S2 – Ep 22 – Mars Retrograde in Leo & Cancer: Stalled progress & sluggish movement

SHOW NOTES

Ep 74 December 7

Mars retrograde 

Hi There and welcome to this week’s episode of the Kelly’s Astrology podcast.

Mars Station Retrograde in Leo

On Friday December 5 Mars will go retrograde at 6 Leo, so I’m going to talk about how to work with Mars retrograde in today’s show.

You might have noticed I missed an episode last week – Mercury retrograde got me and I wasn’t able to get an episode ready in time.

This time of year is a busier time with extra teaching as I share a series of offerings about working with the astrology of 2025. That plus heading into the holidays and I’m not exactly sure what the podcast schedule will be like over the next few weeks. 

I hope to offer you a show most weeks but there might be one or two shows that get missed, especially given Mercury’s retrograde while in Sagittarius and square to Saturn. Personally, I’m in a monthly profection ruled by Mercury at the moment and I can say the retrograde chaos is real for sure. 

I hope that Mercury retrograde isn’t treating you too badly! We do pass the halfway mark of Mercury retrograde on December 5, as Mercury meets the Sun and then Mercury will station direct on December 15.

And speaking of retrogrades, let’s take a look at another planet Mars and its upcoming retrograde.

Mars Retrograde in Leo and Cancer

Mars will be retrograde from December 6 – February 23. Mars’ retrogrades are longer than Mercury and Venus so expect the next few months to have a stalled or slower feel, especially around the topics of the Leo and Cancer parts of your birth chart.

Before we get further into Mars retrograde, my next live webinar, which is all about the 2025 transits and astrology trends, is now open for registration. This live webinar will take place on January 4, and I’ll be sharing all about the major astrology events of the year ahead. If you’d like insight into what 2025 might have in store, I hope you can join us! For details or to sign up here.

Ok so back to Mars retrograde.

Mars will spend part of its retrograde in Leo and part of its retrograde in Cancer. The first part of Mars retrograde is in Leo, from December 6 – January 6. The second part of Mars retrograde is in Cancer, from January 6 – February 23. 

Even though the Mars retrograde will start in Leo, Mars will actually spend more time retrograde in Cancer. 

So first, lets cover off some general themes of Mars retrograde. Keep in mind that while Mars retrograde is part of the astro weather for next three months, it may or may not have a big impact on you personally. 

Will Mars Retrograde Impact You Personally – or Not?

Usually a Mars retrograde will be significant for you if Mars is your timelord, if the sign in which the retrograde is happening is your profected house, or if you have lots of planets in Mars’s signs of Aries and Scorpio in your birth chart. If that’s not you, it’s likely there will be other more important astro factors influencing your chart.

That said, I know many of you like to understand the astro weather and so it is a great idea to keep an eye on retrogrades. Mars retrograde only happens every two years or so and it can be a helpful time to pause and go deeper around certain topics.

Reworking Assertiveness, How to Express Anger and Speak up for What You Want.

Mars is generally associated with assertiveness, anger, drive and courage. So you might be reviewing how you assert yourself or express your needs and wants. You might rethink how to manage your anger, and during the course of Mars retrograde you might gain new insights into navigating disagreements and tension. 

Since Mars likes to move and power forward, Mars retrograde might be a time when the pace of progress slows down, or you find you’re dealing with extra delays, detours or distractions. You might get sidetracked off your main project or find a new passion captures your attention for a little while.

Taking the least direct route is likely!

You can further personalise the influence of Mars retrograde by noting the topics of the house that you have Leo and Cancer on the cusp of. These will be areas in your chart and life where you will personally encounter and work with Mars retrograde.

Constructive Progressed and Concentrated Effort with Mars Retrograde

I know it’s really common to think about Mars retrograde as some kind of bad thing.

Personally, I think it can be a constructive cycle. When I think back on the last few Mars retrogrades and how they have shown up for me, I can see that the period of Mars retrograde was a time of concentrated effort towards a specific goal, where instead of moving quickly I was going deep into things. 

One personal experience I have is from a few years ago now, when Mars went retrograde in my 4th house.

During this time, we underwent a substantial renovation project on our home. The entire extended transit of Mars through my 4th house basically correlated with the renovation – which was so Mars – tradespeople, many of whom were young men, showing up with tools and implements that were sharp and noisy to first demo and then rebuild a part of our home. 

It was all the things you’d expect – intense, loud and busy, and of course, as is par for the course with building and renovation projects, there were some snafus and issues along the way. It did feel like our home life was taken over by this very Mars’y type experience.

And then, before we knew it, it was over – Mars left that part of my chart and things had been reworked, updated and improved in intense and profound ways.

One of my favourite words for a retrograde of Mars is concentration – like intense effort and energy expended towards a particular goal or problem.

Extended Transits of Mars While Retrograde

Mars usually spends just 6 weeks every two years in each house or sign in your chart. When retrograde, that can extend up to 6 months. So that’s where the concentration piece comes from – you get this extra long influence of Mars around an area of life, encouraging you to pull it apart and put it back together in a totally new – and hopefully better – way.

Unlike the retrogrades of Venus and Mercury, which happen on a regular pattern and predictably return to the same group of Zodiac signs, a Mars retrograde is more irregular and there’s no guarantee Mars will retrograde back in the same part of the Zodiac or your chart anytime soon.

In some ways the Mars retrograde is a special cycle to grab and use when you have it, as the intensity, effort and willingness to engage with a more complex problem or situation might not come around any time soon.

Mars opposite Pluto: Power Dynamics + New Alliances

One special feature of this Mars retrograde is that Mars will make an opposition to Pluto while retrograde.

Now here’s a little secret, usually, if a quick planet, when retrograde, aspects a slower moving planet, that will become a three aspect sequence that will flavour this particular retrograde. The first aspect happens before the retrograde, the second aspect during the retrograde and the third aspect after the retrograde is over. 

For Mars, its three oppositions to Pluto include 

November 3, 2024: 29 Cancer/Capricorn

January 3, 2025: 1 Leo/1 Aquarius

April 26, 2025: 3 Leo/3 Aquarius

Two of these three Mars Pluto oppositions will happen across the Leo/Aquarius axis – one in early January and one in late April 2025.

So with Mars opposing Pluto power dynamics and control themes will be highlighted. Since Pluto is settling into a new sign, this feels like new power dynamics for the new era.

You might find yourself aggravated about topics that never bothered you before. You might notice you’re getting into different kinds of disagreements or that you want to take charge in an area of life you’ve previously left to others to control or manage.

While Mars opposite Pluto can be a volatile type aspect collectively, I do think at the personal level, it can be revealing in terms of helping you understand the power you have and how you really want to use it. 

So that’s Mars retrograde in a nutshell. Let me know what houses in your chart will be activated by Mars retrograde. I hope these tips give you a few different ways of understanding and working with this Mars retrograde cycle, which will be with us until late February 2025.

Thanks so much for joining me! I look forward to sharing another episode again soon.

Bye for now