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I will say upfront that your subjective experience of this month will vary greatly depending on your natal chart! As always, I encourage anyone who's feeling lost or overwhelmed to shoot me an email at 9livesastrology@gmail.com or connect with me on Discord. I am happy to give you some (free!) pointers and interpretations.
October is always a month full of activity for spiritual practitioners and those following along with the wheel of the year. October includes Samhain and the start of the "Witch's New Year" and it coincides in many folk practices with the "thinning of the veil" between the material and spirit realms.
This month is surely full of activity in the stars, as well, and will serve as a major energetic climax to the year. There are some major transits, movements, and eclipses happening as well as minor, supportive transits that tell a strong story.
In the year-ahead preview we talked about the balancing act going on all year between the archetypal energies of Mars and Venus. This month, a lot of that will really bubble up–especially in the mid and late month. We have a lot of movement and interaction from Mars and Venus followed by the eclipses in the Venus-ruled Taurus and Libra with many supporting transits from Jupiter in Venus-ruled Taurus. Mars will move into its domicile (Scorpio) on 12 October, so that tension will get even more palpable as the planet's position strengthens. Mercury enters the Libra at the start of the month and moves to Scorpio by the end of the month, moving quickly between these two energies.
In addition, we have two major eclipses happening this month, including a solar eclipse (the first in the series) in Libra on 14 October and a lunar eclipse (the final in the series) in Taurus on 28 October. The Taurus/Scorpio eclipse series has been playing out since November 2021 and will come to a climactic end, here. The Libra/Aries series will continue on through March of 2025.
For those reasons, this month will be a sort of changing of the guard. The start of the month may feel like those last nice, sun-drenched, romantic days of fall when the beauty of the leaves changing color fills us with warmth. The end of the month is more like the sludgy, messy work of fall, when the trees are barren and the colder winds start to blow. This is especially true for spiritual practitioners who use this time to get nocturnal, subterranean, and pass through the veil unhindered.
☐ 4 October at 19:09 - Mercury enters Libra (chart)
Mercury will enter Libra on 4 October, joining a sign-based conjunction with Mars and the Sun. This motion should give us a small preview of the degree-based conjunctions Mercury will have with each planet later this month. This will be further energized when the Moon cruises through Libra from 13-15 October–just long enough for the first of three eclipses in the sign (continuing through October 2024).
This is actually a really helpful transit at the start of this transition to get us “unwed” from specific points of view, as, generally, Mercury in Libra will have us communicating and thinking curiously about balance and trying to see things from outside perspectives.
☐ 8 October at 20:11 - Venus enters Virgo (chart)
☐ 8 October - Mars squares Pluto Retrograde (chart)
☐ 10 October at 1:10 - Venus opposing Saturn (chart)
☐ 10 October at 20:09 - Pluto stations Direct in Capricorn (chart)
Venus has been in Leo since June 5 and, immediately upon entering Virgo, will be forming up into a direct opposition with Saturn, so this will be a significant shift in the energy and will likely be keenly felt from early October through October 13.
Venus in Leo was all about finding (or, trying to find) and perhaps receiving messages from our most radiant self and doing work on, with, and for ourselves. I know some friends who did not have a great time of it and others who were able to claim and step into their power in a new way—much depends on the natal chart of the individual.
Venus' ingresses throughout the signs are typically fairly normal, but the recent retrograde in Leo and the forthcoming eclipses in Venus-ruled Libra and Taurus makes this transit particularly important.
Now, Venus will enter Virgo—the sign of its Depression—which means this benefic planet will be limited in its full expression of itself. Without all the tools typically available, this will be a place of some tension. The Sun, which was previously ruling Venus, is also in its Fall in Libra. So, they have swapped positions and Venus will now be ruling the Sun from a place of weakness! An interesting little flip flop.
With Venus in Virgo, will be motivated to retreat inward; perhaps keeping some of ourselves inside and hidden away.
This is especially true for those who have the following rising signs or prominent placements for: Leo, Taurus, and Libra (in that order), will also affect Virgos by bringing Venus into their zone.
