Mars in Libra
Mars in Libra
A slogan for Mars in Libra: Don’t get mad, get even! That’s how a Mars in Libra will go about things when they get angered. “But I thought Libra was about peace and harmony?”
Well, not always. There is a common misconception about the sign of Libra, that it is balanced and easy going, a lover of harmony and beauty…but this is not exactly the case. Depending on the planet expressing itself through Libra, and the aspects being made to it, the scales of balance can be decidedly unbalanced, and therefore be on a mission to someday learn balance as a need to correct imbalance. The harmony and balance could certainly be an end result being sought eventually, and to Mars in Libra…there will be beauty, harmony and peace…when they get even.
From creative competition to “he got a millimeter bigger slice of cake than me and it’s not fair”, Mars in Libra can manifest in the best of ways and the most annoying of ways.
Mars shows how (and where) we express our anger, and what is likely to arouse our anger (and also sexual urges). Mars can also show our ability to take action, our energy levels, and our courage. The focus of this article, is the way of expressing anger and taking action. Mars in Libra is all about getting even with the other guy.
Mars is a person’s motor, and in Libra …it is a twin engine, such as one for each wing of a plane. A person with Mars in Libra will show a tendency to express the Mars qualities relative to an “other” that is the other engine…a rival, a partner. To express itself, Mars in Libra requires the other, ballroom dancing is impossible alone. Libran energy can manifest itself as a call and response situation, regarding Mars in Libra, it could be “he started it”, and then it just goes from there, either until balance is achieved somehow, or better yet, the Mars in Libra embraces its polarity sign, Aries…the sign of “I don’t care what anyone else is doing”.
I will compare two people with their Mars in Libra, opposite expressions of the Libran Mars in the sense of one is creative and productive, and the other is destructive…yet who both express themselves in this tendency of “getting even”. This comparison and balance of polarity is quite in synch with the nature of Libra, an experience and awareness of “the other”, and two sides of a thing…such as inhale and exhale are the opposite poles of breath, creative and destructive are the two sides of anger and motivation. Don’t let any passive-aggressive New Agey types tell you that “anger is negative”, and then try to drag you down to their level. Anger can be a positive motivating factor, if channeled properly.
The two people I compare having Mars in Libra, are also expressing it in the same house, the 11th house, giving a Libran style comparison within the same area. The 11th house corresponds with groups, audience, society, and goals. The charts of the two I compare are also of rising signs that are next to each other, one is a Sagittarius rising, the other is a Scorpio.
The two expressing Mars in Libra in the 11th house, are Dave Mustaine of Megadeth and a guy that I grew up with who is a fascinating study of human behavior, who is a feature of other articles on this site because his chart is so interesting. He is a guy that basically envies me, and compares himself to me. The lyrics from Pantera’s “Walk” come to mind: “you can’t be something you’re not, be yourself, by yourself, stay away from me”. The guy is all about getting even, but his anger is fueled by envy, rather than self-actualizing competition, such as what Dave Mustaine did with Megadeth.
Megadeth was born relative to Metallica (Libra), after Dave Mustaine was kicked out (anger). Megadeth was his “getting even” and he was all about comparing and competing with Dave’s former band, for quite a while. Megadeth would not have existed independently of its rivalry with Metallica, the “other” that Mars in Libra requires to express itself as part of a dualism, twin engines of a jet built of once uttered that he and James (Hetfield) tore an angel in half, he got one wing and James got the other.
Megadeth was a response to Metallica, driven by Dave Mustaine’s desire to compete with them in hopes of showing them up, and a desire to get even. Over time, Dave began to embrace the polarity of Libra, Aries. In our journey through life, we want to find the balancing side of our Mars energy, and Libra is particularly about balance, the balance of self vs. the other, Libra, more than any sign in the zodiac, simply wants to balance with the other….but it will happen externally until we learn to do it internally, by embracing the polarity of Libra within ourselves. Libra is a sign that introduces us to ourselves, when the “other” triggers the situation to occur. This can come about by getting fed up with being focused on something external to the self (the “other” of Libra’s me/you polarity), and going after simply being okay with who you are, not always busy with comparing oneself to the other, or others, and realizing the error and disappointment of expecting others to fulfill something that can only be provided by oneself, nobody can take the journey for you.
