There’s a storm coming, and we’re all going to experience it in very different ways.

Fiery Mars (God of War, and planet of energy, action, and desire) stationed retrograde (Rx) in its home sign of Aries (Fire) on 9/9, and will remain on that trajectory until 11/13. Then, Mercury (Messenger of the Gods, and planet of communication, travel, day-to-day expression, business sense, analysis and observation, intellect, knowledge, psychology, exchange of ideas and information) stations retrograde (Rx) in Libra (Air) on 10/16 until 11/2.

What happens when you mix air and fire? You get an intensity that rivals the worst wildfires we’ve seen this year in the U.S.

Air feeds fire. Fire eats air.

As you may already know, Mercury takes its sweet time getting to its retrograde phase, which means that we’ll begin feeling the effects two weeks beforehand. At the time of this writing, we are experiencing the pre-shadow of Merc Rx. This will feel especially chaotic and turbulent to those who were born under Mercury retrograde, as well as those born with Mars retrograde in their natal charts. It’s likely that, already being in the pre-shadow, we’re feeling the first effects of these two planets in Rx.

Mars is classified as a “superior” planet, meaning that it is generally farther from the sun than Earth. And yet in the middle of the retrograde, it comes closer to the sun than Earth—penetrating the heart-space of our system. Because Mars’ distance to Earth is closer than 1 astronomical unit (distance from Earth to the sun), we may experience the problem of being overly subjective or “too close” to issues and signification ruled over by the red planet, such as impulsive actions, motivation, competition, aggression, assertiveness, and defending or breaking through boundaries and limits. Also, during retrograde motion, Mars strays farther from the ecliptic plane than any other planet except Venus. This means that we may feel out of touch or out of step with “normal” somehow. These factors combine to make Mars retrogrades intense. Mars has a lot to do with our survival instincts, and in Freudian terms, it would definitely be associated with the hedonistic urges of the Id (versus the moralistic side of the psyche known as the Superego). So Mars can definitely bring up issues pitting individual needs and desires versus social expectations.

Then we toss Mercury into the mix. With Mercury Rx in Libra, we are asked to seek inner balance and inner harmony. Think of a role you may have played in a conflict or discord in your life. We are called to accept responsibility for these roles, to learn the lesson, and move on and avoid repeating these mistakes again in the future. Mars will add a definite edge to this inner exploration. We may have a tendency to be harder on ourselves than ever before. Try to be conscious of negative self-talk, depressive thinking, or acting impulsively. These may all be prevalent during Mars Rx. They may also emerge into your everyday thoughts and actions because we have Mercury in there causing disruptions and other kinds of turbulence.

Expect long delays in negotiations of any kind. Expect things to break down or go awry. As always, use extreme caution when signing contracts or leases until Mercury goes direct in November. If you’ve already begun the process of signing documents, proceed, but slowly, making sure everything is as it seems. You don’t want surprises later. Get your automobile tuned up now. Backup your computer. Harsh words spoken now will come back to haunt you.

We can see some of the negative aspects of what’s to come from the U.S. Presidential debates last evening. Most of the news media called it a political sh*tshow, and they were right. Name calling, personal attacks…in short, a very juvenile display of schoolyard rhetoric. The only thing missing was someone exclaiming, “I’m rubber, you’re glue, what bounces off me, sticks on you!”

Be exceptionally cautious now until mid-November when the skies begin to smooth out and we can resume normal living.

Don’t forget that we also have Saturn Rx, Uranus Rx, Neptune Rx, Pluto Rx, and Chiron Rx. These planets will add different hues and shades to our experiences based on your natal chart.

Want your natal chart interpreted? Contact astrologer Marcus Lyons!