Mars Retrograde Mars goes retrograde about every two years and two months, on average, making it a fairly rare event and the least frequent of all the planets. During this time, our approach to conflict, hostility, anger, assertiveness and taking action often requires rethinking, regrouping and reintegrating. You may be required to draw on your strengths to assert yourself in some area where you've been reserved, cautious or inexperienced. The weakest links in your life may break apart or need to be repaired. You might need to find new ways to become empowered. Whatever your current situation, Mars retrograde offers a chance to withdraw, regroup and try a new "attack" on the challenges in your life.

Under Mars retrograde, we may be confronted by issues involving these emotions, either within ourselves or through others. During the retrograde phase, we may be unusually sensitive to disagreement, conflict and power dynamics in the world around us. We might encounter a need to examine how we deal with aggression, and then integrate the powerful forces of human nature into our lives in some new way. Anger, hostility, force, threat, displays of power, and other forms of aggression, naturally invoke a certain degree of fear, both in the person on the receiving end and possibly in the person expressing it. The primary instinctive responses to fear are: Fight, Flight or Freeze. To Fight is to meet the challenge and move forward to defeat the threat; or alternatively, to impulsively lash out in rage or self-defence. The Flight response is to turn around and remove oneself from danger, either backing away carefully or running at a gallop. To Freeze is to be the proverbial "deer in the headlights" that is paralyzed and overwhelmed by danger, although this response can also buy time to gather information, courage and adrenaline before instinct chooses a more proactive response. We all have our preferred or automatic ways of responding to fear. Mars retrograde may challenge us to explore our less-used ways of dealing with anger and conflict. If we tend to freeze or take flight, for example, we may find the opportunity (and the courage) to mobilise our assertive and proactive nature. If we tend to launch an attack at the first sign of danger or competition, we might need to learn a more restrained or balanced way of protecting ourselves and defending our priorities.

Mars retrograde can also bring out desires, sexuality, passion, ambition and drive that have been suppressed, forgotten or undeveloped. Circumstances and interactions with others may tease or trigger these impulses to the surface. Although this may or may not be a comfortable experience, it is an opportunity to work with these areas in a new way that helps you develop, heal and integrate buried feelings and desires. This can be done by releasing them from their inner prison and learning to experience and express them in a healthy way. However, there is always something a little dangerous and risky about Mars. If a fired-up Mars is let out "without a leash," or without a way to maintain some degree of control over it, the results can sometimes be damaging and destructive. If we release pent up feelings too suddenly or too abruptly, without a way to support them within the whole of who we are, this can create more problems than it solves. This is what grounding is all about, and it is essential when handling the electric fire of Mars. The forceful power of Mars needs to be balanced with awareness and integrity in order to function in a healing and constructive way. While the transiting Mars is retrograde, we have access to all this Mars energy—in all its potential and danger—in ways that we may not ordinarily allow into our lives. The results may be startling, disturbing, thrilling, frightening, inspiring, liberating and/or overwhelming, but always challenging and bringing a potential for healing. Mars retrograde often requires exploration of the deeper issues underneath the surface of the situation before you can move forward. As a result, progress can sometimes stall or go into hibernation during the retrograde period. Perhaps you've hit a roadblock or an impasse and you have to figure out the best way around it or through it. Maybe you're having doubts about a goal you've been trying to accomplish and you need to listen for a while to buried feelings, fears, drives and priorities that should be taken into account. You might find yourself having a delayed reaction to something that happened a while ago—perhaps triggered during the two months before the retrograde began (in the pre-retrograde Shadow), or even rooted in other Mars retrograde times in the past. It pays to use the Mars retrograde period to "listen" to what those inner feelings, impulses, passions and motives are trying to tell us before we act on them. This special time in the Mars cycle gives us a chance to discover and explore uncharted territory in ourselves and in our lives. We may not understand that territory or find our way to the other side until after Mars turns direct. But Mars honours our courage, drive, movement and willingness to try new things. Where will Mars lead you? Here are the next two Mars Retrograde dates.. June 26th, 2018 to August 27th, 2018. September 9th, 2020 to November 14, 2020.