Mars ingress into Cancer
In our lives and the United States
The ingress of Sidereal Mars into Cancer on October 19 was incredibly loud, a palpable shift of anger in a way that hit deeper and lashed out with a fierceness that caught a lot of us by surprise. Since this transit is so long-lasting, and also has links with the duration of the election, I wanted to do a deep dive on the midpoints and how they may show up in our personal lives throughout the coming months, but also how they play out in our country as a whole. I focused primarily on the midpoints to the Sun, Moon, Mars, and the Nodes and also bring up how a pair of midpoints point to a certain Yoga found in the Libra Ingress culminating during this Mars transit and retrograde. I have sectioned everything out to provide data then the translation of the data in order to make this easier to digest for readers of all levels of astrological knowledge, especially since I know midpoints in particular aren’t on many people’s radar. If you want to know only the translations of the midpoints you can skip straight to those sections, and if you want to see who I’m predicting to win the election you can skip to the end.
The Sun
The Sun within the midpoint and planetary picture techniques represents the physical body, much like your body as a shell of contact with the outer world. I like to relate this back to the Sun's significations in Vedic Astrology to bones, bones are typically a Saturnian signification in Tropical Astrology which, at first, is hard to stray from. We can see the Sun as our physical body, our individualism that having a body gives us, and also the typical signification of our spark of life. Just like the Sun we are born as a spark of life that grows fuels us and then, with luck of old age, slowly dwindles and dies out.
The Data
Compiling the data from midpoints to the Sun in the Mars ingress chart, we have a lot of outer planet interactions. Outer planets in midpoints aren't my primary focus, but they can paint pictures referring to what we encounter in this planet's significations within our generations, and topics that span longer moments of time. If an outer planet is making a midpoint with a more personal planet in a chart, it can represent what is suddenly or currently culminating within the longer transit's story. So we have to wrap in these long term themes, with sudden moments of insight or action that help the trajectory of the outer planets story unfold in a chart's life.
While pointing to the fifth house Sun in Libra on the Mars ingress dial we get these midpoints being picked up
Neptune/Uranus: bringing in the tenth house of Pisces and twelfth of Taurus.
Uranus/Vernal Point: tenth house of Pisces and twelfth house of Taurus.
Ascendant/Pluto: first house of Gemini and eighth house of Capricorn
Mars/Pluto: second house of Cancer and eighth of Capricorn.
Picking up midpoints to the Mars Ingress Transit Sun to the Libra Ingress chart on the dial, we see that the Sun is picking up the midpoints of
Vertex/North Node: eighth house of Aries, seventh house of Pisces.
Uranus/Neptune: ninth house of Taurus, seventh house of Pisces.
Uranus/Vernal Point: ninth house of Taurus, seventh house of Pisces.
Mars/Lot of Spirit: tenth house of Gemini, fifth house of Capricorn
The Translation
There will be sudden changes in work and public life that can bring in confusion and a feeling of being pushed to your limits in certain areas of work and play, and these themes will be quite loud throughout this transit playing out and we will be forced to change the way we "work" in both professional and personal lives. Themes of your power or lack of power within systems of authority leading to isolation, confusion, loss, or even a feeling of not being seen. This ingress also brings in our authority over specific knowledge, morals, values, and the dominance of certain belief structures. These themes being carried over to the significations of our ideas, knowledge, creativity, pleasure, and beliefs we hold dear being attacked or scrutinized. We will either play the authoritative figure over other's belief systems or values, or we may be on the receiving end of scrutinization and slander; but the more Martial way of playing out this transit will be a mix of both ends of this axis. Both through us being attacked and choosing how we react, or through attacking others for not believing the 'correct' ideas.
