The Astro Study Room
Learning the truth of the stars together. Astrology 101 with a few side quests.
The Astro Study Room
#7 - Mars: The Warrior and the Survivor
The fiery energy of Mars governs everything from our deepest drives to how we fight our battles, both literal and metaphorical. Stepping beyond simplified notions of Mars as merely the planet of aggression, this episode delves into the multifaceted nature of this cosmic warrior and how it manifests uniquely in each of our lives.
We explore Mars as not just the initiator of action, but as the survivor, the strategist, and the protector. Drawing parallels between Mars energy and characters like Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games, we illuminate how Mars operates differently depending on its placement from the brute force of Aries to the transformative power of Scorpio.
The conversation takes us through Mars's physical domain in our bodies, governing inflammation, immune response, and adrenal function, revealing the intricate connection between our physical vitality and this planetary energy. We untangle the complex relationships Mars forms across the zodiac through its essential dignities, explaining why Mars thrives in Capricorn yet struggles profoundly in Cancer, where its offensive protection conflicts with Cancer's defensive instincts.
For those looking to cultivate a deeper relationship with Mars, we offer practical approaches through crystals like red jasper and bloodstone, fiery herbs like cayenne and ginger, and movement practices that build and channel this powerful energy. We also examine how Mars retrograde periods invite us to reconsider our motivations and often turn battles inward, creating opportunities for profound reassessment of what truly drives us.
Whether you're just beginning to explore planetary energies or deepening an existing practice, this episode provides both theoretical understanding and practical tools to work with Mars constructively. Join us in discovering how to harness your inner warrior, channel your passions effectively, and transform conflict into purposeful action. Ready to ignite your Mars energy? Listen now and discover what your chart reveals about your deepest drives.
Until next time, we invite you to connect with us on Patreon for additional resources and to share your Venus insights!
If you are interested in getting a reading from Jordan, you can email her at yourwitchylibrarian@gmail.com or message us on instagram @TheAstroStudyRoom
Follow Ember’s embodiment journey on Instagram @emberfaemagic and message her for oracle card readings or just to say hi!
Hey STAR students, welcome back to the Astro Study Room.
Jordan:I'm Ember Fae, your friendly neighborhood fire fairy witch, and I'm Jordan, a university librarian by day and a dedicated astrology student by night. And yes, welcome back to the Astro Study Room. Our goal for this podcast, as always, is to feel like we're all just students meeting up after class to go over our notes together. So bring your notes, your water and all your pens and highlighters. Every other Tuesday, we will be exploring core astrology topics, breaking them down and just chatting about how these concepts show up in our real lives and reflecting on what wisdom the stars have to share with us. If you enjoyed this episode, I hope you will consider subscribing and leaving us a review to help us grow this little cohort of astrology students.
Ember:Welcome to episode seven. Everyone, we're just really chugging along here with the planets, huh Jordan.
Jordan:Yes, Ember, we're only seven episodes in, but let's talk about, like, how we're feeling, like what has this podcast experience felt like for you?
Ember:Oh my gosh, that's so funny because I was like actually reflecting on this today with Elise, just about like how you know, life is so busy and so crazy, right, and we're basically dedicating ourselves to doing something like multiple times a week because we have to be doing the research, we need to be like editing and then actually are recording and it's like definitely a lot, like we spent a lot of time working on these episodes and so I just like I don't feel any level of like, oh, I have to do this podcast, like I'm always so excited and I always learn so much and it's been like a really nice accountability tool to help with the learning process.
Ember:So, like we've talked about before, I'm not great with like the pure memorization of a lot of these, when we talk about, like the dignities or like just, you know, trying to like memorize. Okay, like this house is for this, like it's definitely having the tools in front of me. I have the tools in front of me. I have the tools in front of me. I can do very intuitive readings, but it's like it's been helping me kind of solidify that information and I've also noticed they've been paying more attention to like the cycles and my mood like the moon cycles and that's been really cool too.
Jordan:How about you? Yeah, I think definitely. So. I really relate to the accountability I've talked about before that, like when I had just planned on doing this on my own, one of my big goals was it still is one of my big goals is to like make sure that this is sustainable and to not take on more than, like we think we can consistently be able to. Like the fact that you know we're pulling each other to like keep going with this, and I do, like I enjoy the research. These recordings are my favorite. Like I look forward to these every other week. Yeah, I think I really look forward to to a day where we have more time to dedicate to this, because I know we both want to and we have so many more things we want to share and do. So one day that will come.
Ember:Absolutely Okay. Star students, get ready, because Ember just figured out how to plug her mic in. We are jumping into feisty, ready to go Mars.
Jordan:Heck yeah. But before we go into anything, ember, I'd love to hear your thoughts and feelings about Mars before we get into all of our conversations, because I know we talk a lot about how, like through the conversations that we have like, we both just kind of have these like epiphanies. So I want to hear, like, where you're at right now, before the epiphanies.
Ember:So okay, so we know that I like to bring in my own chart, um, so I did. I have Mars in Virgo in my 12th house. I was doing some reflecting on this, like, oh, how would I like talk about this? Um house. I was doing some reflecting on this like, oh, how would I like talk about this? And also I don't remember if we've talked about this before, I'm sure we have I have attention deficit, hyperactivity disorder or ADHD, and I kind of think that tracks with some of like the shadow versions of my Mars and Virgo.
Ember:Because I definitely have this need to just like over analyze every single decision and that can sometimes actually serve me really well, right, like I'm really good at like the fine details of like moving forward, especially my job as a veterinarian. I need to like look for those things having Mars and Virgo. But then sometimes I just get so lost in the loop of like meeting the logic, everything so perfectly, and it makes it really hard to move forwards and then I just end up like overthinking and sitting there and then you put it in the 12th house, which is like the house of the unseen, spiritual, the like subconscious, and so I think it's a lot of like needing to pay attention to some of those repressed emotions I might have and like old wounds I might be holding onto which, like girl, I can hold a.
Ember:Like old wounds I might be holding on to which, like girl, I can hold a grudge, and I like, have to admit that like with the best of them, yeah, so oh, mars in my 12th house is actually kind of a tricky placement for me. What about you, jordan?
Jordan:yeah, I feel like I think 12th house placements are always the hardest to understand. I think the 12th house is the hardest house to understand and I think part of that is because, like, it is the hidden house. There are three hidden houses but the 12th house is the most hidden, so it's also just kind of like the hardest to study, because when you're looking at someone's chart, you don't know everything about their lives unless you do.
Jordan:But even then we have there's just less research on that and things we don't know about ourselves even like I've yeah yeah, and I think, because there's also talk about like the 12th house is your most previous life and like how can you really know that? You know, that's interesting yeah, some people also say that it's um, I haven't looked into like the validity of this, so just take what you want from this. But I've also heard that it is your life, when your mother was pregnant with you.
Ember:Like that 12th house represents kind of like your, your mother's experience so not like what I was doing in the womb, like more like what my mom I don't think so.
Jordan:Maybe it could I don't know kicked really hard, like maybe, because I guess like it. It would be weird for it to just be about your mom's life, but it could be. Do you know, if you kicked a lot.
Ember:No, I don't. I kind of made a joke and then I was like well, like you know, people play music for their unborn children.
Jordan:Were you born in a C-section?
Ember:No.
Jordan:Okay, go on.
Ember:Yeah, I was just thinking that I had to think about that C-section question. I was like was I, I don't think so Because.
Jordan:Mars is cutting so no-transcript. So Like the stress gets shared, the good hormones get shared for sure.
Ember:yeah, Nutrients, any like negative things that happen. Anyway, this is such a tangent for us.
Jordan:I know this is like really out there. That's where we were going.
Ember:But Jordan Mars, what about you Like?
Jordan:where we were going. But Jordan Mars, what about you, like you got to tell us. So I am working on my relationship with Mars. I am a Mars ruled person, but Mars is also a malefic planet. Mars is the greater malefic in my chart, so it's kind of like the point of a lot of trauma and issues and stuff. I am working on feeling better about Mars, working with Mars. I guess I was like a partner.
Ember:Yeah, I really I think that is such like a great way to be connecting with Mars and like having these offerings and Jordan and I have talked about before we start episodes. We will do offerings just like um, what is it like? Petitions to Venus and Mars? If you listen to our Venus episode, you know that's like the planet I'm dedicating this podcast to. Mars is the planet that Jordan is working with and it has been really helpful, I think, for guiding us along this journey.
Ember:And so, just as speaking of like this journey, jordan and I just wanted to remind you of our Patreon, so really to help you connect with the planets, to learn more about them. We always love your feedback in the comments on our social media and, as you may know by now, we do have donation tiers on Patreon. So if our Mercury episode kept your mind buzzing, venus maybe sparked some joy, we would be absolutely over the moon, honored to have your support and we have really fun like fun title donation tiers that are really affordable to help you stay connected and, if you're interested in helping support the magic behind the mic, but, of course, no pressure at all, since we're here to make this content as accessible as we can to our listeners.
Jordan:Absolutely. There is always no pressure to donate and everyone is always encouraged to just join us for the free astrology content. We always mention that. We know that the astrology community is pretty big on like high prices, which can be a barrier to paying for learning this art and the science and this craft, and we can appreciate that. So we just want to make sure that the space is accessible to everyone, whether you want to donate or are able to donate or not, and speaking of Astro jargon and community Astro Jordan, why don't you tell our listeners about your reading offers?
