Mars, the Twins, and the 219 Days The power planet energizes the zodiac

As the planet of strength, energy, and assertiveness, Mars plays a big part in your life, whether through its placement in your birth chart or through the aspects it makes to your Sun, Moon, and personal planets as it moves along in its journey around the zodiac. Its effect on you becomes even stronger during the times when it turns retrograde, as in the process of slowing down, reversing motion, and slowing down once more before it starts to move forward again it becomes a strong presence over several months in a specific part of your personal horoscope.

Mars spends an average of six weeks transiting just one of the 12 signs of the zodiac, and an average of two and a half years to move around the entire zodiac, but when Mars turns retrograde, the time it spends in a relatively small portion of the zodiac can increase immensely, as we will see after the red planet enters the sign of the Twins on August 20. In the weeks that follow, it will gradually slow, and then stop and turn retrograde on October 30 at 25 Gemini. Once in retrograde motion, it will backtrack through the degrees it just went over, slow down once more until finally coming to a full stop before it returns to direct motion on January 12, 2023 at 8 Gemini. It will not finally leave that sign