☐ 11 October at 23:04 - Mars enters Scorpio (chart)
☐ 13 October at 7:28 - Saturn trining Mars (chart)
When Mars enters Scorpio—its Domicile!—its position will strengthen and this transit will define the latter part of October by dignifying all Scorpio placements and adding the oppositional tension to the 28 October eclipse in Taurus.
Scorpio is the "feminine", nocturnal expression of Mars' energies and a strong energetic usher into underworld themes. Scorpio is also a fixed sign, meaning this placement can be as uncompromising as it is intense. Natives with strong Mars influence or prominent Scorpio features in the chart will likely feel this influence most keenly.
☐ 14 October at 12:54 - New Moon in Libra (chart)
☐ 14 October at 13:00 - Annular Solar Eclipse in Libra (chart)
The new moon and solar eclipse will feature the Sun, Moon, and Mercury in Libra. In general, eclipses are a 1.5-2 year series of major endings and new beginnings in the area of your chart governed by the sign in question.
This is the first of three eclipses in Libra (continuing through October 2024) and the way this eclipse will affect you will greatly depend on your chart. If you have questions or would like some quick guidance, feel free to shoot me an email at 9livesastrology@gmail.com.
For now, take a look at your chart to see which house is governed by Libra. Alternatively, if you know your rising sign, I've put some notes together below:
Libra risings: Libra rules your 1st house and indicates the self, the body, the personality, and the character. This eclipse series will start a cycle of major endings and new beginnings and bring topics relating to who you are to the forefront between now and October 2024.
Virgo risings: Libra rules your 2nd house and indicates finances, income, and your earthly/material possessions. This eclipse series will start a cycle of major endings and new beginnings and bring topics relating to what you own and your income between now and October 2024.
Leo risings: Libra rules your 3rd house and can indicate daily travel, daily school, daily worship, and our communication in general (but also communication specifically about 9th house topics like spirituality, higher education, and travel). This house can also reveal events happening in the lives of our siblings. This eclipse series will start a cycle of major endings and new beginnings and bring topics related to how you communicate your big ideas as well as potentially your relationship with siblings or events happening in your siblings’ lives or daily commuting to the forefront between now and October 2024.
Cancer risings: Libra rules your 4th house and indicates your domicile and your private life as experienced inside the home. This house also carries significations for our relationship with our parents or what may be going on in their lives. This eclipse series will start a cycle of major endings and new beginnings and bring topics relating to your home and private life or, perhaps, big changes in your parents' lives to the forefront between now and October 2024.
Gemini risings: Libra rules your 5th house and indicates creativity, pleasure, hobbies, and sexuality. This house can also speak to children (our own or our interactions with others' children). This eclipse series will start a cycle of major endings and new beginnings and bring topics relating to your creative passions, your sex life, or, potentially your relationship to children to the forefront between now and October 2024.
Taurus risings: Libra rules your 6th house and indicates illness, injury, hard labor, and subordinates at work. This eclipse series will start a cycle of major endings and new beginnings and bring topics related to illness or sickness or the grind of your daily work to the forefront between now and October 2024.
Aries risings: Libra rules your 7th house and indicates romantic partnerships, long term relationships, business partners and, to some extent, enemies that are openly known to you. This eclipse series will start a cycle of major endings and new beginnings and bring topics related to your long-term relationships, business partnerships, or perhaps a new chapter with a long-term rival to the forefront between now and October 2024.
Pisces risings: Libra rules your 8th house and indicates debts, inheritances, legal matters, the assets of others, and death This eclipse series will start a cycle of major endings and new beginnings and bring topics related to a legal matter, your debts or investments, an inheritance to the forefront between now and October 2024 or may activate the topic of death and fear in your life.
Aquarius risings: Libra rules your 9th house and indicates travel abroad, higher education of any kind, philosophy and spiritual or religious beliefs (especially organized religion). This eclipse series will start a cycle of major endings and new beginnings and bring topics related to spiritual beliefs (an initiation, perhaps?), higher education, or travel abroad to the forefront between now and October 2024.
Capricorn risings: Libra rules your 10th house and indicates your career and public reputation. This eclipse series will start a cycle of major endings and new beginnings and bring topics relating to your career or public actions to the forefront between now and October 2024.