Jordan:Yes, so if you're interested in a reading with me, you can message us on Instagram or on Patreon and we can set it up together. I offer natal chart readings and solar return readings.
Ember:I have one offering at 30 minutes and one at 60 minutes and you don't want to miss it, because it is so special to have a reading by Jordan.
Jordan:Yes, and I was going to say to our next episode is going to be our next other sode, and Emma and I are going to be talking through kind of like the process of one, what it looks like from the querent to be getting a reading and what my process is for setting up for reading and how I outline my readings. So check out that episode two weeks from now. And, ember, what's cooking for you these days?
Ember:Yeah, so I have been posting on Instagram and hinting at a new journey that I am on. It's called Ember Fae Magic. I will link the Instagram in the show notes. I will hopefully have a website soon and really I know I know I can't believe this is like happening.
Ember:This has been building for a really long time and I'm starting off by just like having some like educational content, maybe some like movement, some information about the practices I use to basically like alchemize a lot of the negative emotions, trauma, really difficult shadows that we deal with. How to alchemize that into something more powerful and magical that we can basically express with our bodies and feel really good, and into our bodies that are just so like we're put on this planet, right in these bodies, and it's so easy to just be like oh, this is my meat suit. It like gets me to from point A to point B, but like, these are our bodies, they're sacred, they're a temple, and so just learning how to like embody that is going to be the path I'm going down and I will hopefully have some offerings. I'm thinking about creating a masterclass. So there's a lot in the works and thank you. If you would like to follow along. Definitely check out the Instagram at Ember Faye magic.
Jordan:Yes, oh, I'm so excited this is going to be great Thanks, jordan.
Ember:So, yeah, please let us know how we're doing, give us feedback how we can help you learn. You know comments like subscribes. Jordan and I are both students ourselves, so our caveat is always that we don't always know everything, and we'll be totally upfront when we kind of come across something that we're just either quoting from somewhere that we know for certain, versus like, hey, we're just kind of getting this download right now, or we're going with this intuitively, as always. We're just kind of getting this download right now, or we're going with this intuitively, as always. We're learning together in this little astro study room, which is why it is so freaking special to us. So buckle up, star students. Class is officially out and the study room is in session. Hello yin star students. We are back with our current astro weather and I'll kick it over to jordan for some astro news.
Ember:Yes, so live today, on september 2nd how did this end up being like a news report? Why did that happen? Because it's you know, the weather segment it's something that happened without us actually talking about it yeah, that's true.
Jordan:Update that saturn is officially back in pisces for this retrograde, hallelujah. Saturn will be retrograde until the night of november 27th into the 28th, I think it's 11 30 pm eastern standard time. At that point saturn will be in the post-shadow phase, where we can kind of start to see the culmination or the fallout or the reward of whatever the retrograde was about for you.
Ember:So, Jordan, can you remind us again when did Saturn start this retrograde?
Jordan:Yeah, it was about mid-July, I think July 13th. And then just to bring it back to the eclipse that is coming up on September 7th this is also the blood moon. We're going to keep talking a little bit about eclipses as we are into eclipse season. Last episode, which was our Venus episode, we did a little bit of a dive into what eclipses are. We're not going to do that again, but I did want to expand on that and talk about the Sabian symbol of this eclipse. Everybody ready?
Ember:I'm so ready.
Jordan:I love these Sabian symbols.
Ember:Jordan. Can you just like very quickly remind us what a Sabian symbol is? Yes, so.
Jordan:Sabian symbols were developed by an astrologer and a psychic intuitive and they went to a park. The story goes. They went to a park for eight hours. The astrologer had written down a sign and a degree for every single sign, so each sign has 30 degrees shuffled them up and then pulled one out and would look at it himself and then channel it to the psychic and she would draw a picture. And that's how we have them now. Yeah, so this eclipse is happening at 15 degrees of pisces and with sabian symbols you always round up. So we're going to look at the Sabian symbol for Pisces 16.
Jordan:And the image that came to mind is the flow of inspiration, and the paragraph reads this is a symbol of the spiritual power which the development of a civilization has brought to a point of practical potentiality and on which each person may draw in meeting any or all critical issues of everyday living. There are illimitable resources in the world of reality around him and maturity at root is a conscious and disciplined, sensitive sensitiveness. Interesting word to these man is himself, as he puts his talents and skills to a real test, welcoming each new challenge to their competency. The key word is ingenuity. When positive, the degree is exceptional capacity for meeting the unusual develops developments on every level of human experience when negative delusions of cleverness and contempt for real effort I think this one is worded pretty interestingly too pisces is a sign of like misunderstandings and confusion and murkiness and I'm not saying that that was necessarily confusing, but I don't think it was very straightforward either, which I think.
Ember:No, there was a lot of words that it was a lot of words that were like not cadenced very well no, I agree that was not very straightforward. I would have to sit on that to process it a little longer yeah, so everyone feel free to do the same.
Jordan:Feel free to rewind too, and listen to that again I do like that.
Ember:This is the flow of inspiration. I like the title of the sabian symbol especially with our coven meeting coming up.
Ember:I think that that is super exciting and I know, jordan, you mentioned the blood moon, so this is happening on a full moon. So it's the full corn moon coming up again on September 7th, 2 0, 9 PM Eastern standard time. It becomes the blood moon right Cause it's an eclipse, and so the moon takes on this like reddish sheen to it, a sheen, a light, a reddish light. But yeah, this is. This moon is called the corn moon because traditionally it's the time period when corn would be gathered. But it's not to be confused with our harvest moon, which is usually after the autumn equinox.
Ember:And as the full moon always happens in the sign opposite the sun sign, this moon is occurring in the sign of Pisces during our like Jordan mentioned our total lunar eclipse.
Ember:Think that this full moon is already charged with you know we're talking Pisces, so illuminating your dreams, your intuition, your spirituality. But like, supercharge it right Because of this eclipse, and just really get in tune and respect the watery, mystical, healing vibe that Pisces is going to have to offer you during this eclipse. And I would say that this eclipse is less about doing and more about just kind of like moving into like surrender and allowing, which means really think of the ideas of just releasing, using your dreams and your intuition to guide you, which can feel a little abstract, and that's okay, cause I think that's kind of the vibe that this full moon and this eclipse is bringing in, so just kind of like released with that If things are feeling a little bit like mystical, or you're kind of like in with that, if things are feeling a little bit like mystical, or you're kind of like in your, in your head, in your dreams, daydreaming, a lot like let it happen and just see what comes from it, maybe journal on those experiences to and and you may get some like really interesting information and and downloads from that. I think this full moon for me will just honestly like be resting, so I'll be traveling that day and I think I think honestly, rest can really help with gauging and channeling in on your intuition and dreams so that you can let them take a front seat, and that could be the perfect way to honor this full moon. What are your thoughts, jordan?
Jordan:I really enjoyed that. I kind of thought, to be honest, I there was a part of me that felt like it was a little bit weird to be looking at the full moon so separately from the eclipse. But I actually really enjoyed this. I feel like one.
Jordan:I think eclipses are scary. I think people I don't want to I use the word fear mongering so much I feel like people in pop, astrology and really on all social media. But I think people like find these buzzwords and like really try to like sell things by scaring people. And I think that comes up with a lot with the eclipses. And I'm not saying that there's no foundation to that like, because, like we we said before, eclipses bring usually something really major if it hits something in your chart, and so that can be, that can be really good or really bad and and that's scary. But I don't know, I think the way that I liked the way that everything was phrased, because I feel like, yeah, you can, it is still a full moon and you can still work with it as a full moon. So I don't know, I really appreciated this was such like a lighter, kinder way to look at this full moon, which is still an eclipse, so I really I liked that, thank you in eclipse, so I really I liked that, thank you.
Ember:Yeah, I think it's a lot. Eclipses are kind of like that space I just see. It's like maybe don't like jump in and do all the things super hard, but like resting and taking that time to just rest and honor it. I mean I think especially we're talking Pisces, which kind of just rule, sleep, yeah, like leans into the dreams, right so just like take advantage of that in this situation and see what happens. It's scary to give into surrender.
Jordan:I think surrender is a scary, scary word for a lot of people, um, but it can be what a mars word to to be like, I feel like that's one of mars the shadows, is the thought of surrender really I mean, yeah, no, that totally makes sense. I usually associate, like Neptune with surrender yeah, I don't think I associate Turner with Mars, but I think that's something Mars is afraid of.
Ember:So I think yeah, it's interesting that it's coming up. No, you're so right and so being it's gonna be a good episode. I know I'm ready. I'm excited. I think we're ready. Jordan, do you want to kick it on over to talk about Mars?
Jordan:yes, I am ready welcome back after our short 10 second music break. Ember. We have all of our study materials ready now, and can you tell us what Mars's major themes are?
Ember:Yes, I can, jordan. So everybody grab those flashcards. And Mars, to me, is always that spark that just gets us up and moving and can represent our ambitions, our passions and courage and fire, which can be like super sexy and physical. But it's also related to how we fight, how you may express anger and deal with conflict, essentially what kind of warrior you might be or what kind of warrior you are. And so when you think Mars, get your red pen out because I feel like this should be in red and write down your key themes of.
