Mars in the seventh house, all bad?

[judylea1]

I have been searching for something positive that might be said about mars in the seventh house. Most astrologers seem to tiptoe around the mars aspect which tends to indicate difficulty and misphaps. Does this aspect doom all one on one relationships? Are there other things to be said for this aspect, not related to marriage or partnership? What if there are other planets in the seventh house as well as Saturn, such as Pluto, Sun, and Jupiter? Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

 

[ncefafn]

What sign is your Mars in? That would necessarily color how Mars in the 7th plays out. And no, it's not all bad.

 

[judylea1]

mars in virgo

Here are the planets and house placements:

Sun 28 virgo 7th house
moon 3 sagittarius 10th house
mercury 24 libra 8th house
venus 3 libra 8th house
mars 16 virgo 7th house
jupiter 21 leo 7th house
saturn 17 scorpio 9th house
uranus 1 leo 6th house
neptune 26 libra 8th house
pluto 27 leo 7th house
north node 21 sagittarius 10th house

 

[ncefafn]

I'll take a shot at this, although the regulars in this forum are much more competent astrologers than I am.

I think with Mars in the 7th house, you need a partner who is feisty and stands up for what he/she believes in; someone who's not afraid to argue, or at least debate, with you; who is passionate and gutsy. In Virgo, it points to a need that this partner walk the walk, and not just talk the talk; that he/she put his/her ideals for making the world a better place into action. Your partner can't be one of those who believes in faith without works.

The danger comes when you project all your own Mars drives and needs on to your partner. Then you chooose partners who are or become pushy and obnoxious, who constantly carp at you, who lack certain finesse in social situations. I see you've also got the Sun and Jupiter in the 7th, which just fires up the grill even more, plus Pluto in Leo there. You need a spicy, ballsy partner who can stand toe to toe with you. With the Sun in the 7th, your interaction with your partner helps you define and refine your own identity.

Well, I've rambled on too long, and probably made a lot of mistakes in this interpretation. I'll leave it to the others to correct my errors.

 

[isthmus nekoi]

ncefafn, that sounds like a fine, general interpretation

Mars in 7th makes a sextile to Saturn, but I would say the Mars energy is somewhat stronger by being in an angular house, plus Saturn deposits to Mars (Saturn answers to Scorpio's ruler, Mars). Unless either are aspecting the angles which could change things. Mars also conjuncts Jupiter which expands the Martian energy. Since both Mars' aspects are not too harsh, I wouldn't be quick to see it as a negative placement.

Since sun/Mars are both in Virgo and in 7th, a man w/Virgonean traits would hold most appeal (sorry for assuming you're female/hetero if you're not). Certainly one-on-one relationships are something that you need to vitalize you, probably at your age, something that comes naturally, almost an abundance. By this I don't mean necessarily a relationship with another person, however. I've seen this one-on-one thing work w/pets, even though traditionally, pets are a 6th house thing. 7th could also indicate opponents, esp w/competitive Mars in there (say for example, a tennis match or chess game etc), business partners, anything that is one-on-one.

 

[judylea1]

mars in the 7th

Thanks very much, everyone, for all the interesting comments.

 

[Minderwiz]

Nice to see you trying traditional rulerships Isthmus, though, it's actually Mars that disposits Saturn (mars rules Scorpio)

Mars in Virgo is not particularly strong, indeed it's Peregrine, in the Terms of Jupiter. You may well assert yourself through relationships but you might find that this is not as easy as you thought or you become a little wound up over it, too many small details tend to get in the way of what you want. As Isthmus says Mars gains dignity being in the Seventh, whether it is angular in the modern sense (within 5 degrees of the descendant) I'm not sure as we don't have an Ascendant to work from.

It's always difficult to form a judgement of how a planet will play out without a complete chart, in this case I'd like to seen the Ascendant and house rulers. Does Mercury rule the seventh (through Virgo) or is the Descendant in Leo, ruled by the Sun? - I think it's more likely to be Virgo on the cusp, given the other placements in the eighth, but it could just be Leo. Now the Sun is in Virgo, so if the Sun is the Seventh ruler then you really are expressing yourself through your relationships and that Mars will play a stronger role. If the Seventh ruler is Mercury, it's in the eighth, which for these purposes is the partner's material possessions and skills - that puts a slightly different slant on things. Mercury is also a couple of degrees of its Station Regtrograde, so it's slow in motion and therefore a little bit more intense than it's normal self. Depending which way round the positions have been rounded, it could well be in it's own Terms, again getting some dignity to offset the rather weak eighth House placement. However most significantly for the modern Astrologer, its Conjunct Neptune and this will inject some element of fantasy or dreaminess into the way in which you conduct your relationships.

Some of this may well hold but my point here is not to interpret for sure but to indicate that Mars is not the only or even possibly the major factor when you come to look at yourself and your relationship with partners (all types of partnerships). There are many other factors to look at and to take into account which will produce the 'real' you.

 

[isthmus nekoi]

a quick aside

If Mars is in Virgo, wouldn't he deposit to Mercury (i.e. Mercury is Mars' depositor)? The way I've read the verb deposit, it has meant "answers to".

 

[Minderwiz]

Yes there is an answering here but it is to the dispositor, not from. Thus Mercury rules Virgo and as Mars is in Mercury's 'house' (sign) then Mars answers to Mercury. It's the same idea as putting up a friend for a short period. They sleep in your house or appartment, so they answer to you during their stay. You wouldn't want to put them up and then have to answer to them!!

In some charts you will find that directly or indirectly one or two planets disposit every other planet. In this chart Mercury disposits Mars, which in turn disposits Saturn in Scorpio, which in turn will disposit any planet in Capricorn or Aquarius. In this case there don't appear to be any placements in these signs.

Mercury also disposits the Virgo Sun, and the Sun in turn disposits Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto. Now Jupiter rules Sagittarius, so it disposits the Moon. So directly or indirectly Mercury disposits, Sun, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto. That leaves Venus which is in her own sign of Libra and does not answer to any other planet. As Mercury is in Libra then Venus disposits Mercury (and Neptune also in Libra). We now have a situation whereby all the planets directly or indirectly 'report back' to Venus - Venus is a powerful planet, despite being in the eighth and technically combust because of the conjunction with the Sun (out of sign).

 

[isthmus nekoi]

Ah, the book that taught me depositors used the verb in the opposite way.

Mars in Virgo = Mars deposits to Mercury, whereas you would say Mercury deposits Mars. But now that I'm thinking about it, it seems an incorrect way of using the verb - augh, I've been using it wrong for years now!

But back to you, judylea - do you find you are very Venusian or that Venus has a strong influence on you?

Personally, I don't have a final depositor - I have two in mutal reception (Librian Jupiter, Sag Venus). I think it helps to counter the strong Saturn presence in my chart (Cap sun, Aquarian ASC). Even if my mind is somewhere very dark, it doesn't stop me from smiling easily and laughing a lot. Black humour, I guess!