Happy Equinox! A New Moon in Libra Opposite Jupiter Rx in Aries Provides a Profound Social Fresh Start

 

 Photos by Willow, available at Etsy

 

Happy Equinox, northern hemisphere dwellers! 

The Sun enters Libra tonight at 7:03 p.m. CST, marking fall equinox in the northern hemisphere. As the daylight hours and nighttime hours become perfectly balanced, we take some time to balance ourselves and our lives, as well. Fall equinox provides a moment that feels almost suspended in time, a moment for us to take a deep breath after a busy summer. As we move into Libra season each year, most people are back to work or back to school and have settled into their new routines. Garden produce has been mostly harvested with garden beds cleaned up and prepared for next year. Ranchers have baled their hay for the year and mostly hauled it home. Harvest for grain farmers is complete or nearing completion. Whatever work we've been busy doing all Virgo season, equinox provides a little breather.

Venus-ruled Libra is a sign related to relationships, social life, and art, among other things, so Libra season (September 22 to October 23) is a time of stronger social energy - fall get-togethers, parties, backyard fires, pumpkin patches, corn mazes, tipping back a little cider, and the last outdoor farmers and craft markets of the year. 

We know winter is soon on its way, but for now, we get to soak up the last bit of toasty warmth in the Sun, enjoying both the beautiful fall leaves and the beautiful people in our lives. Every last moment before the snow flies is precious!

The fall of 2022 appears to be an even more sociable time than usual, as action planet Mars is in an extended, seven-month transit of social butterfly Gemini. Mars is in the shadow of its upcoming retrograde until October 30, indicating a period of super-charged connections, conversations, information-sharing, and networking. 

The sign Gemini is ruled by the planet Mercury, and we will experience a potent conjunction of the Sun and Mercury retrograde on the zero degree of Libra to mark fall equinox. The Sun-Mercury Rx conjunction at zero degrees Libra occurs on September 23 at 12:50 a.m. CST. This, again, indicates the importance of reaching out, connecting, and making the effort to get together with those we like and love this Libra season. 

On the zero degree of Libra, this Sun-Mercury Rx conjunction indicates fresh social starts and new beginnings in the social realms. We start again. We start a-fresh. Because the people we love, no matter how frictional our relationships may be, are worth it. Because people and community are worth it. Because humanity is worth it. Because renewing the social fabric that supports us all at one time or another is, without a doubt, worth it. 

Just following fall equinox, we will experience a New Moon at 2 degrees Libra (September 25 at 3:54 p.m. CST). This New Moon occurs in a tight opposition to Jupiter retrograde at 3 degrees Aries. 

 

New Moon in Libra opposite Jupiter Rx in Aries - September 25, 2022

Click to enlarge.

 

This Sun-Moon in Libra opposition to Jupiter Rx in Aries at the time of the New Moon indicates that we're working intensively, throughout the lunar cycle, to balance our identities (who we are and what we're about) with our social and relationship needs. Aries opposite Libra is the fine balance between me and we. We're balancing and re-balancing these things until we can engage harmoniously and peaceably in relationships and social settings without detrimentally compromising who we are and how we really think and feel. 

Peacekeeping (Libra) Versus Peacemaking (Scorpio)

This might be a controversial assertion, but I don't think the sign of Libra alone is all that skilled in the creation of peace. Libra is the peacekeeper, maybe. But peacemaker? Peace creator? No.

Libra can often maintain, through its slick social skills and airy diplomacy, a form of peace that has already been established, but getting to a state of real peace often involves getting into it, and Libra is a sign that, especially when squared by Cancer or Capricorn, prefers to avoid that unpleasantness.

This avoidance is problematic because getting to a real state of peace often involves complex and longstanding disputes, injustices, imbalances, injuries, and instances of oppression that have been hidden, covered over, smoothed over, let slide, reinforced - made worse, in fact, by Libra's glossing over of realities and nervous insistence on everything staying nicey-nice.

Slapping a Band-Aid on it and forcing a phony handshake over drinks without addressing underlying issues is not the recipe for true, longstanding justice or the peace that stems from that. Keeping everything Libran light and pleasant isn't really the goal when you get right down to it - getting to the root of the discord and injustice is, as well as to a mutual understanding of what caused and continues to cause these things so they can be addressed and the chains broken.

The drawing up and divining sign of Scorpio, then, becomes instrumental in the process of peace creation. The road to peace might be initiated in cardinal air Libra, but it's fixed water Scorpio that digs in and takes the process beneath the surface, where it needs to go to be truly effective.

It's the catalytic power of expressing the raw human experiences of millennia of suppression on this planet, especially emotional and psychological realities, that starts the process toward real peace, equality, and harmony. If we can't get to and express the core realities, we don't get to any real healing, peace, or understanding.

