Mars Square Jupiter Saturn and Pluto: Triumph or Disaster?

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Mars Square Jupiter Saturn and Pluto: Introduction

Mars square Jupiter Saturn and Pluto is a reality we’ll be living with over the next few months as Mars approaches the point where it goes retrograde until the beginning of 2021. I’ll admit I’ve personally taken a ‘time out’ over the past month – not a holiday, but an overdue relocation delayed by Covid and bad luck. That’s now done and – just like many of the rest of you out there – I’m turning my attention to the latter part of a year that has been troublesome to say the least.

With Mars Square Jupiter Saturn and Pluto about to manifest, I’m reminded of something I said in a post earlier this year:

This means that Mars is going to make a significant impact on the world, and on our lives, during the second half of this year – particularly as Mars makes a significant square aspect to the ongoing major Jupiter/Saturn/Pluto transiting conjunction in Capricorn.

From “Mars Transits Aries 2020: Call The Fire Brigade Now”, Sara Shipman, June 2020

In many ways, this Mars Square Jupiter Saturn and Pluto is part of what we could see as the final act on a turbulent year. This aspect could be where many of us see things come to a head – appropriately symbolic for any aspect involving Mars. So, what can we expect from this incredibly tense aspect that’s going to dominate the heavens until the New Year? To answer that I think we need to take a closer look at the real basics of this transiting aspect – and I’m going to start with the nature of this particular square aspect itself.

The Mars square Jupiter Saturn and Pluto square is a cardinal square – and it’s brutal, not just because of the planets involved but because of the nature of the cardinal signs themselves. I would add it’s worth reading this great article by the well respected astrologer Bil Tierney here for a heads up on how these two signs interact. So, in the next section, I’ve put together a check list of potential themes you may see in your own life and the world around you between now and the end of 2020.

The Aries Capricorn Cardinal Square: The Basics

If we look at Aries and Capricorn, we see two very different drives, connected by a fundamental need for action. However when rash Aries and conservative Capricorn rub up against each other the stand off can produce some surprising results. I think the easiest way to highlight the things we may experience and keep things simple, is to list them. The following list is by no means exhaustive but it will give you a good idea of what to look out for.

• Things kick off – in all kinds of ways – and pent up frustration is often a cause.
• New situations may be forced on both societies and individuals.
• There will be a lot of impatience with existing conditions.
• Conflict. Think of youth vs. age, fighting for control, action vs. inertia, defying authority.
• The period is noticeably dynamic – but tense.
• There’s a drive towards stability – because instability is a major problem.
• Defence – and defensiveness.
• A sense of crisis – things to come to a head.
• Challenges to tradition and making new rules.
• Uncompromising aggression and toughness.
• New forms of authority.
• A need to assess situations quickly to take advantage of them.
• A need to be enterprising because of new social structures and situations.

And so on… I haven’t even mentioned the big background noises going on in the world (Covid, US elections, Brexit in the UK) as you would have to have been in a cave for the past year to have missed the stresses and strains of 2020. However, wherever you stand on those big issues, It’s not hard to see that the list can apply to all of us – regardless of who we are and what we believe. And we will see those themes time and again. In fact, avoiding them will be almost impossible – and this is why.

Cardinal squares are closely related to the angular houses. So, a Cardinal square represents a need for action in a truly immediate, obvious and unavoidable way. In other words, Cardinal squares are ‘in your face’ – especially so when Aries is involved. So, In the next section, I’m going to look at what that implies about what you could see happening in the big, bad world out there.

Mars Square Jupiter Saturn and Pluto: Mundane Astrology

There has been no shortage of stuff to write about in 2020 when it comes to big events – the kind of thing that you see in the headlines – and though it’s not part of your own life story, those events certainly have an impact on you. This year that has been especially so. Public events come under the practice of mundane astrology, so, what does this square tell us about the news headlines over the next few months?

We’ve looked at the themes associated with this particular cardinal square, however, to really zero in on the issues involved we need to look at the planets involved in the square. I’ve already written extensively about the major Jupiter Saturn and Pluto transiting conjunction that’s been causing such huge upheavals in the world this year. What the square from Mars does to this combination is make the big issues much more pressing and urgent – and this is why.

Mars is a ‘trigger planet’. With Mars Square Jupiter Saturn and Pluto for such an expended period, Mars is the planet that enables the events signified by the transiting conjunction in Capricorn. Mars is the flame that lights the blue touch paper so what we may see in the next few months are events that confirm the huge changes indicated by the conjunction of the big guys in Capricorn. Again, to make it easy (as 2020 has been a complex year) I’ve done a list of short references associated with Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto – with an indication of the types of event that could be triggered by Mars.

