November 2023

A quick note: As mentioned on the show, this year has really taught me the value of making astrological information as accessible and available to as many people as I can. Not only does it help others learn more about their spirituality and their "fate" or "natal promise", meeting with you all teaches me so much!

Because the year-ahead readings always have the highest demand, I am going to offer a flat rate for all podcast listeners and your friends and family. Here is a link to my year-ahead offering page where you can use code "SWC24" to enter and book a $75 hourlong reading to go over your year ahead. This code will only be active for a few weeks and my schedule is tough through the end of the year, so don't wait!

It's really important to me to make my work accessible so please not that I do work on a sliding pay scale and am open to doing a skill or craft trade. Just send me an email at 9livesastrology@gmail.com and we will work something out!

November 2023

As Eric and I discussed on the show, the start of the month has uniquely strong Samhain Season energy. Scorpio season is a natural part of the wheel of the year that coincides with Samhain and the following period in which many spiritual practitioners descend into cthonic studies and underworldly topics, and play with the thinning of the veil. This month, it will be especially potent as we have the Sun, Mars, and Mercury together in Scorpio for some time. Because Mercury is a messenger deity with underworld and psychopomp connotations, this could be a great time for a self-initiation, renewal or working with ancestral entities and underworldly beings.

This is especially true while Mercury, the herald, remains in Scorpio (through 10 November) but can be extended through the Sun <> Mars conjunction on November 17 with several potent "opportunity" periods for workings during the month (all highlighted below).

With that said, there is some strong Martian energy crackling forward this month. The tension between Mars and Venus that has been playing out through the year has swung in the red planets favor, but not in the ways we've seen previously.

Mars in Aries is all about open aggression, challenge, conflict, passion, drive, a need for speed, and a cardinal, firestarting energy. Mars in Scorpio on the other hand.... is no less intense, but feels more like the calculating eyes of the hunter or a wolf. Scorpio is the "feminine" sign expression of Mars' energy and has a fixed sort of intensity that can obsess and stay quite still and patient. Mars in Scorpio can be charismatic, enigmatic, magnetic, sensual, and intoxicating and often draws focus naturally to darkness, heavy topics, and the occult.

Because everything happening in Scorpio this month opposes Jupiter in Taurus, the energy may feel like a mixed bag. Jupiter during the day may bring some relief to the Scorpio stellium for natives with a disharmonious relationship with Mars, but the red planet will be dignified here. Expect a month of unexpected things bubbling to the surface and perhaps rude reminders from things you've been putting off for a long time.

☐ 3 November at 00:02 - Sun in Scorpio opposing Jupiter in Taurus (chart)

☐ 4 November at 2:03 - Saturn stations direct in Pisces (chart)

As mentioned, all Scorpio transits this month will involve at least a sign-based opposition with Jupiter in Taurus. This may look like an energetic conversation between the Taurus and Scorpio sectors of your chart. Pretty quickly into the month, Saturn will station direct from it's retrograde (which began in June). If you have Pisces placements, you may feel like you started Feb-June with a bunch of activity as Saturn crossed over the first few degrees of Pisces and now you’ve just been slogging back through everything. You may have been encountering roadblocks that have had you rethinking or feeling uncertain about the Pisces area of your chart. Expect to feel a bit of relief, here.

☐ 8 November at 3:31 - Venus enters Libra (chart)

Whew! From the sign of her Depression into her Domicile, this Venus transit is going to shift from the somewhat disruptive intensity that the month begins with to a more balanced, enigmatic, even pleasant place.

Venus is the planet that governs sensuality, relationships of all kinds, social contract, art, aesthetics, beauty, art, music, food, sugar, and more! At home in Libra, she is about partnerships, balance, seeing both sides. The sign of Libra is quite charming, but capable of seeing and experiencing great darkness and depth without being unseated. Imagine the justice metaphor, symbolized by Libra's scales.

This time from 8 November at 3:31 - 10 November at 0:25 would be a great time for underworld work, ancestral work, cthonic deities, sensual journeying, sex magick, and more.

