Hope the fall season finds you well. Relationship dynamics unfold this month as the Sun continues to transit the fair-minded and cooperative sign of Libra. This zodiac sign represents intelligence, kindness, and is always willing to put others before themselves, Libras value harmony in all forms, especially partnerships. Ruled by Venus, the planet of beauty, Libra adores a life that looks and feels good. As the master of compromise and diplomacy, Libra is adept at seeing all points of view, and excels at crafting compromises and effecting mediation between others. This sign has a rich inner life yet loves other people, and they’re always happiest with a large group of friends, family, and coworkers on whom they can count on.
The downside to the Sun in Libra can be indecisiveness, uncertainty, doubtful, and being judgmental. So during the first part of the month we may find ourselves questioning our current relationships, purpose, and meaning of life as it related to others. This is normal this time of year, but more so since we are going through some sort of cosmic shift. The second half of the month brings more intensity and passion as Venus moves into Scorpio along with Mercury. The messenger planet will be spending a lot more time in this sign do to its retrograde on Halloween day. This month’s Full Moon in Aries is also a game changer since it will be squared to powerful Pluto and karmic Saturn. Self worth issues and pressure in relationships can surface during this lunation…so pay attention to the small signs along the way.
Our deepest desires and secrets slowly begin to surface once again on October 3rd as Pluto starts moving forward. Pluto is the planet that represents a slow inner transformation, while Pluto was retrograde, we were more inclined to turn inward and bury our deepest truths and wishes. Now that Pluto is in direct motion its pretty much a green light to go ahead and confront the darkest parts of ourselves and others. This isn’t a negative thing, but rather it’s a way of bringing truth out into the light so it can be dealt with. This works as a catalyst on both personal and planetary levels, so we can all expect Pluto’s power to transform our lives in one way or another. If you’ve been reassessing relationships, career, life purpose or other areas of your life during Pluto Retrograde, it’s now time to start thinking about making those changes and truly take action.
To help inspire us even more Mercury enters determined Scorpio on the same day. When the planet of reason moves into the keenly perceptive sign of Scorpio; you can bet that knowledge will pour in through your skin as if by osmosis. You can become so absorbed in your mental comprehensions that the earth could fly out of its orbit and you would miss the event. Mercury in the intense water sign of Scorpio brings a period of deep and profound thought…moving from the thrill of sexual excitement to the enlightenment of spirit. We are perceptive and aware. Not that we’ll tell anyone else about what we discover, though! Our thoughts are infused with such deep emotion that it can become just too painful to share our insights with anyone else.
But wait there’s more! Also on October 3rd Mars enters Libra. Now this is a tough one. Mars in Libra is in its detriment (a place where the expression of the planet’s natural inclinations are confined by the rules and regulations set out by the qualities of the sign). Mars, God of War, is not at all happy to be in a sign where polite conversation and tact are the rules of the day. He doesn’t like all that pussy-footing around. Understandably, from time to time, he has a little explosion and tells it like he sees it. When Mars is in Libra, we all become a little feistier, perhaps shooting off our mouths, only to recant upon hearing the next reasonable argument. On the plus side, we have lots of energy to put into getting our party together and throwing an all-together perfect bash with all the harmony we can stand.
Our infatuation for romance, partnerships, and financial matters increases tremendously on October 8th when Venus enters Scorpio. Venus in Scorpio is perhaps one of the most sensuous of all planetary placements. Here our Lady of Love is more than at home giving physical expression to her deeply felt emotions. To pet and be petted is an absolute requirement. Scorpio is a fixed water sign, so when our feelings of love get combined with that energy, you can expect a pretty permanent attachment. Total obsession is more like it. All is well as long as the object of our affections returns the feelings with the same level of intensity. If they slack off just a bit, those amorous attentions can just as easily turn into jealousy and resentment. Venus in Scorpio does not let go easily, physically or emotionally. Whatever or whoever you decide you have to possess while Venus visits Scorpio, try to be sure they want to be possessed.
This month’s Full Moon on October 13th will be in fiery Aries. Since this first sign of the zodiac represents the Self, this Full Moon will bring up emotions from deep within. As the Sun in Libra (partnerships) opposes the Aries Moon intense feeling from others may also be involved during this Luna cycle. Unfortunately, to make matters more challenging it will square Pluto and Saturn. On the plus side though, a beneficial trine to lucky Jupiter can bring in some beneficial and much needed changes. There is no doubt that this Full Moon may trigger a personal or business relationship crisis if the situation has been shaky, but there is also an opportunity to transform it into something more meaningful.
Our desire to uncover hidden things and situations increases on October 23rd as the Sun enters mysterious Scorpio. As the Sun moves through Scorpio, we begin to feel a deep sense of strength. We become more secretive and intense about everything. We know what we want and we’re going after it! As a water sign, Scorpio is associated with the sub-conscious. Scorpio’s energy is as powerful and mystifying as the oceans. They cover most of the earth, yet we know little about what lies in the depths below. The intensity of Scorpio is like that of Hurricane Katrina hitting New Orleans. Massive amounts of water were on the move and nothing was going to stop it. Scorpio is also a fixed sign, which means it is resistant to change. It holds things in and balks at giving up its old ways of doing things. But when the dam breaks, it really breaks. Contemplate these things while the Sun is in Scorpio.
This month’s New Moon in Scorpio on October 27th will be offering us an opportunity to begin something new thanks to futuristic Uranus opposing this lunation. During this New Moon we can focus on some of the constructive traits of the sign of the Scorpion–passionate, resourceful, focused, probing, deep, and perceptive–and consider how to positively incorporate these qualities into our lives. Scorpio New Moons are generally good for working on our self-mastery skills, but with Uranus in the picture, we’ll find some unusual new ways to do things. We may want to pinpoint the things in our lives that make us feel out of control, such as addictions and debts, and work on freeing ourselves of these emotional burdens.
This New Moon cycle is also an opportune one to explore what is missing in our lives that leads us to engage in these self-destructive behaviors. One of Scorpio’s “lessons” involve learning to dig deeper into the mysteries around us instead of always being content with status quo. Taking the time to understand others will enrich our feelings of intimacy, forgiveness, and sense of meaning. Scorpio also teaches us that dedication to one meaningful relationship or undertaking can be significantly more satisfying than spreading ourselves around. Here, “quality over quantity” applies. We might want to use this cycle to work on focusing on and developing one special project or relationship in order to help add purposefulness and depth to our lives.
Finally on Halloween day, Mercury goes retrograde for the last time this year. Mercury entered Scorpio at the beginning of the month and will now move backwards in this sign until November 20th. Mercury in Scorpio retrograde can have a deep meditative feeling to it as we go back down memory lane and revisit things, places and people in our minds. This Mercury retrograde can test our deepest regions of intimacy, whether the intimacy in question is emotional, sexual or financial. Emotional intimacy can be deepened by truth-telling and even more so by truth-hearing but beware of possibly treacherous waters ahead—if you ask for the truth from your partner, you’d better be ready for whatever they have to say. This transit can reveal fatal flaws in a relationship. Sexual intimacy can also deepen or die during this transit but if you come to the conversation with genuine love and compassion, ready and willing to really understand your partner, you’ll have set the tone for positive changes when it goes direct.
Psychic Astrologer
Joseph P. Anthony