October 2023

Mercury in Libra, October 4 to 21
Last month’s Mercury retrograde was a particularly tough one, that’s for sure. Mercury finally takes its leave of Virgo and begins a quick stint through Libra from October 4 to 21. Mercury in Libra sets a helpful backdrop to regain your balance and to smooth out the rough edges, especially regarding social and personal relationships. This transit is also good for refining, qualifying, marketing, for contract dealings, or for moving forward with legal undertakings. October 4 to 11 sets a window of opportunity for conversation, connecting, collaboration, spruce ups, and negotiation. The element of karmic potency and fate continues to stay well in play regarding present undertakings, involvements, and circumstances. On the bigger picture/outer world front, Libra month keep the spotlight on matters to do with justice, law, social politics, diplomacy, and alliances.  Where there is a will, there is good opportunity move the dial/the dialogue, and to hammer out a win/win.

From Oct 4 to 11, both Mercury and Mars are touring Libra, one at the start and one finishing in the sign. (Mercury moves through the first half of its 17-day tour, while Mars wraps up a 6-week tour.) As of October 21, Mercury will begin a 20-day tour of Scorpio. Mercury and Mars will catch up with each other by October 29 (by conjunction). Both form an opposition to Jupiter in Taurus on the partial lunar eclipse in Taurus on October 23. In so doing, watch for the trio to add substantial extra trigger to the eclipse action.

Sun in Libra, to October 23:
The sun is the center of our solar system, supplying light and heat/energy to all that revolves around it. Evolutionary Astrology correlates the sun to the creative process of actualization. The heart and center of consciousness, the sun is the creative center point of your natal chart. Your own individual sunlight filters through its sign and house placement (and aspects to the rest of the chart). All experience will be integrated through your natal sun.

When the sun tours Libra, the light shines on relationships, (personal and social). It is through our relationship to others, to the world around us, that we are better able to observe and reflect upon our own creative process. The roles we play, the roles others play in our lives – our values, sense of meaning, and self worth evolve through the relationship lens. Libra, the sign of the scales, seeks balance, equality, peace, justice, cooperation, harmonious interactions.

October 14: Annular Solar Eclipse, New Moon in Libra (10:54 am PDT/2:54 EDT):
At any moment, something of significance can set wheels in motion. If you are sensitive to energy fields, you will recognize the significance behind the moment, behind your choices, motivations, and interactions.

This month’s sun in Libra holds significant creative potency. Triggering the karmic axis at its south point (the past), the solar eclipse infuses more creative vitality into the lunar south node, a point of karmic recall. (For the next 18 months the lunar south node tours Libra, a Venus ruled archetype.)  That karmic recall fits into two categories. Firstly, it calls forth something from the past/a past life that is unfinished and that is prime to be revisited and moved forward. Secondly, this past/past life trigger can draw from the category of fruition and fulfillment that is previously earned or well developed and is now unlocked: i.e., a gift of ease and attainment, a natural talent or resource, a reward relationship brought forward. Such is the nature of the October 14 solar eclipse in Libra.

Eclipses happen along the path of the lunar nodes. They are significant flash points along a cycle, along the creative process of manifesting and growth. At the lunar node south point, the annual solar eclipse trigger is set to recall something unfinished from the past in order to move it into a new chapter, a new reality.

An annual eclipse happens when the moon, as viewed from earth, is visually smaller in diameter than the sun. This produces the “ring of fire” visual effect. Be reminded that an eclipse holds a vibrational frequency that travels over a length of time (that holds resonance just like playing a musical string). As such, the eclipse action can be evidenced before and after the actual day of the event. Stay on watch over the few weeks leading up to and following an eclipse for newsworthy events. Often transitions of loved ones or people of note will coincide with eclipse action. In addition to the list mentioned in the paragraph above, Libra is the archetype of alliances, diplomacy, partnerships, the law, and contracts. Although balance is the aim, the Libra experience can often be one of imbalance, extremes, and the one-sidedness of give and take. Expect the headlines or your personal life to dial up matters pertaining to these topics.

This solar eclipse (21 Libra) is prime for seeding new instincts and awareness. In turn, the process allows for potentials on brew and destined to be to reach their time is ripe moment. An eclipse serves to accelerate circumstances and relationship interactions. A significant circumstance or contract (actual or karmic) reaches a turning point, this pertaining to completion or a next chapter threshold. For some, the experiential track will have a greater than usual kick or abruptness. An element of surprise/the unexpected is a common trait of all eclipses.

