That fiery warrior Mars has been putting all of us to a hard time this winter and spring, first with its retrograde action that began in mid-January slowing EVERYTHING down, not to mention Mercury’s retreat mid-March, messing up communication and things having to do with communication! And, just when we thought we could see the light at the end of the tunnel when both of these planets changed direction moving forward…
We forgot that action minded Mars, now in detail minded Virgo is also in opposition with dreamy Neptune, which is in its home sign of Pisces–‘opposites’ being the operative word here. In astrological oppositions, there’s just ‘no way around’ it, not like squares where, despite the friction, there’s room for negotiation. With oppositions, you have to live through the transit, do your best and contemplate the lesson; it sort of like the ‘builds character’ thing, although I must admit that I’m anticipating the separation of this opposition in mid-May with glee.
When in balance, Mars is all about action, take charge, move on, chop-chop, while Neptune contemplates mysteries of the Universe, imagination and harmony in the collective. Out of whack, Mars can be a bully, self-focused and dictatorial; Neptune can totally lose it in fantasy, escape and addictions…let’s not even go there.
So where in the realm of writing does this astrological evaluation come in with editors and the editorial process? Despite grumbling about this process as it relates to my own projects from time to time, editors are too often misaligned and scape-goated. At the end of the day, for those of us who aspire to being published, a good editor is worth her/his weight in gold, there to make us and our writing Stand Out. At its best, good editing is altruistic. Several weeks ago as if Divinely timed, an author friend of mine posted a wonderful article on her Facebook page about editors from Salon.com, entitled, “Let Us Now Praise Editors,“ by Gary Kamiya…it’s a wonderful read if you’re interested.
Nevertheless, despite knowing all of this intellectually, I’m sure I’m not the only writer who’s been grumbling during this current Mars/Neptune opposition that can manifest as a rewind of passages, chapters, essays, query letters…you name it, at the gentle(or not so gentle) mercy of the editorial blue pencil, pen or in my case, my editor’s yellow highlighting in Word! Bottom line: revise, revise, revise.
However, as I mentioned a few paragraphs ago, there is light at the end of the tunnel…the energy of Mars’ action butting heads with Neptune’s imagination will soon ease off at which point hopefully those of us who write can look back and admit that we’ve gained some wisdom in the process.