Joseph P. Anthony – The cosmic energy significantly improves this month. Mercury, Venus, and Mars all change signs to help forge a new road ahead. Pluto will also begin to move direct in Capricorn after many months of being retrograde, offering us an opportunity to advance our long-term goals. But the big news is that there are two eclipses this month.
A Solar Eclipse in Libra and a Lunar Eclipse in Taurus. These two lunations will mark major turning points of opportunity, one represents a new beginning while the other signifies endings. October is filled with electricity from beginning to end.
As the month unfolds, the radiate Sun continues to highlight the fair-minded and peace-loving sign of Libra. This sign is all about balance and interacting with other people. Keeping things pleasant and beautifying our surroundings will be the theme until October 22nd, after which the Sun will be visiting the dark and mysterious realm of Scorpio.
When the Sun visits Scorpio the guiding principle of this transit is “I desire”. Scorpio is the sign of depth, intimacy, and extreme feelings. Superficial behavior is not tolerated during this transit and mediocrity does not satisfy our thirst for knowledge and power. All that is hidden, taboo, secret, or suppressed are brought to the surface and investigated.
While the Sun is visiting this passionate sign the energy is provocative, usually in a quiet way, as well as being strong-willed, and forceful. If this transit is used in a positive manner, it could become immensely healing and transformative. However, if used in a negative manner jealousy, vindictiveness, manipulation, and revenge can bring out the worst in us.
The month kicks off with Mercury entering the impartial sign of Libra on October 4th. This transit will help put us in a better state of mind with regards to relationships and any form of interaction with others. Networking and socializing will be extremely fruitful allowing us to form strong connections with a wide array of powerful allies, both old and new.
However, on October 8th, the ruler of Libra, Venus, will enter the meticulous sign of Virgo, bringing with it a much more critical view on relationships. This is a time when we express our love through practical means and gestures–running errands, doing detailed work, or just being there for our partners.
Love needs to make sense and have a purpose with Venus in Virgo. Virgo is an Earth sign, which is sensual, but Virgo is also quite practical and mental. In addition to our romantic natures, what we purchase and the types of entertainment we enjoy during this cycle are ruled by whether or not they make sense and serve a practical purpose.
During this Venus transit, we can gravitate to, and find some benefits in, holistic healing, acupuncture, yoga, and nutritional boosts. We’re keenly interested in ways to enrich our lives and boost our well-being. Businesses promoting nutrition, wholesomeness, and well-being might prosper at this time. Commitment and attention to detail are also more prominently considered virtues now.
Also, we’re conservative with money, pleasure, and romance at this time, ready to analyze and dissect these matters. This can also be a time when helping others, particularly with good advice regarding these Venus-ruled things, can be prominent and successful. We might meet friends or lovers through our work or health pursuits. We can take a special interest in handiwork, crafts, lists/sorting, and bookkeeping.
Our passion goes up tenfold on October 12th when Mars enters Scorpio. As one of the rulers of the fixed water sign of Scorpio, Mars is completely at home here. When you think of Mars, think of all those strong things masculine. They wrestle. They play football. They fight. They lift weights. They strut. They have sex for the sake of sex. I’m sure you can add lots of things to the list. The point is, when this manly energy combines with the intensity of Scorpio, we care deeply about all of these things.
Issues take on a life and death importance. We take everything personally. We obsess over everything. We get possessive and jealous. Half-hearted does not happen here. Scorpio is also a sign of precision and deep perception. If we can get past its tendency to sulk and throw tantrums over not getting our way, the presence of Mars here can provide some powerful insights and intense concentration. And, we’ll have the energy to really push to get things done.
We’ll have an opportunity to forge new alliances over the next year thanks to the New Moon Solar Eclipse in Libra on October 14th. This New Moon brings fresh and creative energy into our lives, and more specifically, into our relationships. This is a cycle in which balancing our close personal relationships becomes an urgent desire. Negotiations may be especially effective, as we are inclined to assert our needs in ways that don’t offend others.
During this lunation we’ll be working on re-balancing our relationships and recognizing our partners as teammates rather than adversaries.
With this potent Libra energy, we have the chance to make important changes in our lives.
Libra teaches us to learn to make peace with those around us and to establish more harmony in our environments, establish a sense of order and balance in our lives, and recognize the value of partnerships. This is an ideal time to work on these skills.
As a Solar Eclipse, this New Moon packs more punch! It’s the second eclipse in a set occurring along the Aries-Libra axis from April 20th, 2023, to March 29, 2025. The first one was a Total Solar Eclipse in late Aries. While we’ve been focusing on building our independence and working on assertiveness since April, this October eclipse in Libra prompts us to consider healthy relating and how it affects the process.
With alignments to Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto we are in for some surprises and changes over the next few months. A square to Pluto suggests structural changes, while the quincunx to Neptune and Uranus suggests some form of magical transformation with our connection to others. Fortunately, a Mars-Saturn trine can help us see the value of pacing ourselves and keeping our feet on the ground.
