure, toxic masculinity. (And let’s remember that we’re all born with masculine and feminine energy, regardless of our gender identity.) Therefore, as part of the Mars retrograde experience, we’re going to confront where we’re currently landing on that spectrum of confidence versus insecurity.

When Mars goes retrograde, the usual go, go, go! impulse of Mars feels thwarted. And that’s the main keyword I would assign to this retrograde—feeling thwarted. When it comes to asserting your will, accomplishing your goals, and making things happen, we might feel hindered, impeded, and obstructed. This develops into frustration, which is the feeling that springs when Mars feels thwarted. 

Therefore, if you feel frustrated this month, it’s a good time from now through Feb. 23 to investigate those feelings. It’s those very feelings of frustration that orbit the heart of the issue that the Mars retrograde wants us to reevaluate. Questions to consider when frustrations spring are:

1. Why exactly are you feeling frustrated? 
2. What is at the root of the frustration?
3. If it’s related to something you feel like you need to do, why are those goals necessary?
4. Is there a possibility that those goals could be outdated or unnecessary?
5. And if it’s related to something you’ve been avoiding, is this your cue to face it?

For me, I think back to the last Mars retrograde in 2022 that happened in Gemini. I not only reevaluated some writing and publishing endeavors (writing is associated with Gemini), I also made the decision to shift professional goals and redirect my energy to other projects (the retrograde happened in my 11th house of long-term goals). And I can already tell that this current Mars retrograde is making me face health conditions that I’ve had a laissez-faire attitude towards. A Mars retrograde ultimately asks you, “Are we sure this is really what we want to do? What else could we be doing that’s more aligned with more authentic goals? And what fights are we running away from that we need to develop courage to face?”

This Mars retrograde will bring forward things that frustrate our inner warrior—especially things that bring out our inner crybaby, since it’s happening in the sign of Cancer. And this isn’t another dig at Cancer. Cancer doesn’t give a flip if you catch it crying. It doesn’t assign shame to tears because it believes that we have the right to cry. It’s our birthright to feel bad when bad things happen, and in the eyes of Cancer, it’s crazy that we all don’t cry more. So when a frustrating Mars retrograde happens in Cancer, we’re drawn to break past the stiff upper lip to get to the tender places where our gripes live. Maybe it’s time to allow our inner crybaby to, as my Aussie friends say, throw a wobbler (I think that’s their word for “tantrum”). Maybe it's time to finally indulge in a little whine-fest for ourselves.

This is the real evolutionary aim of retrogrades—they encourage us to let out stuff we’ve repressed, ignored, forgotten, or hidden so that we can finally have a chance to deal with it out in the open.

And once it’s all out in the open and acknowledged, we can put our adult pants back on and face it and process it productively. This is the real evolutionary aim of retrogrades—they encourage us to let out stuff we’ve repressed, ignored, forgotten, or hidden so that we can finally have a chance to deal with it out in the open.

And while I’m not a fan of throwing out generalized rules, there are some things that I would not do under a Mars retrograde. Since Mars rules action and how we assert our will, when it goes retrograde, it’s not a great time for taking major action. I would caution against:

1. Launching businesses
2. Starting major projects
3. Engaging in risky behavior
4. Physical overexertion 
5. Mars is a physical planet, so taking care of your health in general is important during its retrograde

And since Mars has an association with conflict and fighting, I would urge introspection over giving in to conflict and anger. This advice is sound any day, but especially when Mars is in retrograde.

How Mars retrograde will affect each sign

Find your sign in the list below to see what area of life will be affected more by this retrograde. Also look up your rising sign if you know it. (You can use this free resource to find your rising sign.)