Mars is the outermost of the inner planets. Mars is the principle of action, simple and direct. It is about going after what we want.
Psychologically, it is the male principle. But, as with Venus’s femininity making itself felt in men as well, women will also carry the Mars energy. They may just not express it in the same way as men due to cultural mores.
Mars is about assertion. In the real world, getting stuff done often requires asserting oneself, and this where the Mars energy needs to be expressed. The degree of assertiveness will depend on the Mars placement in the horoscope, both the sign it is in, and its interaction with other planets.
Assertion taken beyond acceptable norm becomes aggression. Which taken up yet another notch or two turns into brutality and violence. War, as sanctioned aggression, and the participating military, are Martial in nature.
Women as a whole are much less openly aggressive than men, and generally draw a very tight boundary around their expression of assertion. A woman might live out the aggressiveness of Mars through the men in her life, deeming it to be a more acceptable channel.
With certain placements of Mars, the energy doesn’t express cleanly, resulting in passive aggressive behavior. When the Mars is thwarted, it leads to frustration. Frustration might fuel anger, and anger might turn to rage. These are Martian qualities – like the red color of the planet, you see red when you are angry.
Mars symbolizes vitality: the sheer physical energy needed to get out of bed, and get going. Strength and vigor are Martian qualities.
Physical motion is Mars’s domain, and so Mars is about how you move. Athletes in all sports are powered by the Mars energy, so sport itself is a Mars activity. Even dancing has a Mars component: as a pleasing art form, dancing is a Venus expression, but the actual physicality of motion in a dance is Martian.
Keywords: Action, Assertion, Aggression, Violence, War, Military, Passive Aggression, Frustration, Anger, Vitality, Strength, Vigor, Motion, Sport, Athleticism