In many instances where Libra shows, the journey eventually takes us to Aries, where we are okay with ourselves regardless of “the other”, and not waiting around for “the other” to stimulate us into activity…when Mars in Libra embraces Aries, Dave Mustaine becomes a Christian and doesn’t give a crap if other people aren’t into that. Famously, Christians don’t approve of astrology and I’m writing about the chart of a Christian…but I was raised in a Christian world, and can show many allusions to astrology within the Bible and religious art. So, the admonition against astrology is really an admonition against being as informed as high-ranking clergy and religious scholars, largely. In reality, there is no enmity between the “Word of god”, and astrology.
When a Mars in Libra type is able to embrace Mars in Aries energy, there will no longer be a dependence on “the other” to be able to express itself. Mars in Aries is self-interested, and doesn’t give a shit what other people are doing, just get out of the way. Aries is the sign of Mars rulership, Mars in Libra will likely make itself miserable comparing itself to others, until getting to the Aries point, where the REAL Mars comes out, which needs no permission, nor approval. Embracing the Mars in Aries side of the Libra/Aries pole, Megadeth is simply Megadeth, rather than being “Vs. Metallica”. This is a life lesson for Mars in Librans….stop comparing yourself to others, just do your own thing! Although, in the case of Dave Mustaine, what was born out of comparison, competition and the need to get even, was rad. Megadeth kicks ass.
Expressing itself in the 11th house of groups, Dave Mustaine’s Mars expressed itself in a group called Megadeth, performing in front of audiences, known to society. The rivalry of a Mars in Libra becomes known to the general public in the 11th, especially when Libra also cusps the 11th. Mars in the 11th also needs to impose its will on the group, so naturally Dave Mustaine not being a frontman for his own band was going to come to an end. When dominating the group, the Mars in Libra in the 11th house conscripts the group to compare and compete with the rival, and in his case, the rival was Metallica.
The house which Dave’s Mars is ruling while being in the 11th house, is the fifth house with Aries on the Cusp. The fifth house rules individual creativity, the songs that Dave wrote (5th house) were expressed in a group before an audience (11th house). In this way, driven by comparison to “the other”, Dave Mustaine reaches the Aries dimension of his Libran Mars..and when dropping the need to get even and compare himself, truly in the Arian dimension, purely self-driven creativity.
NOW: On to the other person with Mars in Libra, who expresses it in another way. This person does not channel his anger into a constructive activity when comparing himself to “the other”, and dominating a social group and expressing itself to his audience, and society at large, like the example of Dave Mustaine. This guy expressed himself and his need to get even, by wanting to get revenge on anyone that “unfairly” “had it better” than he did, especially me because life put me in his path to learn a lesson about being himself without my approval, cooperation, rivalry, effort, or comparison….but he doesn’t realize this. He is a big narcissistic gossip that expressed his “Mars in Libra” by slandering me. I have learned to experience envy as a compliment. I will deal with this hilarious chart in other articles. His Mars in Libra is relative to a stellium in the sign of Sagittarius, so there is a lot of “righteous belief” energy, and broadcasting his beliefs…which coincides with expressing his anger through the lens of Mars in Libra.
This person is a Scorpio rising. I am on the fence about whether or not Mars is the co-ruler of Scorpio, in the case of this person, it seems to make sense….his direct expression of his personality comes out through his Mars in Libra, when bitching and whining about whatever is not fair, regarding the “other” that he compares himself to. Libra is famously about “fairness”, and this particular Mars in Libra is all about what is “not fair” and “justice”, compared to what he has or feels entitled to. His personality is largely oriented around destructively competing with others, especially by raging against (Mars) others’ (Libra) reputations to the general public (11th house). Rather than improving himself out of a sense of inequality, he seeks equalization by tearing others down and trying to drag them down to his level.
He is the kind of guy, that when he was a kid, nobody really wanted him to come to their birthday parties, because if someone got a slightly bigger slice of cake than him, he would have to start trying to dominate the social gathering (Mars in the 11th) by bitching and throwing a tantrum about how unfair it is that someone else got a bigger slice of cake, and even if he got some more cake, he would still bitch about that he was unjustly given a smaller slice of cake in the first place. Being a Scorpio Rising, the action of his Mars means to get under people’s skin and become a part of them…Scorpio seeks to penetrate boundaries and merge with others in some way. By getting under people’s skin, Scorpio rising succeeds at installing itself in someone’s mind for the rest of the day. “Why the fuck do we have to invite that kid? Where does he get off? Why is a millimeter bigger slice of cake such a big screaming deal?” Etc., after he leaves, he is still with you…inside your mind.