Ember:Number one action and drive. So essentially how we initiate and move forward. Number two desire and or passion or not, or and passion. Think how you pursue those things that really like light you up, that light, that fire inside of you to action, courage and willpower. So how you may face a challenge, protect yourself, protect others, so that warrior vibe again, anger or conflict. So this is pretty self-explanatory, but this is how you may express your anger and your fight response. And then, in general, it's just Mars is your energy. So it's the energy and how you burn through it or express it. Again, think Mars is like your warrior archetype. Anything to add there?
Jordan:Jordan, I think you nailed it. I think my quick keywords for Mars have always been action, aggression, passion, motivation motivation, action, aggression, passion and motivation.
Ember:Yeah, I think I was actually really struggling to get this down to one word, which I've done for the past planets, but for this it felt like I couldn't. It was like the words were different enough that I needed to include both of them, if that makes sense. So I guess, like conflict might not necessarily involve anger, conflict can be like sadness or like conflict with self or things that don not necessarily involve anger. Conflict can be like sadness or like conflict with self or things that don't necessarily involve anger, which is, again, that's probably true for all the planets, but I was particularly struggling with Mars.
Jordan:Yeah, and I think, just to put this out there, if I did have to think of one word for Mars, it would be action.
Ember:I definitely think that that would make sense to me too. Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm trying to think now like what would be my one word? I think mine would be warrior, because I picture a warrior as like action, like moving forwards, fighting. So I think warrior, wait. Is mars also related to sex? Like we've talked about passion? We know venus is like related to the lovey, but like is hardcore, sexy sex doing the thing mars?
Ember:I think so um, and I know that, like scorpio, rules over the genitals so I think so, I feel like it would be right because, like it's, like the action of sex would, yeah that would make sense.
Jordan:Yeah, mars also also rules over athletics too so doing two main things?
Ember:athletic? Yeah, All right. So you kind of already mentioned it, Jordan, but can you tell us about Mars and the body?
Jordan:Yeah, so Mars rules a lot in our body. So Mars rules our body's defense systems. So think of, like your immune system and like literally fighting off diseases and viral infections. Mars rules muscles and the sympathetic nervous system, which is, like your fight or flight, very Martian. Mars rules sperm and testosterone. Mars also rules the adrenal function. Did I pronounce that right, amber? And what does that mean?
Ember:Yeah, so I also wanted to mention the immune system. Totally makes sense.
Ember:I just thought about it because we also Mars rules inflammation and your immune system is essentially what creates inflammation, right? So like inflammation in your body comes from your body's response of the immune system, so that totally tracks the adrenal glands. So the adrenal glands and adrenal function. So your adrenal glands are two glands uh, one on each side that sits on top of your kidneys, with very essential function for long-term survival. So the adrenals made up of two parts. You have your adrenal cortex, your adrenal medulla.
Ember:Your cortex is what is responsible for what we learned in veterinary school, like salt, sugar, sex. So essentially it maintains the salt balance in the body, regulates glucose metabolism. So that's your sugar. And then for sex it's androgen, so like your sex hormones. And then within the cortex there's three different parts where these functions lie. So we learned it as, like the deeper you go, the sweeter it gets. So the outside is used for salt, and then that's like the zona glomerulosa, you have the zona fasciculata, which is sugar, and then the reticularis for salt, and then that's like the zona glomerulosa, you have the zona fasciculata, which is sugar, and then the reticularis for sex. I don't know why I decided to go deep into this.
Jordan:I know Everyone's trying to write it in their note cards like zona fasciculata.
Ember:Well, I think it's because it has such a good mnemonic like the salt sugar sex. Like I remember learning this stuff.
Ember:Um, and so you then have your medulla of the adrenal gland. So this is like another portion of the adrenal gland which is going to be responsible for things like epinephrine, so AKA your adrenaline, and norepinephrine, which is responsible for your sympathetic nervous system, which you talked about Mars ruling, and so your sympathetic nervous system is going to be things that it's going to get you into that like fight response, so increase your heart rate, your blood pressure. It redirects blood flow to your muscles during stress, so you can like get away really fast. And basically, what you've already said is just more specific functions of the gland that controls those things, which totally makes sense. Then why Mars would tie all those things together?
Jordan:Okay, so to break that down, so salt and sugar and balance, that doesn't sound super Martian to me, but I do like what you said too about like the diving deep force, like the deeper you get, the sweeter it gets, because Mars is the planet of diving deep into something. It's interesting that it gets sweeter, like it's interesting that, like sugar is a part of this, and I guess you know I'm not a doctor, but I guess this would go back into what all of that does and how that like essentially what other functions in your body that inspires, like the blood pressure and the heart rate.
Jordan:So, I hope everyone wrote that down.
Ember:Yeah, I think that it's really kind of talking about the very specific parts. Like I don't know if Mars necessarily like relates to the salt, but that portion of the adrenalin does control your sex hormones and so we're like part of your androgens, so certain parts of your sex hormones. It's not a lot, because obviously you also have, like ovaries and testicles, but anyway, and then also obviously adrenaline, and so that's another part of the adrenal glands and so all these functions are going to relate to your sympathetic nervous system, testosterone. So your adrenal glands are responsible for the precursor DHEA to testosterone. So if you put it like that like I don't know if it's necessarily like it's because it rules salt and sugar, I think it's kind of some of the other functions. But we do right, we need glucose to take any sort of action, right? If we lose glucose we're like dead.
Jordan:We talked about Mars ruling inflammation, and that's you know. It's about heat, which Mars is hot. Mars rules blood in our body and Mars is also connected to acute conditions rather than chronic conditions.
Ember:Do you know why that is Jordan?
Jordan:I don't know necessarily why acute, other than I think like Mars just doesn't have as much of that staying power, because Mars is like the initiator and I do think you know I'm learning a lot of this medical astrology as I research for the episode, so I haven't gotten to Saturn yet, but I'm pretty sure Saturn would rule the chronic conditions and Saturn and Mars have a weird, weird relationship. So I think that's kind of my thought on that we're on the same vibe.
Ember:I was thinking that too yeah it's that acute, quick, intense, yeah, um, comes on quickly, kind of yeah condition. So yeah, I had the same thought yeah, and mars.
Jordan:I said this earlier in the intro unexpectedly but mars rules things like cutting as well. So Mars can rule injuries and accidents and surgeries and can also I wouldn't say rules C-sections, but like C-sections can show up in a birth chart where Mars is kind of thing. Mars rules fevers and overheating again heat and I haven't really gotten into nutritional astrology at all or what that even really could mean. I mean, I guess it comes up when we're talking about like vitamins and stuff. But Mars rules proteins and I've read that the kind of proteins you should eat like can be dictated by where you have Mars. So fun fact.
Ember:Yeah, I know I've talked about the traditional Chinese medicine and, like the classes I've taken in vet med, they talk a lot about hot and cold foods. So I was kind of thinking about this when you mentioned the proteins. So essentially, there are like some proteins that are considered warming, some that are considered cooling, and so I was thinking about this. When you said that, I was like, oh, maybe if you have like Mars and a fire sign to balance your energies, maybe you'd want to eat some like cooling foods, or what they call in a TCVM is like yin supporting proteins, so things like whitefish or shellfish or duck or rabbit. And then you know there's warming foods, which are going to be things like chicken, lamb and venison, and there's also neutral proteins that don't have any sort of temperature association, so things like beef but like fun fact.
Ember:So an example of this is like if you have a dog with seasonal allergies that's associated with a lot of inflammation, you could try one of the cooling proteins as their main protein source in the diet, like duck or something to help with the inflammation. Obviously like go see your primary veterinarian before you just start like switching up proteins and animal proteins for your animals. But I kind of thought about that. I was like if Mars is ruling like the type of protein, then maybe you could use it based on, like, where it is in the element or something.
Jordan:Yeah, it's something I'd want to learn more about. Heather Land is the one where I get a lot of my medical astrology knowledge and who I learned this little tidbit about nutritional astrology from, and the way that she teaches it. It sounds actually a lot more basic than what you're describing, ember. I know she says like if Mars is in a fire sign, you should eat land animals for protein. If it's an earth sign, you should eat plant proteins, and if it's in water, you should eat sea proteins, and if it's an air, then it's a toss up and you get to decide which one is good for you.
Ember:That's interesting Cause I would be worried that if, like, I had Mars in a fire sign and I was eating like warming so a lot of land animals are like warming foods that it would almost like, oh, make my Mars like overactive.
Jordan:We're going to have to test this out on some people.
Ember:Yeah, that's volunteer for clinical study. I have a whole book on like nutrition and TCVM nutrition. That I really should reference more. But yeah, what else? Jordan? Is there anything else on our list? Yeah, that I really should reference more.
Jordan:But yeah, what else? Jordan? Is there anything else on our list? Yeah, so Mars also rules over iron, vitamin B12, essential fatty acids and folic acid. And Amber, I'm very excited for you to tell me what these things actually do.
Ember:So iron, folate, b12, those are going to be part of, like your red blood cells. So iron is at the core of hemoglobin, which is needed to make your red blood cells. So that makes sense because Mars rules blood. The essential fatty acids so that's interesting because that's different than fat. Fat in general is very energy dense and stores energy. So I could see and then you like use that energy right. So I could see like fat. But the fatty acids are more like your building blocks for your cell membranes, your nervous system, hormones. So maybe that's why maybe because it's like a building block for some of those hormones that we've talked about a little bit earlier could be the only thing that I would think that like why Mars would rule it.
