Ares

The story

Ares is the war god of Greek mythology, but unlike Athena (strategic warfare), he represents the uncontrolled, bloody side of war. The Greeks didn't love him — Athena was impartial and just, Ares was savage and often defeated. In the Iliad, Diomedes wounds Ares with a spear; Ares can't bear his own wound and flees to Olympus. The tale carries the message "true power isn't in raw force but in strategy." But Ares's positive side: decisive action, motion, overcoming fear. His secret love affair with Aphrodite produces the children Anteros (counter-love), Phobos (fear), and Deimos (panic). In Rome he's "Mars" — a much more respected father god of Roman culture than the Greek Ares; agricultural protection is also added.

Why this planet

Mars's red color is mythologically tied directly to blood. In astrology Mars's both destructive (rage, aggression) and constructive (courage, action) sides come from the two faces of the Ares myth.

Themes

• war
• rage
• action
• courage