With Scorpio, there is right and wrong, good and evil, just and unjust - and these cut-and-dry distinctions can make Libra, which at times searches for common ground that does not exist, very uncomfortable. This is part of the reason why Venus, Libra's ruling planet, is considered to be in its detriment in Scorpio.

Scorpio is a sign that is, or rather, can become, fully aware of core realities and hidden dynamics, especially of the domination/subjugation variety. Skilled Scorpionic types (whether that be a strong Scorpio contingent, a strong Pluto, a strong 8th house, or a combination) can feel a subtle energetic disruption that most other people wouldn't have the radar to pick up, and they can follow that disruption right to the root via sheer intuition.

Scorpionic or Plutonic people can understand the root causes of behaviour that others would write off as bizarre or extreme - especially when that behaviour is an expression of collectively-reinforced repressive/oppressive dynamics. Scorpio understands that at a certain level of collective denial, the pressure on the individuals with awareness cannot be contained any longer, and it erupts. Scorpio is a sign associated with volcanic eruptions and  also nuclear meltdowns of the emotional variety. 

Venus Lightens the Tone in Sagittarius and Trines Uranus Rx in Aries, Colouring the Last Leg of Saturn in Libra

Mercury and Venus, still travelling conjunct, move into Sagittarius together on November 2, and almost immediately, the dense, complex Scorpionic tone we've been experiencing starts to lighten.

Both Mercury and Venus in Sagittarius trine Uranus Rx in Aries during the morning of November 3. We're palpably at the cutting edge here, moving into a fresh and freaky astrological Aquarian era future after Scorpionically severing ties to any Piscean era backsliding.

Intellectually (Mercury) as well as in our relations with other people (Venus), we're there. The knowledge of where we're going and of where we've been adjusts our orientations to the new coordinates accordingly. Though, with Mercury in Sagittarius in the mix in the sign of its detriment along with a Mercury retrograde in Sadge November 24 - December 13, trying to communicate what we're going through won't necessarily be easy.

Also November 3, Saturn enters its upcoming retrograde shadow (the degrees it will move back over during its February 6 - June 23, 2012 retrograde) at 22 degrees Libra. Saturn will station retrograde on the anaretic (29th) degree in February.

Just like that, we're more than two-thirds finished Saturn's transit through Libra.

The last leg of the transit of Saturn through Libra is strongly influenced by the Venus in Sagittarius trine to Uranus Rx in Aries. This continues a theme of relationship disruption as sometimes shocking elements of personal identity, new direction, beliefs, and philosophy emerge as we shift further into astrological Aquarius. As we move forward from here, people we thought we knew are going to surprise us - in pleasant ways and in not so pleasant - and radical relationship breaks can come almost out of nowhere, especially if people have been putting things off.

Saturn is looking to shore up only long-term, sustaining, and sustainable partnership material - partnerships with legs - while Uranus is looking to push us way out there into our most real, raw, radical, and instinctual selves. The conservative, step-by-step building nature of Saturn will necessarily have to leave room in its blueprints for the wild Uranian effects busting things loose and demanding freedom, independence, and individuation at almost any cost.

Being ourselves, our whole selves, right down to the last jagged edge is necessary for survival, for direction, for perspective and orientation now, but there are mercilessly rough, disturbing, even violent and heartless elements to the way Uranus works through our relationships. All those with Venus-Uranus contacts natally or by transit can relate. The fact that this is a Venus-Uranus trine softens the edges and makes things less traumatic, allowing us to philosophically rise above, but the disruption is there. Some relationships survive this emergence of raw, new identity and direction, and some don't. Kind of exciting, though, isn't it?

Peacemaking Versus Peacekeeping: Venus Trines Neptune-Chiron and Enters the Retrograde Shadow at 27 Libra

This might be a controversial assertion, but I don't think the sign of Libra alone is all that skilled in the creation of peace. Libra is the peacekeeper, maybe. But peacemaker? Peace creator? No.

Libra can often maintain, through it's slick social skills and airy diplomacy, a form of peace that has already been established, but getting to a state of real peace often involves getting into it, and Libra is a sign that, especially when squared by Cancer or Capricorn, prefers to avoid that unpleasantness.

This avoidance is problematic because getting to a real state of peace often involves complex and longstanding disputes, injustices, imbalances, hurts, and oppressions that have been hidden, covered over, smoothed over, let slide, reinforced - made worse, in fact, by Libra's glossing over of realities and nervous insistence on everything staying nicey nice.