Jordan:Yeah, I don't know. So that was a list.
Ember:Dang yeah I know.
Jordan:Like I said, Mars rules a lot in our body, and let us know everyone. If you've been enjoying these little medical astrology segments, I'm going to continue them anyway, but I would love to hear if you're liking them. So now let's really get to know Mars through some of its archetypes. So, Emma, what archetypes do you associate with Mars?
Ember:Like I've already said. Mars is the warrior through and through for me. And then, of course, if you know or follow any sort of Greek mythology, aries is the Greek god of war and conflict and is, like, very obviously associated with Mars, basically embodies Mars, and I don't work with Aries at all, so I can't really add much there besides the knowledge that he's Mars himself. But, jordan, you know how excited I am for your archetype.
Jordan:Yeah, and actually, before we get into our big story connection, I have a few other archetypes to add into. Oh, yes, tell me. So.
Jordan:Another archetype for Mars is the young man, and actually this probably says a lot about where I got the metaphor for grumpy Grandpa Saturn in Aries' bachelor pad, metaphor that we've been using during Saturn's current retrograde, Because that really is like the relationship between the two Saturn, which we will learn more about when we get to our Saturn episode, is an older, more stable energy, while Mars is much faster and youthful and a more attacking energy. And you know Mars has like major, like grab life by the balls kind of energy. And so you know Mars has like major, like grab life by the balls kind of energy. And so, yeah, mars is that young man, young man with all the energy and all the hopes and dreams, kind of all the naivete too, of like truly thinking I can, kind of like one truly thinking I can get through anything, but then also not totally accepting your own mortality either, like that kind of young man energy wait, not accepting your immortality or your mortality, your own mortality.
Jordan:Okay, so like I am going to survive, anything that kind of yeah, or just like you know how, like when you're younger you don't really think, you don't think it can happen to you kind of thing. Yes, and then, like as we get older, we kind of come become more aware that like no, it really can happen to us. Yeah, so mars has that like no it really can happen to us.
Jordan:So Mars has that like, yeah, people die, but it's not going to be me, so yeah. So Mars is the young man. Mars is also the athlete as well. Mars is the pioneer. Mars is the one who starts things and initiates. Mars is the one who isn't afraid to step off of the ship and explore, and I wouldn't say that's like always a good thing, like I do think Mars also has like big colonizer energy. I would also say too, mars is the first one willing to test out like a new invention or a new way of thinking. And lastly, kind of expanding on the warrior archetype of Mars, another archetype would be the survivor. Mars has been through it, mars has seen some things that nobody should have to see, but Mars keeps going and Mars is a survivor. So those are some of the other ways you can think about Mars.
Ember:I think with those in mind, jordan, I'm really curious. Like I know that you mentioned a little bit about your reason for like working with Mars is to kind of like develop that relationship, but do any of these archetypes speak to you as to like your?
Jordan:I think I think, you know, we're all survivors. When I was younger I was in a really bad car accident and I think that was one of those moments that really put me in front of my own mortality and knowing like I could die, I could have died, and that kind of thing. So I think I don't have that same naivete as this Mars that we're describing anymore, but I think I kind of I don't know, I guess there's a part of me that like wants that back a little bit and I can appreciate that Mars still has that. And then, yeah, I guess, just like the survivor archetype, Mars is a survivor and I have survived a major car accident.
Jordan:I was really not expecting you to talk about that, jordan, neither was I, but you also like, phrased the question differently than originally intended.
Ember:Yeah, you know, and, and as you all know, jordan and I've talked about, we do script out some of our episodes, but sometimes these conversations come up really organically. Um, and I hadn't read this edition of the archetypes that Jordan um had written at the time where I was, I was thinking about this question and, yeah, I guess it came out a little bit differently than I was intending on it. And I think that conversation about the survivor that really strikes me, jordan, because you truly are and truly trying to work through that trauma, even you know, currently in every single day is what you said about trying to like reconnect with Mars, your connection, where you're like you know you were saying that like Mars isn't necessarily have the best placement in my chart, I'm trying to like connect with it a little bit more, so it'd be nicer to me, you know, like you are honoring your I mean your child. You're like that naive survivor child that you lost that day and that is so epically beautiful.
Jordan:Yeah, and I think it's interesting too, because where I'm at now, like I think, I'm very hyper aware of my mortality and that's not good either yeah. So I guess trying to like swing it back to find that balance, because I'm too far on the other side of that spectrum now. So hail Mars.
Ember:Yeah, to bring more of that Mars energy into your life. I just never even like I knew that. You know you were developing that relationship with Mars. But again, mars to me I just the way you put it and this like this survivor type really just spoke to me about you and I was thinking of you and I guess that's like underlying why I phrased the question like that, because it kind of just came to me really suddenly and powerfully that, like damn Jordan, like you're doing some really powerful work and I think that's amazing, and I think it's amazing that you shared it here and yeah, and I love you.
Jordan:I love you too. I can't wait to talk about your Mars.
Ember:I know let's move on. We can get story time now All right Story time.
Jordan:Okay, so I actually did not connect Mars to a Disney story, can you believe it?
Ember:yeah, I was like shocked and also because I was so sad. I was like she's gonna talk about Mulan.
Jordan:I thought about Mulan.
Ember:I actually did so yeah, so I'm ready. Let's, let's do this non-Disney. It's time we had to break it. We had to break it, so let's do it yeah.
Jordan:so it actually took me a little bit to come up with this one, because I think Mulan is a good example, but it just wasn't hitting everything that I think I was looking for, and so I picked Katniss Everdeen from Hunger Games. Amber, are you in the Hunger Games?
Ember:Am I a millennial Duh? Like, of course, but yeah, like ruled my I don't know high school. I don't remember when I read Hunger Games, it was probably like middle school, high school, but yeah. So I guess I'll give like a brief summary then. But Hunger Games takes place basically in a world where you have these different districts and every year children are chosen to fight to the death in a televised, very capitalistic spectacle to basically represent their district and like fight for their district. And zoom in on Katniss Everdeen, who basically steps forward in this selection with the very iconic like I volunteer as tribute for her sister in you know that year's Hunger Games and becomes this symbol for rebellion. She's a badass with a bow, blah, blah, dramatic love. Things happen and there's like a love triangle, but anyways, I'll like let you continue, jordan.
Jordan:No, that was great.
Ember:We're here for the love triangle.
Jordan:Oh, I do. I know, I know that's a trope people are over, but I dig a love triangle.
Ember:I love the 2010s tropes.
Jordan:I think those just hit different. They're so good, anyway. So yes, so Hunger Games starts with katniss doing what she's got to do to feed her family, and I kind of see this as like the fixed scorpio side of mars, and it also brings it back to that survival archetype, because katniss is doing what she's got to do to survive and it's simple as that yep, katniss's life do be real hard then during the reaping, which is kind of when kids get to participate in the hunger games um, as you said, Ember Katniss's little sister's name gets pulled and Katniss immediately steps in and volunteers as tribute, which definitely correlates to the very warrior-minded, very brave, very courageous and also very impulsive qualities of Mars and Jordan?
Ember:where is Katniss's Mars? Where is?
Jordan:Mars. Where, damn, I didn't follow up. I meant to follow up and think of something. I think her Mars. I actually kind of think it would be in Cancer, which is Mars' fall, and I think maybe that could play into some of the bad line that Katniss has, but also her being such a tough, strong defender of her family and maybe even talking on borders as well, like district borders, because that's kind of a cancer theme.
Ember:yeah, well, I didn't know that.
Jordan:Yeah, district borders what do you mean by that? Just like cancer can rule, like, I would say, like you know, if you're looking at cancer in like a nation's chart, like that would kind of rule nationalism, like that would rule the borders, like because it's the home, um, so it's like the country's home. Okay, I could see that for sure. And then, of course, more obviously, katniss connects to the warrior archetype leading up to and during the hungry games. Actually, she fights with a bow and arrow right, which is the card you pulled before this oh my gosh, gosh.
Ember:Yeah, it is so y'all, just at the beginning of this episode, jordan and I we've talked about, always pull Oracle cards. So the card Jordan's mentioning is an arrow card, you're right.
Jordan:Way to connect. Yeah, and so she is someone who fights her way to the end with wit and strength, and she is very much motivated by her desire to live and to also keep her family taken care of and I remember incorrectly, were the Tribute's families taken care of during these games?
Ember:or no. No, the Capitals sucked. They just like, basically only took care of them if they were the victor.
Jordan:I think I might be thinking of the Selection series. Have you ever read that? Uh-uh, it's so fun. It's like Princess, bachelor stuff, um, but I remember that whoever gets, whoever is like part of the selection, which is, uh, princesses or well, it's commoners trying to become a princess, um, their families get taken care of, it's really good.
