We’ve got a long period of Mars in Gemini coming up. Normally, Mars spends about 6 weeks in each sign but this year he’s going retrograde and stretching his stay in Gemini to 7 months. Mars enters Gemini on 20 August and doesn’t leave until 25 March 2023, so you’ll need to get used to this energy because it’s going to be around for a while.

Mars in Taurus is slow and steady, although he’s been jangled by his run-in with Uranus and the north node. When he moves into Gemini, things will speed up again and the focus for action will shift from practical matters to the mind and communication. How you respond to this shift depends on your natal Mars placement, as well as the house position of Gemini in your chart.

Mars in Gemini energises the mind, making it quick, smart and witty, filled with ideas and possibilities, and busy, busy, busy. This is a great time for learning new ideas and skills, and sharing what you’ve learned with others. You can gather information and share it widely, make lots of new friends and expand your network. You may be talkative and excitable, with ideas whizzing around your mind and out of your mouth.

In mutable air, Mars is changeable and adaptable, which is good if you need to change your thinking or find new perspectives. Your perception will be faster and you can understand new ideas quicker, easily picking out the details you need. You may enjoy word games, puzzles and computer games, or anything that keeps your hands busy and involves skill and dexterity. It’s a good time for writing, podcasting and debates, and you may spend more time online connecting on social media.

However, the restlessness of Mars in Gemini may be distracting, making you jumpy and more neurotic than usual. You won’t be able to sit still and your energy may be scattered by doing too many things at once, or because you keep changing your mind about things.

You may get bored more easily and have trouble finishing what you start, leaving lots of loose ends, or put more energy into talking about doing something rather than doing it. When I ran a writer’s group, many years ago, there was always a couple of writers who talked and talked and never wrote a word. 😂

All this talking will be stimulating and you may be hyperactive, running around the local neighbourhood and feeling wired. But you could run out of steam, especially once Mars goes retrograde, because spending too much time in your head is physically draining. This could also make you more accident prone and likely to get into arguments.

Expect a lot of verbal jousting and sharp words over the coming months, and try to think before you blurt. You may be more direct and blunt than usual, with the potential to cause offence, whether deliberately or not. Be especially careful on social media where flame wars will erupt with even greater frequency. There will be an enormous amount of frenetic talking over the next 7 months and a lot of it will be pure bullshit and empty words.

Try to shut up and listen to others, and not just run your mouth. Go inwards and listen to your deeper Self before opening your gob or committing to a course of action.

While Mars is in Gemini, he will be ruled by Mercury, so its position and movement will influence how this energy plays out. Things start well because Mercury is in Virgo when Mars enters Gemini, but when Mercury goes retrograde, it could add to the confusion. In September, Mercury stations retrograde in Libra trine Mars in Gemini, which isn’t too bad, but the December retrograde could be more disruptive.

Mercury stations retrograde on 29 December in Capricorn while Mars is retrograde and moving towards stationing direct in January. Disruption and communication breakdowns are more likely around this time. Be careful what you say and do, count to ten before starting an argument and don’t run with knives or scissors!

The negative manifestations of Mars in Gemini are more likely after he goes retrograde at the end of October. Here are the dates for the full cycle (they may be slightly different in your time zone):

• 4 September: Mars enters retrograde shadow at 8° Gemini
• 17 October: Mars trine the Sun at 24° Gemini/Libra
• 30 October: Mars stations retrograde at 25° Gemini
• 8 December: Mars retrograde opposite the Sun at 16° Gemini/Sagittarius
• 12 January 2023: Mars stations direct at 8° Gemini
• 30 January 2023: Mars trine the Sun at 9° Gemini/Aquarius
• 16 March 2023: Mars leaves retrograde shadow at 25° Gemini

At the start of this cycle there will be great momentum and forward motion, right up to the trine to the Sun. But when Mars goes retrograde, you may need to rethink what you’ve been doing and saying. There could be surprises and confusion and a sudden drop in energy. This might have something to do with being too much in your head and overthinking everything and worrying.

At the halfway point at the opposition to the Sun, you could have a breakthrough that brings clarity on what you need to do, helping you to rethink your goals and what you want. But it could also bring a moment of disruption or sudden change that upends your plans and forces a rethink. By the time Mars goes direct in January, you should be able to make progress with your plan of action.

