WHERE the fire of Mars burns brightly, he obliterates minor distinctions. The Sun is, himself, fire; in fact, Mars is but the fiery part of the Sun, so that Leo is as favorable to the development of Mars as even Aries; indeed, more so. For the solar influence tends to balance, breadth, and fullest development in the fiery impulses; Aries is, as it were, too martial to be the highest good for Mars. 

We shall find as a rule, therefore, people with less passionate intensity of action, but with wider sympathies, than we found in Aries. Of course, in some cases Saturn's influence may override this; one cannot expect a person intensely narrow and selfish to act in accordance with sentiments better illustrated by Jupiter. Yet, all things considered, his method will be broader than had Mars been in Aries. 

In the horoscope of General Boulanger, Mars is very strong; but the square of Saturn in Scorpio produces a certain restraint which proved fatal. This square should not have worked so badly had Mars been in Aries and Saturn in Capricornus. 

George Eliot has a most noble and beautiful Mars, trine to the Sun and Venus; it lent force and fire to a rather cramped and disappointed ego. (Her Saturn is sextile to the Moon and square to Uranus and Neptune, implying melancholy). Hence the brilliance and color of her work is objective; the expression is more genial than that which it expresses. 

Lily Langtry has Mars in the tenth house very powerful, but squared by Uranus. It is not the important complex. A certain amount of scandal is implied; but the dominant position and generous Zodiacal situation of Mars tend to make this innocuous. The scandal is so big that it becomes a negligible factor. 

Lord Brougham, again, a man of a most acrid and vitriolic spirit, had Mars in Leo to thank for his breadth of action. He could not (luckily for him) express himself in mean ways. 

William Blake is an example of the other side of the picture. Here we find the most tremendous development of the higher faculties, but no adequate and equal disposition of Mars, which, besides being in this exuberant and generous sign, is squared by Mercury. Hence his failure to realize practically his immense conceptions. {333} 

Herbert Spencer, on the other hand, has a grand Mars with Saturn trine and the Sun Square. Here is great wisdom combined with great activity, steadily forcing the idea upon a reluctant world, by open and honest methods, and indomitable courage, pluck, and perseverance. The square of the Sun implies opposition, and gives some threat to the health. 

Another great-hearted and successful man was General Grant, whose generous action at Appomattox is altogether characteristic of this Mars in Leo position. Lord Lytton is a similar case of great success won by geniality of action. 

The warmth and persuasiveness of the eloquence of Cicero may also be put down to the Leonine position of Mars which is approaching conjunction with Mercury. The square of Jupiter and Saturn accounts for the polemical character of much of his writings and speeches; but this has nothing to do with the method, which remains as a model of grace and vigor. 

Caesar Borgia, by contrast, has Mars in conjunction with Saturn, in opposition to Jupiter, and square to Uranus, with no help but the sextile of the Sun and the semi-sextile of Venus. This tends to mask the Leo influence; however, we still see it to some extent in the range of his action; in the pride and splendour with which he worked. 

Edward VI of England, on the other hand, has Mars approaching an opposition to the Moon, square to Jupiter, and in conjunction with Uranus, with only the trine of Neptune to counter balance these misfortunes; and yet we see the Leo influence on Mars still peeping through in the shape of those qualities which make kings lovable. And as he was the best-loved king, save Coeur-de-Lion and Henry the Fifth, that every ruled England, so was James II the most hated. Here Mars was rising, alone in the horoscope without any important aspects. There is no complex of importance in the whole heaven; Mars was therefore free to rule the life; and here we must argue that Leo only brought obstinacy and haughtiness into the method. The Sun, lord of Leo, is in Scorpio, badly aspected by a conjunction of Neptune and a square of the Moon; and, as Leo is rising, the influence is all the more evil. 

The vivid warmth and generosity of Turner's method of painting is also very characteristic, though, happily, of this position. Here Mars is square to the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus, and this {334} appears to have given the force and directness which is the wonder of his technique. 

Benjamin Disraeli is a great example of this Leo effect on Mars. His eccentricities were all of a gorgeous order; and he made them part of his career, of his method of influencing his contemporaries. Mars being also lord of the Ascendant, of course made this tendency inevitable. 

Lord Wolseley is a case of the exuberance of this position of Mars. He was too good-natured and too popular to become a Napoleon. Neptune, too, is in opposition, which would tend to thwart the material benefits of Mars. 

