On September 9, 2011 at 6:26 AM, Eastern Time, Mars will move into the sign of Cancer. The home and family loving sign of Cancer is not the best placement for the fiery and ambitious Mars and this sign is considered to be the debilitated sign for Mars. Obviously, such a placement for Mars is not considered as fortunate or harmonious. Depending on one's own chart and disposition this placement for Mars can increase anger and aggression or on the opposite scale of personality qualities can work against one having the energy and confidence to move forward in life.
Mars will be in Cancer until October 30th. As Mars relates to the third chakra or what is often known as the "core" it is a time when yoga and other physical activities that focus on the third chakra is strongly advised. Restraint and good judgment in dealing with others is a good idea especially when relating to others who are known for being impulsive or having a short fuse. It is not a good time to choose to have confrontational communication. It is a time to pay attention to diet and to keep active but to make sure to get the proper rest as the mind may be more active than one's physical ability.
Courage, laughter and a positive attitude are all attributes related to a strong third chakra. I've been noticing that we are moving through a time of fear often accompanied by a lack of humor or belief that things are going to be better in the future. It is unusual for so many people to feel this way and even though these feelings may be justified and supported by the on-going media cycles of bad news, a negative outlook doesn't really help the situation. Mars in Cancer will either make these feelings stronger or force us to shift something within ourselves.
Given the prevailing mood right now I decided to research the planetary cycles for the chart of the United States. We are currently going through what is known as the Mars dasa in America's chart along with the chart's Saturn return. I wanted to go back in time to see what was going on the last time this country went through both a Mars dasa and Saturn return.
The year that stands out is 1893. The United States was going through a Mars dasa and Saturn was in Virgo, the sign of a Saturn return for the US chart, which is exactly where we are in 2011. Known as the "Panic of 1893," America was going through a difficult recession caused by the over-extension of the railroads. The Pennsylvania/Reading Railroad in particular had skirted around laws and had inflated value by owning coal mines and the banks had over-invested in the industry. That year would see 15,000 businesses collapse along with the failure of 600 banks and 74 railroads. By mid 1894 there would be three million people who lost their jobs because of the situation. Just as in the real estate collapse of 2008 banks needed to be rescued.
As bad as things were it was the "panic" that caused the economy to become stagnant. Politicians had little to no interest in the price the average person was paying for the mistakes of the financial titans and the fear and suffering was immense. A Saturn return is always karmic, even in the chart of a nation, and that time period would begin to shift the government's attitude towards trying to protect the average person.
In 1894 Saturn moved out of Virgo and into his sign of exaltation, Libra. That year the Sherman Anti-Trust law was passed and a new phase in America's politics began. By 1896 the chart of America moved from a Mars dasa into its Rahu dasa and the economy improved. At this point we can look forward to Saturn moving into the sign of Libra in November of 2011 which should begin to stabilize our economy. The current Mars dasa finishes in 2015 at which time we begin the 18 year Rahu dasa. In 1896 there was a discovery of a new source of gold found in Africa and that also had a positive effect on the economy.
Will our new "gold" be the innovative nature of America's brightest minds? Will it be advances in green technology, medicine or a new paradigm for global business? I don't know if it's necessary to know all the details but, what is necessary is to understand that, as a country, we've been in this exact position before and not only did the economy improve but so did the moral compass of our country. In the end it simply does not make much sense to give into the fear all around us nor does it do much good for any of us to depend upon the external circumstances for inner peace and confidence The gifts of inner peace and harmony belong to us if we simply choose to not give into the fear and to work at tuning into our true nature.
History Tends to Repeat Itself