Being pushed to our limits in the areas of life we devote a lot of time, creativity, and passion to can feel like a very personal attack, because the things we hold dear enough to pursue with the force of our life are very special and unique to each of us. I see this overflow of stress also impacting personal, professional, and familial relationships. Personal relationships are something that we sometimes don't even know are being affected by outside forces that are trying to impede on our light and joy. There may be sudden arguments and an outpour of these troubling attacks on us personally that somehow seem to get redirected to people we love. Along with the outside forces of public life affecting our personal lives, we will encounter vital moments where we will be forced to learn to keep these areas of our life more separate than we previously found necessary. Keep in mind all the parts of life where there are personal relationships such as with fellow workers, our lovers, our children, but also with open enemies that seem to routinely challenge us without restraint. These will be the relationships we are most intimately connected to that take the impacts of the Sun's midpoints. There are feelings of being under-appreciated in our personal relationships amongst the havoc that this Mars ingress brings, and it will be important to discern whether these feelings are due to the dynamics of these specific relationships or if they are from outside forces that are pouring into our personal life because that energy must go somewhere and we don't know how to redirect it in a productive way. There will be an important lesson between holding back on our own perspective to allow others' in, and working together to mend and build upon the personal relationships we want to keep in our lives.
Another big outcome of this transit with the Sun's midpoints is seemingly financial. There is a theme of coming to terms with the state of our finances and financial endeavors, and trying to plan on how to save and store these resources to be more beneficial in the long run. It's likely our income or savings may take some hits or setbacks, whether that being through expenditure and things we need to purchase, or this transit will affect the rates at which money comes in for us. Either way, we will be learning to work with what we have available and trying to plan spending accordingly. Within this dynamic we have relationships pulled into the spotlight again, it's likely that talks about money and spending will pop up in our relationships with bosses, co-workers, family, and friends.
This transit, especially with the retrograde coming up, will push us to the limits in terms of coming to creative solutions for pending problems and hurdles we must overcome at this moment in life. Using our own creative problem solving and communication methods will be vital in overcoming the pending financial and relational themes we will be dealing with. Themes of getting our needs met and fulfilled while also balancing our energy to help fulfill other's needs within our life will be stark. There will be a strong focus on the words we choose to communicate with, and how we go about this communication, along with the inherent urge inside ourselves to let these things bottle up until they reach a critical mass and come pouring out in unhealthy ways that inevitably cause harm that we didn't mean to. When this happens, keep in mind that this is a long transit we can build and learn from, and we can actively try to shoot in that direction once running into a wall or seeing our own mishandlings of situations. The midpoints to the Sun during this ingress bring up a theme of what we want to endure and what may ultimately not be worth enduring any longer. It brings up a theme of how we want to show up in the lives of others, and how even just our physical presence and a non-judgmental ear can be enough even if we don't have money or good advice to offer. And the ultimate overbearing themes of give and take: What do we value enough to not give away? What must we take because it won't be openly offered? What must we compromise so we know everyone's needs are met to feel the stability for progress?
Moon
The Data
From the Mars ingress chart, the twelfth house Taurus Moon is at the midpoints of
South Node/Pluto: fourth house of Virgo, eighth house of Capricorn.
Venus/Vertex: sixth house of Scorpio for both points.
When we move into the points picked up by the Mars ingress Moon's degree in the Libra Ingress chart, it takes on it's form with the midpoints of
Vertex/Jupiter: eighth house of Aries, ninth house of Taurus.
Midheaven/Descendant: tenth house of Gemini, seventh house of Pisces.
Mercury/Lot of Spirit: twelfth house of Leo, fifth house of Capricorn.
South Node/Pluto: first house of Virgo, fifth house of Capricorn.
Ascendant/IC: first house of Virgo, fourth house of Sagittarius.