Our spidey senses will be greatly enhanced on October 22nd when Mercury makes its way into Scorpio. When the planet of reason moves into the keenly perceptive sign of Scorpio, you can bet that knowledge will pour in through our skin as if by osmosis. We can become so absorbed in our mental comprehension that the earth could fly out of its orbit and we 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.
The intensity level rises even more on October 23rd when the Sun enters Scorpio as well. As the Sun moves through Scorpio, we begin to feel a deep sense of strength. We become more secretive and intense about things. We know what we want and we’re going after it! As a water sign, Scorpio is associated with the subconscious. Scorpio’s energy is as powerful and mysterious 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 a hurricane hitting a shoreline, 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.
Lastly, our intensity level reaches a crescendo on October 28th with the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Taurus. This eclipse serves as a final prompt, nudge, or push to make improvements in the Taurus/Scorpio-ruled areas of life in our charts, and feelings of discontent can magnify. It’s a time to resolve matters, strike a balance, take a lesson, and move on.
Lunar Eclipses are about relationships and polarities. With the Taurus-Scorpio axis involved, this Lunar Eclipse presses us to look more closely at our needs, lacks, and wants concerning the balance between Taurus-ruled and Scorpio-ruled areas of life.
The contrast between earthy, practical, peace-loving Taurus and emotional, transformative, crisis-oriented Scorpio comes full bloom. The Moon in Taurus wants us to find emotional fulfillment through the simple, tangible things in life, while the Scorpio Sun draws our attention to complexities, intangibles, and mysteries.
This is a passionate and creative Full Moon eclipse, ripe with possibilities and learning experiences. Intimate relationship matters, such as personal comfort levels values and sexuality, figure prominently now. Something has been building inside of us, and now is the time when the energy of the cosmos fairly demands that we let it out. Over the coming months, we will discover what this means for us. For now, we can’t sit on our feelings. We need to express them.
A crisis of sorts (which can be a crisis of consciousness) or sudden awareness of a lack in our lives provides us with a golden opportunity to explore our emotional needs within the context of the house polarity where the eclipse occurs in our natal charts.
Relationships may be challenged, broken, or strengthened at this time. Our discovery is emotionally charged and dramatic–everything feels big and larger than life at this time. Epiphanies are likely as we become acutely aware of our lack. This understanding can propel us into affirmative action, although there can be some initial level of chaos as well.
This is a time to work on clearing up past patterns that have been holding us back from personal fulfillment, particularly those that are centered around sharing, possessiveness, comfort, and self-esteem matters. Consider that, with Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter in hard aspects, there can be exaggeration now, or news and revelations coming in can be blown up and dramatic but not discountable since they come from real feelings. This eclipse also harmonizes with Saturn, suggesting a strong ability to turn things around and make them work for us, particularly on practical levels.
This Lunar Eclipse can have a way of bringing dysfunctional areas of our lives to our attention. Emotions and realizations feel big. Plans can blossom.
Through events, circumstances, and epiphanies occurring around the time of this eclipse, we learn that we need to get in touch with our needs for a stronger connection to our physical natures and needs.
October 2023 Aspects
Oct 01 – Mars quincunx Uranus
Oct 02 – Mercury opposite Neptune
Oct 03 – Mercury trine Pluto
Oct 03 – Venus quincunx Neptune
Oct 04 – Mercury enters Libra
Oct 05 – Mercury quincunx Saturn
Oct 05 – Mars quincunx Neptune
Oct 06 – Venus quincunx Pluto
Oct 07 – Sun quincunx Jupiter
Oct 08 – Venus enters Virgo
Oct 08 – Mars square Pluto
Oct 10 – Venus opposite Saturn
Oct 10 – Pluto direct in Capricorn
Oct 12 – Mercury quincunx Jupiter
Oct 12 – Mars enters Scorpio
Oct 13 – Mars trine Saturn
Oct 14 – Solar Eclipse New Moon in Libra
Oct 15 – Sun quincunx Uranus
Oct 17 – Mercury quincunx Uranus
Oct 18 – Sun quincunx Neptune
Oct 19 – Mercury quincunx Neptune
Oct 20 – Sun conjunct Mercury
Oct 20 – Mercury square Pluto
Oct 21 – Sun square Pluto
Oct 22 – Venus trine Jupiter
Oct 22 – Mercury enters Scorpio
Oct 22 – Mercury trine Saturn
Oct 23 – Sun enters Scorpio
Oct 24 – Sun trine Saturn
Oct 28 – Mars opposite Jupiter
Oct 28 – Lunar Eclipse Full Moon in Taurus
Oct 28 – Mercury opposite Jupiter
Oct 29 – Mercury conjunct Mars
Oct 31 – Venus trine Uranus
SF Source Planets Within Oct 2023