Mars / Ma’adim in Gemini: Managing Information Overload!
With the Sun now in the Mercury-ruled Mutable Earth sign of Virgo, and Mars in the Mercury-ruled Mutable Air sign of Gemini, managing "information overload" will be a mighty task, especially for those with heavy mutable placements (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces).
The upside? SO many ideas.
The downside? So MANY ideas.
Best practices to avoid IOS (Information Overload Syndrome):
- Ingest media in small, bite-sized pieces.
- Activate your inner Virgo & become super-picky about what you consume, media-wise. Media is like food. Junk food is bad for you, junk media even worse.
- Don't sleep with any electronic devices nearby. Invest in an old-school alarm clock if necessary. Even putting your mobile phone several feet away instead of on your bedside table will help.
- Get a notebook & keep it nearby always. Jot down your random ideas and return to them later to review (maybe in April 2023!)
- Develop or strengthen an existing mindfulness practice. Cultivate silence for a specific time period each day.
- Realize this is happening because you're being offered the chance to change in significant ways you've longed for, but didn't think you had the time, energy, or wherewithal. The door is open for radical change now. It is ok and safe to step through this door.
- The highly distractible nature of this time period will lead you down many a rabbit hole. Keep in mind rabbit holes may be fun but you don't have to stay there.
- Curiosity is your superpower right now. Use it for good and not for evil.
Mars / Ma'adim, the planet of energy, koach, "chi", life-force, passion, drive, assertiveness / aggression, and desire will be in the Mutable Air sign of GEMINI for seven months, beginning 8/20, Shabbos Parshat Eikev, and ending 3/25/2023, Shabbos Parshat Vayikra.
Not only will Mars have his own retrograde period during this transit (from 10/31/22 - 1/12/23), but Mercury / Kochav, the planetary ruler of Gemini, has two retrograde periods during this lengthy transit of Mars as well, the second one overlapping with the Mars retrograde, from the end of December through mid-January.
Mars is the way in which we assert ourselves, and in the communicative sign of Gemini, that means with words. This time period is characterized by a war of words. Remember what we used to be taught as children - "sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me"? Well, turns out that's a big fat LIE. Words can be devastating, damaging, and inciting, and easily turn into sticks, stones, or guns.
For those who focus most of their consciousness on their material world, this transit will be full of frenetic, intense, confrontational arguments and shallow, internet-gleaned "knowledge" on a huge variety of topics - "a mile wide and an inch deep". Everyone's got an opinion and everyone thinks they're an expert. It's also a time during which the communication systems of this world can be disrupted.
How can JEWISH astrology help us perceive the possibilities of this long, long transit of Mars? Gemini is the sign of the month of Sivan, and Sivan is the ultimate "communication" between G*d and humankind, via the giving of the Torah on Shavuot, during the month of Sivan.
Mars in Gemini can support learning something new (especially languages), beginning a course of study, or embarking on a new form of embodied innovation. Mars in Gemini can discover new modalities for creative self-expression. If you're a painter, you might try sculpting. If you're a novelist, you might try poetry. Expanding one's expertise in any and all communication platforms is also supported. If you're a blogger, you might try podcasting. If you're an expert in any field involving how people relate to each other, you may consider sharing your knowledge by offering to teach it.
Avoid the temptation to speak loshen hara, which will be extremely powerful during this transit. Avoid the trite, the superficial, the snide/snarky side of things. Take special care to measure your words wisely, as they will be more powerful than you actually realize.
I want to bless you, my friends, and please bless me back, that during this upcoming transit, our words should be "like apples of gold set in silver filigree" (Prov. 25:11) The Rambam says of this verse: " When looked at from a distance or with imperfect attention, it is deemed to be an apple of silver; but when a keen-sighted observer looks at it with full attention, its interior becomes clear to him and he knows that it is of gold." May your words be beautiful, valuable, and pure.
