How Mars Opposing Saturn and Neptune Will Show Up For You

To improve my deadlifts, I sometimes do a drill where I set up the barbell underneath the safety bars of a squat rack. The safety bars stop my momentum and prevent me from doing a full deadlift.

The purpose of the drill is to train me to push the floor away with my legs while keeping my hips down, rather than relying so much on my back.

The barbell meeting the safety racks creates a hard impact; I feel it reverberate through my body. It’s sometimes annoying, but I also really like it. It helps me practice the hard things, which makes me stronger.

Astrologically, that’s what it feels like when Mars opposes Saturn (August 8, 10:52 PM ET, 1º20’ Libra/Aries).

This opposition happens approximately every two years, but the 2025 version has some interesting quirks. Let’s break down what this could look like and how to work with it.

The Energy of a Mars/Saturn Opposition

An opposition between Mars and Saturn is a standoff between two competing ideologies. It’s go-meets-stop, limits on action, young vs old, hot vs cold, impetuous vs cautious.

Mars is the planet of ambition, drive, and action. It’s impulsive and likes to move fast. Saturn is the planet of restriction, time, and boundaries. It moves slowly.

A face-off between these two planets is not fun. It might even be painful, but if you play it well, it can make you stronger.

3 Quirks of Mars in Libra Opposing Saturn in Aries

This particular iteration of the Mars/Saturn opposition has 3 quirks that can create a particularly challenging dynamic.

(1) Mars and Saturn Are Debilitated

First, both planets are debilitated. Mars is in Libra, the sign of its exile. It doesn’t have access to its own resources here and it is forced to do things in a style that is opposite to its typical mode of operation. So Mars is essentially coming to this standoff already frustrated — and Mars represents our anger.

Saturn is also debilitated. It’s in Aries, the sign of its fall, or depression. Aries is a hot, impulsive, action-oriented sign and Saturn is cold, careful, and considered. The environment of Aries is antithetical to how Saturn typically operates.

With both Mars and Saturn debilitated, we can expect their opposition to be extra challenging. Mars is trying to do things and already has to contend with an environment counter to its usual style, AND it’s meeting Saturn’s strict, authoritarian resistance.

(2) Mars and Saturn Are in Positions to Possibly Help Each Other

If you’re in a foreign country but you’re staying at a friend’s house, you might have access to resources that will help you get around a little better.

When planets occupy the home sign of another planet, it’s called “reception.” Reception can create a little more ease for a planet, especially if it has a hard time there.

In this set-up where Mars is in Libra and Saturn is in Aries, the two planets are in a type of reception with each other.

Saturn in Aries is in Mars’ home. That means it must look to Mars for the resources it needs to do what it does. So in theory Mars can help Saturn out.

Mars in Libra is in Saturn’s place of exaltation — essentially the place where Saturn is a dignitary. Saturn can theoretically help Mars.

So these two “difficult” planets, which often butt heads and are diametrically opposed, can theoretically help each other toward a common goal.

And because they are in signs exactly opposite each other, that commonality does exist — under the tension.

Aries and Libra are fire and air. They are both cardinal, expressive, and extroverted signs. Fire needs oxygen to grow and sustain. Both elements spread out. Both can be wild and uncontainable. All this to say, there’s some agreement here.

Saturn’s slamming on the brakes to restrain Mars’ impulsivity isn’t necessarily a bad thing — especially if the action has permanent consequences.

The saying “measure twice, cut once” is a perfect description of a positive manifestation of Saturn constraining Mars.

(3) Mars is Also Opposing Neptune

The third quirk is that Mars and Saturn aren’t the only players involved in this stand-off. Saturn is siting very close to Neptune in Aries. This means that as Mars opposes Saturn it’s also opposing Neptune (August 9, 6:13 PM ET, 1º50’ Libra/Aries).

Read: What Does Neptune in Aries Mean For You?

Doing hard things (Mars opposing Saturn) can make us stronger.

And also, there is a point at which all that banging against the squat rack just creates wear and tear on the body.

How do we know what’s really helpful, versus what we believe to be helpful?

Neptune is the planet of illusions, deceptions, and dissolution. Mars opposing Neptune can create confusion about our actions. It can disorient — or reorient — us to something that isn’t really fruitful.

It can be actions taken from the haze of an emotional cloud, like when you react in anger rather than regulating your nervous system.

It can also manifest as escapist tendencies.