In terms of karmic recall, when something or someone produces that déjà vu feel, know the intention is to reclaim that treasure chest from the past – be it labelled disillusionment, pain, or reward – and to use it as an asset for moving it forward. To unwrap it and make full use of the gift will require the implementation of conscious will, deliberate choice making, and active participation.

By the time the eclipse arrives, you may find you are already resourcing from its promise. On the other hand, it could take time to show fully. Think back to 2004/2005 (Oct – April). You may see similar circumstances, involvements, or relationship themes on repeat. Of course, it may be similar, but it is never the same twice.

The solar eclipse will be of noteworthy influence if your birthday falls on or near October 14, or if you have major planets that trigger 21 degrees of Libra. The eclipse can be a significant catalyst for those born late 1979 through 1982, late 1972 through 1973, late 1952 through the better portion of 1953.

An eclipse will also trigger action along its geophysical path. Travelling from northwest to southeast, the Annular (ring of fire) Solar Eclipse starts in the Pacific Ocean, makes land in Oregon, and cuts a path across the northeast corner of California, through Nevada, Utah, a shave of Southwest Colorado, northeast Arizona, dissects New Mexico from northwest to southeast, (Albuquerque is “ground zero” for viewing), and Texas. (Parts of the eclipse are visible from Mexico and Central and South America.) Of special note, there will be another solar eclipse on April 8, 2024 (19:05 Aries; opposite the Oct 14 eclipse). The path of this total solar eclipse (19 Aries) travels from southwest to northeast USA. The two eclipse paths cross in Texas in San Antonio, (exiting at Corpus Christi, Austin is directly in the path of the eclipse of April 8, 2024). Watch for something newsworthy from the area (or from someone with ties to the area.) See NASA’s map: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5073

Aside: Do you remember the Great American Eclipse, the total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017? It cut a path from the Pacific to Atlantic Coasts, from Oregon to S. Carolina, splitting the country in half. Under the auspices of this eclipse, political divides in the USA grew more contentious and partisan. (The previous total solar eclipse across North America happened on Feb 26, 1979.) Here is a link to the map to all three eclipses: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/L3qOY_pJFjGVG0FqhvGCiM_tKLZLZHNCiGzxor0dKJbpplRFBcG9kmqs5a0ajFVEulfXS1H5O2DIC6FiSkPHuXpINpbtTlvHxIOEKESfxGHu2fgD_bCQYohSoNWz1kOGQXXRQ8f9_3Q17C6eVMSpHuU=w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu

Venus enters Virgo, October 8:
As of October 8, Venus finishes her four-month tour of Leo. The extended stay has been due to the recent retrograde cycle. I have written about this significant transit in months past. (If you want to review, please feel free to check my website archives.) In short, Venus in Leo has put spotlight attention on getting back in touch with yourself and the soundtrack of your beating heart.

October 8 to November 8, Venus in Virgo aims to heal, fix, clean, clear away, and improve what is necessary and desired. To the plus, it can put you in the mood to get down to task and helps you to appreciate what needs to be done to set yourself onto a better, more productive track, especially regarding health, work, and studies. This transit is well used to upgrade skills, or to polish up your resume and look for employment that is more rewarding. Relationships with employees or the hired help can hit an improvement curve. It may be time to consult a specialist, or to modify medications, etc.

On ditch-it list: bad habits, negative thinking and self talk, guilt that allows you to beat yourself up and so forth. (Appreciate those so called “mistakes” for what they really are, as learning opportunities in disguise.) Venus in Virgo sets a backdrop to better use of your resources and to gain more value from the learning curve. Good discernment and skillful execution are among this transit’s best attributes. When working at its best, Venus in Virgo can facilitate your investment by setting a backdrop of greater ease (to face it). Of course, ease may not necessarily negate the workload, nor the pain or grieving that comes with loss or letting go. Go gentle on yourself and trust you will get through it. Time heals all.

On the flip side, Venus in Virgo can make it easy for you to find excuses and to avoid what you know is necessary and in your better interests. This track will not serve you for long. Why spin wheels when you could get somewhere instead? Do the work, enjoy the result. Value, healing, and reward awaits your consciously applied effort.

One last thing to mention – Venus in Virgo also puts added attention on pets, on their health and welfare. Give them your best! My heart aches for all the abandoned and victimized animals of the world. Their need is great.