Jordan:It's like, is it young adult or it is it's, it's ya okay, but anyway, at the very least, katniss is concerned that her death will mean that no one will be around to take care of her mother and sister, and so she is very motivated by her desire to provide for them. And again, mars rules are motivation. And then the warrior, archetype and warrior we'll get into this a little bit too later when we talk about essential dignities, but, like defense is a type of warrior as well. And as the trilogy goes on, things get more and more political and we see Katniss being motivated by resistance and rebellion and her own values, and so she's fueled by her rage that she has towards the capital and for being used as a pawn for a game that she didn't ask to be in yeah, I totally see this now that you're like explaining it, katniss needs to really express this brute warrior, for she's kind of forced to right, I mean, in the situation she's in.
Ember:But I love this connection that Mars isn't always just like this aggression expressing for yourself. It's an energy that may be used to like protect others, and so I like, I think Mars and Cancer for her totally makes sense. You know, kind of going back to the key themes of courage and willpower that we mentioned earlier, right, like Mars is there to fight in all the different kinds of ways, and Katniss is passionate about protecting her family, protecting others during the game, like you know Rue and like that whole scene. You know she's really passionate about that and shows that duality and motivation where she like knows if she dies, her mother and sister are left with no one. And then the additional motivation of like I need to survive, to rebel and basically like start a war against the capital. So snaps for you, jordan.
Jordan:This is very appropriate for our mars theme, even though it's not disney yeah, and I think too, like katniss really gets into, like the scorpio side of mars, and I was thinking about this while you were talking. But I think, like, probably because some of these signs have modern rulers, so scorpio's modern ruler is pluto, and so some modern astrologers don't look at mars when it comes to scorpio. I I still use the traditional rulers. Um, and I was thinking about it because, like with a planet like venus, like we do strongly associate both libra and Taurus with Venus, but when we think of Mars we really think of a lot of Aries qualities, but Mars has those Scorpio qualities and I think Katniss is like the Scorpio side of Mars for sure.
Ember:So the Scorpio side of Mars is represented by, essentially like that, survival.
Jordan:Survival aspect is that I think the survival, because scorpio is a fixed sign, so scorpio is stable like that, and so I think that's that survival aspect and I also think scorpio is more of that wit, whereas, like aries, is that brute force that we don't see as strongly in katniss oh my gosh kind of like mulan, where she goes to war to protect her father and she like is so smart and like defies traditional values.
Ember:She like changes the entire society's view on women, and I just had to talk about Disney.
Jordan:Okay, Just had to make sure we got some Disney in here, guys.
Ember:No but like I love, like Katniss Mulan, there's just these like amazing women who embody Mars as this catalyst for transformation through conflict and that, like you said, like Mars is not just about the brute force, and I think a lot of people do are very quick to like think of that with Mars. Like you said, that Aries energy. But Katniss and Mulan have very like clever tactics in the heat of all this war and conflict which they need to do to survive.
Jordan:So that's cool this is so not the same thing, but I love when you start things like you've. I know you said you haven't finished it and I haven't either, but you've seen, um. Have you seen the first episode of house of the dragon?
Ember:um, like season one or season two, season one. Uh, yes, I've watched all. Like season one or season two, season one? Yes, I've watched all of season one. It was a while ago.
Jordan:I'm only a few episodes into season two, so I'm also all caught up on season one. But it makes me think of when Rhaenyra is talking to her mom and she's doing that you know that typical trope that we see where she's like I don't want to be a knight and the mom is like girls aren't knights, essentially, and then she has this line where she says our battlefield is in the birthing bed, I think is what she says, something like that. And so it's not so much that I'm saying like birthing is a Mars thing, but thinking in that context of not every battlefield looks the same kind of thing.
Jordan:Yeah, and we associate Mars with such this like masculine energy, and every planet has a masculine and a feminine sign attached to them, yeah, which we don't always talk about a lot, I think a lot of times.
Ember:It's kind of what we said in the Venus episode about things just getting a little bit flattened for like simplicity's sake. I kind of got chills when you said that though line, because I totally remember what you're saying from the House of Dragons, when you said that though line, because I totally remember what you're saying from the House of.
Ember:Dragons, and you can't forget that episode. No, and you know, you're so right that what these battlefields might look like for men or women or anybody is, can be very different. The battles as within ourselves, the battles we're fighting outwardly, right like, like the mental battles too, the wit like, even like a chessboard is like a battle.
Ember:And so bring in and that kind of goes back to like the archetypes, right, like I was really struggling with Mars because I was like no, mars is the warrior. And so I really liked this conversation because I think it's given me a lot to think about with. Mars and a lot more respect, which always happens, I think, at the end of the planet episodes. I think I felt like that with Mercury too. Um, but this was really awesome, jordan. I love this archetype. Thank you, yeah.
Jordan:Now, after all that magnificent storytelling, Amber, let's talk about how we can connect with Mars on the physical earth. What physical items might someone use to connect with Mars? So?
Ember:Jordan, I really liked that you asked me the question that way because it got me thinking. Besides our usual plant and crystal allies that we discuss, if you're looking to channel Mars, I was trying to think of things you could like add to your altar or just to kind of like guide you on what items you could use to put on your Mars altar, however you want to channel the energy, and in this thought exercise I was thinking about connecting with that warrior archetype and I did remember this pair of like dagger earrings I have and I was like whoa, that's so cool. Like I could embody Mars as a physical warrior with like metaphorical armor, weapons, protective jewelry. That, like I think could be really a really cool way to like channel the energy of Mars into a piece of jewelry that feels really powerful to you and I think, if it's like a natural weapon, that's pretty potent. But, like I love my dagger Aaron's name, it makes me feel so bad-ass.
Ember:I mean, you could also like have some cool weaponry and and that weaponry, again, is not just to represent those like physical battles, right, but could be like a literal representation, embodiment of like the mental battles we face to like slaying our demons and like all these things that come up, a shield for protection that can really speak to the action and courage that's Mars. So I don't know, I kind of went a little bit off script there, for, like our stuff, I don't know. What do you think, jordan?
Jordan:Yeah, no, I think I think what I love about what you do is it's always so intuitive, Like you are finding what connects with you, and not so much like what a book says. So I always appreciate hearing what. What came up from your mind, I think to the typical. One of the typical correlations that comes up, I know, is like iron and nails like iron nails or rusty nails too, for the red, and I think that has to do with like building and like the nailing. The hammering in the nail is like establishing something and mars is again the one who initiates and the one who establishes. So and it's also used a lot. I know ancient, in ancient times it was used a lot in weapons, like you'll see, nails in weapons, which is very martian, yeah, and I nails.
Ember:I think also the the correlation with the iron right Like.
Ember:Mars rules iron in your blood and also iron, the metal. So I think that's a really cool association. Also, I was like thinking about I kind of went down this rabbit hole of thinking about Hakate because I was associated. I was like, oh iron, oh Hakate, and I was like these are not directly related at all. Why did that come in my brain?
Ember:But then I was like, wait, so hakate is usually seen with torches, right, mars is related to fire. So like, back up, we could like also correlate any anything with like fire, like qualities, right, mars associated with fire. So it's a very hot and dry. So I think of the sun as like the flame, right, like the sun is fire, but Mars could be like the spark that lights the fire. So it's like smaller but like quick, fast and lights it ablaze and that's like into action, right, so you could tap into candle magic, candle scrying, raise energy of Mars during a bonfire. You know you use fire to forge iron, so you could like iron key, iron door knocker. So that's how I got on this route of Hakate.
Ember:I needed some background there, hakate and Mars, and so I was like, okay, so Hakate is usually seen with these torches, right, and so to reveal these shadows. Hakate shows the path with the torches, and so I felt like Hakate could be the one like leading you through these spiritual battles, while, like, mars is going to represent the more physical representations of the battle and how you handle that journey, and Hakate is sort of like that transitioning being. She's the one that like brings you from you know the the world to the underworld and back. And so I think if you're on a shadow work journey with Hakate or working with Hakate in general, you can use iron and kind of like combine those two energies. That would be really awesome to help, like, push you in that shadow work and sort of give you that courage that you need to move forwards.
Jordan:That's really interesting. It makes me I don't know enough about mythology to to talk much on this, but it does make me want to know if there's any stories with hecate and aries or or if they can get, if they connected at all. Because, again, talking about like the scorpio side of mars, like scorpio deals with trauma and so does Mars, because Mars is our battle wounds. So I think, like Mars really does show us a lot of where we need to do shadow work. I'm wondering so much if it's like two energies versus like could this be a different face of the same energy, kind of thing. Does that make sense?
Ember:Yeah, I'm like quickly goo. I did actually try to look up any Hakate and ari stories and I didn't find any um lame we'll have to make them up. So yeah, I mean it's like both deities are associated with dogs and underworld and warfare and death and destruction. I mean that's a lot of similarities sometimes associated with I don't know.
Jordan:This is also I didn't know dogs. I know that I thought the moon ruled dogs definitely has is usually seen with like dogs.
Ember:Like I said, I don't know much about Aries like, so I can't speak to that very much.
Jordan:I know nothing about.
Ember:That's how related I was thinking more of, like the Mars energy being brought into your shadow work. I guess I don't know it was abstract. Sometimes my thought processes can get a little abstract, but I hope we got there together.
Jordan:Yeah, and let's talk about like what crystals are associated with Mars.
Ember:Yeah, of course. So any fiery crystals can really have relations to Mars. So one of the most common is red Jasper, which is also known as the warrior stone, and it's used to channel courage, endurance, strength. So very Martian energy, jordan.
