Great Mars Cazimi Election for Courage and Protection

Mars is currently in Scorpio, its sign of rulership. This brings out many of Mars’ better quality like courage, tenacity and the ability to fight and protect. Mars in its watery domicile might be less hotheaded that it’s fiery Aries placement, but it’s just as able to confront and attack effectively. The famous phrase “The best defense is a good offense” is attributed to George Washington who, indeed, had his Mars in this placement.

Mars has also been combust nearly the entirety of its time in Scorpio this time around.

Combustion refers to a condition in which a planet comes too close to the Sun, causing its influence to be obscured or weakened. In astronomical terms, you literally can’t see combust planets in the sky because the sun is blocking their light. It can also mean that the planet’s true intentions are “behind the scenes,” and won’t be seen or truly understood until the planet emerges from the sun’s beams and become visible again.

But during the combustion cycle, there is one special moment for the planet in question: Cazimi.

A Medieval Arabic-based term, Cazimi means “at the heart of the sun.” When a (combust) planet become Cazimi, it joins the sun at the exact degree and gains in influence, intensity and power. It’s as though the Sun acts as a spotlight on the planet in question and says, Ok, tell me what you got and what you want. A strong Mars in Scorpio will shout: courage, daring, action, will, assertiveness, protection!

If the election allows, this is great time to work magically with Mars.

On Sunday, November 19 (on November 18 in the US/Canada), there will be just such a great Mars Cazimi election that you can use for a variety of martial purposes, such as:

• Improve assertiveness

• Increase courage

• Offer protection and the ability to protect others

• Help in confrontations or situations where you need to fight and stand your ground

The chart

This Mars Cazimi electional chart is timed for November 19, 2023 at 7:19 a.m. for my location in Berlin, Germany and can be used anywhere in the Europe. In the US or Canada it will be one day earlier (see below).

Strong in the its sign of nocturnal rulership, Mars is conjunct the sun and directly on the Ascendant, which means it will grant courage, protection, energy and assertiveness to the wearer.

In any electional chart, the moon is extremely important because it acts as the intermediary between the celestial realm and the material plane. Without the support of the moon, the election is ultimately ineffective. The moon here is swift in motion and in Aquarius in the third house and applying to a trine with Venus (European chart).

Mars is most definitely NOT the planet of compromise or diplomacy, so having Venus come into play here brings in a nice aspect here and will help temper Mars’ and ensure that the wearer still knows when to “play nice,” as Venus (but not Mars) likes to do. This is particularly the case because Venus is in the 11th house of friends and networks

The US/Canada chart has a square to Jupiter instead of the Venus trine. This is still works as a magical election, but you do lose the mild softening from Venus in this case.

Relocating the chart

If you need to relocate the chart, here are the times to use (if you’re location is missing from the list, just ask and I’ll look it up for you :) ) As is always the case with electional charts, it might not work everywhere and/or will change the date and time depending on your location:

Europe

• Central European Standard Time: November 19, 2023 at 7:19 a.m.

• Greenwich Mean Time (UK): Same time

USA/Canada

• Eastern Standard Time: November 18, 2023 at 6:37 a.m.

• Central Time: November 18, 2023 at 6:31 a.m.

• Mountain Time: November 18, 2023 at 6:26 a.m.

• Pacific Time: November 18, 2023 at 6:12 a.m.

• How to use an electional chart

I wrote this text which gives you more details about electional astrology, so check it out if you don’t know what this is or would like to know more.

In a nutshell, you need to do some sort of concrete action at the time of the election to set the ball in motion. This could be something like:

• Sending an e-mail where you need to confront someone in a constructive way.

• Sign up for a self-defense or martial arts course.

You don’t have to do much more than that at this stage, just make the first move. Whatever you initiate at this moment will hold the energy of the election, allowing you to benefit from it in the long run.

How to use this chart magically

This chart is very potent and can also be used for astrological magic. For this, you create either a petition or a talisman, which allows you to harness this energy for future use. To do so, you need to perform a ritual as described in the Picatrix, a 10th century book on astrological magic.

Here’s how to do so (n.b. some of this is my own way of doing things combined with what it says in the Picatrix, which is fairly barebones):

• Shortly before the election, light a candle and some incense or plant material that corresponds to the Mars, such as chili, garlic, ginger, tobacco, thistle or pepper (be careful burning some of this directly!).