Pluto in Capricorn ends retrograde, October 10:
Pluto ends a four-month retrograde tour on October 10. You may or may not notice this change back to direct motion, but as time moves forward, so will you. Pluto in Capricorn set a backdrop to build and solidify the developing track that is already underway. This transit works both ends at the same time. It is a process of finishing off while also laying the foundation for a next chapter to supersede what is now slated for the rear-view mirror. Pluto continues in Capricorn to January 27, 2024. It will spend most of next year in Aquarius. Once it gets there, expect to see the reality of the day – that which you/we have been grinding away at, to hit an acceleration track.

While the end of Pluto retrograde can be subtle, the days prior to this event host significant transits. Venus enters Virgo October 8. On this same day, Mars turns a corner with Pluto. It is the third quarter mark of a two-year development cycle. October 9/10, Venus reaches a reality checkpoint with Saturn. One way or another it is time to end the struggle or the stalemate. It is time to accept what is, to relinquish unrealistic expectations or wishful thinking, and to move forward with the bird in hand. (Here’s hoping there is an end to SAG-AFTRA strike that has been dragging out since July 14.)

Mars in Scorpio, October 11 to November 24:
When Mars tours Scorpio, there is no more skirting around it. It is a time for a deeper examination and a fuller commitment. In other words, it is powerplay time.

Motivation is in ample supply. Obsession can be too. If their source is coming from a healthy base, then more power to you! May the force be with you. By the end of this Mars transit, you could have something substantial to show for your full throttle.

On the other hand, Mars in Scorpio is a good time for investigation work, into self examination into the root cause behind addictions, emotional undercurrents, and compulsions. When you look deeper at it, are you seeing the full picture? What is the source behind your motivation, your fear, or your resistance? Will you uncover tunnel vision, outdated values, or idealized versions of how it is supposed to be/to go? A stripping away process serves the eclipse agenda and your evolution. If you are fighting against what is in your best interests, or if you are living for a potential that you know does not hold real prospect, then you could miss the opportunity of the moment. Mind you, Mars in Scorpio can force you to a confrontation with whatever limits you or stands in your way. One way or another, circumstances (what is meant to be) will play out.

To the plus, Mars in Scorpio can sharpen your instinct, help you to revise your agenda where necessary and advantageous. This transit can help you to lock onto and to hit the target with improved skill. In short, it can steer you onto a more self empowered track.

Along with both eclipses of the month, Mars and the month ahead can awaken you to fresh resources and potentials, to new ways of being and creating, to a more dynamic you. You can gain valuable feedback through your interactions with others. Perhaps it is you, looking into your own mirror and seeing your own reflection in a new light. Over the month ahead, you can find you develop better listening, observations, and coping skills, this regarding the nature of present circumstances and challenges – more importantly, regarding your soul’s intent for growth, procurement, attainment, and reward.

October 19 to 24: Creative Momentum Surge:
Mercury into Scorpio, October 21; Sun into Scorpio, October 23:
Mercury tours Scorpio from October 21 to November 9. This transit is a good one for mental focus, strategic planning, detective work, and zeroing in on the bottom line. You could get more out of your studies or research. Along with the sun and Mars in Scorpio, the month ahead sets a backdrop for getting a better grasp on the advantages at hand or the essentials of what you need to know or learn. Sharpening observation and memory, this Mercury transit provides good assistance regarding retention of facts and data. It can also help you to spot a bargain and/or to be a shrewd negotiator.

Sun, Mars, and Mercury in Scorpio increase motivation and incentive (obsession too). These transits don’t allow you to stay on the surface. A peel it back, strip it away influence, they prompt you to delve deeper into the whys and wherefores, to ask deeper questions of self and of soul. They aim to get you right to the core of the matter. It is the time to make a deeper commitment, to yourself, to another, to the task at hand.

Regarding the momentum of what is already in motion (see paragraph above), the Sun in Scorpio supplies fresh creative fuel to boost the powerbase (yours, theirs, its), forming dynamic alignments between October 19 and 24 (Sun/Mercury superior conjunction, October 19; Sun/Pluto square, October 21; Sun/Saturn trine, Oct 24). These few days can prompt a sense of a momentum building, of something inevitable about to happen. Read on.

Partial Lunar (Full Moon) Eclipse in Taurus, October 28, 1:23 pm PDT (5:09 Taurus):
According to astronomy, the lunar eclipse on October 28 is subtle by viewing prospects as the earth will cast a faint or diffused shadow that will cover only a portion of the moon. From the astrology viewpoint, the effect could be of substantial impact, especially if you are born on or near the eclipse, or it triggers your natal chart in some direct way.