Ember:I did also like think back on that garnet that we talked about and I did a lot of looking into of like garnets associations with Saturn versus Mars, and so I know we discussed last episode that garnet could be a really cool combination for that Venus and Mars energy that we have for the podcast. So garnarnet can absolutely be associated with Mars, especially because it aligns very powerfully with, like, the sexual energy and the protective fire of Mars. I was looking a lot into Saturn and it was more associated with, like blue stones, but obviously, like Garnet rules it's Capricorn, right, so like there's that association. But then I was thinking about some of the other birthstones and I was like I don't think these all track with, like what is ruled by, like cancer is ruby and like I don't know. Yeah, it wasn't, it wasn't necessarily tracking. So I was like, okay, we could say garnets both. So now, knowing that Jordan, can garnet be our podcast?
Jordan:so I would say so because, again, I think it's like the value of like what your own mind puts into it too.
Ember:Yay, I have a little container of garnet that will now come with me, but then some other stones you can work with for similar reasons of embodying Mars. So things like vitality drive. You know carnelian stone, which is usually really easy to obtain. It's a really beautiful stone. And then bloodstone, which, if you haven't seen it, I actually have a bloodstone, it's really cool. It's usually this green and this green and red stone, so it's got like green, calcine and red iron oxide inclusions. And so, since we know Mars rules iron that's involved with with the bloodstone. I wonder also if it's like the name of it, I don't know bloodstone, but then also hematite you can throw in here too, which is made mostly of iron, which is going to ground you, strengthen your will and can even really like channel aggression. So any other thoughts on that? Jordan?
Jordan:yeah, a lot of this is making me think more about like the relationship between Saturn and Mars, because hematite is also a stone that connects to Saturn and I do like they're both our malefic planets, so they definitely do have like a relationship together. So those are my thoughts, but what about our plant allies for Mars?
Ember:So intuitively, I would say that plants representing heat are going to also represent Mars. So thinking spicy things like cumin, cayenne, paprika, which is like essentially fire and plant form. Ginger is also a big one, considering like it's a very warming, fiery root Ginger can awaken your passions. It's definitely an energizer and like a little bit of a go-getter herb. And then nettle, so you have like stinging nettle. It's kind of got that like protective barriers and can be very potent for energy, for sort of that like little.
Ember:I don't know, it's not necessarily spicy, but it's got that little bit of like a I don't know a twang to it, I don't know what the right word is. I really like drinking nettle tea. And then, as far as the call pepper book, I did take a look at that and things like things, herbs like basil, garlic, which is really it's a, it's a very like sharp herb obviously. So that's going to be associated with Mars. And then onion and then also hops, which I thought was interesting and I didn't really know why. I was like maybe it's because so hops is used to make beer. I was like is it the flavor of hops?
Jordan:I had no idea. Maybe it's that young man energy.
Ember:Wait, you are so right.
Jordan:Oh my goodness, yeah, yeah, I think that's hilarious, I love that. And so what tarot is associated with Mars?
Ember:All right, Jordan, for tarot. Do you have any guesses what Mars will be associated with my guess would be the emperor, I think. Okay, so I thought that too oh no, I'm wrong.
Ember:So the winner for Mars is our tower card.
Ember:You're not, you're not wrong. You're not wrong because I'll get into it, but so you know, remember that Mars can be like a very constructive action planet where we turn our energy of Mars, you know, to ambition, to drive, but it also has that destructiveness to when this energy is either really reckless or egotistical. And that's the, that's the key that the tower card really embodies. And so in your like traditional Rider-Waite-Smith deck, the tower is basically being struck by lightning. It's literally on fire, and this card represents ambition that's gonna be set maybe on some like not great bases, and I think the tower card really does represent that like malefic side of Mars for things like disaster, upheaval, sudden change. What I want to add here is that I think it's really important to remember that you have to have destruction, for example, the destruction of the tower, in order for new things to come. I think that you know it can represent change in the most dramatic of ways, but sometimes that's like very necessary and it can be scary, it can be hard.
Jordan:It has this like malefic energy but like that's very Scorpio too, cause Scorpio is transformation and Scorpio is that like that, uh, like that rebirth of, like tearing things to the ground to then make something better out of it, but first you have to tear it down. That's a very Scorpio thing.
Ember:Yeah, I mean, yeah, that totally makes sense. And so that kind of brings us into where, like, so the emperor card is also representative of the sign Aries, which is ruled by Mars. So that's where the emperor card does come in, and the emperor card is where we pull in those more masculine representations of Mars. So ruling with grit and force represents authority protection structure. When, when I, when I was like reading about the emperor, I was kind of thinking it had more Saturn vibes. Yeah, I could see that. But I think, like the emperor is really that like ruling force, like the decision making, like I am here, I know what's up, what I say shall be done, and Mars got that attitude yeah, and that actually sound, I would say, like for the emperor.
Jordan:That sounds too, because the sun is exalted in aries and maybe emperor makes me think more of sun in aries.
Ember:All right, jordan it is essential dignitary time all right.
Jordan:So we've talked about it a lot through the episode with our domiciles, but mars is at home or in domicile in the signs of Aries and Scorpio. Mars is in detriment in Libra and Taurus. Mars is exalted in Capricorn Very interesting and Mars is in fall and cancer.
Ember:Yeah, the exalted in Capricorn, like they're weird, right. Yeah, that was really weird.
Jordan:So Mars is at home in Aries, which is very comfortable here, very unchallenged. Aries is impulsive and initiating and brave, which are all things that mars identifies with, and aries is that classic warrior archetype. And I would say aries is the side of mars that we think about most often, which we talked about a bit before. That, like I think, because scorpio has a modern ruler, mars gets more and more and more associated with Aries, even though traditionally Mars still has those Scorpio sides.
Ember:Yeah, Before this episode. Honestly, that's how I associated it.
Jordan:Yeah, which makes sense. But Mars is also a domicile in Scorpio, and so Scorpio is very Martian. Mars is deep and strategic, which again reminds me of Katniss Everdeen, and Scorpio has a connection to death and with all the battles and wars. That Mars is deep and strategic, which again reminds me of Katniss Everdeen, and Scorpio has a connection to death and with all the battles and wars that Mars is in. Death is definitely right there. Scorpio is the sign of transformation, and a lot of major transformations come from battle wounds, which again makes me think of that tower card. To me, scorpio is the survivor side of Mars. I said before that Scorpio is a fixed sign, so it's that steady, unchanging sign. Scorpio is relentless and doesn't give up, and Scorpio keeps going, whether that's within their own air battles or fighting for someone else too.
Jordan:Mars is in detriment in Libra. Libra wants to weigh the options and ask around and find out what other people think and then make a decision about what to do next. Mars does not want to do that. Mars does not want to weigh the options or consider others. Mars just wants to act and act right now. So Mars can feel a bit like stifled in Libra and, as with all the planets in their detriment. There is so much more potential for growth here, and the archetype that I think of for Mars in Libra is the social justice warrior.
Ember:And I just that.
Jordan:Oh, I really like that too, yeah I also understand maybe why I struggle with mars so much now yeah, so mars is also in detriment in taurus, and remember from our venus episode, mars and venus essentially oppose each other, so venus's domicile signs are mars's detriment signs, and vice versa. We talked about how much taurus loves the physical comforts of the world. Taurus wants to wrap up in a big fluffy robe, cook some pasta and curl up on the couch with their partner and watch the Prince of Bride while cookies are baking in the oven. Beautiful scene, right? Yeah, I'm hungry, but Mars wants to keep things moving. Mars wants to make things happen. Mars doesn't want to take a break and enjoy life's pleasures. Mars to move on to finding their next win, finding their next fight, their next cause and their next motivation. Mars does not want to sit on the couch with cookies for some reason I like really just don't vibe with mars.
Jordan:I feel bad saying that I mean a lot of people don't. Mars is a mean planet. I'm sorry, mars, I love you. So mars is exalted in capricorn, and this one gives a lot of people pause at first because Saturn hates being in Mars's sign. So why does Mars love being in Saturn's sign? My first instinct is that Capricorn brings out the best sides of Mars. Mars has motivation, while Capricorn has staying power. Together, these two energies will start things that initiate movement and also keep it going long term and keep the motivation going to do the hard work until those rewards are finally reaped. It's kind of like Mars's motivation and also courage to do anything, plus Capricorn's long term sight and steadiness, and that makes Mars unstoppable in Capricorn.
Ember:So are these like our CEOs?
Jordan:Oh, honestly, it kind of makes me think of like the evil CEOs, like the relentless power seeking. I mean that would also be like a Pluto energy, but actually one of the one of the archetypes for Capricorn is CEO.
Ember:Okay so yeah, some evil CEO yeah.
Jordan:Mars is in fall and Cancer and this one also gave me pause at first. Initially because both Mars and Cancer are protective energies and Cancer is like your typical mama bear energy and Mars is the warrior, as we keep mentioning. But I think I see Mars as more of the offensive protector, while Cancer is more of the defensive protector, and the image that comes to mind for me is Mother Cancer is at home with her children and there's something dangerous coming to town. Cancer will reinforce the walls and the fences or the storm cellar and she will remain in the home that she has done all she can to make it impenetrable. When Mars hears about danger coming, Mars charges headfirst towards the threat to eliminate it.
