talk to the Hand

a reorientation

No, not like that.

I mean The Hand, as in Rob.

Ages ago, for a Kepler College event, Rob shared an insight about Mars that has stuck with me, and seems pivotal (get it) for this moment.

Mars, the first planet to orbit outside the Earth’s ellipse, functions as a sentinel, he suggests. Mars keeps watch over the Earth, defending it from the enormous gravitational pull of Jupiter. Hand dives into a military metaphor (fitting given his PhD thesis was on medieval battle astrology,¹ which is just awesome). Soldiers on a mission focus; they fight for something. When the mission ends, rowdiness sets in until the next mission provides a new direction. Without a mission, the urge to fight is still present, often expressed more defensively, fighting against whatever befalls one.

So, Hand says, give Mars something to do, and you can soak up a lot of the problems it can cause.

Rather than fighting against, fight for.

Leonardo da Vinci is known to have said, “The function of muscle is to pull and not to push, except in the case of the genitals and the tongue.”

Lifting.

With the Sun careening through the bounds of Mars in Aquarius, i think about Hand’s suggestion that we find a mission to fight for. My clients this week have trying to find the verve to fight for their art, for their work in this world, to keep themselves from sinking under the weight of it all.

As this bound proceeds, Mars comes close to conjoining Vesta, my favorite asteroid, and their tango will hopefully spell a new commitment (Vesta) to our personal missions (Mars) aligned in the kind of faith and confidence (both in the bounds of Jupiter) we saw during the Benito Bowl on Sunday.

Another layer of Mars, Bad Bunny held the entire segment in Spanish, confronting the Comfortable with the homegrown reality that ‘alterity’ (Mars) is actually the default, not The Other. More of our nation looks and loves like this than doesn’t, and it’s worth fighting for. And that message got amplified to millions (Mars in the Jupiter bound of Aquarius; Sun in the Mars bound of Aquarius; Mercury in the Venus bound of Pisces, unity of all).

~

Yesterday, a shrill sound pierced the air from across the street. My neighbor, who usually makes his presence known when he starts his heavily tuned diesel truck, was… learning the trombone? or some other brass instrument? or is that shriek a power saw, melodically slicing something into smithereens?

The sound was unique, so far, in the years I’ve lived here, and a sign that all was right in my world. In my chart, Mars rules the zone signifying neighbors, and when they whip out annoying sounds and behaviors, I silently send a curt nod to Mars, thanking him for the greeting, and move on with my business. Even if the sound is always grating. Rather than truly be annoyed, I take it higher up and acknowledge Mars, who always diffuses the surge of irritation.

When we can work with the Mars bits and see the assignment, we can stoically make room for things that disturb (Mars) us. It’s no less disturbing, that sort of interruption, but it also doesn’t get to dictate the rest of my world when those things happen. In fact, they become little parables for my writing, and I get to share the image of the sonic pollution tethered to insights into our lesser malefic.

I still can’t figure out if the sound was from brass or power tools. I guess we’ll find out if it starts to become a regular occurrence. I’ll let you know.

In true Mars fashion, I’ll abruptly end. If you reread this and consider your Mars placement, and the house cusps it rules, you might find some direction during this time. The Sun bops into the bounds of Saturn on Friday the 13th. See you then!

-jenn

1. Robert Hand, "Textual Evidence for the Use of Military Astrology in Late Medieval Italy." Catholic University of America, 2014.

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Cover photo by Sonika Agarwal on Unsplash.