Jul 2018
Dog in the Fight
Mars has a lot to teach us in July. It galvanizes an opposition as the month begins and a T-square as the month is ending.
How’s your relationship with fixity? Mars in Aquarius will tend to trigger the things we dislike about the fixed signs — inflexibility and stubbornness — as well as the things we like about them — tenacity and focus.
Ego and mind
Early in the month, a Mercury-Mars opposition, peaking 7/5, takes place around the Quarter Moon (which is in Aries, exaggerating the Martial effect). The ego (Mars) is polarized against the rational mind (Mercury), testing our communications skills.
The personal desires are pitted against the mental faculties. If we were to believe the lore surrounding this transit, we’d think there was no more to it than crabbiness, irritability or depression (anger turned
against the self).
But these symptoms only show up when the energies are mis-handled. There’s nothing inherently negative about the pairing of our subjective motivations with our thinking process.
Blaming the planets
It’s tempting to blame Mars whenever we find ourselves behaving like an asshole under its influence. We astrologers, who realize we ought to know better, tend to accompany our blaming with a rueful little laugh, a semi-admission that we know it’s a cop-out.
Mars (self-assertion) in hard aspect to Mercury (locomotion) gets blamed for moving accidents, too. Projected anger and unconscious aggression operate in mysterious ways. Even events that objectively 
originate outside ourselves – for example, witnessing a fight between other people — can be instructive if understood in terms of psycho-spiritual dynamics, rather than finding fault (which includes faulting ourselves).
Blaming makes us miss the chance to learn about how Mars works, how to deploy the extra energy the transit is giving us.
Mars is the ego, just trying to do its job – boldly putting forth the desires – through the vehicle of sharing information (Mercury). If we’re on stage, behind a podium, or in some other way charged with
pumping up a group, we can articulate our own interests with force and confidence.
We only run into trouble if we forget that our ego’s involved.
Fixed T-square
This is especially important to keep in mind during the last week of July, under the T-square between the Sun, Mars and Uranus (7/25-27). With an outer planet involved (Uranus), if we go unconscious and the transit backfires, it has more of a kick.
Again, the trick here is to realize we have a dog in the fight. Especially with the Sun now in Leo (another Martial sign), there is a lot of heat surrounding actions and ideas with which we personally identify.
This will make folks who are already contrary (Mars) even more stubborn (fixity). Indiscriminate rebellion (Uranus) may disguise itself as true self-expression (Sun).
Watch to see if you’re arguing against something more passionately than you’re arguing for something else. Notice whether you’re taking a position not because you think it’s viable but because you just want to win.
Stay open
Uranus doesn’t announce its lessons; events tend to spring out of left field. During the last week of July, leave as much open space in your appointment calendar as you can.
Open yourself up to experience that you don’t yet understand.
Natives with planets in the early degrees of fixed signs will be especially affected. If challenged to stand your ground, don’t shrink from it. You may rise to the occasion with a persuasiveness that surprises even you.
Just remember to assert without aggressing.