Jordan:So the image that comes to mind for me, for Mars and Cancer is Mars getting the call that something dangerous is coming and Mars puts on every single piece of battle gear, gives himself the pep talk of the century, does a battle cry, ready to charge forward, and then all of a sudden is told oh no, you're not leaving this house, we are all staying put right here. And Mars is like WTF. Now Mars like what do I do? I'm dressed up, I'm ready for battle, I psyched myself up my adrenaline's pumping, and now I just have to sit on the couch in this armor, really unsure of what to do next. So, like, how can mars act on his motivation here? So that's what I think of with mars and cancer these don't make so much sense good yeah these were, these were really good.
Ember:Jordan, that's like mars and cancer. That's definitely, I think, also the katniss vibes you were talking about, right, like wanting to be, to be home, to take care of the family, being forced into this situation that she's like really uncomfortable with. That totally makes sense. Yeah, I think with these dignities, jordan, can we also talk about the transits and Mars in transit?
Jordan:Yeah, that's a fun one too, because Mars was in cancer this year. But Mars takes about two years to go through the whole zodiac and spends about six weeks to two and a half months in each sign, depending on the retrograde, and Mars goes retrograde about once every two years, which is relatively infrequent compared to the other planets. Now Mars is our lesser malefic planet In my chart and yours too, ember. Mars is the greater malefic because you and I both have day charts, so Mars transits can bring challenges. I both have day charts, so Mars transits can bring challenges, and I would say where Mars is transiting is where a battle is heating up, if it's touching anything in your chart, and it doesn't always need to show up like that, of course.
Jordan:Yes, mars is malefic and we don't want to forget that. But there's other ways to think of Mars. A modern astrologer once told me that Mars takes jumper cables while it goes through transits, and so Mars is jumpstarting every planet it comes into contact with and surging it with motivation and drive into them. So that's another way of seeing it too. That's how I choose to see it.
Ember:All right.
Jordan:So where we see Mars moving in the chart can show us where to initiate things and channel our motivation into. And then just a reminder back when we did our Mercury episode, we did a much deeper dive into what a retrograde is astronomically and astrologically and I'm not going to go into all of that again. But really quick, retrogrades are about redoing something, so rethinking, reflecting, reacting, reconsidering, resetting, etc. A Mars retrograde can turn things more into an internal battle, because retrogrades also kind of bring things in. There may be some old wounds that have been reopened, or you may find yourself feeling angry over things you thought you had moved on from. You may start thinking about what you really want, like what you thought you want isn't really fulfilling you the way you expected it to, so now you have to reconsider. They also say things that you start during a Mars retrograde may later see major setbacks or stalls.
Ember:Yeah, this really has me thinking what I was doing during the last Mars retrograde.
Jordan:Yeah, so I wanted to try something. This is completely live. We did not plan this ahead of time, but I wanted to see if we could kind of like workshop and pinpoint maybe how the Mars retrograde impacted you, amber. So have you ever reflected on that before? Have you thought about that?
Ember:I don't remember. I feel like, as we talk, I might remember maybe certain things that came up during Mars retrograde. For me just because right. So I know we like talked about beforehand, so we have like our pre-shadow period October 6th 2024. October 6th 2024, mars went retrograde December 6th 2024, station direct in February 24th 2025 and then we had our post shadow period till May 2nd 2025. So basically, things that happened during like that time period. I guess right, like anything that happened during that time yeah, I would say so.
Jordan:The pre-show is kind of when we can start to see like a trailer or like a prelude or a preface into what might come up during the retrograde. So what I also want to point out for you, Ember, is that Mars is not your chart ruler and was not your time lord during this time. So the Mars retrograde is not one that you would necessarily look at immediately, and what I'm saying here is that if we don't come to a big conclusion, it could be because Mars is just not a planet that is really ruling you or guiding you at the time. But I still wanna see if we can see what came up for you and before we really get going, could you sum up anything that you wanna share? Was there anything major or minor that was going on for you between the times of October 2024 and May 2025?
Ember:I for you between the times of October 2024 and.
Jordan:May 2025?
Ember:I mean, yeah, I got married. So like, yeah, um, so I did have my wedding. That was January 11th 2025. So a lot of that, it's my partner's birthday.
Jordan:I didn't know that. Oh, I didn't tell you that. No, I don't know, I did.
Ember:Uh, maybe I didn't, maybe I didn't mention it to you, Cause I, I don't know, but I I every time you think of I, every time I think of your wedding, I think, oh, that's Brendan's birthday, oh my gosh. So now you'll never forget my anniversary. So I also had some pretty big shifts at work that like started in probably like August of that year but, um, really I think took effect around like October. So essentially I transitioned away from supervising, which was like a pretty big change, and it was. It was due to a lot of like conflict that was going on in the office. That was kind of like pre this period. So I don't know like I'm just trying to relate like I would say I was in a pretty like I was in a pretty intense burnout period during this phase at work. For sure I also, on a spiritual level, like I think this is when red thread started, right, was that January? When did we start?
Jordan:It was January.
Ember:Yeah, okay, I was trying to think about that Cause I was like what did that happen? I think it happened after I got back, like the end of January, right, I think I know it was originally planned for the beginning of January, but then it did get pushed back.
Jordan:Maybe it was like mid January.
Ember:Yeah, because I think I don't think I missed any of it, for my wedding, so I think it was a little bit later. So that kind of like sparked a pretty intense spiritual descent. So yeah, I guess had some pretty big life stuff happen, do you?
Jordan:know this is also off topic. Do you know what time you officially got married? Yeah, um.
Ember:Our ceremony time was at 4 pm.
Jordan:We're gonna have to look at the uh, the electional chart for that, because that'll be fun, because the one of the I wasn't expecting this to come up, but you both have your seventh house because you're both libra risings. You both have your seventh house ruled by mars and you got married during a retrograde. It would be kind of interesting to know if mars was still in leo or in cancer at that point. So we'll have to look at that later.
Ember:But I think it was in cancer I.
Jordan:It's not so great, but that's okay, wait, hold on.
Ember:It was. I remember it shifted from leo to cancer on january 6th, because that conversation did come up with today so yeah, just interesting.
Jordan:But you mentioned some career shifts and you said that they were starting. Things were coming up before that october day.
Ember:Wait, we're backtracking to you, being like oh, mars and cancer, that's bad. I think that. I think that's actually like really sweet. I think I think it's like it's bringing about that like defensiveness and protection of home, that I think we were like solidifying our union of like I don't know, not that like our, you know what I mean. We like solidified the union of our home and like yeah, I think if you want to talk about it.
Jordan:I think the thing that concerns me is that it was a retrograde and so typically, retrogrades get revisited and read, something gets redone, but that doesn't literally mean divorce. It could be like redefining what your relationship looks like at some point. So I think, um, yeah, I guess I just don't want it to sound like scary and you don't sound like you were scared by it, but no, yeah, scared by this, but also well, that's a thing too, I think, because you would have to look at the electional chart as well, because it's possible that mars was not a big influence in that chart.
Jordan:But yeah, I want to talk about what was going on at work. I think red thread is also important here, because Mars started out in your 11th house of groups, but Mars, when Mars went back to retrograde, when Mars was retrograde, was going back over your sun and your Mercury, and so, to the extent that you can, what was going on at work?
Ember:I was just really burned out. We were so understaffed for so long and I was doing a lot of different jobs. I was supervising a team of like, so we the team was like 18 people and I was one of two supervisors. Me and that other supervisor didn't have like the best relationship, so it made it really challenging. And then on top of that, I was doing like my normal vet job, so it made it really challenging.
Ember:And then on top of that, I was doing like my normal vet job, so like it was really hard to be like emotionally available for those people and managing some pretty difficult conflicts, and also just like I can't do this anymore. Experience in August, and then I don't remember exactly when it was, but I like met with my boss who's amazing, I love her and we talked and we decided that like okay, we need to like shift some of the supervising stuff away from me, and that was really hard because it felt very like I had failed. I had, you know, I'd been doing it for a few years and it was just like it was. It was really difficult to give that up because it did feel like I had like failed what I was supposed to be doing in my job, which is so not true. I look back now and I'm like absolutely not. Like I was just too overwhelmed with everything going on. I was trying to do too many things. I had the difficult like conflicts going on in the workplace that made that really challenging.
Jordan:So do things look different for you now? Yes, and when did, especially with that, um, that redoing of distribution of supervisors to two employees, um, when did that go into effect?
Ember:probably around. So like I would say, september, october, oh really, yeah, I would say like probably around the beginning of that, like pre-shadowy period did anything change after that, or has that stayed?
Jordan:has that uh remained stable?
Ember:um, so like a lot has changed because we've had so many like new veterinarians come in. I think the big thing for me was the burnout, so that like re-evaluating.
Jordan:So if we're getting into the reason, right like what my purpose was at work and like what I was doing um, yeah, and also because this is your 10th house, so it's your career, but it's also you as a boss and as a leader and as a manager and a supervisor. I think it is very specific to you as a supervisor, and and then especially the burnout too, because answer is water and Mars is fire, and so like putting out that fire because answer is water and Mars is fire and so like putting out that fire.
