Mythology by Carolyn Joyce, M.A.
Mars: Action, Desire, Anger
My previous column talked about Mars, the god of war, and looked at the Greek god Ares, precursor to the Roman god Mars. I chose to begin with Mars, because Mars is the planet that rules the sign of Aries, the first sign of the zodiac. The beginning of Aries heralds in the spring equinox, when the astrological "new year" begins. Mars is one of the five personal planets, along with Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus.
The Greek god Ares, as my last column explained, was not a particularly popular god, despised even by his own parents. But Mars, the god of war, constitutes one of our five personal planets and Mars as the force of war continues to be a significant factor, both in the world--as actual war--and within the human psyche.
Ares, the ancient Greek god, embodies the primitive, brute force of violent aggression; Ares became a different god in the Roman pantheon. Mars was a much honoured and beloved god by the Romans. The Romans glorified war and violence--theirs was a culture built on imperialism, and war was the means by which the Roman Empire was constantly expanded--across Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East.
The Roman god Mars was actually a more "civilized" version of the primitive Greek god Ares. Mars, in Roman times, became a partly martial, partly agrarian god. The Mars ideal, for the Romans, was the warrior/farmer. This was the soldier who would fight and do brave deeds on the battlefield, but who would then return home to cultivate his lands and become provider.
For the Romans, war even had a season. Spring, when the sign of Aries begins, was when the Romans went to war. They waged battle over the spring and summer months. When harvest time in the fall came, soldiers returned home. Winter was not a season of war--it was time to tend the home life. Therefore, Mars became aligned with the country, agriculture, and became a modified form of the original war god, Ares.
Well known Canadian astrologer and author, Erin Sullivan, in a lecture entitled "The Birth of the Masculine" talks about the Age of Aries as the era of the birth of the masculine; and indeed, the planet Mars does archetypally represent masculine energy. As Sullivan points out, the masculine goes up and out--skyscrapers, guns, spears, obelisks, missiles, and even stock markets--the rise and fall of masculine energies. This does not mean that aggression is solely found in men and not also in women. The fact is that the masculine principle is toward ACTION. Mars is the archetypal force representative not only of war but also of action, desire, and anger. We all have Mars in our natal horoscope--Mars is one of the most basis energy forces in all humans, regardless of gender.
If you want to know about your own style of action, your personal way of sexual expression and following your desire, and how your individual anger will be manifested, look at the Mars in your chart--by sign, house, aspect, and transit. As well, you can track your Mars returns, which occur approximately every two years. Betty Lundsted in her book Planetary Cycles writes, "The cyclic Mars energy is a very useful tool for personal development for Mars moves around the natal chart rather quickly--taking two to two-and-one-half-years to return to its natal place. In the natal chart, Mars symbolizes "I act" and it is through the Mars energy (its sign, house, and aspects) that the Sun has a chance to express itself... The Mars cycle is one of the most productive forms of energy available to anyone wishing to work with natal chart energy to change it. This cycle can be used to develop skills, enhance career, or improve relationships."
Without Mars, we lack an orientation toward outward drive, energy, expression. Mars, in balance with other planets, is not a wholly negative planet/force by any means. And moreover, Mars is essential. Mars is the principle of action. It is also how we move toward the objects we desire. Mars has to do with how we experience sexuality, as well as how we make war. And certainly anger, aggression, force, and outright violence are martian qualities. Culturally, men express anger in action; statistically, most violent crimes are committed by men. But women also express anger and engage in aggressive action--often in more covert ways than men. We "expect" men to be aggressors; we "expect" women to be nurturers and biology supports our cultural expectations.
Best selling author on pyschology and women's studies, Phyllis Chesler writes:
Most men are not physically violent. However, the deadliest killers of other human beings on earth are men, not women. Male violence poses a serious threat to human survival and stability. It is, therefore, the recurring, often glorified subject of literature, cinema, and learned treatises... Male aggression is spectacular, terrifying. Male soldiers enter a village and shoot everyone in sight. Male pilots bomb an entire city from a plane. Male soldiers torture, massacre, and imprison enemy men and systematically rape the enemy's women and children... Men, not women, are responsible for ninety percent of the violent crimes in our society.
The above quote may seem overly exaggerated and grim and yet it is a very matter-of- fact and accurate depiction of Mars in action--for, despite ancient Rome's adulation of Mars; despite recurring times when a society or culture has glorified war; despite our recent war movies, war stories, and versions of war--Mars in full-out action desires destruction, and Mars in unmitigated expression of anger and aggression is an outright killer.
As we enter the summer of 2002, war is continuing to escalate, particularly in the Middle East. Our own country and the United States and Great Britain remain countries at war. Religious factions are calling out for "holy war"--a phrase that seems to me to be an oxymoron--i.e., a complete contradiction of terms. Our continued lack of serious understanding of the archetypal principles that Mars embodies is a threat to human survival. What is the antidote for Mars? How do we learn to make peace, rather than give in to the primitive forces of war? How, as astrologers, can we look honestly at Mars in the charts of our clients, and give balanced astrological counsel? How, on a collective level, can we each claim our own share of martial energy? And, having claimed our individual portion of Mars' action, desire, and anger, how can we channel this force more constructively?
In 1977, one of my earliest published poetry books included a poem entitled "War Poem". I am ending this column with my poem as it seems more applicable now than ever.
War Poem
This is a war poem.
The bodies in it are blasted
all over the page
arms, legs torn off
at the sockets
guts spilling untidily
onto your clean
white mind.
This is a war poem.
The rhythms in it
are sung from a fractured
culture
like an anachronism.
This is a war poem.
Men have made it
and lived it
and breathed its barbarian
glory.
This is a womb.
Women have carried it
inside them to breed new heroes.
This war poem could
become a womb
and in it
we could all,
poet and reader
and war monger,
curl up together
and be born
again
and again
and again.
© Carolyn Joyce, M.A. 2002
Carolyn Joyce is a Vancouver-born astrologer and poet, whose poetry is published under the name Carolyn Zonailo. She has lived for the past decade in Montreal, where she was recently a participant in a four-part lecture series entitled "The Terror of Mars, God of War: Can We Marshall the Martial God?" This lecture series will be given as a two-day workshop in Ottawa in the coming months, examining the archetype of Mars from the perspective of mythology, astrology, clinical psychology, and current events. She will be lecturing for the Guild in November, on "Neptune: Time for a Sea-Change."
