We enter October with a sense of ‘out with the old, in with the new’. Whatever we find wanting in our life, we might feel it to be an irritant and something to be rid of.
Despite the fact that each of us has significant blessings in the privilege of doing life, many of us can still focus on the negative, determined to see the half glass of water as half empty rather than half full.
A desire for the idyllic and a sense of what could be can create a malaise, a discontent with the way things are.
The 1st of October has Venus square Pluto. Rather than celebrating our friendships and our connections with other people, we have to be wary that we are not looking for the faults in other people.
Instead of seeing the many gifts in our lives, we may tend to carp about what we don’t have rather than fully appreciating what we do have. For many people, their daily existence often seems like a life without meaning.
While we might consider such an attitude to be despondent and depressing, it can also trigger a search for meaning, a search that we might pursue on the 3rd of October as Pluto turns direct and Mercury exits Libra to enter Scorpio.
Whenever Pluto changes direction whether from direct motion to retrograde motion or from retrograde to direct, there is often a major release of energy. This release can be geophysical with earthquake and volcanic activity. It might also take the form of blasts of energy — explosions and bombings. It may even force us to consider whether we are truly engaging real purpose in our lives.
With Pluto turning direct and Mercury entering Scorpio our tendency is likely to strip away the superfluous and irrelevant in order to get to the core and the essence of any situation. We are looking for the real, the true and we are willing to pierce the veil of illusion. And illusions there have been aplenty.
While our mind can sharpen and be more focused, the 4th of October has Mars exiting Virgo to enter Libra. As it does so, Mars ends the Grand Trine by Sign in the Earth Element that has gone on since mid-August. This seven-week period allowed us to be highly productive, deal effectively with mundane matters and make manifest the steps along our journey to realize our ambitions.
At the same time, the Mars exit of Virgo also ends the Mutable T-Square by Sign where Mars in Virgo was opposed to Neptune in Pisces with both square Jupiter in Sagittarius. Our anxieties and our concerns now could be taken down a notch or two. We might better appreciate how the ways things appear or seem to be are often not the real case at all. What we perceive is liable to be an illusion, but in many philosophies reality is but an illusion.
With Mars entering Libra, the Libra Stellium is briefly re-created, a Libra Stellium that had gone on from the Autumn Equinox when the Sun joined Mercury and Venus in Libra, until the 3rd when Mercury exited Libra. We are seeking balance in our lives, equilibrium in a chaotic world and coming to appreciate the perfection of imperfection [wabi-sabi].
Despite the fact that our mind is far more intense and our words concise and to the point, the Mars in Libra quiets our temperament with a desire to make nice with other people. Mars in Libra, the Venus-ruled Sign, is in Detriment where the Mars energy is weakened with a greater consideration of other people rather than the fierce aggressiveness of Mars in its own Signs.
The 7th of October has one of my least favorite energy configurations for travel, communications and technology matters — Mercury opposed Uranus. The Sun squares Saturn also on the 7th.
The 7th is a day for us to exercise great caution in what we say, do, and contemplate. Unexpected news can be upsetting and might disrupt our plans. Nothing may go according to schedule. We might also experience discord with a most unanticipated source. This is a day for us to dodge, duck and dive to avoid the liability of incoming. Having to be on our toes and ever on guard on this Monday could wear us out. Caution is imperative today. Like the Taoist saying advises, this Monday is a day ‘to bend like a reed or break line an oak’.
Venus exits its own Sign of Libra on the 8th, ending the Libra Stellium. Entering Scorpio, Venus comes into a Sign of its Detriment, but also triggers a Mutual Reception with Mars, both of whom are in Signs of their Detriment, and each of whom is in the Sign ruled by the other — Mars in Venus-ruled Libra and Venus in Mars [and Pluto] ruled Scorpio.
Jealousy might become an issue, and people might be suspicious of other people’s intentions. We might not fully communicate what is going on with us, and this is a time when we might need to ascertain what is going on by reading a person’s body language.
The Aries Full Moon on the 13th with the Sun also sextile Jupiter could have us flying high, feeling good about ourselves and about our prospects. Irrational exuberance can be contagious. Without considering all the variables and the likelihood of unintended consequences, we could either overly expand our own interests, be encouraged to do so by someone else, or we could energize someone’s grandiose ambitions.
It would be wise for us to dampen our enthusiasm in order to avoid running full-speed into a wall. The 14th has the Sun square Pluto and Mercury sextile Saturn. If we have felt invincible and able to enforce our will upon circumstance by falling back into the old mindset of being in total control of situations, then we could find ourselves being blocked and facing insurmountable obstacles. A little humility and thinking before acting would go a long way to dispelling the restrictions. Although we are dealing with the Sun square Pluto that might have us feeling like the wind being knocked out of us, the Mercury sextile Saturn on the 14th would allow us to consider the fundamentals of our situations and then develop a best practices approach to resolve any issues keeping us from moving forward.
