The Year of Mars: Challenges and Breakthroughs

2025 is a Mars year, so what does that mean for you?

2024 was Saturn’s year, but 2025 is all about Mars. In today’s post, we’ll go over how Mars influences this year’s astrology and I’ll share a bit about one of my favorite Martian herbs, Nettles. Paid subscribers get horoscopes for the first half of the year and insights on how to channel Mars’s energy to live their best lives. If you stay ready, you won’t have to get ready!

Enjoy!

Starbie B. Journey to Mars. (2025). Digital collage.

“Never gave a damn, I ain’t never gave no fuck. Fell out with them hoes, we ain’t never makin’ up. Back for everything I ever lost, I’m on a mission. We turned the whole house into a booth, we in the kitchen. Let her cook!”

—GloRillations 13:6 - 10

Don’t tell the other planets, but Mars is one of my favorites. According to numerology, this year is a 9-year (2+0+2+5 = 9) and is therefore ruled by Mars. 9’s represent the end of a cycle before we start back at 1, and these liminal spaces where endings meet beginnings are always charged. This is a year of action and initiation, whether that initiation means being initiated into something or starting something new like a project, job, or relationship. If you’ve been waffling on whether you should or shouldn’t do something for a while, you may find the energy to move forward this year.

The sign and house Mars rules in your chart can give you insights into the different areas you may have inherent skills or areas where you may feel particularly confident. If you don’t have confidence in those areas, you can appease Mars by faking it til you make it and sharpening your skills through direct action. Mars is about faith, but not in the same way Jupiter inspires faith. Jupiter believes in external powers working in its favor while Mars believes in self-power. Mars’s faith lies in tangible and evident skills, in knowing that things will happen not because of blind faith, but because we have the skills and knowledge to make them happen.

Photo by Mike Erskine on Unsplash

In medical astrology and astroherbalism, Mars rules the blood, the circulatory system, the adrenal glands, and our muscular system. Its vibrational energy is poking, prodding, inciting, and aggravating and plants ruled by it tend to have the same effect. One of my favorite Mars plants, Nettles, is a perfect example. Its stalks and leaves are lined with trichomes that have a jellyfish-like sting and irritate the skin when touched (there’s even a jellyfish named after it). Nettles are nutrient-dense and fortifying and they have been used in curries, soups, and teas around the world to replenish the body, especially during and after childbirth. This is an herb I regularly keep stocked in my home apothecary, especially during the winter. If you’re looking for an herbal guide or ally to support you during this Mars year, Nettles will make a good companion.

Mars teaches us so much about our drives and desires, what turns us on, and how we defend ourselves and others. Even in signs where Mars is considered “weakened” (Taurus, Cancer, and Libra), its intensity can still be felt or expressed in surprising or unconventional ways. Mars helps us get unstuck and as we exit the Saturn-ruled year that may have made us feel limited or disempowered, its energizing passionate energy can be a welcome change.