Sagittarius risings: Libra rules your 11th house and indicates your social circles, friends, groups you're a part of, and is called a place of "good spirit". This eclipse series will start a cycle of major endings and new beginnings and bring topics relating to your relationship and standing in social groups, among friends (and possibly reinvigorated hopes and dreams) to the forefront between now and October 2024.
Scorpio risings: Libra rules your 12th house and indicates sickness, seclusion, isolation, loss, self-undoing-behaviors, and enemies that are not yet known to us. This eclipse series will start a cycle of major endings and new beginnings and bring topics related to feelings of loneliness and isolation as well as your self-destructive habits to the forefront between now and October 2024.
☐ 20 October at 00:37 - Mercury "Cazimi" [Mercury conjunct Sun] (chart)
☐ 21 October at 23:32 - Venus trining Jupiter (chart)
This transit is a sweet, little island of neutrality in the middle of an energetically charged month. Though Venus isn't "well-placed" (in her depression in Virgo), this transit benefits from "reception" . That is, Mercury and the sun are in a Venus-ruled sign and Venus is in a Mercury-ruled sign and, so, they are thought to be "hosting" one another which is a great condition.
As always, Mercury Cazimis are good for communication in the mundane or the magickal. This one would be especially good for a blending of Mercury and Venus' energies. Venus governs our interpersonal relationships, aesthetics, social norms, beauty, and pleasure and is the greater benefic for all natives born at night. Mercury is all about curiosity, intellect, our minds, learning, communication, travel, and commerce. Mercury is also a deity with associations to the underworld and psychopomp traditions as he frequently traveled to and communicated with the dead.
This transit would be best used at night (or, at least, when the Sun has fallen under the line of the Ascendant, to best dignify Venus). The conjunction will be applying and separating from 19-21 October, so there is some flexibility.
☐ 22 October at 1:49 - Mercury enters Scorpio (chart)
☐ 22 October at 11:12 - Mercury trining Saturn (chart)
☐ 23 October at 11:21 - Sun enters Scorpio (chart)
☐ 24 October at 2:13 - Sun trining Saturn (chart)
On 22-23 October, Mercury and the Sun will enter Scorpio (each immediately aspected by Saturn), bringing the intensity of the coming eclipse into fuller focus. Mercury's energies will guide us deeper into the energies of the season and may bring messages up from the depths or beyond the veil. The Sun in Scorpio can bring intensity, passion, mystery, and stubbornness to the forefront during this time—especially with Mercury co-present and Mars in the mix, dignifying all three.
☐ 28 October at 11:02 - Mars opposing Jupiter (chart)
☐ 28 October at 15:15 - Partial Lunar Eclipse in Taurus (chart)
☐ 28 October at 15:23 - Full Moon in Taurus (chart)
☐ 28 October at 22:44 - Mercury opposing Jupiter (chart)
☐ 29 October at 9:21 - Mercury conjunct Mars (chart)
I have been recording this podcast for the Spirit World Center for just about two years, and for those two years, Taurus placements have been going through it! I'm thrilled to say that this eclipse should signal a major ending or new beginning for Taurus placements that will have you feeling a sense of closure about this period of time. The previous eclipses in Taurus took place on November 19, 2021; April 30, 2022; and on November 8, 2022, so think about cycles that have begun or closed during this time.
Taurus and Scorpio placements (and maybe Leos and Aquarians.....) whatever has been simmering beneath the surface for you, it’s asking to come out. I encourage you to think purposefully about that, because this eclipse looks like it may be coming out regardless of whether you do so gracefully or not.
For natives without strong fixed sign placements, you may find yourself on the receiving end of something someone has been letting simmer.
In general, eclipses are major endings and new beginnings that often play out in 8-year cycles. This eclipse in particular brings a Mars<>Mercury conjunction in Scorpio with Mercury, Mars, and the Sun opposing Jupiter and the Moon in Taurus. This looks like it could get a bit messy.
Take a look at your natal chart to see the Scorpio and Taurus areas of your chart. What topics do those houses govern? What planets are there? Something festering or lingering in the Scorpio area of your chart may now have an impact in the Taurus area of your chart.
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!