The Translation
While looking at the midpoints formed to the Moon, they bring in themes of other people, new relationships, or new dynamics in relationships bringing in changes to our mental state in general. There are themes of superficial connections linked to Pluto and the South Node forming a midpoint, and connections with other formed under a specific motivating factor. The incorporation of the personal points of the midheaven and descendant can highlight our behaviors towards others, and along with the midpoint that incorporates Mercury shows how we communicate with others. We wrap in themes of isolation due to physical distance, isolation, loss of comforts, and an urge to step out of the spotlight and away from the public eye. There may also be a theme within this isolation in the way that we manage it by fully submersing ourself in something that brings comfort and trying to ignore the rest of what is going on in the world. The midheaven of the Mars ingress chart highlighting the seventh house of the Libra ingress highlights relationships in this dynamic as well. With all the information considered, some relationships will reach extremes from differing ways of wanting to handle pressing problems that come up during this transit. We know from the Sun that a lot of financial themes are wrapped into this ingress, so it's likely that these topics may bring up friction in our lives both in our own minds and others. While experiencing these ebbs and flows in relationships, there will be an inherent urge to mend them or break them off if it isn't compatible. With the houses involved I could see this incorporating friendships, co-workers, family, and partners. While working on mending or letting things fade away, it's important to consider that there is an energy of being taken advantage of because of these emotional states that involve feeling isolated or isolating ourselves. This theme can operate in many ways including someone else taking advantage of our emotional states, but also how we may take advantage of others' in our close relationships by closing off and not discussing the hard things that need to be discussed. Trauma being worked through shows up, especially when we consider that the themes of the Sun's midpoints bring in problems from authoritative figures and being pushed to certain limits in relationships. Oftentimes if we are pushed to a limit, it isn't the first time, and it can bring in feelings of anxiety, fear, anger that are amplified because of previous experiences.
Mars
The Data
Mars was within 2 degrees of the Ascendant in the Mars ingress chart, but located in a different sign. The Ascendant being in Gemini while Mars itself just entering Cancer and residing in the Second house. This location of Ascendant and Mars first and foremost represents a focus on our resources and savings taking some hits from Mars, while the Ascendant is revealing new ways of thinking or behavior that either cause this hit to happen, but also give resources for how to navigate to a solution. Mercury, the ruler of the Ascendant is located five houses from the Ascendant, while falling in the second house of the Libra ingress chart bringing up trying to find creative solutions to the stress of maintaining financial security. There are quite a few prominent midpoints to Mars in both charts, with the Mars ingress chart midpoints being:
Ascendant/Mars : First house Gemini, second house Cancer.
Mercury/Midheaven: Fifth house Libra, tenth house Pisces.
Mercury/NN: Fifth house Libra, tenth house Pisces.
Venus/Saturn: Sixth house Scorpio, ninth house Aquarius.
Vertex/Saturn: Sixth house Scorpio, ninth house Aquarius.
Adding in the midpoints formed to transiting Mars from the Libra Ingress we bring in quite a few of the themes previously discussed in the Sun and Moon midpoints, which means a lot of this Martial energy is directly connected to how the Sun and Moon are currently affecting us. The midpoints are:
Vertex/Sun: Eighth house Aries, first house Virgo.
Uranus/Mercury: Ninth house Taurus, twelfth house Leo.
Venus/Descendant: Second house Libra, seventh house Pisces.
IC/Pluto: Fourth house Sagittarius, fifth house Capricorn.
The Translation
There are themes of hostility towards others being directly communicated between hostile parties, or a feeling of venting about this hostility you have received from others to close friends to help navigate these intense situations we will be put into over the coming months. I like to think of a tea kettle screaming with this energy, if it can't scream because the hole's blocked the lid generally pops off and lets out steam silently. We are going to feel the pressure that eventually leads to that 'scream' as a release of energy, or the more quiet but self destructive route of trying to keep it all inside and that inevitably not working. Even though bottling up these emotions from hostile interactions will be quieter, it does hurt ourselves in return for trying to keep the emotions inside when they need to come out. How will anyone know you need someone if you don't make a sound? This becomes even more relevant when we just think of cancer as this more mute water sign, cancer being closely related to as a container for emotions, especially with being ruled by the Moon, can bring emotional changes that we know will pass and an uncertainty of expressing things too soon or too late. There will be the theme of either reacting too quickly or not at all to the things that upset us, with trouble finding that middle ground or 'perfect' moment. Hostility will come from both the environment around us as well as the environments we unwillingly or unknowingly create around ourselves.
Some of this hostility may also stem from testing in relationships, testing of boundaries, and distancing oneself for the purpose of maintaining composure. This will happen on a larger overarching scale of the whole Mars in Cancer transit, including the retrograde, but also on the smaller scale within our lives in day-to-day interactions. We will all have these larger outside stressors pushing us into a more hostile interactions because the steam has to go somewhere and humans aren't the best at directing anger and frustration in healthy ways. We will take the brunt of people's bad days in the usual way. For example someone is rude to you in public, or someone cuts you off in traffic, and within this more hostile environment we are in on a large scale this can feel even more upsetting than usual. It will be easy to give them a reaction back and have explosive situations that aren't addressing the root of the problem, just dispersing the pain. Within all of these hostile reactions on both the large and small scale, it's easy to see how a lot of the energy may be unhealthily directed to those we are in closer relationships with. It's hard to approach a conversation neutrally if life is already pushing the limits of what you can handle.
This leads to one of the main topics I see in the midpoints for Mars in this transit. So many of the midpoints are linked to themes of relationships, and connect back to the Moon and Sun midpoints we looked over whether it be by planet, house, or sign relations. This will be a transit that highlights how we navigate relationships and how we approach different themes that pop up. There will be sudden changes in the way we communicate with the people we care about for better or for worse, but likely more harsh communication than we are generally comfortable with. When we bring in Uranus there is a hint at a sudden change in the way we do things, and I'm inclined to hope that this means sudden changes in order to compromise and mend these relationships we hold dear. These sudden changes and communication hurdles will pop up in both our professional and personal lives including bosses, co-workers, friends, family, and lovers. A lot of these sudden changes will spring from longer problems or themes we have been dealing with, and I see a lot of this linked to past traumas and how we may have handled them in that moment or how we may have pushed them inside ourselves to process at a later date. Everyone will be going through something, and our interactions will either fuel the fire or find ways to tend that flame into something warm and comforting.
The Nodes
The Data
The last set of midpoints I’ll discuss are the Nodes. The Nodes in midpoints represent connections with others either physically, through word of mouth, media/social media, news, etc. In the Mars Ingress chart the Nodes reside in the 4/10 house axis, showing the push and pull between home and work, personal and private life, family and career, while in the Libra ingress chart these reside on the 1/7 house axis bringing in themes of me vs them, what you allow for yourself vs others, and focus on self vs focus on relationship. Nodes bring in a push and pull energy and we tend to focus on one of those areas without that intent, it’s almost just something inherent within ourselves pushing and pulling us to focus on these areas. One way we can think about these house configurations is the restructuring and focus on relationship dynamics within both private and public life.
In the Mars Ingress chart, The Nodes are pulling in the midpoints of:
Jupiter/Descendant: Twelfth house of Taurus, seventh house of Sagittarius.
Ic/South Node: Fourth house of Virgo for both.
Midheaven/North Node: Tenth house of Pisces for both.
The Midpoints to the Nodes in the Libra Ingress chart are:
Uranus/Lot of Spirit: Ninth house of Taurus, fifth house of Capricorn.
Jupiter/IC: Ninth house of Taurus, fourth house of Sagittarius.
Mercury/Ascendant: Twelfth house of Leo, first house of Virgo.
Neptune/Descendant: Seventh house of Pisces for both.
