Mars Retrograde and Business
How to Thrive When Momentum Slows Down
Every entrepreneur, (yes, even the new age spiritual ones) knows the hustle, the constant drive to push forward, hit goals and make progress. So what happens when the cosmic energy behind the hustle—Mars, the planet of action, ambition and drive—takes its turn to slow down? Enter Mars retrograde, the astrological event equivalent of a cosmic speed governor.
You can also think of it as hitting every red light on a long road trip. Despite your perfectly planned route, it still takes longer to get to your destination for reasons completely out of your control. Which is frustrating as hell.
If you’re feeling like your business momentum is stuck in the mud (and has been since October), you’re not alone. It’s not the end of the world, and not even an accurate indicator of whether or not your business is set up for success. It’s part of a cycle that will give you an opportunity to reassess your plans. And it won’t last forever.
In this article, we’ll break down what Mars retrograde means for your business, the challenges you might face, and how to turn this slowdown into a strategic win. Then at the end, I’ll introduce you to the Mars Retrograde Business Toolkit, a resource-packed guide to navigating this transit like a pro.
What is Mars Retrograde and why should you chare?
Let’s start with the basics. What exactly is Mars Retrograde?
Astrology is the study of the position of the planets and stars from the perspective of Earth. Retrogrades occur when a planet appears to move backward in its orbit. This is an optical illusion, but we still feel the shift of the planets energy during these periods. Mars is the planet of action, energy and ambition, and typically fuels our drive to push forward, take risks and tackle challenges head-on. It represents the part of ourselves that keeps us motivated and passionate in the pursuit of our goals.
Mars Retrograde occurs every two years and asks us to reflect instead of act. When we ignore this cosmic request and attempt to push forward with business as usual, we experience delays, frustrations and a general sense of spinning our wheels.
2024/2025 Mars Retrograde Key Themes and Dates
When planning your business with retrograde cycles, it’s important to know the dates of not just the retrograde itself, but the pre- and post- shadow periods.
Below is the timeline we’re working with for the current Mars retrograde. Mark these dates on your calendar:
Pre-Shadow: ~October 4th 2024 - December 5th 2024. Mars was in its pre-retrograde shadow and laid the groundwork for themes that will arise during the retrograde. Think about what came up for you during this timeframe and prepare to face it again—it won’t be as subtle the next time around.
Retrograde Period: December 6th 2024 - February 24th 2025. Mars is fully retrograde. We’ll get deeper into this throughout the rest of the article.
Post-Shadow: February 25th 2025 - May 2nd 2025. The dust settles and we slowly bring ourselves back up to speed as we integrate the lessons we learned over the past 10 weeks.
Mars Retrograde in Leo & Cancer
This Mars retrograde touches two signs. Mars will be retrograding through Leo from December 6th to January 6th, then will dip back into Cancer and remain there when it stations direct on February 24th.
Mars Rx in Leo: Rethinking Leadership and Creativity
Mars begins this retrograde journey in Leo, a sign known for its bold creativity and natural star qualities. The first part of this Mars Retrograde will highlight issues around self-expression, leadership and the desire to sign. For business owners, this may manifest as:
Creative blocks: You may feel uninspired or second-guess your ideas or creative direction
Leadership challenges: Ego clashes or doubts about your leadership could come up
Reassessment of your visibility: If you’ve been putting yourself out there, you may start to question whether the face your showing the public is aligned with who you really are and how you want to be seen.
I started to feel these effects since the shadow period began in October. I suddenly have no desire to be witnessed and have been deep in an introspective rest cycle. I’ve suddenly gone weeks without speaking to friends I used to check in with everyday and have been spending much more time re-evaluating who I am, how it relates to my business and how I want the both of us to show up.
Mars Rx in Cancer: Emotional Realignment
When Mars retrogrades into Cancer, a much more introspective and emotionally-driven sign, the energy will shift from reevaluating how you are perceived by others to a deeply personal reflection on what needs to be reassessed in your inner world. Cancer is ruled by the moon and is associated with emotional security, your foundations, and long-term security. This phase may bring up themes of:
Emotional Decision Making: Careful, you’re much more likely to be highly reactive and temporarily lose your ability to make informed, aligned decisions.
Internal Stability: Business goals might take a backseat to your personal matters or emotional wellbeing. This could be a time where you become painfully aware of burnout and what you’ve been sacrificing in your personal life in order to make your business successful.
