By Way of Starlight: Mars in Scorpio Cazimi

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Myth and Image

The choice of image on a talisman helps to draw down the character and intent we wish to see manifest. It is as much a planetary signature as the name we know the spirit of a thing by, and these can, and ideally should, be more than a single note or bell one might ring to invite a stellar or planetary consciousness into a life. For example, all Norse gods have a war-god element, even if Tyr is the God of War. In ancient Greek mythology, Athena marries traits of both war (Mars) and Justice (Jupiter).

In Alexandrian Astrology, medieval, renaissance, and later astrology (what we call Western Astrology), Mars is one of the two malefics. This implies a certain intentionality that is distilled even further in the popularity of tagging, and sometimes limiting, astrological significations by keyword. The planetary deities associated with the planets come from myths diverse as the cultures the bore them, and invoking the spirit of those myths gives deeper and more complex results. This is a good thing.

Mars in Scorpio Cazimi, November 2023

Practical Magic: This is a great talisman if you're starting or upgrading your fitness routine. Other Mars in Scorpio Cazimi stengths: Rising above conflicts and petty power struggles in relationship, general anger management as restoring a sense of purpose, managing and protecting oneself from rage and anger, establishing new physical routines and disciplines, pursuing and achieving one's goals with intention, excellence in performance, manifesting Justice. Staying true to oneself. Invoking protection, especially if one is vulnerable.

Not As Good For: Mars is beginning a new cycle. He is newly purified by fire and his anger and excessive forcefulness have been burned away. Some situations may require such brute force, though. Mars at the cazimi stands before the life-giving power of the Sun, but his own power is new and pure, for these are first steps and can be tentative.

Altar Tile and Coin Talismans

Influences and Inspirations

My inspirations for this election are Tyr, the Norse God of War, and Justice, Norse wolves Sköll and Hati; the wolves who chase Sun and Moon across the sky, and Undine, the elemental water creature who marries to gain a soul.

If Mars in Scorpio is warlike, his Hellenic face, Ares, adds a level of Just War Theory. Arete, an ancient Greek concept best translated as bestness of a person or thing, is moral in the sense of fulfilling one's own purpose or dharma, as well as in achievements. Purpose, intention, fulfilling destiny. The ancient Greek personification is the goddess Arete, patron of virtue, excellence, goodness, valor and glory. As a descendant of Poseidon, she also is a fitting emblem for a Scorpio talisman.

I saw upon the shore
Fishing, with the arid plain behind me
Shall I at least set my lands in order?

~T.S.Eliot, What The Thunder Said

Tyr and Fenrir: Justice, Integrity, and the Rule of Law

Tyr, the Norse god of War, was also the god of Justice, oaths, and integrity. The great wolf Fenrir was the third child of Loki and the giantess Angrboda. It was foretold that Fenrir would bring about Ragnarök, the battle at the end of the world. Fenrir's sister, Hel, had sealed the downfall of the cosmos by refusing to release the beloved god Baldr from the underworld. Fenrir was foretold to devour Odin, the father of the Gods.

Attempting to outwit their destiny, the gods cast Angrboda's first born, the serpent monster Jömungandr into the ocean, where he encircles Midgard, the world of mankind. Hel was banished to the underworld. With Fenrir, though, the gods chose to keep their friends close and their enemies closer -- Fenrir was reared by the gods themselves in their stronghold in Asgard. It was Tyr's honor and duty to feed and care for Fenrir.

As Fenrir grew strong and fast, the gods attempted to bind him with chains and fetters. None held. At last, the dwarves in Svartalheim, the most skilled in crafts of all the worlds, forged a chain of unequaled strength. Its name was Gleipnir, and was forged from the sound of a cat's footsteps, the beard of a woman, the roots of mountains, the breath of a fish and the spittle of a bird. Since these things cannot be found, it would be futile for Fenrir to struggle against them.

But Fenrir sensed something amiss and refused to be bound by Gleipnir. At last, he consented if one of the gods would lay their hand in his jaws to guarantee the oath of the gods. Tyr guaranteed the oath of the gods to Fenrir, all the while knowing the underlying intention to betray their word and the wolf's trust. Fenrir therefore consented to be bound, on the promise of the gods.

Finding himself unable to escape the bonds of Gleipnir, Fenrir severed and swallowed Tyr's hand, fulfilling the rule of law and sealing the contract. He was then taken to the island of Lyngvi and chained to a boulder and a sword placed in his jaws to hold them open, where he howled ceaselessly. A foamy river, Expectation, flowed from his mouth, where he remains until Ragnarök, the Twilight of the Gods.

Tyr and Fenrir Altar Tiles: 4.25 inc: $400, 6 in: $550

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Wolves and Eagles

Wolves and eagles are often associated with Mars. Wolves are emblematic of his courage, fierceness, and strength. Eagles, symbolize his ability to soar and gain a borader viewpointto rises above challenges and obtacles.

In the Prose Edda of Snorri Sturlson, the children of Fenrir, Sköll and Hati, chase the Sol (who drives the chariot of the Sun) and Ma´ni (who drives the chariot of the Moon) across the sky every day until Ragnarök, when they devour the lights and so devour time.

