Regarding Tuesdays, Guruji used to say, “Tuesday is a bad day.” When I asked him why he replied, “Some fighting.” In Vedic astrology, Tuesday is associated with the planet Mars. Of the planets, Mars is known as the “lesser malefic”—Saturn being the “greater malefic.” In Roman mythology Mars is the God of War--one of its primary associations has been with conflict, and accidents as well. Guruji would never shave on Tuesday because of this association of Mars with accidents, particularly accidents involving the head, since Mars rules the sign Aries, which is linked to the head. In Mysore, Guruji never gave anyone a new pose on a Tuesday, because of this potential for accidents.
Is Mars getting a bad rap here? I happen to love Tuesdays. In fact, I was born on a Tuesday. The old ditty about the days of the week says, “Tuesday’s child is full of Grace” (following, “Monday’s child is fair of face”). Tuesday is the day, along with Saturday, associated with my ishta devata, Lord Hanuman. More students come through the doors of the Ashtanga Yoga Center on Tuesday than any other day of the week. Mars is a planet that gives us great energy and the desire to project ourselves into the world. The astrological glyph for Mars is identical to the symbol for the male of the species—a circle with an arrow projecting outward. This symbolizes the Martian and Male desire to penetrate the world around us in some meaningful manner. This desire, in itself, is innocent and only creates conflict when it is projected in an insensitive or inappropriate way. When we place our own personal will-to-power over the good of life, then this Martian energy can lead to domination, control, violence and injury.
Mars is associated with the manipura chakra, the fire center of the subtle body, located in the area around the navel. The fire element is very important to all of us, but especially to yogis. The practice of yoga is like a fire ceremony. We offer our body, mind and soul to the fire of Tapas, to burn away impurities so the great flame of awareness, that is our true self, can shine forth. The fire element is also associated with all the different aspects of agni, the digestive fire. There are many different types of agni. Some of the most important are jathara agni, which digests our food; prana agni, which converts oxygen into energy; and manasika agni, which allows us to digest our sensory impressions. Manasika agni is a kind of mental fire which is connected to the eyes and our ability to discern things with penetrating insight.
Just as there are potential malefic effects of Mars, there are also potentially benefic aspects as well. The Martian energy is very much the energy of the warrior. Along with Hanuman, the other deity associated with Tuesday is Rama, the archetypal warrior who once single-handedly killed fourteen thousand demons in a famous scene from The Ramayana. Mars is the planet of courage, strength, power and aggression. It gives us the ability to project force in life to give us energy, independence, will and self-confidence. Without this Martian energy we have no passion, determination or intensity to manifest our desires. Rama and Hanuman are sublime examples of the Spiritual Warrior one who has transmuted personal desires into the service of Dharma. It’s quite simple really—our Martian energy only gets us into trouble when we are using it to serve selfish ends. As long as we can use this energy to serve the common good, Mars can be benefic as well.
-Tim Miller
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