Mars Square Jupiter Saturn and Pluto: Mundane Reality

So here goes for late 2020’s reality check…

• Jupiter in mundane astrology is associated with big business and wealth. Money talks and what we will hear about with Jupiter in association with Saturn and Pluto is a hard dose of economic reality. With Mars square Jupiter Saturn and Pluto triggering this, we are likely to see real frustration and anger about the economy.
• Will we see any economic luck with Jupiter? The Mars square would tend to indicate rapid inflation for some of us – perhaps in an economic as well as a general sense. The price of many things may be high – and not just in the stores.
• Jupiter also represents the law and legal systems. Legal arguments and challenges to the rule of law could figure towards the end of the year. Conflict of all kinds is well starred and this is unsurprising when we start to factor in Saturn as part of the equation…
• Saturn in mundane astrology represents conservatism, the state and our rulers. The conjunction with Jupiter is making governance a big issue at this time – and the square from Mars? Let me remind you (again) what Mars represents – the police, military force and war. The question is – who will be using uncompromising force – and against whom? it could be frightening out there as winter approaches.
• Finally, Pluto. Government upheaval, terrorism and crime. Civil disobedience and the power crazed. Polarisation, power plays and fighting to the death. No compromise and not surrender. It doesn’t look good.

Of course, none of this is news to those of us who follow events closely. Mars square Jupiter Saturn and Pluto right now means we are close to the final act of a power play that’s been going on for some time – but it’s going to leave the world in a very different place to the one we were used to – however it ends.

Mars square Jupiter Saturn and Pluto: Personal Astrology

Of course, Mars square Jupiter Saturn and Pluto also affects us all as individuals too. We still have decisions to make about out personal lives and, regardless of where we sit on the zodiac wheel, the frustrations of the past few months are known to us all. The cardinal signs may have felt it more than most, so those of you with Aries, Capricorn and Cancer or Libra prominent in your charts may be feeling the need for change and and be making big decisions about the future direction of your life – and that direction is likely to be completely different from what you thought it would be.

It’s possible that one way or another, your decisions have been forced by outer events. Mars square Jupiter Saturn and Pluto may have brought redundancy, enforced unemployment because of a huge contraction in the business in which you worked. You may grab the opportunity to improve your education or training. You may want to relocate as fresh air, space and a better quality of life now seems much more important after lockdown. You may have found a new vocation, inspired by this serving in healthcare. Or you may simply have reorganised your priorities to suit our uncertain times,

Mars triggers your responses to pressing personal circumstances – and at a personal level things may not be all bad – even if they seem so at first. I’ll go back to something I said earlier about grabbing the opportunities this tough aspect can present you with – and if you’re willing to step up to the plate this cardinal square can work very well at a personal level.

This is because the cardinal square triggers action and ambition. Though the world may have left you in a different place, that doesn’t mean you can’t make the best of it. Where you find your Mars motivation and opportunities to change and consolidate your life will depend on where this transiting cardinal square falls in your natal chart and the aspects it makes to your important natal planets. Ultimately it will be up to you whether this year is one of triumph or disaster.

Mars square Jupiter Saturn and Pluto: The Big Picture

What this period of time is going to do, however forcefully, is remind us that we are part of something much bigger than ourselves. This aspect – part of the big Mars Retrograde coming soon to a world near you – is but one component part of a whole series of major transiting aspects that have done so much to change our world. With an angry Mars square Jupiter Saturn and Pluto, it’s easy to get wound up by any one of the multiple issues that have exploded into our consciousness this year. However it’s the big picture that’s important.

And the big picture tells of a world ripe for major change. Quite simply, the universe is saying that we cannot go on as we have been – there is stuff we need to address. Of course the angry and violent nature of much of the dispute is a measure of how much there is to be resolved. Right now it’s unlikely we will agree on the best way forward – but maybe that’s a necessary part of the process – and it is a process, as we can see from the connections this time has with the powerful Mars transits earlier this year.

Mars square Jupiter Saturn and Pluto is within orb for most of the time we experience retrograde stationing Mars over the coming weeks and months – only loosening its grip as Mars reaches it’s declination point in November. The process therefore works like this. We could experience intense stresses and frustrations during the first part of the transiting square – yet not be galvanised into activity until the second wave. Maybe. Mars is impetuous after all. ‘Jumping the gun’ (or being fired) could be a phrase that applies during this time.

As a Scorpio, I’m always conscious of how Pluto – an integral part of this process – destroys in order to rebuild, no matter how painful that is to those concerned. We are all concerned with this Mars square Jupiter Saturn and Pluto moment – but ultimately there will only be one winner. Let us hope that the magnanimity of Jupiter prevails to allow us to use Saturnian endeavour to build a better new world.

A final thought. The great conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius will, hopefully, mark the end of this process and usher us into a brave new world in 2021. I, for one, cannot wait to see what will happen then.

© Sara Shipman, September 2020

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