The Translation
We have a strong focus on the self within the home and relationships concerning the autonomy we have over ourselves and what others are willing to compromise with us on. Feeling safe in our homes will become a primary focus and will incorporate many dynamics concerning who has more control and dominance in how things in the home are run. I think within these relationship dynamics, and the inclusion of Jupiter will bring in more productive forms of working through problems, or at least an end goal that benefits both parties in some way to bring balance back into the dynamics of home. There's a focus on what has changed over the course of a relationship, what has changed within the dynamics, and what has changed within individuals that is going to be brought to the surface and highlighted by this Nodal interaction. Maybe your child is getting older and the dynamics of parenting are being pushed into a new direction to manage new things in your relationship to them. Maybe dynamics with your parents have shifted and there's an exchange of what kind of support you can offer each other among these hurdles we will be experiencing. Maybe your partner has changed and grown in new ways since you met them and it's time to find some middle ground in certain areas of the relationship to keep it growing in a healthy way. Or maybe our ways of handling the significations of the previous midpoints reaches these relationships and we help each other through it through compromise and understanding. A large focus of this communication and interaction will involve our values and what we hold dear as individuals and how that meshes with the people in our life. This transit will bring up who we can depend on who shares values we agree in. It will help us discern which relationships each party has an equal passion for growth in, and which relationships have unhealthy controlling dynamics that wont be changed. There will be the theme of letting go of things that are out of our control and unchangeable, and escapism to help manage the feelings of isolation and harm we have from not being able to change a lot of the larger scheme problems in life at this moment.
There is, however, a really nice midpoint in here of Uranus and Lot of spirit to the Nodes bringing in the energy of these points in Taurus and Capricorn from the fifth and ninth houses of the Libra ingress chart to the Nodal axis on that first and seventh house of Virgo and Pisces. This environment for this midpoint has the nature of having a sudden moment of confirmation that you are headed in the right direction for the goals you have in place currently. This will inevitably link in theme to the houses that Uranus and the Nodes are currently transiting for you. This may be a confirmation from the Gods' themselves in the symbolism you find comfort in becoming more prominent, or it could even be as small as someone in passing complementing your work in pursuits that you are passionate about. It will be something sudden and confirming that re-ignites your passions for just a bit longer to push through this hard transit and all of the heavy energy surrounding it.
Within a large scale of these midpoints, there is a theme of many people delving deep into their spiritual and religious systems to seek comfort amongst the chaos. On the smaller personal scale this could hint at us wanting to spend time with distant friends and family, returning to a practice of honoring our ancestors, and a returning to our own personal spiritual activities to help navigate hardships and search for answers. All of these are things that will help keep us grounded and operating from a safer feeling space that is our own. Using times of isolation to delve into the spiritual can do wonders, but be careful of managing time isolated and time with family to keep a balance amongst the nodal pulls we feel at the moment.
The Parivartana Yoga of the Libra Ingress
There is the midpoint of Mercury in the twelfth pulling with the Ascendant of the first house that are picked up by the Mars ingress's transiting Nodes from the Libra ingress chart. This mimics some of the Parivartana Yoga of Mercury and the Sun in the libra ingress chart. This Yoga happens when two planets reside in each other’s houses, in the case of the Libra Ingress this is Mercury in Leo ruled by the Sun, and the Sun in Virgo ruled by Mercury. This brings the unfortunate twelfth house Mercury into an intimate exchange with the first house Sun. This is such an intimate connection that you can read these planets in each other's places, for example we can put the Sun at Mercury's degree and Mercury at the Sun's degree. The Sun is intimately connected with Mercury for this Libra ingress and that is amplified during this Mars transit due to this midpoint between these houses being picked up by the Nodes. It’s likely that this yoga will culminate during this Mars transit, revealing hidden enemies, the unknown, and secrets through speaking with people either face to face or through a screen. One-on-one interactions and conversations will have a way of revealing little bits of Mars’ story to us as we manage our way through it’s transit and retrograde cycle. The major planetary aspects I am looking into here is the Mercury opposition to Saturn in the Libra ingress, and the Sun’s square from a Mercury ruled Mars in Gemini in the Libra ingress and how they play out during this Mars transit.
