Mars and the Now

Mars is the planet of desire and movement. It is constantly stimulating the "Now" and filling it with a vivid sharpness that keeps re-awakening one's consciousness. The most common misuse of the Mars energy is to project one's desires so far into the future that it makes one's actions in the "Now" seem meaningless. This causes discontent, unrest, and a constant state of frustration. The Mars of the "Now" is based on spontaneity. Mars adds movement to what otherwise might seem a reality of no progress. It should not keep projecting the individual beyond whatever he is doing in the present, but rather, it should stimulate his present with the vitality he needs in order to experience it. If a person keeps projecting his hopes and desires long into the future or would like to re-enact that which has already been through then he is constantly losing vitality. He experiences an energy drain and may think it is coming from other people, when it is his own inability to act in his "Now".

Mars is the planet of motivation. It is the mover of ideas in to action. If one carefully observes the stimulation of Mars something very interesting reveals itself. Motivation to act comes quickly, perhaps many times in a single moment. But it also passes just as quickly. Thus, if a person spends his life analyzing his motivations he tends to lose so many of them that, in essence, he loses motivation to do anything at all. The need to do comes quickly. In order to experience the "Now" one must follow one's needs and then, by letting them pass, new ones will arise in their place. In some ways, similar to the function Mercury, the activity of Mars keeps one's vibration that leaves no room for depression, regret, or remorse.

Sometimes, Mars is primitive in it urges and does need some control through the wisdom of Saturn and the reason of Mercury, but never to the point where one inhibits, represses, and sublimates the powerful motivating energy that is stimulating him in th "Now." On it's raw level Mars does not question or analyze - it acts. And, it is through acting that man achieves a state of being. Every moment he is becoming. The joy of Mars is never in the reaching of one's ultimate goals, for when an individual reaches them, he may have long since forgotten the reason why he wanted them. Instead, the joy of Mars is to be found in one's constant state of becoming. This is the true source of motivation. Whatever one may ultimately achieve is far less important than his union with act of becoming, which is the stimulating, moving, vibrant quality of his "Now" experience.

Martin Schulman (Karmic Astrology, The Karma of the Now, pp.83-85)