Beware. Traditional notions need to be handled with care.

I’m saying this because looking at this chart (see below) a student of astrology could say that Mars, chart ruler, is in Pisces and the 12th house and conclude that this is probably a very spiritual person, someone who has difficulties expressing their Mars, meaning not very assertive, not very powerful, not really aggressive.

However the chart is Peter the Great’s. He was one of the most powerful men of his time. He changed the course of Russian history and spent many years waging wars.

Mars in Pisces has a bad reputation, almost as bad as Mars in Cancer. For Mars, Pisces is not a sign of detriment though. But Pisces is usually considered soft, passive, lacking in strength and boundaries.

This may prove true in a number of cases, but well, not always.

The twelve house is a cadent house, it’s traditionally considered a placement of great inefficiency. Mars in the twelfth may not find its way to expression, unless under the guise of some treacherous enemy hiding in the shadows.

Peter the Great had all kinds of enemies, some open, some hidden, but he was anything but a weakling.

So if you want to assess the strength of planets in a chart, look first at the aspects. Peter the Great’s Mars is connected with Pluto by an exact trine. Moreover, Pluto is exactly conjunct an angle of the chart, so it’s from an especially powerful Pluto that energy is flowing to Mars.

Mars is also in a square aspect with the Moon. A square is an aspect of tension, yes, but this square is first of all a tight contact with a luminary. With the Moon, Mars is in the spotlight. As both Mars and the Moon are both rather emotionally reactive, we may expect a rather impulsive and excitable Mars.

We can say something similar about the Mars Jupiter opposition. Jupiter amplifies what it touches. A tense aspect between these two planets is likely to manifest as an excess of energy.

Mars is also conjunct with the North Node. This is similar to a North Node in Aries, Martian power is the way forward. We could wonder whether the great power in such a chart would not lead to an auto destructive implosion, and that could be a risk. But here, with Aries Rising and Mars conjunct the north node, moving powerfully forward is destiny, so to speak!

If Mars was in Aries and the First House, but receiving the same power from other placements as it gets in Peter’s chart, it would be even more powerful, I guess. But it really doesn’t need that.

Same text, French accent, youtube channel

Peter the Great was fascinated by navigation from a young age. He won his first great battle against the Turks thanks to ships. One of his great achievements was to give Russia access to the Baltic sea so that his country could become a great maritime power. What sign could be more fitting than Pisces?

Also, his drinking style was a stereotypical demonstration of having balls. So much for Pisces.

As for the twelfth house… He was swimming in the collective dimension. The life story of Peter the Great is identical to Russia’s history. As powerful as he may have been, he was a product of the institution: he was the Tzar, and he battled to reform the institutions. I am only talking about Mars for now, but you may have noticed his Sun-Uranus exact square, which can also be interpreted as a conflict between collective energies and personal expression.

Who would he have been if he was born in an ordinary family? We will never know. So, in this sense, it is possible to interpret this position of Mars in the twelfth house as a Mars that can’t find the way to exist as a free individual, away from the institution.

But if we started to explore this chart with the idea that this Mars in Pisces and in the 12th is not very powerful we would be misguided. I recommend looking at the aspects first, starting with the tightest ones, and especially the conjunctions to angles, luminaries and nodes.

Jean-Marc PIerson

Astrologer, storyteller. How about taking a class, coming to a retreat, learning about Magical Doors?

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