Our intuitive sense may be heightened on the 15th thanks to Mercury trine Neptune. There are times when we get the right answers without fretting over a situation. Sometimes things just come to us, and we figure things out.
The suggestion for this 13th through the 15th of October is to slow things down, think before we act, and recognize that optimism can often be overconfidence that needs to be tamped down in order to be fully aware and mindful of the parameters in which we are operating.
Much of this mid-October period can be highly effective. We can consider all sorts of options for ourselves, different ways by which to achieve our goals, and engage a sharp mind that can focus on the fundamentals and then draw upon the right template to accomplish our tasks.
The 19th has Mercury sextile Pluto contributing to insightful dissection and the ability to understand core matters. Our communication can be persuasive and straight to the point and may win advocates to our cause.
The only thing we have to be wary of during this mid-October period is over confidence and any tendency to pull up our tent stakes at the first sign of resistance.
Determination and proper planning will go a long way to successful results. Once we devise our intentions and strategies we can draw upon a trusted confidante to evaluate whether we are headed in the right direction or if our enthusiasm has gotten the better of us.
Venus sextile Saturn on the 20th of October offers a clear evaluation of our intentions. Not only can the fundamentals be solid and strong, but with Venus trine Neptune on the 21st, our presentation may be appealing with a certain mystique that is intriguing.
The 23rd of October has the Sun exiting Libra and entering Scorpio. With the Sun in Scorpio, we now have a Stellium in the Fixed Water Sign with the Sun joining Mercury and Venus in Scorpio. This is a four-week period of the year when we tend to internalize matters.
Suspicions and jealousy are liable to rear up, and people may hold heir cards close to their chest. It will be hard to scrutinize what is going on with other people, but the liability of explosive behavior cannot be discounted.
The Scorpio-transiting planets will oppose Uranus in Taurus, sextile the two Capricorn-transiting planets of Saturn and Pluto, and trine Neptune in Pisces. There can be wild swings with unexpected curveballs liable to upset our plans with costly consequences. The challenge for each of us will be to maintain our center, be aware and mindful and avoid immediate reactions.
The 25th of October has Venus sextile Pluto. If we concentrate on the basics, build from the ground up, we can establish solid foundation stones that are appealing. This may be a time when we want to do some renovation or redecoration. A good house cleaning by ridding ourselves of the superfluous would allow us to be far more productive and not weighted down by the extraneous. The depth of our relationships might be more evident with a reach out to family members who live a distance away.
The Scorpio New Moon on the 27th ushers in a two-week period when we have to keep our wits about us with the anticipation of unexpected matters that can demand our attention and come with quite a cost. This New Moon opposes Uranus, and Mars squares Saturn. Assaults on the traditional can come about from the least likely sources. Expenses may ratchet up for unknown reasons.
This two-week period suggests we keep an eye on our finances with a cash reserve to keep us secure, although security may be lacking during this two-week period.
We are living during a time of paradigm shift, a disruptive time when things can change in a nanosecond. Some of the shifts and changes can be mini-miracles, wonderful surprises that are hard to explain. Other shifts and changes can be more challenging, upsetting the semblance of equilibrium and normalcy.
The Mars square Saturn cautions us not to rush headlong into anything with the idea that we can make things operate according to our will. Brawn without brain might level a nasty pushback, especially in light of the fact that what we see may not be what we get.
Yes, it may seem like we’re in a carnival’s fun house but one that isn’t very much fun.
If we would keep in mind the big picture with the affirmation that things truly do work out in the end, we can tone down our responses and not get caught up in the hurly-burly of bizarre behavior and downright weird antics.
The 28th of October has the Sun opposed Uranus and punctuates the New Moon configuration. It would be wise for us to maintain an accounting of our income stream and expense outlays. We may want to do something other than what we are scheduled to do, but we should keep in mind mantram-like the question: at what cost?
Mercury and Venus conjunct on the 30th of October, and this would be a time for us to own up to our feelings for someone else. These feelings can be intense with recognition that the natural duality of feelings is love and hate. Our feelings are profound and deeply held.
We end October on the 31st, Halloween, with the beginning of this year’s last Mercury retrograde. This year’s third and final Mercury retrograde enlists once again Murphy’s Law of ‘whatever can go wrong could go wrong’.
October 2019… falling leaves, layers…
