Mars Opposite Jupiter, And The Return Of The Grand Cross

What on earth is going on at the moment? I thought it was just me experiencing strange, strong energies that are bending events into ever more tense formations, but apparently it's also everyone I meet.

From an astro point of view, this stoical plodding through the depths of January is the result of Fixed Grand Cross energy (see previous post here for info), which has transformed slightly - the Sun is now replaced by Jupiter, in opposition to Mars, while Saturn and Neptune continue to take up the other two corners of the square.
I had my doubts about this Grand Cross being in full flow, because Saturn is quite wide - a whole 6 degrees from exact opposition with Neptune. But events are showing me in big flashing neon type signs that its energies are very much part of this mix.

It's all tension and more tension, and this weird kind of depression, an underlying heaviness that permeates situations from the inside out, the kind that encourages depth internal philosophical debate, but is also accompanied by a 'resigned to it' feeling which resists discussion and bottles up the expression. Certainly a Jupiter in Scorpio rant on the meaning of life will touch on things that no one else dares contemplate, and go deeper into a subject than anyone else fears to tread, while Mars in Taurus is the energy of resignation. For good or ill.
Meanwhile Neptune is the dissolver, for example either into tears, into love, or into helplessness, and Neptune in Aquarius means this is all focused on people, and the themes at the heart of the human condition. But what Saturn in Leo is concerned with, from its current position on the other side of the zodiac from Neptune, is that whatever came before, comes to nothing. Not the most cheery sight for Saturn's eyes, being a planet that gains strength from the past.

If you have noticed a feeling of things dragging on, a sense that things just shouldn't be taking as long, or are never-ending, it's the Mars/Jupiter thing. Not just because Jupiter expands what it touches, but because Mars, the main man for action and motivation still isn't up to speed since it's recent retrograde motion. Normally Mars would move through an opposition to Jupiter much more quickly, and boy is that noticeable now.
The Mars/Jupiter oppostion doesn't become exact till around January 15th, and then the effect only slowly wanes. So we have a way to go with this one. Which means not just riding it out. This Grand Cross energy makes inner contemplation inevitable and inescapable. Nothing for it but to embrace what is going on inside and start listening.
More on this later, no doubt.