Astrologically, Mars represents physical energy. Whenever you do anything physical that involves Mars. It could be moving your little finger or destroying a city in war.
Obviously, warfare is an extreme form of physicality and so Mars has been primarily associated with that aspect and the more subtle side has tended to be ignored. While Saturn is called the Major Malefic, Mars is referred to as the Minor Malefic. This is because so-called ‘bad’ things often happen when these planets are having a significant effect. (See Living With Saturn: From Bad To Best for more on this.)
The Talmud (a collection of Rabbinical discussions written down around 500AD) discusses a person with a strong Mars influence. It says they will be a shedder of blood. It goes on to say this could be a murderer, a slaughter of animals for meat, or a surgeon. So strong Mars doesn’t automatically doom someone to doing bad things (as some might suggest).
In your personal birth chart (called the Natal Chart) Mars represents your physical energy. It shows you how you express yourself physically.
Let’s look at a couple of examples of how Mars affects a person.
A good starting place is Mars in the first house. (The houses are divisions of the chart based on the place where you were born. They show what areas of your life the planetary energies are being expressed through.)
The first house is your appearance and outward personality. It shows how people perceive you and you perceive the world around you. It’s the energetic channel between you and the outside world.
So how would Mars in the first house show up?
Firstly, you would have a strong need for physical activity. This is a real NEED just like your need for air and water to exist you would need to have a lot of physical activities. As I pointed out above, Mars is associated with very subtle movements as well as the big ones and so this could come out as being fidgety and having a lot of nervous energy as well as needing to spend a lot of time at the gym or running marathons.
A client of mine has this and she needs to dance, do Pilates and other physical activities or she becomes depressed and unable to function effectively.
Another example of the power of Mars is someone with it in the seventh house. This house represents marriage and close, intimate partnerships.
Having Mars in this area of your chart would mean you need a strong physical relationship with your partner. This could be sexual or just being very physically active. Unlike my client mentioned above this would be involving you and your partner. So, shared activities like dancing, the gym, bushwalking and so on are a great way to support this relationship.
If however, you have this combination and your partner is a very homey person or a ‘couch potato’ this can be a recipe for disaster. Your need for physical expression must be expressed or the energy becomes blocked and, like water finding it’s own level, this energy will find ways to come out. This can be through frustration, anger and even violence.
A case in point is a person in an abusive relationship. In the early days of the relationship the passion and sex keep things working but once this initial rush fades (and it usually does) there’s often nothing left to give this Mars energy an outlet and so eventually the relationship becomes violent.
We often find that a woman in this situation will either stay in the relationship (because that need is being met but not in an acceptable way) or will leave, get into a new relationship which seems different at first but then slides back into the same pattern as the previous one.
In this situation the person needs to look for a partner in places where people are involved in physical activities and so gyms, walking clubs, sports clubs etc are much better options than parties, pubs and the like. (If using a singles website check out potential partners who are into sports and such where you can participate with them and not be an onlooker.)
Obviously, to understand what’s happening for you in your own natal chart (and hence what really drives and motivates you) you need to consult with a competent astrologer.
To see if Laurence can help you have a look at Aviel’s Soul Pathfinder session and our Soul Navigator program. We’d love to share this journey of discovery with you.