Addiction loops? Blame your Mars

Mars pulses with urgency. It governs action, desire, instinct—the fire beneath choice. It doesn’t wait. It pushes, it strikes, it demands. In balance, Mars is motivation, courage, vitality. It gets things done. But when that fire is misdirected, it doesn’t go out—it burns uncontrolled.

This is when Mars becomes a trigger. The need to act becomes restless, reactionary. There’s an itch that won’t settle, a push toward sensation for its own sake. It’s not about pleasure. It’s about movement. Distraction. Discharge. And often, destruction. Whether it’s the next drink, the next fight, the next risk—it’s all impulse. The fuel is constant, but the direction is missing.

Under tension, Mars turns sharp. Squares, oppositions, harsh planetary friction—these distort its energy. Rage flares without cause. Conflict becomes magnetic. Or it inverts, becoming internalized aggression—impulsive self-sabotage, physical overexertion, reckless choices. Mars wants out, any way it can. Sometimes, that path leads through addiction: to speed, to chaos, to whatever promises a hit of life, fast and bright.

But Mars doesn’t always shout. In fixed signs or hidden houses, its force smolders. The desire is still there—but stuck. That stuckness turns into loops. Repetition. Obsession. The same act, the same escape, again and again. The behavior feels necessary, inevitable. Stopping feels like losing all momentum. Mars resists surrender.

In deeper chart placements, Mars can signify urges we don’t name. Secret drives. Buried fury. An urge for control so strong, it becomes its own addiction. The danger lies in invisibility—when we don’t recognize the patterns Mars is running.

Yet Mars, even at its worst, holds power. The same drive that fuels damage can also forge change. But it takes confrontation. Direction. Conscious will. The question isn’t how to extinguish Mars—but how to guide it. To move from compulsion to command. To make action meaningful, not reactive. That’s the heart of healing.