The strength of the Mars of Madame Steinheil is enormous. It is not only semi-sextile to Uranus and sextile to the Moon, but also trine to the Sun, Neptune, Mercury and Venus on the one hand, and to Saturn on the other. Here is a tremendous complex of eight planets, which stamps her with the very hall-mark of success. But the Leo influence still shines in her method; whatever she might do, she would give a sunny smile, and "get away with it." 

One is at first heartily surprised to find Robespierre in this long list. But a little investigation soon clears away the difficulty. Mars is in the sixth house, conjoined with Neptune, and square to the Sun. The trine of Jupiter seems here merely to make him effective. Now, Saturn rising and lord of the Ascendant is, with his aspects, the key to the horoscope, and there is no relation between him and Mars. So we see that, after all, the method of the man was totally distinct from his purpose. And what was that method? Leo all over! Big, frank, open talk, generous sentiments, noble aspirations, the phraseology of a Mazzini or a Lincoln! It is an admirable illustration of the "mask" in astrology. Had Saturn and Uranus aspected Mars, all these sentiments would have been genuine. 

Rosa Bonheur is excellent for our purpose. Mars rising, trine with Saturn, is a great influence upon her for masculinity and force. But see how Leo operates to make this generous and frank and noble. In Aries, we should have had a person of far more push and with no qualities so lovable. For one does not class her as a "mannish woman," but as a great-hearted, loyal comrade and friend. 

Much geniality is evident in the method of the late J. Pierpont Morgan. He was indeed the Napoleon of finance; there was nothing {335} underhanded, sly or treacherous about his ways; and he was interested in many things beyond his business. The conjunction of Jupiter accentuates this tendency. 

Similarly genial, but not so effective, is the Mars of W. B. Yeats. Here Neptune is trine, and Venus square, neither of great help to the practical side of Mars. It is an admirable picture of the easy openness of his method, both in art and in life. With Saturn trine, instead of Neptune, he might have been as austere as Blake, and as successful as Maeterlinck. 

The glow and riot of Swinburne's early verse is also to be attributed to this position of Mars. Once again we must insist that we refer to the actual technique, not to the matter or the manner. With Jupiter conjoined, Mercury and Venus trine, and Neptune in opposition, we can well explain the rhythms with which he enriched the English language. 

For the benefit of those who are not in possession of Raphael's Ephemeris, or who are not able to interpret the symbols contained therein, the years when Mars is in the sign Leo are as follows: 

From August 24th through October 10th 1840 

August 5th " September 20th 1842 

July 16th " August 31st 1844 

June 28th " August 13th 1846 

June 7th " July 25th 1848 

May 15th " July 5th 1850 

October 24th 1851 " February 3rd 1852 

April 6th " June 11th 1852 

September 23rd " November 16th 1853 

March 23rd " April 27th 1854 

September 1st " October 19th 1855 

August 12th " September 27th 1857 

July 24th " September 8th 1859 

July 5th " August 20th 1861 

June 16th " August 2nd 1863 

May 24th " July 13th 1865 

November 26th " December 7th 1866 {336} 

From April 26th through June 21st 1867 

October 2nd " December 5th 1868 

February 1st " May 22nd 1869 

September 9th " October 28th 1870 

August 19th " October 5th 1872 

July 31st " September 15th 1874 

July 12th " August 27th 1876 

June 23rd " August 9th 1878 

June 2st " July 20th 1880 

May 8th " June 30th 1882 

October 15th 1883 " June 4th 1884 

September 17th " November 8th 1885 

August 27th " October 13th 1887 

August 7th " September 22nd 1889 

July 20th " September 4th 1891 

June 30th " August 15th 1893 

June 11th " July 28th 1895 

May 18th " July 8th 1897 

October 31st 1898 " January 15th 1899 

April 15th " June 15th 1899 

September 27th " November 22nd 1900 

March 2nd " May 10th 1901 

September 5th " October 23rd 1902 

August 15th " October 1st 1904 

July 28th " September 12th 1906 

July 8th " August 23rd 1908 

June 19th " August 5th 1910 

May 28th " July 16th 1912 

May 2nd " June 25th 1914 

October 8th 1915 " May 28th 1916 

September 12th " November 1st 1917 

August 23rd " October 9th 1919 

August 3rd " September 18th 1921 

July 16th " August 31st 1923 

June 26th " August 12th 1925 

June 6th " July 24th 1927 

May 13th " July 3rd 1929 {337}