☐ 10 November at 0:25 - Mercury enters Sagittarius (chart)

☐ 10 November at 9:07 - Mercury in Sagittarius Square Saturn in Pisces (chart)

Mercury enters Sagittarius (the sign of it's Adversity or Detriment) and immediately squares Saturn in Pisces. Mercury is out of its element here, and this manifests often as a serious tension between the Sagittarian visionary impulse to thing big and indulge expansive dreams and Mercury’s keen ability to get curious enough to zoom in on and rabbit hole every little explorable detail. It is not inherently disharmonious, however, if you're able to reconcile the two.

☐ 13 November at 3:27 - New Moon in Scorpio (chart)

☐ 15 November at 6:48 - Venus in Libra sextile Mercury in Sagittarius (chart)

This lunation is a powerful one with Mars, the Sun, and the Moon all forming sign and degree-based conjunctions in opposition to Jupiter. At the same time, Mars will oppose Uranus while Venus will form a supportive sextile to Mercury. This is intense "dismantling" energy, though not necessarily negative. It suggests a stripping away of pieces of structure that no longer serve or have become unnecessary.

The October-ending eclipse in Taurus (the final of the Taurus/Scorpio eclipse series) had a lot of placements and implications from Scorpio. If this transit was meaningful for you, consider using the 13 November full moon to dignify and make intentional some new beginning for yourself. In general, this new moon is a good time to plot a new beginning or ceremonially begin something relating to the Scorpio area of your chart.

☐ 17 November at 5:41 - Sun conjunct Mars in Scorpio (chart)

Though the Sun and Mars will spend much of the month in a sign-based conjunction their degree-based conjunction will be applying and separating from 15 November through 2 December. Meaning: it will build and dissipate over those days, peaking in intensity in the early morning hours of 17 November when it is exact. This is essentially a once a year transit that hasn't occurred in the sign of Scorpio since 1991! Starting on 23 November, this conjunction will move into the sign of Sagittarius.

This energy would be used well for a working of singular intensity, particularly if begun before sunrise or after sunset (during night). Consider baneful workings, particularly those that have to do with severing or separation in some capacity, defensive workings, workings around boundaries, or even cutting something out that would be good for your mental health–especially bad habits! Other workings that are meant to raise and sustain intense energy will also be well served at this time.

☐ 22 November at 8:03 - Sun enters Sagittarius (chart)

☐ 23 November at 3:46 - Sun in Sagittarius square Saturn in Pisces (chart)

☐ 24 November at 4:15 - Mars enters Sagittarius (chart)

☐ 25 November at 10:57 - Mars in Sagittarius square Saturn in Pisces (chart)

As the Sun enters Sagittarius, it will mark a time when we typically move to think expansively about the year as a whole, what we’ve been through, and a lot of us find ourselves socializing with family and friends. Sagittarius is a sign and Sagittarius is a natural sign for that.

As with all the other planets moving into Sagittarius at this time, the Sun will immediately form a sign and degree based square with Saturn in Pisces. Saturn in this position may resurrect some small emotional roadblocks or triggers that are pinging throughout this shift, however briefly. With that being said, the Sun in Sagittarius is naturally effusive, social, the life of the party, and never fails to be interesting which will be a pleasant late-month shift.

When Mars joins the luminary in Sagittarius just a few days later, the red planet will keep a little bit of that aggression and passion from the early month period alive and continue its pursuit of the Sun and Mercury through the zodiac.

☐ 27 November at 3:16 - Full Moon in Gemini (chart)

We close out the month with a Full Moon in Gemini in the early hours of November 27 dignifying Mars in Sagittarius (co-present with the Sun and Mercury and opposing the Moon) and Venus in Libra.

This looks like a natural culmination of the tension between big pictures and small details mentioned earlier this month. Venus in Libra can bring grace and balance to this relationship, so workings devoted to balance, new perspectives, curiosity, and intellectual passion projects would find favor here.

Notes on process:

All referenced times are CST (but will be relevant within an hour or two for anyone in North America); Find exact times for your location by using a transit calendar like this.

I use traditional Hellenistic and modern techniques within a Western/Tropical astrological framework and calculate using Whole Sign Houses. For more info about my process, see here.

Astrologer Chani Nicholas has a fantastic and equitably made tool to generate your natal chart with the whole sign house system (different than most other apps) that is free to use here.

For more information about astrology, witchcraft, and other pagan paths, visit the Pathways of the Pagan discord channel here. Connect with me at my website here or via email at 9livesastrology@gmail.com. I love to hear from you!