Who this person is, relative to me, is someone I had to endure growing up that had this bad habit of requiring me to activate and be a cooperating part of his self-expression (Mars in Libra), unable to go it alone (Aries), wanting my approval and attention, largely due to his missing father figure leaving a hole in his need. This really annoyed me, “just do your own thing” I wanted.. Unwilling to cooperate, and be Regis to his Kathee Lee, just because I wanted to just by myself instead of his daily activity partner, he made me be part of his self-expression by making me the subject of his malicious gossip, expressed in social situations and to the general public. Mars in Libra wants to get even with a rival, and in the 11th house, his friends have their evening dominated with the bitching and moaning about his “rival”. People who spend all their energy gossiping about others and being a busy body, do so because of self-avoidance and a lack of self-development….this cannot be blamed solely on others influence in your childhood when in your mid-thirties.
His other ruling planet, Pluto in Scorpio, is in the 12th house….his sense of self (ascendant) is missing (12th house). This explains a lot. His “other” of his Mars in Libra self-expression that is required to be there, for partnering up to develop his missing sense of self, is (unjustly, ironically) held responsible for his identity formation….not getting the devotion to his self-development from others, because they have their own lives to live….he “gets even” through tearing them down. Naturally, he ends up alone…and being extremely close to embracing Aries, and not needing others….he blames others for ending up alone, which is worth a facepalm or ten. Still staying stuck in Libra land, where “you started it”…he is going to stay there until someone comes along to be Player 2 in the Mars In Libra “I Need You To Complete Me” game. As said before, Libra will take you to the point where needing something outside yourself to come along eventually leads to disappointment, and you become self-activating in Aries as a response. Not this guy, for unlike Dave Mustaine…his Mars is rather weak, which shows a lack of courage. Destructiveness towards others rather than being driven to greater heights for yourself from a feeling of competition, is due to a lack of courage.
This person declared war on my relationship, publically, as a way to tear down what he can’t make himself the equal of through his own capacity., if it won’t be of service to him, directly. Me having a girlfriend and living my own life, was experienced by him as a part of himself (that he wishes was a part of himself, courage) being taken away from him, people with Scorpio energy (discussed in other articles) tend to not get boundaries between themselves and others.
His Mars in Libra expression was coming from the 6th house, ruled by Aries. His daily routine (6th house) was to talk trash about my relationship (Libra) to the general public (11th house), if this were coming from the fifth house, it could have been done more creatively, and with a strong Mars, instead of a very weak one. The 6th house also rules “enemies” in general, and the Babylonians considered it the house of slavery. Coming from the house of slavery, the guy is enslaved to his need to “get even with others”, for whatever he deems unfair…and wants to dominate his social situations (Mars in the 11th) by making everyone endure him, until no one hangs out with him anymore (when there are no others, embracing Mars in Aries is the answer to what the purpose is one has ended up all alone).
So, in the case of these two Mars in Libra created situations where they need to embrace Mars in Aries, rather than Libra…Dave Mustaine needed to stop comparing himself to others, and the Mars in Aries helped him not give a shit if people don’t approve of his Christianity. In the case of the annoying guy, the doofus to Dave Mustaine as Gallant, he ends up alone as a result of his (weak) Mars in Libra tendency to “get even”, and someday…will grow beyond needing anyone to bounce off of to have any sense of self whatsoever.
Libra, ruled by Venus, is the sign that corresponds with artists, musicians, and beauty, often male beauty.
Mars in Libra, is that Mars energy expressing itself through the sign of art and beauty. A person with Mars in Libra, when acting out their call-response and competition with the “other”, could manifest an “other” as a rival that is an artist, or some sort of Venusian person, possibly Libran in the sense of not looking for a fight, definitely a person loved by women. There are two signs which Venus Rules, Libra and Taurus, Air and Earth, they are the masculine and feminine duad of Venus, so with Libra, being the masculine side of Venus, shouldn’t surprise when a Mars in Libra person is competing with someone who is a quiet type that creates art. An artist. James Hetfield qualifies, and I qualify. Perhaps in the future, I will discover that all people who have a rivalry with an artist, have Mars in Libra, or Mars aspecting planets in Libra.
That Libra is AIR, is interesting…because Libra expressing itself through the air, is SOUNDWAVES. In the case of Dave Mustaine, Music. This is why “musicians” are associated with Libra, because music makes air vibrate. A person who cannot use air to make music, will make noise…in the form of malicious gossip, for example.