Red is a Mars Color.
Mars is known to scientists and science fiction fans alike as The Red Planet. It's one of Earth's neighbors and for a long time was considered the best bet for at least the possibility of hosting extraterrestrial life that we could recognize. In mythology, Mars was the Roman God of War ... known as Ares (yes, that's how it's spelled) to the Greeks.
Once again Mars in Astrology draws from both these wells for its symbolism and meaning. Its associated color is a bright, aggressive red -- the color of danger, the color of blood. And the pushy, militant, warlike character of Mars the soldier carries through into the personalities of those with Mars prominent in their horoscopes.
There's a kind of animal honesty in the energy of Mars. When your character elements activated by Mars are in charge, there's not much editing between impulse and response. If you want something, you go after it. You reach for it. You grab it. You fight and scrap over it if necessary. You're ready to compete with your rivals. You do what it takes to win.
Mars energy can be brutish, uncouth and primitive, but it is definitely essential to life in a material world. It's the part of you that feels desire -- including sexual desire. It helps you set goals and devise ways to reach them. It takes your visions and populates the raw designs with stories and strategies, images and ideas, on what it takes to get from where you are to where you want to be.
Mars runs on raw physical energy -- defined in physics as the capacity to move and do work. He steps up when you have to fight for what you want. He is definitely front and center when you need to defend yourself. He is the muscle-power you call on to exert your available strength ... or handle a job that takes vigorous activity.
But he's also a strategist, a dealer in deals and intrigue. There are many ways to fight, many ways to win ... and out in the open in front of God and an audience is only one. Not always the best one. Your Mars energy doesn't want to get injured (or killed!!) any more than you do, so he has a strong stake in your survival instincts. (He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day.)
He certainly doesn't want you to wind up injured or worse. That's not his job. Quite the contrary. One of his primary roles is to take care of you physically -- and help you take care of yourself. (Find food, build shelter, earn money, perform work, play games, make love and defend yourself from attack.) He's charged with showing you how to do what you want to do.
But he's also there to help you predict danger and respond to problems. If there's a work-around for an obstacle, he'll help you find it. If confrontation is your only choice, that's when he mans his battle station -- and engages the enemy in whatever way necessary. He doesn't get a lot of good press in today's "civilized circles," and woman have been notoriously severed from their innate Mars energy for centuries.
But he's there when you are born, and he's there at the end -- and at lots of places on the path in between. Unless you get to know him and consciously cultivate his skills, you're not a whole or effective person ... or the best you can be. Whether you know it or not, in daily life he is always your companion. And when desire, danger or dire circumstances grab you ... he's at your side, ready when you are -- for whatever comes next.
Mars in Astrology -- looking out for Number One
Questions about any of this? Talk to me in comments. It's a terrific way to build value for yourself and the community ... and it will give me ideas of what to write about in future posts. Believe me there is lots to say about the way The Sun, The Moon -- and all the other elements in a horoscope, all the other components of Astrology -- work together to interpret you and your story -- and what it all means to the person you've become.
Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/comedynose/5931379150/ ---> red poppies
Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/danramarch/12604484064/ ---> tropical flowers
Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/nagarazoku/67461315/ ---> leaves
Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/paukrus/8204035515/ ---> red flowers
Original images used under this Creative Commons license or this Creative Commons license and modified by added text.