Aside: The lunar eclipse is the last of four in a run of eclipses called a Metonic series. (Each eclipse in a Metonic cycle will occur on or near the same date at 19-year intervals. In ancient times this 19-year interval was used to synchronize the soli-lunar cycle with the calendar. It was also used to mark Easter.) This eclipse holds relevancy to the following dates: October 28, 2004, October 28, 1985, October 29, 1966; also, to October 23, 2014 (half Saros cycle).

There are several notable factors to mention. Firstly, the eclipse happens with the moon at 5 degrees of Taurus. This eclipse can hold significant karmic and life altering impact if your birthday falls on or near October 28, or if you have planetary bodies or angles at 5 degrees of Taurus (or other the fixed signs: Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius). 5 Taurus is revisited in 2023 a total of three times. Mercury ended retrograde at 5 Taurus on May 14. Jupiter ends retrograde at this same degree on December 31. (In fact, Jupiter travelled retrograde from September to December, covering the same degrees of the 3-week Mercury retrograde cycle of April 21 to May 14. That Mercury retrograde picked up extra turbo from the spring eclipses.) The repetition suggests a developmental track that has been in the works since the spring and that continues through the end of the year.
For all of us, the Taurus eclipse puts added focus on two important topics. Number one is our survival, at all levels, our material and physical come first (money, mortality, quality of life, life on the planet), our ability to not only to exist, but also to sustain, procreate, and thrive. Threats to survival, be it through wars, disease, natural disasters, or man-made disasters (economic impacts included), are certainly our top challenge.

Secondly, the Taurus archetype also highlights the relationship with self. It is a matter of tuning in and listening to soundtrack of our beating heart, of what’s at the core of being. What is it that holds deepest value and meaning? It is the inner resonance, our relationship with self, what we value, what we deem has meaning, this orientation establishes our magnetic vibration, our ability to attract. No doubt, this whole year has put added emphasis on the inner search. What’s best, how do I break out of the inertia, how do get back in touch with myself, with the best parts of me, how do I make the shift from survive to thrive? The lunar eclipse of October 28 sets a backdrop for piercing through the veil, for peeling back the layers, for a significant breakthrough regarding the relationship to self and regarding matters to do with personal and material survival.

This lunar eclipse has the potential to uncover/reveal something quite valuable or lucrative. It could be of the nature of something tangible and real, quite possibly, it could be something monetary. Or it could be something that holds value to you emotionally. Of course, life is the most valuable commodity we have.

The eclipse could trigger a realization regarding what to hold onto, what to let go of, and what to revamp. It could reawaken an interest or passion, or it could be a time to confront matters to do with mortality (yours or that of another). The Taurus/Scorpio polarity highlights matters pertaining to self preservation, self reliance, resources, survival, sex, money, the cost of living, the cost of doing business. On the emotional front or regarding a long-standing matter, the eclipse could bring you to a realization (stark, final, or empowering) regarding the high price you have paid to date. To the plus, the eclipse can help you to reaffirm and recommit to what is in your best interest (and deserve!).

The lunar eclipse can take you out of a stalemate, a rut, or inertia and place you onto more solid ground. It could bear its fruit by peeling it back in layers, or all at once. It is accompanied by opportune alignments involving Venus/Jupiter (trine), Venus/Uranus (trine) and Mercury/Mars (conjunction.) It could be a very lucrative, perhaps life-altering eclipse for some, especially for those born on or near October 28 or on or near November 4. Mercury/Mars can call for/necessitate quick thinking, and/or quick, forceful, and decisive action. In opposition to Jupiter, Mercury/Mars can call for a leap of faith (a combination of foresight, strategy, and intuitive instinct one holds great prospect). From minus to plus, the eclipse has the potential to create a complete turnaround or reversal with someone or something, to take it out of the category of speculative or underground, and into something actual, tangible, and real.

All eclipses are active pre and post their actual event date. Watch for this lunar eclipse to continue to hit triggers over most of the month ahead (esp. Oct 30, Nov 2 – 4, 11 – 13) and right through to the end of the year. (A side note: There are reports that Putin has recently suffered a heart attack. Although his birthdate is speculative, if it is correct, both this eclipse and the solar eclipse of October 14 make significant contacts to his chart, as will both eclipses in the spring of 2024.)