Astro4Business Intersections

Helmeted young warrior, so-called Ares. Roman copy from a Greek original—this is a plaster replica, the original is now stored in the Museum of the Villa. Canope at the Villa Adriana in Tivoli.

Mars, the Roman God of War, has taken on a more complex meaning in our times.  Although he still rules war, the military, anger, and aggression, we now understand him to symbolize the primal impulse to act, to take action.  Mars is the warrior in us who sets out to conquer our environment and protect our interests.  Every action we take begins with an impulse from within, and that impulse is the energy of Mars.  Mars is the power of combustion, the fiery spark that initiates every activity.

Where Venus draws to herself through the power of attraction, Mars is a repelling force.  The Encarta Dictionary describes repulsion as:  a force between two bodies of the same electric charge or magnetic polarity that tends to repel or separate them. It is this repulsive force between atoms and molecules at very short distances that tends to keep them separated.  This is the function of Mars, to keep us separated, to fight against the urge to merge and unite, so we can express our own identities and pursue our own objectives.

In Jnaneshwari the epic commentary on the Bhagavad Gita by Jnaneshwar in the 1290 C.E., the poet tells us, “Mars is never auspicious” because his function is to separate rather than unite.  But what would we do without the individual impulse to act?    How would we start anything new, or start over when we’ve failed?  It takes the warrior energy within us to stand up for what is right and to stake a claim to what is ours, both in our environment and inside ourselves.

In a personal natal chart Mars indicates

• Energy
• Courage
• Independence
• Passion
• Aggression
• Anger
• Motivation

How will we define Mars as used in astrology for business?  Remember, there are three different options in the business use of astrology. 

1. The first is reading a person’s standard natal chart from the point of view of business.  What does your chart say about you as a business person?  What are your strengths and weaknesses as applied to your professional life?
2. The second is reading the chart of a business itself.  It is fairly easy to find the date of incorporation of publicly held businesses, and many small business owners can say the date they first opened their doors or made their first sale.
3. The third option is to view the vocations that have been found to be good expressions of certain planetary energies.

Mars in a Businessperson’s Chart

In the chart of a businessperson, Mars indicates the ability to take action, to assert the will, to accomplish goals.  It shows the level of ambition and the competitive nature.  It indicates how the person becomes inspired to act, and how or whether they are able to inspire others to act.    The strength of Mars in a chart shows the level of physical energy and the healthiest way to express that energy. 

Mars also indicates how much risk the person is comfortable taking and whether their actions tend to be hasty or inspired, reasoned or practical.

Ares, Athenian black-figure amphora C6th B.C., Worcester Art Museum

Mars in the Chart of a Business

Like the other planets, when we look at Mars in the chart of a business, we take the essential meanings of Mars in a personal chart and combine them with the meanings of Mars in a mundane chart.  A business is an entity in that it has a birth, a life cycle, and an end, and it has meaning and purpose like any other being.  It is like a child of a person’s imagination and desire.  But it’s also impersonal, in that it doesn’t carry its own conscious evolvement even though it passes through phases and cycles like everything else on earth.  In this way it is more like a mundane chart and the meanings from that branch of astrology apply.

In a business chart, Mars describes the business’s operational departments, how efficient and effective they are and, with Venus, is an indication of the level of cohesive unity among the employees.  It speaks about the second tier of leadership, how inspiring and independent the middle management is.  It also indicates the machinery owned by the company, especially those based on combustion engines.  It describes how aggressive the company is as a player in its field and is especially important in the start-up phase of a business as it gives the energy to initiate action.

Vocations

Many thanks for the following vocational information to Noel Tyl.  As my first astrology teacher in the 1970s, his work continues to influence my thinking to this day.  He has recently published Vocations, the New Midheaven Extension Process, which outlines the various vocations that are connected with each of the planets. 

Some vocations associated with Mars include energy management, fire, and surgery.  It also indicates vocations with weapons or the military, as well as protection and enforcement careers.  Sales careers fall in his domain, and many athletes have a prominent Mars in their chart. 

Can you form the link between the vocational expression and the other descriptions?  The essential energy of Mars takes slightly different but related forms in the different expressions.

In chart form, we have: