With the athletic pep and courage typical of the symbolism of Mars, I square up to the subject: Mars and sexuality. First of all, though, I would like to illustrate and clarify some of the symbolism of Mars associated with the topic in questions.
In male subjects, Mars represents the age of youth, or rather that phase in which the individual is already physically a man and is struggling to carve out his place in the world. He is the boyfriend, the fiancé, the lover, he is above all whoever lives life reacting literally with his body to his own instincts, the rhythms and the passions that his heart transmits, and all of this in an irrational manner, without heeding the consequences that such an attitude could bring. Our subject is, in a nutshell, the man who acts on the impulses of the male organ, perfectly symbolised by Mars, who switches from a natural inclination to point downwards, if stimulated, to an erection, which usually requires ejaculation in order to return to the initial position. This brings, from the point of view of energy, an initial accumulation focused on the penis that grows and grows, and is then focussed on the process of returning to normal, which requires an discharge of energy. From the psychological point of view, the erection is experienced by the man as a whirlwind of sensations that channels everything in one direction, that is towards virility, potency and strength; precisely those weapons symbolised by the planet Mars, which, honed or blunted, depending on the positivity or negativity of the planet in the birth chart, must always be deployed.
For the female subject, on the other hand, Mars is reflected in the imagery of masculine, physical potency which attracts the woman physically and which drives her to get to know, form a relationship and become close to a man, in order to satisfy her own important sexual needs. Through reading Mars in a female birth chart, in fact, it is possible to understand the sex drive of a woman, since it is in the figure of the boyfriend or lover that the woman projects her own sexuality, although here the analysis of the Moon and Venus is indispensable.
Multi-faceted and varied, then, is the appearance of sexuality, and there are as many ways of experiencing it as the number of aspects that Mars forms in the birth chart of any given subject. There are those, in fact, who prefer to have sex in wide open spaces such as a green meadow, or by the sea, or at the lakeside, (Mars bound to Neptune or in such signs as Pisces, Taurus and Cancer). Others like to have sex in lifts, in the case of Mars bound to Uranus, or in the third or ninth houses. We then have those who must do it in a car, due to Mars in Aries, or in the first or fifth houses, or who prefer a comfy bed, which means Mars in Cancer, or bound to the Moon. In addition, while there are plenty who choose to have one lover at a time, with Mars in Libra or bound to Saturn, others prefer group sex, due to Mars in the third or sixth house, or Mars in Scorpio. We also have those who choose a partner of the same sex, Mars emasculated in a chart in which there is negativity between the Sun and Moon; and others who are fixated on a part of the body or an article of the partner’s clothing, afflicted Mars, positively redeemed by Neptune or the Moon; those who stimulate themselves with pornography, afflicted Mars redeemed by Jupiter-Sight; and those who pay to go with prostitutes, Mars in Scorpio or an afflicted Moon in Scorpio or in the eighth house, bound to Jupiter.
Those who suffer from premature ejaculation have Mars bound to Pluto or Uranus, while, on the contrary, those whose ejaculation is delayed have Mars linked negatively with Saturn. Those who find love-making satisfying and joyous have Mars bound harmoniously with Jupiter or Venus; while those who do it out of duty, Mars-Saturn, and those who prefer masturbation, Mars Uranus…we could continue ad infinitum on the different ways of having sex, but all are directed at the same conclusion: having an orgasm.
A weapon sharpened, vigorous and manoeuvrable which must be regularly deployed is represented by Mars bound harmoniously with Pluto, due to the shattering sexual and vital energy that the two planets reflect. This vital energy is a primordial and potent force that obliges the male subject to show all his virility with impulsiveness and sometimes also with arrogance in order to affirm himself in the workplace, in society and in sexual relations. According to the signs and the houses in which Mars and Pluto are positioned and the aspects that they receive from the other planets in the birth chart, it is for that reason possible to read the various ways sexuality is demonstrated: for example, if one of the two planets is positively bound to Venus then the subject may be most excited by the physical aspect or by the voice or by the persuasive and caressing manner of the partner or even by the way she eats. On the other hand, beware if the two planets are situated in energetic signs or houses like Aries, Scorpio, Leo or the first, fifth and eighth houses because these aspects tend to focus all the vital and sexual energy on the self, leaving the subject with a surplus of vitality that leads to premature ejaculation.
Let’s look now at some particularly relevant examples from subjects I have examined and that will help us understand in detail the aspects that I have outlined in general above.
In Lucia’s birth chart, we see that the triangle formed by Mars in Pisces, in quadrature to the Sun in Capricorn and Pluto in Libra, placed respectively in the eighth, fourth and second house: it can be deduced from this triangle that Lucia underwent psychological castration within the family and by people within the clan, and that she was subjected to violence, and in fact she was raped by her grandfather at the age of 12 during a period in which he had assumed the role of father, Sun afflicted by the male-sexual planets in Capricorn in the fourth house, following the mother’s separation from her husband. He was her grandfather on her mother’s side (Mars in Pisces exaltation of the Moon, Sun in the fourth, co-significant Cancer, housing the Moon). She was doubly abused: physically, but also psychologically, given that she was forced to keep it secret (Mars in the eighth opposed to the ruling planet of the house) both from the family and the wider clan. The recovery of Mars is provided by the sextile that it forms with Venus, which reflects her beauty and the immediacy with which she succeeds in getting close to the opposite sex. The sextile of Mars and the trigon of Pluto that is formed with M.C. and with Saturn represent Lucia’s determination and courage to achieve her goals; so much so that by the age of 20 she was already working for herself and living on her own. Her emotional life began at twenty when she met a boy who exuded sweetness and love and, in this way, she confronted her own sexuality, which for the first six months proved unsatisfying because she couldn’t achieve an orgasm, and therefore felt no pleasure: she felt blocked and experienced sexual relations only with anxiety. Her patience, Mars sextile to Saturn, and the sensitivity of her partner, allowed her to overcome this block and to change her attitude to sexual relations, Mars trigon to Neptune: indeed it pushed her to the other extreme: she found herself experiencing an orgasm and feeling pleasure, Pluto in trigon to Venus and the Moon in Pisces, and she wanted to do it often, so often that the partner began to refuse because he couldn’t keep up the pace. Lucia felt herself rejected and became locked up within herself, once more refusing sex.
For several years, her problem, notwithstanding the help of psychologists, remained in the difficulty in striking a balance in sexual relations: Lucia in fact swings from moments of intense, frenetic sexuality, terrified by the fear of tiring out her partner and thus losing him, to moments of being totally closed off and refusing sex.
Translated by Nick Skidmore