“I told my psychiatrist that everyone hates me. He said I was being ridiculous … everyone hasn’t met me yet.” 
— Rodney Dangerfield

The god of war is entering the sign of peace and balance on July 3. It’s easy to understand why this pairing might be a detrimental match. Mars likes to tangle — and in a very direct fashion. Libra prefers to keep things nice, and avoids nasty confrontations. Mars likes to make things happen pronto, and Libra prefers to stall while carefully weighing out every decision. Mars adores action, and Libra tends to be passive.

Hence, this pairing is often associated with passive-aggressive maneuvers, frustration and repressed anger. Sadly, passive-aggression often leads to internalizing the anger, which then leads to reactive-formation: i.e. imagining that everyone hates you. This is just to give you a sense of how challenging the combo is, and to explain why it may feel more uncomfortable than usual to be in our anger — let alone express it directly.

“When introverts are in conflict with each other… it may require a map in order to follow all the silences, nonverbal cues and passive-aggressive behaviors!” 
— Adam S. McHugh

If you can avoid falling into the passive-aggressive side of this energy, you can use it for the good: to express more peace, beauty and diplomacy. Libra is the sign of relationships and Mars shows where we are most naturally prone to direct our energy. Thus, for the next few weeks the emphasis will probably be directed toward relationships. Libra likes to balance and be mirrored. Expect more flirting and fishing for compliments under this influence.

Also keep in mind that Mars in Libra promotes justice and the fight for equality. With Saturn also in Libra for a few more months, these two planetary heavyweights will be working in tandem to amp up our need to do the right thing and consider the consequences of our actions. It’s also important to get in touch with our competitive instincts at this time. If we can channel this energy into healthy competition versus the compare-and-despair side of Mars in Libra, we’ll come out feeling all the more beautiful and empowered.