Mars in Taurus for 6 months (10 August 2022 -- 13 March 2023)

Sincerest apologies for a very delayed post. 

These are the important dates to be kept in mind for this complicated and long Mars-Taurus transit:

In the year 2022: 

1. Mars enters Taurus on 10 August (Krittika Nakshatra -- ruled by the Sun)

2. Mars enters Rohini Nakshatra on 27 August (ruled by the Moon)

3. Mars enters Mrigashira Nakshatra on 24 September (ruled by Mars) 

4. Mars enters Gemini on 16 October while remaining in Mrigashira

5. He slows down, and goes Rx in Gemini on 30 October in Mrigashira

6. He returns to Taurus on 13 November in Rx mode, remaining in Mrigashira

7. He re-enters Rohini Nakshatra on 4 December in Rx mode 

In the year 2023: 

1. Mars becomes progressive and direct on 13 January in Rohini Nakshatra

2. Mars re-enters Mrigashira Nakshatra on 25 February

3. Mars re-enters Gemini on 13 March and remains in Mrigashira till April

Some factors have to be figured in, to better understand the experience of this Mars-Taurus transit. While other planets go Rx every year, Mars goes Rx once in every two years, making his Rxs a special occasion. Mars Rx phases indicate to recalibration and a change in individual priorities. This time the recalibration takes place in Taurus (and partly Gemini) making the position of Venus and Mercury important. Though Mars, being primarily a man of action, is uncomfortable in the relaxed and pleasure-loving environment of Taurus and data-driven Gemini -- they slow him down, he nevertheless does well in earthy signs -- Capricorn for instance, where Mars is exalted. Whatever else you are doing in life, this is a time to think/ rethink the nature of your fixed assets, homes, offices, renovations, savings, and investments from the perspective of 'settling things down', and fixing things as permanently as possible'. Though you might not be ready to do this, you will definitely have some thoughts and plans regarding the theme in this period. This recalibration may need some patience and effort though. When something is stuck, it doesn't get unstuck simply by pulling harder at the string. Sometimes, the string breaks and then, one is faced with an even bigger jam. Even if Mars feels frustrated quite easily in Taurus, this transit will bring wisdom and patience. If wisdom can be imbibed, this transit is definitely not unproductive, especially if Mars shows enough readyness to engage with different kinds of solutions and problem-solving methods that involve negotiation. 

 

Mars is uncomplicated and simple at heart. In his aggressive avatar, he throws tantrums and is accident-prone. But on the positive side, he presides over righteous, warlike, and surgical solutions that heal. He motivates, taking initiative in powerful and a secure kind of way, and is a workoholic, his presence denoting the somewhat overbearing influence of men in one's life. The key here is to understand that Mars is child-like and can hence, be controlled, even if he is a somewhat troublesome and a stubborn presence, while doing group-work. He wants to go his own way. Mars can be supremely commanded with love and respect. And once he decides to love, he surrenders completely -- capable of demonstrating loyalty, bhakti, and sacrifice -- Lord Hanuman jumps to our minds -- no bhakti can ever surpass his. Venus is the opposite. He is male too, and in Taurus denotes home, comfort, food, speech, art, comfort, friends, entertainment, and family get-togethers and celebration. Though Mars feels uncomfortable with Taurus's constant agenda of staying home (for he wants to go out, socialize, and fight), his energies can be deployed to home-improvement tasks: repairing the fence, making new renovation plans that he can execute. Mars must also put his finances in order at this time (rather than spending). Venus's position in watery Cancer till August-end is not too supportive for financial management, for situations still feel unformed, but this will improve. 

Discussing the Martian gaze from Taurus, Mars has a protective gaze on the 4th and 8th house from itself, with a neutral gaze on the 7th house. From Taurus, Mars gazes at Leo (ruled by his great friend, the Sun), Scorpio (ruled by himself and Ketu), and Saggitarius (the mooltrikona house of great friend, Jupiter). All these gazes are beneficial. Venus enters Leo in August-end, and Mars thereafter has an exchange of values with Venus, due to Mars's close relationship with the Sun. Jupiter is comfortable in his own house in Pisces, and his wisdom flows strongly into Mars through the latter's 8th and later 7th gaze over Saggitarius. Jupiter remains our constant source of support and inspiration in the next 6 months. 

However, Ketu who occupies Libra at present, Venus's mooltrikona house, influences Taurus too -- Venus's other house, in aiding some of Mars's disruptive tendencies there. Ketu is an entity that denotes past accomplishments and one's apathy to it (the way you never want to look back ever again at your PhD dissertation). Ketu denotes past achievements, and brings the native a sense of revulsion and exhasion with past matters that are already closed in his mind. Ketu is imagined as a flag of victory already planted, and while for Venus ruled signs, this denotes home and family; in accompaniment with Mars, this can bring in two kinds of results. 

