Safety First With The Guide Of Your Zodiac Sign
Mars is transiting through Cancer carrying all sorts of triggers our way, reminding us of matters unresolved, personal boundaries unlocked, and existential fears showing themselves clearly. Luckily, with Jupiter in Aries and the Sun exalted, we have a chance to see the situation for what it is and understand the direction we need to take to set free from burdens of the past. The main goal at this time is to create a sense of safety and to give ourselves the foundation where we are self-sufficient and ready to release the tension that keeps our healthy movements and our inner child’s creativity limited in any way.
Fear Serves
The greatest paradox of fear comes from our habits and upbringing. Even the homes that seem ideal and safe may carry less protection for a child than it seems obvious, just as aggressive ways and abuse leave their mark on one’s state of mind in later years in life. If a person is given too much “freedom” in early childhood, they learn that they must fight for themselves alone. It is often just as hurtful to be abused, as it is to be neglected and left alone to deal with matters that a child is not ready to face on their own.
Fear is one of our primal emotions, serving to show where danger hides and what we need to protect ourselves from. Unfortunately, when one’s home and space behind locked doors doesn’t bring a sense of safety, this interferes with our judgment and we tend to build numerous beliefs to adapt, belong to our system as it is and survive. In a way, this is our one need to survive as children (the sense of belonging) fighting with the primal need to survive (safe from aggression).
It is widely spoken about a “fight-or-flight response” but if we are convinced that it is only natural in this world to push through our fears in order to get something done or be understood, we become rough on ourselves, too aggressive for what our heart can bear, and fighting against our own instincts when all we need is tenderness and connection.
Healing the Wound
Healing energies of Mars can be an extremely complicated process, since it carries information about our unconscious world. Different from Mercury and the Sun that emphasize conscious information and awareness, different from the Moon, Venus and Jupiter speaking about our subconscious needs, Mars and Saturn both speak of unconscious fears, trauma, generational issues, and what has been buried deep within the body. They can only be approached through instinct, the physical world, and work with our physiology, daily habits and movement.
Depending on the level of our awareness of the problem at hand, we must remain aware that small efforts are sometimes the best thing we can do, so we can build steps to set ourselves free from unnecessary aggression in our lives. Some problems will require massive, life-altering changes when fear lives in our home every day. Other issues will be easier to resolve when we already created a safe haven behind our locked doors. Whatever the situation, we are all to some degree bound by fear as it is a part of the human condition.
Habits we manage to implement to relax and gain a sense of safety will eventually affect the way we see the world around us, moving our fences outwards and helping us have faith that we CAN handle whatever comes our way. Conflicts need practice and we may approach them as a skill to be learned. When they are constructive, they help us connect, and with the right people who serve our growth, this should run smoothly. On the other hand, some of us may recognize danger where there isn’t any, draining our own energy and power away based on past experiences and events that bruised our belief that this world is a safe place.
Sexuality as an Existential Theme
When we use the term “existential fear” we speak about survival in general, but this is not limited to finances, food and security that supports our livelihood. This also applies to sexuality as it is our unconscious need for survival of the species, our genes, and our entire bloodline. In a practical, daily sense, this includes personal space when we relate to other people, physical contact of any kind, unwanted pats on the shoulder or inhibited physical needs by someone who is seemingly more afraid than we are.
Typically when troubled Mars is set in, or when it rules the seventh or fifth house in one’s natal chart, we tend to internalize bravery and pursue partners that don’t want to connect in a healthy physical relationship. Every person we emotionally bond with serves to show our unconscious body and our actual unconscious needs. When we get tied to the idea of romance with someone who isn’t ready or willing to get involved in physical ways, this speaks of our own need to remain safe and physically distant as well. If this wasn’t the case, we would simply move on and create healthy contact with someone who is willing and ready as well. This is often attributed to “someone else’s” fear of love, but really comes down to personal space and instincts that are embraced in their natural form.
Practical Solutions
To support your primal instincts and this grounding energy of life that we all carry within, the first thing you should do is acknowledge it. When responsibility for Self is present, it does not matter if you “seem crazy” to other people, look introverted or insecure, or even if you are in conflict with your own current belief of what “must be done”. Handling issues of Mars in Cancer is supported by brutal honesty (exaltation of Jupiter) with what your body moves towards, what it rejects, and what it feels like when it is truly safe to be You (Cancer). You may lack structure, a timeline, a plan or a healthy routine (opposing Capricorn) and the thing that feeds the resolving point of this opposition is balance.
Keep in mind that the body serves us in ways that we aren’t even aware of, in surroundings that are unhealthy in numerous ways, metabolizing much more than we know. All physical symptoms reflect some form of aggression towards Self, however broad this statement might seem. There is a reason why Mars in Cancer often serves as a trigger for people with body weight issues, inflammations, allergies, high blood pressure, etc. Listen to your physiology in the next couple of months and form small new habits, adding love and tenderness into your daily choices. Take a step back from that touchy colleague, say “no” as loud as necessary, create a bank account hidden from an abusive partner and tell no one, eat something light for your stomach to show it love, and go for a long walk to find grounding. Small steps go the longest way when we remain focused on the love we truly deserve.