Mars retrograde in Cancer: semiotic and psychic disturbances, bringing the war home part 1

The upcoming retrograde of Mars in the sign of Cancer brings us a remarkable amount to unpack.

According to traditional astrology, Mars is in Fall in Cancer, the polar opposite to Mars’ exaltation in the Sign of Capricorn.

Fall is a status that indicates a certain degree of confusion, uneasiness and out-of-place unwelcome-ness, the stranger in a strange land. Fall is different for each of the planets, so Mars in Cancer presents an entirely unique definition.

It’s as if the natives in the territory, Cancer, know Mars’ reputation and Mars just doesn’t have the tools to meet the challenges, and doesn’t speak their language. There are many roadblocks and traps for the Warrior God to fall into. Mars is one of the most powerful archetypes, but astrological power does not refer to hegemonic or typical brute force. Mars lacks the temperament and nuance to navigate this particular terrain.

Cancer is like the Underworld for Mars.

The Moon rules Cancer, and the lunar world is embodied, semiotic, instinctual, sensual, primordial, maternal and extremely intimate. Cancer is all about feelings, good and bad, and about play. Cancer is guttural animal sounds, it is creative and fertile, feminine and receptive. Things need to be “just right” for the Cancerian, too hot or too cold, too loud or too soft, too rough or too smooth simply will not do…

The Moon loves moderately cool and very moist environments.

Cancer does not like conflict. It loves the nest, the coziness of home, comfort food and nurturing environments that change to suit the mood of the moment. Cancer loves to be in a childlike reverie, exploring feelings and sensual stimuli with cyclical certainty.

By contrast, Mars is at home with conflict. He represents excess heat and he is definitely embodied. Mars is the emergent Life force that breaks through the ground in the spring, interrupting the static and predictable cycles in order to assert itself in this embodied world. In the Fall, Mars rules Scorpio, when the Life Force is descending toward the Root. Mars purifies the waters to ensure that nothing potentially harmful gets to the root, where it could kill the plant.

Cancer, like all the Water signs, is an aspect of the semiotic realm, where archetypal symbols hold psychic dominion. Mars is the emergent force that takes the unconscious and brings it toward the solar world of logic and reason, but it does this through conflict and disharmony. Mars instinctually patrols for the disharmonious in the Lunar realm, and marks it for examination and moves it up toward the light of the conscious mind, or downward into the subconscious mind where it can peacefully gestate.

Mars is considered a Malefic planet because its function is to move things either away from the realm of the Great Goddess and into the masculine world, or safely deeper into the lunar world, free of danger. It shepherds the Life Force through times of initiation and strife.

Mars in Cancer makes conflicts deeply personal, bringing in family and those closest to us. Mars in Cancer brings the battle home, where we never want it to be. But sometimes, this is where it has to be, and we have no choice.

When we do battle over feelings and emotions, when subconscious trauma arises and we lose access to rational thought, things are likely to escalate and resolution can be difficult to find. This is central to Mars in Cancer.

And when we do battle in front of, or over our children, there is always collateral damage. Children are forced to take sides in conflicts that they often don’t understand, when we want them care free and basking in the nurturing love of their Mother.

Mars’ retrograde pattern is the least harmonious and predictable of all the planets, so when Mars goes in reverse, things are actually more intense, more focused, and more grinding and punishing than they are when Mars is charging forward into conflict. The retrograde motion happens when the Red Planet is at its closest point to the Earth, so its effects are likely to more powerful.

Mars in reverse is like the soldier who has gone through a season of campaigns, advancing and doing battle in a variety of terrains and through inclement weather. He has seen conflict and taken orders, but now he has been forced to retreat. A soldier spends a great deal of time waiting, training, polishing and sharpening his weapons, taking care of his steed and remaining vigilant. The actual time spent in battle is often short and chaotic.

During the retrograde, the initial love of mission and the freshness of battle have worn away, sometimes suddenly. The reality of life in wartime has taken hold, and the privation and entropy of living in extreme danger, in degraded environments, with traumatized people whose nervous systems are frayed, cannot be denied.

When this type of feeling reigns over one’s home, and the lunar world of nurturance is a fleeting memory, sanity may become a casualty of war.

Sometimes we need to confront a relationship in the domestic arena that has descended into this type of Underworld. Sometimes we have no choice.

The Moon also rules over sleep, which depends on regular cycles and a functional nervous system. Mars in Cancer, especially retrograde Mars in Cancer, does not create an environment conducive to sleep. Lack of sleep creates a particularly unstable and edgy warrior.

Sometimes we need to do battle with authority figures to maintain sanity in our homes. A healthy home cannot be maintained without healthy boundaries and borders: if the entire neighborhood or the whole world feels welcome to intrude upon your sacred lunar space, the Mars archetype rears its head- but with a ferocity that has no thought for rules of engagement. No holds are barred when the home and family is threatened.

Cancer responds well to good parental figures, consistent and regular guidance without excessive interference, but cold, technocratic authority and hierarchy are not necessarily part of the Cancer program. When leaders fail on this very primal level, the Mars in Cancer archetype becomes revolutionary. July 4, of course, is the middle of Cancer season.