Under normal circumstances this would be a potentially disruptive retrograde but not too difficult to handle. However, it’s happening in the middle of the Saturn Uranus square which tightens in October, followed by a couple of eclipses. Mars also forms a madness-inducing square to Neptune that drags on and adds to the confusion of the time.

There could be communication failures, including deliberate miscommunication and lies, and narrative breakdown in the media as the edifice of bullshit collapses. Mistakes could creep into your work or texts, accidentally or deliberately offending people, while confusion and verbal aggression makes things worse. We may see connection failures, technological breakdowns, power cuts, hacks, theft and fraud, and perhaps a cyber war fought via deep state bots on social media. Also watch out for accidents on the road and in the air, and be careful while driving.

In terms of timing, these events could happen at any point after Mars enters Gemini, but especially once we get into October. The Saturn Uranus square forms early in October, ramping up the pressure as Mars slows down getting ready to station retrograde at the end of the month. On 25 October there’s a partial solar eclipse at the New Moon in Scorpio with the Sun, Moon and Mercury trine Mars, which is practically stationary by then and also square Jupiter and Neptune.

After Mars goes retrograde, there’s a total lunar eclipse at the Full Moon in Taurus on 8 November when retrograde Mars is trine Saturn and still square Jupiter and Neptune. This is a tense and unpredictable moment. There could be breakthroughs and new ideas, but you might just get into arguments and do a lot of shouting.

The next flashpoint will be when retrograde Mars opposes the Sun on 8 December, just over an hour after the Full Moon in Gemini. Retrograde Mars is conjunct the Moon and square Neptune, making you irritable and restless and prone to escapism and addictive behaviour. The square to Neptune is wide at this point, and Mars is also trine Saturn which provides stability and discipline, so you may be able to mitigate the worst of this energy and do something useful with it.

The final hurdle is when Mars stations direct in January while Mercury is retrograde. Mercury stations direct about a week later so it might take a few weeks for problems to be resolved and confusion to dissipate. Mars retrograde on its own can be confusing enough, especially in Gemini, but add a square to Neptune into the mix and it’s a recipe for real (and imaginary) problems.

The Mars Neptune square runs on and off from the end of September to the end of March 2023, with waves of intensity ebbing and flowing. The first exact square is on 12 October while Saturn and Uranus are close, and the second square is on 19 November when Mars is retrograde. The final square forms on 14 March 2023 when Mars is direct again.

This Mars Neptune cycle started with the conjunction on 18 May 2022 and won’t reach its peak until the Mars Neptune opposition on 22 August 2023 when Mars is in Virgo. The cycle ends in April 2024 with the next conjunction in Pisces.

Mars Neptune alignments create uncertainty and confusion, and with Mars in Gemini the effect will be amplified. You could be prone to foggy or unfocused thinking, self-doubt and disillusionment, and a tendency to believe in wild fantasies and unrealistic ideas. Neptune undermines your thinking and actions, as well as your energy levels, encouraging addictions and destructive behaviour.

Handled well, it can help you to act on your dreams and opens your mind to visionary ideas, psychic connections and intuitive breakthroughs. But with Mars retrograde, these could be misleading or deceptive. Try to tap into the Mars Saturn trine which will bring you back down to earth if you’re willing to do some hard work on your ideas to make them real.

The Mars Saturn trine builds from the middle of September and runs to the middle of December. The first exact trine is on 28 September, and the second is on 28 November when Mars is retrograde. That’s a tricky one because retrograde Mars also opposes Mercury on 29 November. The final Mars Saturn trine is on 30th March 2023 when Mars has moved into Cancer and Saturn is in Pisces – a whole new world!

The biggest problem we face over the coming months, aside from possible power cuts and food riots, is the spread of lies and bullshit with Mars in Gemini square Neptune in Pisces spraying propaganda everywhere. The misleading information will be off the scale and insane. Be careful what you believe. And be careful you’re not chasing rainbows and living in a fantasy world before doing or saying something you might regret.

This recent interview with John Pilger on war propaganda and journalism is pertinent, and The Corbett Report has a three-part series on the Media Matrix which is worth your time – part 1 here.

Read more on Gemini here, and more on Mars retrograde here.

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