I like to bring in the Libra ingress Mercury opposite Saturn, and the current Mars Ingress Mercury trine Saturn. We can see this pattern of feeling we can’t communicate, then as transit Mercury squares Mars it carries that energy in to a trine with Saturn. We can see the initial push to communicate may feel painful, but lead to a better understanding of how to choose words wisely and communicate our needs in a way that can be understood. I think the Venus trine Mars in the Mars ingress also plays into this, the initial blow of a situation is startling but makes us dig deeper into ourselves and relationships.
If we replace Mercury’s place in this initial dynamic with the Sun we get the feeling that we are pushed to this point of feeling as if we have no authority or control over a situation, especially with Mars’ sextile to this twelfth house placement in the Libra Ingress chart. We can expect something to trigger this sense of not having any options giving us the sudden urge to feel as if we may have some sort of power to navigate these situations if we dig deep and harness this anger and drive to steer our lives into a direction of building relationships with solid foundations in communication and intimacy. The presence of the South Node with the Sun also brings in this dynamic of feeling ourselves falling away and getting lost in relationships or trying to mend them, so as we have these urges to work on communication we also have to be aware that, in the process, we must hang on to ourselves as well and not get lost in always trying to fix things or giving too much of our energy away out of habit. I see these relationships being focused big on both work place dynamics, but also personal relationships and familial relationships. We will be receiving Mars in many different areas of our lives at times during it’s time in Cancer, and we will likely see that it’s actions in these areas all have an underlying culminating theme for our future. Mars will be testing us in both our private and public lives, and will pop up in the ways that cut us deeply, but with the astrology I think we have enough tools in our box to build something better after seeing our weak spots.
In the United States and Election Prediction
We can bring this chart into a wider perspective and see what will be going on in the country around us as well. I took down a plethora of midpoints for each traditional planet in the chart, but I want to condense it to be easily digestible. The energy seems exactly what you’d expect for election season, people speculating on who will win and also loudly voicing opinions that seem radical and cult-like. There’s an energy of attacking an enemy’s foundations, and making alliances that are detrimental to the vitality of the country. I’m worried for the United States as a whole and the alliances they support, and also how alliances within the country are supported. Throughout the Mars transit through Cancer I can see this actually bringing alliances that are financial in nature coming into focus for the election. This makes me think about Elon Musk giving away money to people who register to vote in Pennsylvania, but also Kamala Harris refusing to bring up the atrocities that Israel has committed with the help of United States funding and export of weapons. With politics, no side will be unscathed from the alliances they make and the hidden enemies they may reveal that have power over them. This relates to Kamala Harris not addressing the alliance with Israel and the genocide against Palestinians that our country is complicit in, and how this is making her enemies she likely didn’t expect within her own voting base and party. Many marginalized communities no longer have any trust in her or her party because of these actions, because of these things she is refusing to address.
In my initial sections about the midpoints, on a personal scale, we can see the themes of our weaknesses being exposed and the option of building better foundational communication skills at play on a larger scale. We can also apply these themes to the country at whole and Presidential Candidates refusing to address what voters want to focus on, refusing to address genocide, refusing to address concerns from marginalized communities, and this will be detrimental to the system of government and the people's trust in the governing body. We are going to see many people throughout the country realizing how unfairly their lives have been treated by the governing body, but also how destructive the country itself can be for other countries that it shares power with or holds power over.
The chart of the ingress looks like no matter who wins, we will still be stuck in a cycle of the same problems and the authority of our country’s governing body getting more distanced from what the people want and enforcing a more authoritative agenda amongst us all. A feeling of the government not listening nor focusing on the health, protection, and livelihoods of it’s own people. While showing more interest in funneling money to the wealthy and forming alliances through wealth and trade to gain more power within the world. From the Libra and Mars ingress charts I’m going out on a limb and predicting that Trump will win the election, but it wont be a clear cut win or something that people accept easily. If Kamala does win, I see a lot of pushback from her enemies and failed attempts to take legal action against her.
This has been so relevant to everything I’ve been journaling and meditating on. Really great stuff here.