 Hey there! I don't know if you know this, but we recently transitioned from Mercury retrograde to Mars retrograde, literally on the same day. It was pretty cool, and I thought I'd pop in and tell you about it. Astronomically, Mars retrograde occurs approximately every two years and two months, when, for about 60 to 80 days, Mars travels in reverse motion across the backdrop of the stars. Now, don't worry, it doesn't literally move backwards, but it does appear to do so from our point of view here on Earth. This time around, Mars' backwards motion started on March 1st, and it will continue to moonwalk across the skies until May 19th. Now, on the other side of the coin, astrologically, Mars symbolizes energy, passion, drive, activity, anger, assertiveness, and aggression. The survival instinct, sexuality, desire, courage, and initiative. It is the representation of male energy, which comes as no surprise given the story from the human history movie, which regardless if it's true or not, shares an awful lot of connection between those two points. During the retrograde period, however, the Mars energy is turned inward and does not work in a direct or fort-right manner. Male energy gets a female caress. For those who like to do things in a big, bold, bright manner, this is an opportunity to try a more subtle, gentle approach to the way in which we typically do things. Mars retrograde is a period for reworking a project rather than initiating one. Use this time to evaluate how you are directing your efforts. Are you procrastinating? What makes you feel energized? What are your current goals? What makes you angry? How are you handling conflict? Now, how does the astrological information relate to the astronomical information? In my understanding, it's essentially like the relationship between our perception of Mars is different than it was before for a short period of time. If we fractal that down to people, how is your perception of the male energy in your life different in the various relationships you have with everyone around you, including yourself? Just think about it. Really, at its core, all of this means is that if you want to create something new, try doing something differently than you've ever done it before. And that's the basics of Mars retrograde. Oh, by the way, one final thing. We've made a whole bunch of changes to the Spirit Science website recently, and we would love it if you would go over there right now and check it out.