Mars Sextile Jupiter: Putting Your Drive Where It Leads Somewhere

With Mars and Jupiter two signs apart, action and confidence help each other out. As long as you go looking for a stage on your own, your energy is spent very efficiently. This page starts from what Mars governs (drive, desire, competition and conflict) and what Jupiter governs (growth, opportunity and belief), then looks at how the sextile makes the two interact, how it tends to show up in everyday life, its strengths and blind spots, and some advice for it.

Mars Sextile Jupiter at a glance

Percentages are our own calculation from 8,401 charts of people born in Taipei between 1960 and 2005 with random birth times, using the same orbs as our chart calculator.

The core meaning of Mars Sextile Jupiter

Mars is the way you exert yourself. Jupiter is what you believe in and where you want to grow. The sextile puts the two planets in compatible signs, so there is a clear channel between action and vision. When you think of a direction, your hands and feet keep up. When you set to work on something, you have a fair idea where it leads. Unlike the conjunction, where the whole person is swept along, the drive of the sextile is more measured, and before you commit effort you usually take a look at whether it is worth it.

What this aspect gives is opportunity, and you have to reach out and take it. Someone invites you into a new project, a course, or a stint somewhere else. If you say yes, things often unfold smoothly. If you do not, it will not come knocking a second time. People with the trine work without strain and hardly even need to go after things, while the sextile asks for one extra act of initiative. Many people with this aspect only discovered how well they seize chances after the one time they worked up the nerve to sign up.

How it feels inside

Inside, you have a mild optimism. Faced with a new challenge, you mostly feel it is worth a try, without getting so fired up that you lose your judgment. When you are angry or thwarted, you can find yourself a wider angle and ask whether this will still matter in the long view, so your temper does not smolder for long. The one regret is that this balance sometimes leaves you without a sense of urgency, of something that simply must be done, and ideas stay in your head longer than they do for others.

In love and relationships

In love and with people you are willing to take the lead without putting pressure on anyone. When you like someone you ask them out, and working out together, taking a class, or planning a trip are your usual ways of closing the distance. You do not hold a grudge after an argument. Once it is talked through it is over, and you are willing to reach out first to make up. Friends find you energetic and reasonable and are happy to team up with you. If you and your partner have a shared goal to work toward, the relationship has more flavor than simply spending time together.

At work and in getting things done

At work you know how to put your effort where there is room to grow. If you are going to stay late anyway, you pick the project where you will learn something and be seen. You suit work that needs both action and vision, such as business development, teaching, consulting, or projects that cross borders or departments. When a boss hands you a new assignment you can carry it, and often do a little more than expected. To get more from this aspect, do not wait to be called on. When you see a good opening, raise your own hand first.

Strengths

• Effort with direction: Before acting you look at where a thing leads, so your energy goes into what has a future and you seldom find you were busy for nothing.
• Optimistic, not rash: You have the confidence to try and still do a basic assessment. Faced with an opening you neither shrink back nor throw everything in on a rush of feeling.
• Good at seizing the moment: You can take up what others offer and will go the extra step to pursue it. That initiative often opens new doors for you.

Blind spots

• Works only if you act: Opportunity does not take shape unaided. When you live passively this aspect is only potential, and people may not even see you have it.
• Lacking urgency: No strong inner pressure pushes you along, so what you want to do is easily put off, and when you finally get moving the moment may have passed.
• Easily sidetracked: Quite a few directions interest you and you want to dabble in each. Without an order of priority, your energy is scattered over several things.

Advice for Mars Sextile Jupiter

Each season, pick one thing to go after on your own initiative. It could be a course, a new assignment, or a long trip you have always wanted to take. Then complete the first action within a week, such as signing up or asking the question. The benefit of this aspect is hidden on the far side of having done it. You will find that once you have made a start, the road ahead is usually easier than you pictured.

What to keep in mind when reading this aspect

1. The tighter the orb, the more it matters. In our calculations, only 13.6% of all major aspects are within 1° of exact, and 41.2% are within 3°. If your Mars sextile Jupiter is tight, the traits on this page will be more noticeable; if it is close to the 5° limit, they will be much fainter.

2. Applying and separating. An aspect is applying when the two planets are moving toward the exact angle and separating once they have passed it. Tradition holds that an applying aspect is still taking shape and acts more strongly. Our chart calculator marks which one you have.

3. Watch for out-of-sign aspects. Two planets in sextile are usually two signs apart, in compatible elements (fire with air, earth with water), but an aspect is measured by actual distance. In our calculations, 9.5% of sextiles do not match the usual sign relationship (one planet late in a sign, the other early in another). The nature of the aspect is still there; it just shows up in a less typical way.

4. Most people born on the same day share this aspect. Mars and Jupiter move only a little in a day. The difference lies in which houses they fall in on your chart, and that depends on your birth time; see Planets in the Houses.

5. Then look at each planet’s own placement. The signs Mars and Jupiter are in decide how each one expresses itself; see Planets in the Signs. If either planet has other aspects, read them together. For a complete reading, use the In-Depth Chart Reading.

Other aspects between Mars and Jupiter

Conjunction · Sextile · Square · Trine · Opposition

The sextile with other planets

Mars: Sun sextile Mars, Moon sextile Mars, Mercury sextile Mars, Venus sextile Mars, Mars sextile Saturn, Mars sextile Uranus, Mars sextile Neptune, Mars sextile Pluto.

Jupiter: Sun sextile Jupiter, Moon sextile Jupiter, Mercury sextile Jupiter, Venus sextile Jupiter, Jupiter sextile Saturn, Jupiter sextile Uranus, Jupiter sextile Neptune, Jupiter sextile Pluto.

All Mars aspects · All Jupiter aspects · Planet aspects overview