Revisiting foundational work: You may question your core values and mission. What are you really doing here and why does it matter? When did you lose sight of the things that are important to you and how can you reconnect with them?
Cancer rules my 1st house of Identity and leadership, so I’m anticipating a pretty dramatic reassessment of my personal brand, what it is I really want to bring to the world and the kind of life I want to create for myself outside of work. If you want to understand how each of these phases of the retrograde will impact you personally, I cover that in detail in the Mars Retrograde Business Toolkit.
How Mars Retrograde Will Help Your Business
Now let’s get to the meat of why you’re really here - how this is going to impact your business and what to do about it.
Mars govern’s the “doer” energy in all of us—the impulse to act, create, and conquer our biggest goals. It is also the engine of our business, what motivates the business to run and in turn, how your business motivates others to get on board with what it’s doing. Which means that during retrograde, you might find yourself questioning decisions you were previously SO confident about or feeling unusually drained by tasks that normally energize and excite you.
That’s because Mars retrograde exposes where you are taking action out of alignment. The intention of Mars retrograde isn’t to stop you entirely, it wants you to pause and assess whether your actions actually align with what you want to build and how you want to spend your energy. Are you pursuing the right clients? Are your offers designed to match your energy? Have you been ignoring burnout and feel resentful about a way you’re sharing your energy?
This is a really powerful time to get answers because external resistance will mirror internal hesitation. You know what I’m talking about. Do you secretly exhale a sign of relief when a client cancels on you? Or do you feel a ping of anxiety when you make a sale, because you’re dreading the work you’re now contracted to do? Delays and roadblocks during Mars retrograde are moment of synchronicity. The universe will be protecting you from putting your energy in places it doesn’t really want to go.
This is a cosmic timeout for you to finally confront what’s working, what’s not, and what you’ve been avoiding.
This cosmic timeout may come in the form of delayed launches, miscommunication leading to frustration and conflict, or simply physical and mental fatigue. Think of it as if you only have so much energy to use during this retrograde period and won’t have access to recharge it until May. Knowing that your energy is limited, you’re going to need to be reaaaaally smart about how you use it and reserve it for the things that matter most to you.
How to Get Ahead During Mars Retrograde
As with all cosmic cycles, it’s a matter of working with it instead of against it. In short, stop pushing forward and start recalibrating. This is a time to be strategic in where you’re putting your energy and find ways to work smarter rather than harder.
Don’t shoot the messenger, but my #1 piece of advice for business owners during Mars retrograde is to pause any big moves. That means launching new products or services, signing new contracts, or bringing anything new to your business. I know that this may hit you with a ping of anxiety because we believe we have to constantly be creating, growing, launching—but trust me. You can have the absolute perfect product, marketing and sales plan put together and you still won’t see the results you’re hoping for because the collective momentum just isn’t there. Do yourself a favor and avoid the disappointment by pausing the launch of your next big thing until May 2025.
I know this is frustrating. But that energy you usually use to create or launch new things will give you a much greater turn if you use it to audit your business instead. Look at what’s working and what’s not. Do your offers align with your vision? Are you chasing someone else’s idea of success? Are you spending energy or money on things that haven’t brought any satisfaction or return on your investment?
The Mars Retrograde Business Toolkit
In my opinion, Mars retrograde is the trickiest cycle to work with in business—even more than Mercury Retrograde—because it lasts much longer and is much less frequent, so it’s more difficult to get use to its energy. This is going to be a highly reflective, introspective period for all of us, but you don’t have to figure it all out on your own. That’s where the Mars Retrograde Business Toolkit comes in.
This toolkit is packed with actionable strategies, journaling prompts and practical advice to help entrepreneurs, navigate delays with clarity and confidence (instead of rage and frustration), master retrograde “productivity” instead of wasting energy spinning your wheels, and avoid common retrograde pitfalls.
Inside you’ll find:
A breakdown of Mars retrograde themes
Actionable business strategies to implement during Mars retrograde
Tools for auditing your business and staying grounded
+ a bonus PDF of my daily manifestation ritual and a 25 minute audio course, “Your Secret to Success” to help you reflect on where it is you really want to go and how you want to get there.
Mars retrograde will feel like a cosmic wrench in your plans, but it’s actually a really powerful time for recalibration. By slowing down, reassessing your goals and leaning into reflection over forward movement, you’ll emerge from this transit with renewed clarity, focus and momentum. You’'ll be spending Mars retrograde building the launchpad from which you’ll take your quantum leap from in May.
