Throughout late January and early February 2011 Mars and the Sun are tangoing cheek to cheek, bringing a burst of energy, vitality and high libido. Although passion is the keyword, the Sun-Mars combo will help us work hard and play hard, so now is the time to tackle any challenging tasks and make plans for the year ahead. And as Mars is the god of war sparks could fly and unexpressed anger and frustration rise to the surface...
The 5th February is the date of the exact Sun-Mars conjunction, marking the beginning of a new two-year cycle. If the Sun is Chairman of the Board in the heavens, Mars is the CEO. When they work together, they form a dynamic duo and extraordinary achievements are possible. The conjunction occurs in the sign of Aquarius with the Sabian Symbol for 15º Aquarius being „a big businessman at his desk‟ symbolising the importance of organised effort to achieve great results. Let me quote from the book of Sabian Symbols by Dane Rudhyar on this point. “A great deal of what is glowingly written about the Aquarian Age is probably sheer glamour. This New Age should be one in which man learns to use the power generated by human togetherness and group interplay – that is, to use it harmoniously for the welfare of the whole, of which all individuals are parts, humanity and the planet Earth. This has never been achieved an only very rarely attempted.” Interestingly, Rudhyar wrote his book back in 1973 before PCs, the internet and global networking had even begun, but his words have a prophetic ring. This Sun-Mars conjunction offers us the opportunity to use Aquarian technology to work together on a global level to tackle the problems we face. We are perfectly capable of achieving miracles when faced by disasters such as the Queensland floods or the Haitian earthquake. Our challenge over the next decade is to mobilise this same level of group cooperation to deal with issues such as global warming, population control, food supply and water conservation. It‟s easy to be motivated for a few weeks when there‟s a crisis, but much more difficult to think long term when there is no immediate and visible disaster to tackle.
NASA challenged by Sun-Mars Conjunction
And lest you think that the Sun- Mars conjunction is merely an astrological or symbolic phenomenon, NASA has announced that its surviving Mars rover will be unable to receive commands from Earth for much of the week, as the red planet is about to pass behind the Sun. The plan is for rover Opportunity to spend the blackout period sitting stationary, blasting a rock with a cobalt-powered radiation beam. According to a statement issued by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, from which the rover is directed: „During the days surrounding such an alignment, called a solar conjunction, the Sun can disrupt radio transmissions between Earth and Mars. To avoid the chance of a command being corrupted by the Sun and harming a spacecraft, NASA temporarily refrains from sending commands from Earth to Mars spacecraft in orbit and on the surface. This year, the commanding moratorium will be Jan 27 to Feb 11 for Opportunity, with similar periods for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey orbiter.‟ NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will be compelled to reduce the amount of data it gathers during the conjunction; its onboard storage is simply not large enough to compensate for the reduction in download speeds to Earth!