Ember:Yeah, I, I think it's really cool that the post shadow period ends in May, because that's probably about how long it took for me to start feeling like myself again, like I think this summer I feel like I really started to become like okay, like I'm figuring out who I am at work.
Jordan:Again I'm like yeah and I think that was also tied in the venus retrograde too, because you are a venus ruled person, and I think that retrograde also ended in may I want to say, or the post shadow ended in may it was. I know something significant with venus was happening in may because we talked about in the venus episode, but that's when we had these conversations about the podcast yeah, it says april 12th 2025, so it would have had like a post shadow period okay you would say I think you said this your work life has gotten better since then.
Jordan:You have your son and mercury trining your pluto, which is a good thing, and with the retrograde going over that, I think it's like reactioning something, so I think that could have and then reactioning you as a supervisor, and then the pluto aspect, like transforming the way that things worked in your workplace. And then um, moving into your 11th house of groups, which brings in that active again, action with mars, so the action with groups and also mars is red, so that's fun. Um, which again kind of makes me think of this, is going off topic again, but makes me think of hakate connecting with mars, because the red thread had a lot to do with hakate and other goddesses and also that transformation jordan, like a lot of what with Hekate and other goddesses, and also that transformation, jordan, like a lot of what I've been learning and experiencing.
Ember:I guess in the post it started, I would say around the post shadow period, I would say that's a pretty fair time to say that like this shift in leadership into like not just being representative of my job, like my veterinarian job right, like creating this new business and like trying to take on leadership and mentorship in a different way, so kind of, like you said, shifting that not quote unquote supervision, but like mentorship, leadership, yeah, from that space to maybe a new one yeah, so I feel like this is a pretty decent explanation of how mars could have, the retrograde could have, impacted you, especially as a not Mars ruled person.
Jordan:Yeah, this went so well, yeah, yeah. And finally, amber, I would love to hear any ideas you have about Mars rituals or little ways we could connect with Mars.
Ember:So my first thought that came to mind was playing with energy and building energy with Mars. And there are so many ways to do this, and because one of the most frequent ones I use is dance, I want to talk about that because I will literally, when I'm dancing, feel my body heat rising and those tingling sensations, especially when I'm in the middle of like a really good ecstatic dance session where I'm just like feeling it, my heart rate is going. You know, bring in the fire, light some candles and just like feel that intensity that can absolutely be representative of Mars, and then you can add in like a drumming soundtrack dance fiercely. You could also like, if dance isn't your thing, you could like kind of go into maybe some I don't know like exercise, punch the air, do some cardio, do whatever you got to do that feels right to you, going on a hike and getting that energy buildup. And if you're limited in your movement, I wanted to offer to that you can do this with sound.
Ember:So, for example, drumming is perfect for this, so you can use drumming to build energy or any other instrument that you feel called to, and so I was really trying to like find the words to describe this, but I really think you just need to experience yourself, or if you think about like an orchestra, as they're like building and building and it's this energy like building and then it like crescendos. Yeah, that was kind of like I was going with that theme with my representation of Mars. But, jordan, I did want to ask, since this is your dedication to Mars, did you have any thoughts on rituals to honor Mars as well?
Jordan:I don't do any kind of like. I haven't done any kind of like major rituals that I do on a regular basis, but and this is going to come up a little bit too when we talk about like the activity for the episode. But something I do is when I'm doing something hard or challenging or something where I want to give up, I will this sounds so silly, but I will like chant Mars and sometimes I'll also chant Saturn because, again, saturn has that staying power. But I think too, I try to have this mentality of like charging into the thing that I don't want to do. This kind of comes up.
Jordan:So typically Ember and I record these episodes after she gets off of work, and I don't work on Mondays. So I'm here and I'm just kind of waiting for Amber to show up and I was going to go on a walk after our recording because it was going to cool down a bit and then she was getting home a little bit later. So I was like I should probably go on a walk now, but it's really hot and I don't want to and I literally thought like Mars would tell me to go right now and just and especially because right where I live there's a lot of hills, and so when I'm going up those hills, sometimes I will think about Mars and just thinking about charging into that thing that I don't want to do.
Ember:So that's the thing I do. No, it totally is. You're basically like petitioning Mars, Like wow.
Jordan:Yeah, awesome.
Ember:Yeah.
Jordan:In every episode, ember, and I want to leave you all with something to reflect on and something to do. So, ember, what can we and our listeners reflect on alongside mars?
Ember:so I kind of liked what we did in the venus episode, where I went the route of one question per key theme of venus. So I wanted to do that with mars, and so, remember again, we go back to our keywords. It's all about action, passion, anger, conflict, courage. So I don't know, maybe this is the drive that you need to actually start recording your answers to some of these reflection questions. If you haven't been already, and if writing isn't your thing, you could do something like voice notes to process the questions. That could be like a really nice way of going. So, instead of sitting there and like taking the time to write them out, just talk, like, just do the thing. So that's my advice to you Just do the thing. So let's think on a few questions here.
Ember:So, for action and drive, what does taking action usually look like for you? And so what I mean by this is do you dive in head first? Do you plan? Do you wait until the last minute? And how does this vibe with you? Or how does this make you feel? So how do you feel about how you take action For desire and passion?
Ember:Remember that this is talking about what lights you up, so think about what am I truly hungry for right now and how can I give myself permission to pursue it with the fire of Mars? So not just like sitting on it and kind of like, oh, this is like what makes me feel good. Right, we're not talking about like Venus pleasure. We're talking about like this is like something I need to do right now. This is like what is lighting me up. And okay, so this next question, which is surrounding courage and willpower. I really liked it a lot. It got me thinking a lot. So, kind of like, sit with this one, but when was the last time you acted with real courage and what did it reveal about the kind of warrior you are? And I haven't done this yet, but I think I'm going to do this one, because I nothing comes to mind right away to be honest Me neither.
Jordan:Okay, cool, I was like dang. I can't think of anything.
Ember:I know and I think we I think we act with courage on the day to day a lot I mean sometimes just getting out of bed and going to freaking work sometimes takes courage and willpower. So, yeah, stay with that one. And then, finally, surrounding anger and conflict. There's so so many places you can go here, but I kind of wanted to focus on a more constructive question that can help you work on creating, like, actionable items surrounding your anger and conflict. So my question for you is what situations or people tend to trigger frustration for you the most, and what might that reveal about your deeper needs or boundaries?
Ember:So it's a little bit of like Saturn vibes there with the boundaries, but I was thinking with this question it's like what situations, like? What is like the trigger, not like, oh, this has been like underlying for a long time. So I need to like set this boundary. What like sets you up to be like f you, you suck like oh, like what is your trigger? So that's where that was going. So I know that's a lot. I'll post the guide on the patreon to review um jordan. What action items do you have for us to channel this mars energy?
Jordan:yeah, that was great. So I have two. The first one is simply something active Run, walk up a hill, do some stretching. I like Amber, where you mentioned, if you were limited in your movement, doing some kind of drumming, and that is action. So just anything. Think about what action means to you, I guess, and take an action. And then next and this, because I had written this beforehand is actually what inspired me to go out on the walk earlier than I wanted to, even though it's hot. And so what it was is think of something that you have been procrastinating on and get it done in the next 24 hours. Or going on a walk, going on a run, going to the gym, just go do that thing in the next 24 hours. For me, that's really like the social media posting on ember, fame, magic.
Ember:I like overthink it and get so stressed about it. I'm like I'm only gonna do it like three times a week. And today elise was like just do it every day once a day, don't think about it, just do it every day Once a day, don't think about it, just do it. And I'm like I can't do that, don't think about it, just do it.
Ember:Oh, maybe I'll like, I'm like, no, I need to like, bring in my Libra and carry I don't know why I'm talking like that, poor Venus, like I've been anyway. So, yeah, I think those are awesome. I yeah, I think those are awesome. I really like the movement piece for sure, building that fire, and, yeah, I might take one of these. Thank you so much for being with us here in this study room. So, whether you're just beginning your journey with Mars or deepening a connection that you've held for years, we hope you're walking away feeling a little more in tune with Mars's fiery energy and maybe even more empowered by the courage, passion, willpower that Mars inspires. So maybe you discovered something new, saw yourself through a braver lens, like Katniss Everdeen, or found fresh insights to act on as you move forward in your own Martian connection through life. And if you have found any of those connections, please don't hesitate to share it with us on Patreon.
Jordan:Yes, we love hearing from you on our Patreon and we are loving this process of building a community of astrology students. So, as always, our Patreon is linked in the show notes and it is a free Patreon.
Ember:Jordan. We've made it through all the personal planets we like. Really need to post some review, guides or something.
Jordan:Yeah, yeah for sure, and stay tuned because next episode we will be doing another other, so so this is kind of where we take a break from the heavy studying type, researchy type episodes. We will be doing a conversation about what it looks like to get a reading and, more personally, how I set up readings for other people. So that's what we're going to talk about in our next episode.
Ember:Yes, I'm so excited for that. I love the other sodas, Jordan. They're like some of my favorite conversations.
Jordan:Yeah, this podcast is my practice of asking big questions, uncovering the hidden truths and creating an accessible space for others to do the same.
Ember:And I'm so grateful to be learning alongside Jordan and all of you, sharing our resources and diving into what it means to connect with the cosmos. Thank you so much for being part of this and we'll see you back in the study room every other Tuesday.