Mars, Lord of ACTION, is essentially our capacity to initiate actions and direct our Solar powers toward a given end. We may have a strong sense of what we are here to do (Sun) yet we must actualize it (Mars). It is therefore will power in action. It allows us to break new ground and penetrate into new territory in many dimensions of life, hence its traditional governance of travel (along with the Moon). It governs our capacity to break free of inertia, overcome obstacles and assert ourselves, for good or ill.

 

In the Sufi doctrine Mars is Conjecture (al-wahm), which positively is the faculty that allows one to break into new territory or to solve problems by re-envisioning them anew from a different angle (Mars often denotes jagged angles), yet at the other end this faculty can create suspicion, worry and lead to a heightened level of mental paranoia and delusion taking the person away from their center (Mars is centrifugal). Conjecture can be summarized as the notion “what if?” and can easily give rise to a plethora of opinions which veil the flame of reality like wax paper concealing candle light.

 

 

 

 

“Some Sufi writers, including ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Jīlī, have said that the dark pole of the mind is al-wahm, a term which means conjecture and also opinion, suggestion, and suspicion and so mental illusion. This is the reverse of the speculative freedom of the mind. The power of illusion of the mind is, as it were, fascinated by an abyss; it is attracted by every unexhausted negative possibility. When this power dominates the imagination [Venus], imagination becomes the greatest obstacle to spirituality. In this context may be quoted the saying of the Prophet that “the worst thing your soul suggests to you is suspicion””.

— Introduction to Sufi Doctrine, by Titus Burckhardt