Sköll and Hati Coins: $400

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Mars in Scorpio Cazimi 2023, Talismanic Coin

The Grail Knight: Protection, Vision, and the Welfare of Others

This is not Mars, the berserker, running crazed through the village, without self-restraint. This is Mars, bringer of Truth and Justice, defender of the women and the downtrodden.

The word martyr shares a root with his Latin name, but this concept of the god's sacrifice for the welfare of others are a common value across cultures. In the Rig Veda, Indra frees the rivers that had been seized by the giant Vritra, thus restoring the land. In the Norse poem H´vam´:l which appears in a 13th-century manuscript, Odin hangs on the World Tree for nine days and nights, pierced by a spear, while pierced by a spear, neither eating nor drinking, until he saw the runes and took them.

Scorpio is a feminine and fixed sign. This Mars Cazimi occurs in Scorpio in both the tropical (Alexandrian, or Western zodiac as well as the sidereal zodiac. Due to precession (the wobble of the earth on its axis), sideral astrology maintains the alignment between the constellation sand the positions of the stars. the tropical zodiac is aligned to the seasons. This results in a change of approximately one degree every 72 years, making the two zodiacs out of alignment by roughly 23 degree. It has been more than 300 years since a Scorpio cazimi has occurred in both zodiacal systems at the same time.

The Rig Veda, we learn of the the Rajput, knights of service who sacrified themselves and their lands to protect and defend the welfare of those under their care during a series of invasions. In western mythology, only a knight who is himself on a spiritual path can attain the Grail, the holiest of objects. Such holiness is not a trait of character but is the result of work and remediation after one has failed to ask the right questions, and take the right action. In Chréetien de Troyes Perceval, le Conte du Graal (1180-1191) does not contain a fish as would have been expected, but a communion wafer which can heal the father of the Fisher King (the keeper of the grail, but who has a wound that will not heal and becaue of this the lands he rules wilt into a wasteland).

From its Scorpionic depths, Mars re-emerges as the grail knight, stands in the center of the Sun is newly reborn, having traveled through the underworld were the dross, his lower selves, has burnt away and he re-emerges new into the wide womb of uncreated night (Milton: Paradise Lost) of infinite possibilities. At the Cazimi, Mars stands purified, nearly fragile, between us and the King of the Gods, the source of Life.

But it's more than that. Light does not vanquish darkness. Light is born of darkness. Darkness makes the light visible.

Mars in Scorpio Cazimi births the truth of the dark oceanic mother who precedes all causes and supports the birth of infinite universes into the light.

The Grail Knight coins: $400

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Hertha

I am that which began
Out of me the years roll;
Out of me God and Man;
I am equal and whole;
God changes, and Man, and the form of them bodily;
I am the Soul.

Before ever land was,
Before ever the sea,
Or soft hair of the grass,
Or fair limbs of the tree,
Or the fresh-coloured fruit of my branches, I was,
and thy soul was in me.

First life on my sources
First drifted and swam;
Out of me are the forces
That save it or damn;
Out of me man and woman, and wild-beast and bird;
before God was, I am

Hertha, Charles Algernon Swinburne
(see all)

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Undine, Integrity, and Owning One's Own Truth

Undine takes her name from the elemental species undines, a water spirit who Paracelsus tells us can gain an immortal soul by marrying a mortal. In the 19th German romance by Friedrich de la Motte Forque, which is based on several earlier folktales, Undine's wishes to gain an immortal soul brings her to marry a mortal. She chooses a knight, who as we have seen is a brave and spiritual leader across many cultures, and gains a soul, and with it a sense of morals and values. She confesses the truth of who she is to him and he vows never to abandon her. [Spoiler: Things nevertheless do not work out well for Undine at the end. Being true to your own nature may still be the way to go. As knights go, Huldbrand makes some bad mistakes but does his best. ]

Undine Coins: $400

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Other Names and Attributes of Mars

Ares, strong and swift, son of Zeus and Hera, embodiment of courage, and defender of the wronged, beloved of Aphrodite.

Mars, father of Romulus and Remus, wolves born to a human mother.

Mangala, son of Shiva, the auspicious one, giver of good fortune, general of the planetary army and defender of dharma and duty.

Angaraka, the radiant one

Horus of the Horizon, Her Desur, Horus the Red.

The deva Skanda, second son of Shiva and Kali, born after Ganesha. He leads the divine army. Skanda manifests divine will through Truth. He is also called, Karttikeya, who is born of the Pleiades. Divine child of the Sun.

Of interest to astrologers:

Venus on the Ascendant, not Mars, in her own sign and bounds, softens the election. Where we would usually keep Mars angular to make it as strong as possible, this election supports the Divine Feminine from the second house, strengthening personal wealth and possessions in the process. Like heliacal rises of stars, cazimi elections are not formulaic - we don't need the moon to make manifest, although we don't slam the door on a next aspect to a benefic, but the Moon here in Mars own sign of exaltation't weaken the election, as it might in a different election. Fundamentally, a Cazimi's power isn't lunar.

Guaranteed to bring changes. Choose wisely.

Electional Chart

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