Sun Square Mars

The square sets the purpose against the means. What the native intends and how the native goes about it are at odds, so effort is expended in the wrong direction, at the wrong moment, or against people who were not obstacles. The friction is felt as impatience with oneself. Such a person tries too hard at the easy part of a task and gives up on the difficult part, then blames the task. Authority is the standing provocation: instructions are resisted first and considered afterwards, often long afterwards.

In an argument the native goes to full strength immediately and cannot get back down, so a disagreement about a dinner plan ends the evening. They know this and dislike it. Money is spent on equipment for undertakings that are abandoned. There is often a physical record: a knee ruined at twenty-three, a hand caught in a machine, an operation that could have been avoided by resting when told. Colleagues describe such people as capable and exhausting in the same sentence, and both halves are meant.

What the square builds is technique, which the trine never bothers with. Because raw force keeps failing, the native is driven to learn the craft properly, and by forty they are usually better at it than the naturally gifted. The turn comes when the fight is finally aimed outward at a real difficulty rather than inward at the self or sideways at a superior. Such people make superb reformers, trainers and campaigners. The cost never fully disappears: the temper remains, and the native simply becomes more accurate about where to point it.