The Energy of Mars Opposing Saturn and Neptune

In the bigger perspective of time, Mars’ opposition to Saturn and Neptune are essentially one event — an event that is also tied into Mars’ more supportive aspects with Uranus and Pluto, as well as the Full Moon in Aquarius, which comes right in the middle of all of this (more on this tomorrow).

Mars opposing Saturn is doing hard things and bumping up against limits. Mars opposing Neptune creates confusion, disorients us, and obscures reality.

What happens when Mars opposes both at once?

Here are 6 ways this could show up:

Feeling overwhelmed? Want help seeing how this energy is showing up specifically for you? Schedule a consultation.

(1) Running into obstacles you couldn’t see in advance.

Neptune is often described as a fog. It obscures things. In this case, it’s obscuring Saturn’s boundaries and limits. Imagine doing that deadlift drill blindfolded, but you didn’t know the safety racks were in place.

(2) Hitting your limits, but you don’t know where it is until you reach it.

If you watch people lift weights, most people have a taper: they struggle a bit before they completely max out.

That is not what happens to me.

Sometimes my lifts look strong, it seems like I have a lot more in the tank, and then I’ll fail the next rep. It seems to come out of nowhere. It’s like the signs that I’m about to fail are obscured. This is what Mars opposing Saturn and Neptune can look like.

In a relationship, this might look like a breakup without warning, when things seemed to be going well.

In business, this can look like a deal falling apart without warning.

(3) A delusion about the results you’ll earn from hard work.

One of the positive impacts of a Mars/Saturn opposition can be achievements that come from long, hard, sustained effort or work. Anticipating the sweet rewards we will receive at the end can help us sustain our fight to the finish.

With Neptune in the mix, there might be a delusion—coming from self or others—that the hard work will lead to the desired achievement.

You’ve been told if you show up consistently and persistently you’ll eventually reap rewards. But sometimes that’s not true. Sometimes working hard for a long time doesn’t produce the expected reward. You have to be able to see when that’s the case and abandon it

(4) Working hard without a clear sense of direction.

Mars/Saturn oppositions can give us energy to work hard for something. But hard work without clarity of purpose is a recipe for burnout. With Neptune in the mix, you might notice where you are expending effort without a clear sense of direction, even a lack of clarity about what you actually want.

Neptune also introduces confusion. You might have the motivation to work hard but feel confused about where to apply your effort, energy, time, and resources.

(5) You want something that seems unrealistic — because you lack the systems to create it.

Mars in opposition to Neptune can show up as a desire for something that is unrealistic. It could be an unrequited love interest, a dream home that’s really a pipe dream, a business goal that is out of reach, or a personal ambition that is pure fantasy.

But maybe it’s realistic only because you lack the support, structures, systems, and processes to create it right now. With Saturn in the mix, this configuration can show you what structures and systems you need to implement to build a foundation under your castle in the sky.

(6) Questions about what depletes you vs what energizes you.

Mars/Saturn can show up as a pressure-cooker situation, like big project on a tight deadline that forces us to bring our best. When we feel the weight of great expectations, we might find our inner strength and rise to meet those expectations. On the other hand, sometimes those expectations become a burden that weigh us down.

Sometimes something that energizes us in a certain dose becomes draining in a larger dose. Lately I’ve been playing with my workout routine. A certain level of exercise is crucial for mental and physical health. For people with ADHD, it’s also an important source of dopamine. But too much intensity can cause an adrenaline spike that leads to a crash.

Neptune can blur the line between what energizes us and what depletes us.

How to Work With Mars Opposing Saturn and Neptune

To receive more personal guidance on how to work with this transit, specific to where it’s happening in your chart, schedule a consultation.

This moment of conflict between Mars and Saturn/Neptune comes in the middle of some other aspects that can help us navigate the challenge.

Here are some tips for working with Mars opposing Saturn and Neptune:

• When you hit your limits, innovate creative solutions. Mars in flowing aspect with Uranus will help here.
• Recognize where you’re being stopped because you lack skill, structures, systems, or support and put those in place. The Full Moon in Aquarius will illuminate the systems you need to change.
• When you get frustrated, or lose your way, dig deep to reconnect with your deeper purpose and motivation, and with the direction that is most aligned for you. Mars in harmony with Pluto will help with this.
• Cultivate patience, persistence, equanimity and a sense of humor to help you when things fall off track.
• Pause to rest.

---

To receive more personal guidance on how to work with this transit, specific to where it’s happening in your chart, schedule a consultation.