January 4, 2023—Mercury, Mars and Uranus will all be stationing direct this month. When planets station, they decelerate, saturating the heavens with their significations. Their movements are reflected in our own patterns as we slow down, absorb and reflect. Here, we take a look at Mars and Mercury.
Mars stations direct on January 12th
Action planet Mars entered Gemini on August 20th. Normally, Mars charges through a sign in six weeks, cycling around the entire zodiac in two years. But since his retrograde from October 30th to January 12th occurs entirely in Gemini, he inhabits the Sign of The Twins for seven months! We will finally get respite in the Gemini part of our lives when Mars ingresses into Cancer on March 17th.
In Mars in Gemini, A Seven Month Endurance Test, I share what house Mars is transiting for each rising sign. Mars transits can agitate, frustrate and infuriate. After all, Mars is the God of War. Mars can also goad us into action.
Personal Example
For me, Mars is transiting my 4th House of home and family. I’ve dealt with constant noise pollution from my neighbors as they reunited for the Holidays. This noise has been generating underneath my living space for a good part of December. The result? My normally strong immune system plummeted into a nasty cold.
Like I wrote in the “endurance test” article, we experience varying degrees of severity with a Mars transit. I was especially hit hard because Gemini is an angular house for me and Mars squared many of my mutable placements. Squares are of the nature of Mars, which is aggressive yet also willing to take action, come what may.
As Mars stations, we can look to 8° Gemini in our charts. If we have an angle or planet there or at 8° of the mutables—Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces—that placement is getting an infusion of martial pow wow 💥 this month.
Mercury stations direct on January 18th
As Mars travels through Gemini, the fiery planet answers to Mercury who rules Gemini. Mercury’s recent retrograde on December 29th interfaces with Mars in the way that a host’s condition (Mercury) can affect a guest’s stay (Mars). If Mercury is slowing down to revise, review and rethink, the tools it has to offer Mars will reflect this deceleration.
Our human bodies are not meant to push, strive and endeavor 24/7. Retrogrades offer a celestial season of rest. An exhale. So even if we’re feeling a little more social since Venus entered Aquarius on Monday, it’s ok if we’re not crossing off action items on our to-do lists. Once Mercury—the planet of communication and commerce—and Mars—our willpower, drive and charge—turn direct, we’ll find our momentum again.
Important dates for Mercury this month include its union with the Sun on the 7th and energizing trine with Uranus on the 8th. This can feel like a moment of clarity and breakthrough. Pay attention to information and events at this time. They may come back again for implementation when Mercury is direct and trines Uranus again the end of the month on January 29th.
In addition, Mercury remerges as the morning star on January 14th. This will be his first appearance since tucking under the beams of the Sun which obscured him from the nighttime and morning skies. The Greeks called this important surfacing Phasis, meaning “an appearance that speaks.” This is a significant time for Mercury. Just having gone through the purifying furnace of the Sun, it reemerges as an empowered morning star and connected to dramatic announcements.
Mercury stations direct four days later on the 18th. But it won’t be until February 7th that we wrap up this retrograde when Mercury clears his shadow by advancing past 24° Capricorn and enters new terrain.
Takeaway
The takeaway? Be open to insights, downloads and breakthroughs by moving slower and grounding into presence. Sometimes, the best way to Do is to Be.
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