Ketu-Mars-Venus results in a burning desire to change one's identity, home, work, job, and take a break from family, kids, spouses, friends, colleagues, and everyday activities. This situation motivates the Martian to go abroad and seek new horizons, an activity that quenches his restlessness and curiosity. This is a good time to take a holiday -- take a break from monotonous home activities that bore and tire you. There could be another kind of result that Ketu-Mars-Venus brings in, and that involves a phase of mercenary achievement. It is an approach in one of the above mentioned zones of activity surrounding home, family, social circle, work etc, when Mars, imbibing Ketu's headlessness, progresses relentlessly towards the achievement of material gains in Taurus-related fields. He ploughs on over here exactly by switching off, and without emotionally investing in the gain. Becoming apathetic himself, Mars uses Ketu to vent his working-aggression in the Venus zone, mindlessly seeking victory over meaningless tasks. This is not about Mars's happiness. It is about his compulsion. This is a very productive time for Mars to finish his tasks and meet his deadlines, specially for activities that he is interested in, or for finishing tasks that serve the agenda of group work.  

The time he goes into Gemini between mid-October to mid-November, Mars not only occupies Gemini's natural, information-driven, work-related sign, but his 4th gaze also shifts to Virgo, Mercury's mooltrikona exalted sign of wielding minute perfection. Mars's gaze remains steady over Saggitarius though the gaze changes from the 8th to the 7th gaze. His 8th gaze shifts meanwhile to Capricorn. Mars agitates Geminin and Virgo by pressuring Mercury into performing beyond his means and energy (large deadlines and crushing work-load), even while the Jupiterian wisdom remains a constant source of support, flowing in from Saggitarius and Jupiter's current position in his own house of Pisces. Mars is exalted in Capricorn, and this is an excellent 8th gaze, except for the small caveat that Saturn is himself currently sitting in Capricorn where he is very strong. Saturn is in Rx motion in Capricorn till October-end, after which he goes direct, and exits to Aquarius in January 2023. Mars in the Gemini period of his transit from 16th October till 13th of November will oversee the transformation of Saturn from his Rx to direct motion in Capricorn, and will significant impact Saturn and Capricorn-related issues.       

There is yet another important transit to be kept in mind here. The sensitive transit of Mars in Gemini from mid-October to mid-November is accompanied by the Sun's transit taking place in Libra at eactly the same time. Not only is Mars uncomfortable in Gemini, but the Sun is debilitated in Libra where the Sun additionally confronts old enemies and obstacles in the form of Ketu. Watch out for this time, where you may feel criticized, and may have to bow to the collective will of others, with both Mars and the Sun feeling weak and troubled. Keep an open mind. 

Though Venus and Mercury will also cross Libra and Ketu one by one, with all of us being visited by some or the other past difficulty however briefly, the only thing that remains stable throughout this time is Jupiter's steady gaze from Pisces that stabilizes Cancer (Jupiter's exaltation sign) -- 5th gaze, Virgo despite Mars's pressuring of Mercury -- 7th gaze, and Scorpio through the 9th gaze that controls some of Mars's disruption, effected by the latter's 7th gaze from Taurus. Its a pity that Venus's transit in Libra this time, Venus's mooltrikona sign, will be marred by Ketu's presence. Venus's visit to Libra is usually auspicious -- a great time of reunion and celebration. This time round, the happiness will either be reduced a bit, or the reunion may get, well dramatic. Mars's final transit to Gemini in March 2023 will, interestingly, coincide with Jupiter's transit into Aries in April 2023. Just like the period of transformation in October-November this year, the months of March and April in 2023 will also herald new changes.    

Though Mars is uncomfortable in Taurus, he is friendly with all the Nakshatra lords encomassed in Taurus. He is obviously friendly with the Sun who rules Krittika, and he also very friendly with the Moon who rules Rohini. Mrigashira is in any case a Nakshatra ruled by Mars himself. Though Mars has a double transit in Rohini and Mrigshira this time, through the forward and backward motions implicit in the Rx and direct motion, he won't return to Krittika again. 

Krittika is a fiery sign imagined as Skanda-Kartikeya's mothers (the ferocious matrika-gana), denoted by a sharp knife. This sharp knife is often considered the midwife's knife that separates the child from its mother and placenta -- pitting the child into danger, but also a new and individual existence -- a quintessential Martian quality. Mars is more self-serving and narcissistic in Rohini, and one would have to look out for (and protect oneself against) strange alliances and contracts,  born out of curiosity, especially since Rohini is followed by Mrigashira, a space of separations where Mercury was born after the Moon began having an affair with Tara, Jupiter's wife. There is a sense of discomfort, incompletion, and absence-of-closure to relationships and engagements that take place out of curiosity between Mars and Moon in Taurus's Venus-ruled domain of Rohini and Mrigashira, especially with Mrigashira lying separated between Taurus and Gemini. 

The decisions you will take in October-November will have consequences over the time when Mars returns to Gemini in March 2023, a time when Jupiter will also move to Aries, and conjoin with Rahu for 6 months (till Rahu-Ketu change axis in October 2023 to move into Pisces-Virgo). A word of caution here: do not search for perfection and completion. This search for wholeness and closure is eternal, an exhausting life-long journey that proves illusionary in the end -- like a chimera that wildly seeks something simultaneously, in multiple directions. Its confusing! This becomes reflected in the stag's eternal search for his own head in Mrigashira -- a separation across the boundaries of Taurus and Gemini. With powerful planets placed at these sensitive junctures, accept with grace that we too must remain incomplete and halved. Some things will never change, and they will remain the way they are, at least in one's this lifetime. Surrender to it as best as possible, and move on to use your Martian passion and strength to complete the work at hand, and plan new creative, kickass enterprises and projects!