Mercury and Mars Aspects

Author: Arwynne O’Neill – Published: March 2024

Mercury and Mars Aspects

Kinds of Aspects

Today we’re going to be talking about something a little different. We’ve had a few questions come in about the difference between the various kinds of aspects we talk about, in transits or people’s charts, and we’ve done an entire episode (which will link to in the show notes) about the major aspects. But I wanted to take this episode and just go through all the major aspects with the same two planets. There are also minor aspects, but I’m just going to focus on the big five here, which would be the conjunction, the sextile and trine (the “soft” aspects), opposition and square (the “hard” aspects). This way we can really get a feel for the subtle differences when they apply to the same two planets, and those two planets are Mercury and Mars.

To quickly recap what aspects are, I’m going to quote from The Inner Sky by Stephen Forrest, in which he says, “If signs, planets and houses are the basic words in the astrological language then aspects are the laws of grammar and syntax that govern how those words must be hooked together. Aspects represent our first solid step towards the formation of full-blown coherent astrological sentences.”

Aspects are the angles that describe the relationships between any two planets. Aspect patterns describe when three or more planets are involved but today we’ll just be focusing on the major aspects (saving the biquintile for another day!).

Listen to MERCURY aspecting MARS podcast episode

Conjunctions

(0 degrees)

A conjunction is zero degrees which means the two planets occupy the same position in the sky. With a conjunction the energies of the two planets are combined and express themselves as one which may be easier or harder depending on the nature of the two planets and of course the sign they occupy.

Sextiles

(60 degrees)

Sextiles are 60° and two signs apart, for example Virgo and Scorpio, Aries and Gemini or Sagittarius and Aquarius. Stephen Forrest says something interesting about the sextile, which is that it’s often considered a watered-down trine, but in fact it’s quite distinct and it produces excitation, intense, colorful and dynamic stimulation, so there’s humor, enthusiasm and restlessness but in a positive way, like the feeling of falling in love, dancing or laughing.

Trines

(120 degrees)

Trines are 120° or four signs apart and they’re considered the softest and easiest of the aspects. The key word is “flowing.” They occur with two signs in the same element, so two water signs, fire signs, air signs or earth signs. Signs in a trine relationship are allies. They support each other but they’re not always passionate, to continue the relationship metaphor. They can also be wasted because the energies flow together so easily you sometimes take them for granted.

Squares

(90 degrees)

A square is 90° or three signs apart and they’re considered the most difficult of the hard aspects because here we have friction without commonality. Squares are the aspect of constant tension, where the two signs have a lack of understanding, like two cars at an intersection trying to decide who should go first.

Oppositions

(180 degrees)

An opposition is when two signs are 180° apart or exactly opposite each other in the birth chart. Oppositions create a push and pull energy, whether they occur in one chart or between two people. The keywords are tension and polarization. Think about the signs Taurus and Scorpio, it doesn’t get much more opposite but it’s like the old saying, opposites attract. Each sign contains what the other lacks and they can come together and create a whole that is greater than the two parts.

More on Aspects

Mercury and Mars Aspects

We’re going to use Mercury and Mars as our example, because Mercury moves so quickly that we wouldn’t normally talk about the transits, so this is a great opportunity to take a deep dive into what it means when Mercury is in any major aspect with Mars in the birth chart.

Mercury of course is the planet of communication, speech, thought patterns, your style of self-expression, writing, humor, body language, etc.

Mars is the planet of drive, aggression, activity, initiative and sexual conquest. It can also suggest the type of man you’re attracted to.

Mercury conjunct Mars

When these two planets are conjunct, we see one’s initiative or aggressiveness and intellect occur as one initiative in the chart. When one is affected by a Transit or the energy of another person, the other is activated at the same time. We get a sharp or forceful intellect, a competitive mind, someone with a temper who uses their words as weapons.

The energies of Mercury and Mars are fused together and will never operate independently for that person. These people sometimes talk very quickly; they are not afraid to stand up for themselves or others and they often don’t care whether others agree with them. They are sometimes rash, tactless, sarcastic or even offensive but very straightforward and blunt.

Celebrities with Mercury conjunct Mars

Heath Ledger, John F Kennedy, Meryl Streep, Salvador Dali and Kendrick Lamar.

The Soft Aspects: Trines and Sextiles

With the soft aspects, the trine and sextile, Mercury and Mars indicate an alert and active mind, affluent conversationalist, someone who is brisk and Lively and for both, with an active mental life and easy communication style. They express their opinions freely, independently and easily and maybe a very good with their hands. The difference between the trine and sextile in this case would be more easily felt by the person than observed from outside.

With the trine, both planets would be in the same element, for example Leo and Sagittarius or Libra and Aquarius. Obviously someone with those combinations would be very different from each other and the expression of their aggressive intellect would come across very differently.

With the sextile, they might have Mercury in Leo and Mars in Libra, which would create a very different personality than if they had, say, Mercury in Leo trine Mars in Sagittarius.

Celebrities with Mercury Sextile Mars

Beyoncé, Princess Diana, Katy Perry, Prince, Sharon Stone, Jay Z, Bill Clinton and Sean Penn.

Celebrities with Mercury Trine Mars

Miley Cyrus, Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Lawrence, Franklin D. Roosevelt and George Orwell.

The Hard Aspects: Oppositions and Squares

The opposition and the square are similar in many ways, both being hard aspects. There may be combative egotism and sharp aggressive temperamental behavior that can antagonize others. This person is often unable to control their communication Style and they behave in an irritable temperamental, rash and hot headed fashion. The important difference between these two hard aspects comes when you consider the signs involved.

Someone who has Mercury in Gemini, for example, opposite Mars in Sagittarius will exhibit this energy quite differently from someone who has Mercury in Gemini square Mars in Virgo or Pisces. In this example, the opposition will create a lively and adventurous personality, someone who loves wordplay and banter, maybe a prolific writer or wordsmith or conversationalist and regaling others of their adventures and exploits. Whereas the square will create more tension, someone who constantly feels the need to prove their intellect, a verbose intellectually aggressive, maybe even ostentatious or obnoxious personality.

On the other hand, the square can create frustration and a difficulty in communicating clearly. The person with this aspect may always feel like they need to clarify or explain themselves or that they’re often misunderstood.

Celebrities with Mercury square Mars

Michael Jackson, Pamela Anderson, Marilyn Manson, Sean Connery, Warren Buffett, Tom Brady, Conor McGregor and Anthony Bourdain.

Celebrities with Mercury opposite Mars

Kate Blanchett, Christina Ricci, Nina Simone, Ice Cube, Alice Cooper and Tucker Carlson.

Author Bio

Arwynne O’Neill: Research Astrologer

Arwynne O’Neill works as a research astrologer in Vancouver, with a focus on delving into historical cycles and how they relate to societal transformations as influenced by the energies of the outer planets.