On the drive down to do my workout at my friend's, I was musing on Mars and thinking of what my weight lifting is teaching me about myself.
Compartmentalization came to me.
In particular I was thinking about Scorpio and how the Moon is fallen there. If Mars is about compartmentalizing, it shows me that the Moon is about connecting, incorporating, blurring boundaries and joining through emotions.
It makes sense to me that Mars, the Great Divider, is the master of compartmentalizing. I ask, in what situations do we need to put our feelings aside? When will emotions not serve? When will it be helpful to divide and conquer?
I have the immediate sensation in memory of lifting weights and focusing all of my strength and attention on a singular aim. That moment is not about how I feel emotionally.
There is certainly interiority going on in those moments, however. I can report that I am in dialogue with my own mind (which is not to say that it's only "me" up in there).
Mars and depth are synonyms.
Only one letter's difference between depth and death. I wonder, could death be a deepening?
I notice that when I'm working out to build form and power in this body, I'm doing so through isolation. Separating out which muscles go where is crucial. I don't want to build lousy form. I follow the alchemists: only what has been properly divided can be properly joined.
Mars knows how to properly divide.
Somehow, compartmentalizing IS joining. Weight lifting feels like that truth in action. When all of the muscles are in their proper place, then they are working most completely together.
I've been on a great journey to put everything in its place and end my chronic pain. I can report that both the pain and the healing happen on both physical and psychic/emotional levels, continuing to suggest the Mystery of the body to me: we are blended space. Mind and body are one thing (which is the Moon's essence).
I find that a strong body is the foundation for a strong mind.
So, the work continues. This Mars retrograde has been a great period of guidance and empowerment for me, so I'm grateful for all Mars has taught me both from within and from without. His retrograde has also brought much in the way of despair and suicide, so I am thankful that Mars has flowered as he has in my life.
More to come on his insect nature. I think that will dovetail with compartmentalization nicely, especially since most insects make compartments for themselves in which to transform and metamorphose.
Chrysalis is one of my favorite words ever.