• Close your eyes and focus on your breath. Imagine your body being surrounded by the color red. Breath. Now imagine iron is coming up through the ground and coating your bones. Once all your bones have been covered, imagine the bright red Mars floating above your head. Now imagine his symbol in your heart. It looks like this.*

• Open your eyes and recite the Orphic hymn to the Mars, which is below:

Magnanimous, unconquer'd, boistrous Mars,
In darts rejoicing, and in bloody wars
Fierce and untam'd, whose mighty pow'r can make
The strongest walls from their foundations shake:
Mortal destroying king, defil'd with gore,
Pleas'd with war's dreadful and tumultuous roar:
Thee, human blood, and swords, and spears delight,
And the dire ruin of mad savage fight.
Stay, furious contests, and avenging strife,
Whose works with woe, embitter human life; 10
To lovely Venus, and to Bacchus yield,
To Ceres give the weapons of the field;
Encourage peace, to gentle works inclin'd,
And give abundance, with benignant mind.

Now it’s time to create the talisman or petition. To do so, either imagine the following (for a petition), draw it on a piece of paper imbued with Martial herbs (list above) or carve/scratch it on iron, bloodstone, carnelian, tiger’s eye, red jasper or garnet, all of which have a martial nature.

The image you need to use for the drawing/carving:

A man wearing a crown and holding an inscribed sword in his right hand. You also need to add the seal of Mars, which looks like this:

If you’re not much of an artist, don’t worry (I can’t draw at all). It’s totally fine if you just draw stick figures and a wonky looking dragon. It’s the intention behind creating the image that matters, not the aesthetic results.

Once you’ve finished your drawing or carving, pull the talisman or paper through the incense smoke several times and state your intention, e.g. Please help me,_____, to gain more courage/protection/strength/the powers of confrontation.

You can be as specific or general as you want, but make sure what you’re asking is something Mars can actually deliver according to his nature. Once you’ve finished, you can lay the talisman/paper down next to the candle and leave it there at least until the incense has burned down.

Please note:

The timing for the ritual from start to finish is crucial. Here are the windows you can use for each of the time zones listed above (in a few cases, the times are slightly earlier to leave room for the beginning of the ritual):

Europe

• Central European Standard Time: November 19, 2023 from 7:00 to 7:39 a.m.

• Greenwich Mean Time (UK): November 19, 2023 from 6:59 to 7:29 a.m.

USA/Canada

• Eastern Standard Time: November 18, 2023 at 6:24 to 6:47 a.m.

• Central Time: November 18, 2023 at 6:20 to 6:55 a.m.

• Mountain Time: November 18, 2023 at 6:19 to 6:45 a.m.

• Pacific Time: November 18, 2023 from 6:07 to 6:30 a.m.

A few final thoughts

I’ve been practicing astrological magic for around four years now and I’ve had some really great results.

What I especially like about this magical tradition is that it is strict and particular in that you have to wait for a great election for it to work, use materials that correspond to the Mars and an image as specified in the Picatrix, but otherwise the rituals can be fairly simple and straightforward.

That said, your ritual in of itself can be an artistic act, and I have noticed that when I put in more effort, I sometimes get stronger results. Some ideas in this case would be to:

• Create a small altar for the Mars using e.g. Mars’ magic square (featured on the picture above) seal, and symbol. You could simply print these symbols out, draw them on paper or cloth it using red ink, etch them on glass, whatever. It’s totally up to you.

• Dress in red or go full cosplay and dress like a soldier or fire fighter.

• Incorporate the number five into your altar, which is the Mar’s number (e.g. five peppers, 5 red candles, 5 cloves of garlic, 5 mini swords, etc.)

• Eat or drink martial herbs (e.g., something with a peppery garlic sauce, ginger tea) before the ritual begins.

• Work out and work up a sweat beforehand (although shower first – it’s always important to be clean for any ritual).

Again, none of this is necessary, but it can make things fun and help the energy attune even more to the nature of Mars.

I’ve created Mars talismans in the past and found them excellent for protection. I personally carry one in my wallet at all times for this purpose.

One last point to keep in mind

Even Mars at his very best is still Mars.

Although this talisman has the power to help you be more assertive and constructively confrontational, it also might have the tendency to put you in situations where conflict is in the air.

Therefore, these type of talismans are better to not just wear casually, but instead to give them a “job,” such as protecting your wallet like I mentioned, or wearing the talisman to a court appearance, etc. If you’re unsure about making a permanent talisman, you can also use this time for a petition instead.

If you do end up using the election or making a talisman, feel free to share your story below!

*Thanks to Austin Coppock for suggesting this small meditation to tune into Saturn’s planetary energy!