The story of the god of aggression has at its core the lack of understanding. The god of aggression, Ares at Greeks (Mars at Romans) was rejected by his parents from the very beginnings of his life. And he was rejected, avoided and feared by all gods and humans. In the ancient Greece he had very few places of worship. So, through their myths and legends, the ancient Greeks,- who are by the way responsible for most of our basic cultural influences, - clearly expressed the essence of aggression. In spite of all the repulsion, they still considered him one of the Olympian Gods, an essential quality influencing and governing human life. Those times were quite a while ago. But did we change our attitude towards this essential quality? Is aggression more accepted and understood today?

Eradication vs. Acceptance

In terms of integration and understanding of aggression, contemporary life has the same avoiding and often hypocritical attitude. Essentially not much has changed. What changed in fact, is that now we are not personifying it any more. There is nothing ambrosial about it any more. Although we realize that aggression is part of ourselves, still this remains a sterile theory. None of us is capable of accepting it as part of him/herself. Even more, now we have invented sophisticated ways in trying to eradicate it.

The myth of the Olympian Ares (Mars) has at its core the rejection towards him, the lack of understanding. Decoding this, we can say that the only way to approach him is through understanding. Easy to say. But how to start this understanding? Where to start this?

Well, the first step is acceptance. Acceptance is revealed in the myth through the essential fact that he is one of the major Olympian Gods. So, whether we like it or not, he is there, he must be there, he is essential.

Mars is passionate at the utmost for both love and war

In our effort to understand him, we have to familiarize ourselves with his attributes. We need to realize his true nature. Ares (Mars) is depicted as a male god full of vitality and dynamism. Unlike other gods, he is vulnerable and can be vanquished by mortals too. He is passionate to the utmost. Being the god of war, he is war itself. He loves conflict for the pleasure of it, without moral motifs. He never takes sides. And besides his destructive nature, he is also longing intensely and passionately for completion, for pleasure, love and liberation. He is longing for Aphrodite (Venus at Romans) who is said to be made for him, his complement in everything.

The reward for understanding Mars is true harmony

Ares (Mars) and Aphrodite (Venus) had many children. One of them is Harmonia (the goddess of harmony), known to the Romans as Concordia (meaning literally “with heart”). According to the myth, Harmonia was given as wife to king Kadmos. The story of Kadmos is quite elucidating in finding the proper attitude towards Ares. King Kadmos after slaying a dragon sacred to Ares, was ordered by the fair Zeus (Jupiter at Romans) to serve Ares as slave for a long period of time. This means that Kadmos had to familiarize himself with this principle he wanted to conquer. He had to understand him first. After completing his service to Ares (Mars), he was rewarded by getting the most beautiful of all Ares’s daughters, Harmonia, Harmonia representing the successful uniting of extreme opposites (Mars and Venus).

There is also the unsuccessful tentative in approaching aggression. It is said that it brings in Eris (Discordia at Romans), sister of Ares, the goddes of strife. The more one tends to repress aggression, the more power one gives to its shadowy side. Thus its destructive force will be rather present. This is quite a paradoxical situation, but seems unavoidable until the more desired attitude arises.

New life, new beginnings

Mars is also the god of beginnings. He is the eruptive force, he is the energy of start. He is the generative force of life bringing nature to life in springtime. He is present at the beginnings of human life too, through the blood and pain of birth. He is there at every new beginning. Without him there would be no new start, no new life. And this must serve us with an important conclusion: eradicating aggression means being against life. Integrating aggression, accepting it and understanding it means accepting the essential vitality. Means also getting in touch with the force of life.

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