Mars in Libra
By Kelly Fox
Mars, planet of action and assertion, moves into Libra where it will stay until August 23rd. Under the influence of Mars in Libra, and depending on how this transit affects your natal chart, you might find yourself putting other people’s needs before your own. It might be harder than usual to figure out what you want because you’re so tuned into others’ feelings.
This can lead to indecision and spinning your mental wheels, endlessly weighing all the possible scenarios rather than jumping in and committing to a course of action. In fact, you might even have a fear of commitment now, preferring to keep your options open.
Harmony is important to you now, and you may hesitate to assert your own desires for fear of upsetting people or rocking the boat in any way. While you might have a hard time standing up for yourself, when it comes to standing up for other people, you’re a passionate champion for the underdog. You’ve got a strong sense of fairness and are willing to fight for justice.
During this transit, you might have a tendency to suppress your anger, which could lead to feelings of frustration and irritation. At worst, your behavior could become passive-aggressive, as you try to manipulate outcomes instead of asserting yourself more directly. You might need to take the risk of temporarily upsetting the external harmony by being honest about your feelings, in order to create a more authentic and lasting peace.
If you have Mars in Libra as a natal influence, you could feel frustrated a lot of the time without understanding why.
It’s as if you were a race horse, raring to go, yet you’re held back by invisible reins that restrict you to a slow walk instead of a fast run. A lot of energy can get pent up in this process, making you feel impatient and even angry inside.
But something — your mother’s rules, perhaps, or the cultural climate where you live — has convinced you that it’s not okay to express your anger or impatience because it could offend someone else. Consequently you may put the concerns of others before you consider your own needs. They always seem to take a back seat to pleasing other people in your life. In fact, you can be quite impassioned about defending the rights of others, for you have an exquisite sense of fairness and balance and cannot tolerate injustice.
You are most forceful when you act on behalf of those who cannot speak up for themselves. These are your finest hours. Expressing your anger is often difficult for you, because you’ve been taught that it’s not proper. Unfortunately this can lead to passive-aggressive behavior until you learn you legitimize your own emotions.
