The aspects of Mars in your natal horoscope are very important as they point to the battles that have to be confronted and won. Mars is a Sixth Ray planet and is thus very connected to the sense of devotion within us.  When this is exaggerated, it leads to warlike fanaticism such as that found in the character of people who bomb abortion clinics and other forms of terrorism.  When the devotion inherent in Mars becomes dominated by the intent of the soul, it produces such individuals as Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, and Pope John XXIII.  The hard aspects of Mars (squares, oppositions, inconjunctions) speak about lessons that remain unlearned and conditions that remain from battles lost in previous times and in past ages.  The easy aspects of Mars (although no aspect of the Red Planet is really that “easy”), the trines and the sextiles, indicate those planetary conditions that bring strength, devotion, zeal, and potent, creative activity into our lives.  The conjunction of Mars with any planet strengthens that planet for good or ill depending on the nature of the conjunction:  Mars is an “ally” and a friend of certain of the planetary Olympians and a definite foe of, or at least in “natural energetic conflict” in conflict with others.  These factors will be brought out in greater detail in the following paragraphs but it is safe to say that any conjunction with Mars is going to heat up the atmosphere of the other planet involved.

Mars and the Sun:  Aspects between these two bodies stimulates the solar plexus and strongly activate the desire nature and a consequent challenge in terms of its purification and control.  This is especially the case when Mars and the Sun are conjoined (and even more so if the conjunction takes place in water or fire).  Yet there is much inherent beauty here as the solar Second Ray joins with the Sixth, giving the possibility for real devotion and the release of creative energy in one’s chosen field of service.  Courage and compassion are also two endowments of this planetary combination.  When in positive aspect, these two planets are very good friends and allies but when opposed or square, too much heat is generated that all too often burns rather than warms. 

Mars and the Moon:  This is not the easiest of unions as there is often a stimulation of the instinctive nature making it more difficult to be consciously aware of one’s emotional life patterns.  There is an urge to break free from the past while at the same time a fear of release into a set of new life circumstances.  The Fourth Ray of the Moon when blended with the Sixth Ray of Mars creates crises in detachment.  There is often a stubborn adherence to past injuries and injustices locked into the patterns of our biological karma.  All of the above is characteristic of the hard aspects and the conjunction between these two bodies. The easy aspects are very good to sustain the emotional pressures of life and to fight the correct battles of release from the past.

Mars and Mercury:  A much more friendly combination as the mind serves to bring logic and order to the direction of the necessary transformations we need to undergo upon the Path.  The positive aspects help to birth those ideas which support our personal evolution and our urge to serve.  The conjunction intensifies the “need to know” and gives one-pointedness to our mental life (although on the level of the personality, this can give a fanatic sense of self-righteousness!).  The more difficult aspects can overly stimulate the mental faculties and inhibit the evolution of true intuition.

Mars and Venus:  The harmonious blending of these two planets results in a “celestial marriage” of the most beautiful sort.  It is here that the union of sexuality and love bring about the evolution of personal consciousness.  There is the stimulation of a positive relationship between the solar plexus chakra and the Third Eye.  This brings our sub-conscious instinctual patterns up to the level of conscious thought and objective awareness.  The result is personal healing and self-empowerment.  The more difficult aspects bring about sensual and social conflicts as there is an intensification of personal magnetism that can give rise to all sorts of astral glamours (such as the need to be sought after and desired).  This is especially the case when these two planets are in conjunction.  Yet in some more highly developed men and woman, the conjunction indicates that this battle has been won and that a new phase of our orientation to human relationships has begun.

Mars and Jupiter:  In most cases this is a very positive combination of energies and indicates the “spiritual warrior” doing battle in the name of Love/Wisdom.  In the positive aspects (including the conjunction to a large extent), courage blends with idealism in order to harmonize duality and increase the presence of consciousness and higher knowledge in the world.  The hard aspects can exaggerate a person’s sense of mission, adding false ideals and often an over blown sense of ideological rectitude to one’s character.

Mars and Saturn:  This is not the easiest of combinations from the level of the personality, especially when in conjunction, or in any of the hard aspects.  The Third Ray of Saturn and the Sixth of Mars produce complexities in their blending, producing mental blocks and patterns that inhibit the flow of intuition.  Very often there is the urge to focus the desires of the solar plexus with such strength that they become the dominating patterns of one’s life.  Yet there is hope in this combination for Mars is exalted in Saturn’s sign Capricorn, and the positive aspects especially allow for one’s personal desire nature to come under the harmonious direction of Active Intelligence.  This clears the way for the right use of will.

Mars and Uranus:  This can be a very positive influence when activated from the level of the Soul.  It is then that Uranus as the governing force of the sacral (sexual) center[1]inspires the generation of those forms and activities that advance the Path and the Plan.  Thus one’s desires become the desires of the Soul!  When these planets are in hard aspect or if they are under the sway of the personality, misuse of sexual energy is often the result.  This can point to devotion to sexuality as the path in life and a very unhealthy preoccupation with sexual experimentation.  It is not so much the exploration of one’s sexuality that is amiss here (for that is part of one’s psychological growth), it is the obsession with one’s sexuality that brings about inner warfare and lost battles.  The effects of the conjunction are variable (but intense!) and depend a great deal upon the level of the individual’s evolutionary level.

Mars and Neptune: This is a very powerful expression of the Sixth Ray upon which both of these planets are found.  The message is clear: a strong connection has to be made between the energies of the solar plexus and those of the indwelling Christ Principle (the Crown Chakra and its relationship to the pineal gland).  This is an incarnation in which some profound form of (lower)self-sacrifice has to be made so that the Higher Self may also sacrifice and manifest Itself into the daily life of the Disciple.  Such an act characterizes so much of what we term the “Spiritual Path”.  The positive aspects bring fluidity into this process while the hard aspects (including the conjunction) bring resistance, tension, and the urge to escape from the battleground.

Mars and Pluto:  A very powerful combination of planetary forces which gives rise to many tests involving the expression of the desire nature and the direction of will power.  When these two are in hard aspect (especially when functioning from the personality level), there is the tendency to use the will (the First Ray of Pluto) in order to subjugate and conquer any opposition to one’s desires.  Not a pretty picture!  When on the level of the Soul, the hard aspects indicate a great deal of tension in the Disciple’s urge to fuse the greater Will of the Higher Self with the lesser will of the lower.  A great struggle ensues so that the individual may emerge one-pointed in his or her focus on the Path.  When victorious, the hard aspects give strength and determination to one’s growth and development.  The easy aspects allow the fusion of the energies that these planets represent to take place more harmoniously.  The conjunction is very significant as it intensifies this “urge to merge” the two primary aspects of our Self (Soul and personality) into a functioning unit of devoted will to the Plan.                                                                                                                   

[1]Mars rules sexual desire and can be said to be the ruler of the sexual center from the level of the personality.  But in terms of the nature of the Higher Self, Uranus is the ruling planet as it is the body connected to the birth of the “new (wo)man”, the rebirth that occurs after the transmutation of the desire nature.  Please remember that Uranus has its exaltation in the sign Scorpio