Slapping a Band-aid on it and forcing a phony handshake over drinks without addressing underlying issues is not the recipe for true, longstanding justice or the peace that stems from that. Keeping everything Libra light and pleasant isn't really the goal when you get right down to it - getting to the root of the discord and injustice is, as well as to a mutual understanding of what caused and continues to cause this so it can be addressed and the chains broken.

The drawing up and divining sign of Scorpio, then, becomes instrumental in the process of peace creation. The road to peace might be initiated in cardinal air Libra, but it's fixed water Scorpio that digs in and takes the process beneath the surface, where it needs to go to be crystallized.

It's the catalytic power of expressing the raw human experiences of millenia of oppression on this planet, especially the emotional realities, that starts the process toward real peace, equality and harmony. If we can't get to and express the core realities, we don't get to any real healing, peace or understanding.

With Scorpio, there is right and wrong, good and evil, just and unjust - and these cut-and-dry distinctions can make Libra, which at times searches for common ground that does not exist, very uncomfortable. This is part of the reason why Venus, Libra's ruling planet, is considered to be in its detriment in Scorpio.

Well, folks, this is where we're headed as Venus crosses the threshold of its retrograde shadow September 5, entering Scorpio September 8 and not leaving until January 7, 2011. This is part of the massive challenge we're facing as Venus, Mars and Eros, and by October the Sun and Mercury, follow Pallas Athene through Scorpio post-cardinal t-square initiations. The deep cardinal initiations now require an even deeper recalibration process. We tunnel to the core of the situations, get to those ever-elusive brass tacks and break up past-related stagnance, spurring new pathways, new relational dynamics and the alchemical fusing of new partnerships as we enter 2011.

Scorpio is a sign that is, or rather, can become, fully aware of core realities and hidden dynamics, especially of the domination/subjugation variety. Skilled Scorpionic types (whether that be a strong Scorpio contingent, a strong Pluto, a strong 8th house or a combination) can feel a subtle energetic disruption most other people wouldn't have the radar to pick up, and they can follow that disruption right to the often stinking-to-high-heaven root cause, sussing out how things are going to go from there with sheer intuition.

They can understand the root causes of behaviour that other people would write off as bizarre or extreme - especially when that behaviour is an expression of collectively-reinforced repressive/oppressive dynamics. Scorpio understands that at a certain level of collective denial, the pressure on individuals cannot be contained any longer, and it erupts.

So people working in the Scorpionic realms are aware of underlying dynamics that other people are not - or refuse to be. They know the subtext, and this leaves them experiencing and transmuting way more than their equal share. In societies in full-blown denial of the fact that most of their wealth, comfort, power and prosperity (their privilege, period) come from the reinforced suffering of other living things, this means they often have to do their special brand of energy work without proper outlets or assistance in dealing with it - despite the collective origins.

Scorpio knows that things left unaddressed and festering too long, with a false and cloying Libra nicey nice facade thrown over top like cheap perfume, will eventually lead to the powder keg blowing in much more damaging ways. Unlike other signs that can slough them off or explain them away, the energetic disturbances and warning signs stick with Scorpio like thorns until it works them bit-by-bit to the surface to do their catalytic thing, and then out of the system. From experience, Scorpio knows that if there is discord or an 'off' feeling, there is generally a reason for it that needs to be addressed. So it attempts to address...even when those around it are doing everything in their power to stuff it back down and look the other way.

As the personal planets pass through this sign during the last quarter of 2010, the Scorpio area of people's charts is going to be lit up, stirred up, churned up, and everyone will be an honourary Scorpionic. Everyone will be an energy detective, a psychic sleuth, an alchemical surgeon, plumbing the watery depths of our interpersonal relationships. Yes, we're all going to get a big old dose of Scorpio now and for the next four months - even the professional deniers. Things are going to be coming to the surface. Mm hm. Boy, are they. Especially by the time the Sun shines its light in Scorpio and conjoins Venus October 28.

Scorpio is a sign that, at a certain point, simply cannot put up with any more bullshit - even when the people around it are happy to keep shovelling away. At a certain point, there is no more absorption of other people's garbage or denial or unconsciousness possible. At a certain point, Scorpio has been left holding one too many bags and has had one too many loads of crap dumped in its lap.

We're at that point now.

The magical purging and transmutation skills can only handle so much overload by those who are shirking their own responsibilities, and lines in the sand will be drawn here. We work on drawing those lines until the Sun-Venus conjunction October 28, and then we turn our attention to implementing them.

Scorpio reads the signs. It knows that small events and behaviours and comments and vibes are the tip of the iceberg with roots to much larger issues.

As Venus, Eros and Mars move through late Libra and into Scorpio (Venus September 8, Mars September 14, Eros September 15), the signs point to a massive uncovering, examination, purging and recalibrating in relational dynamics. There is some seriously rotten stuff being passed around by some seriously unconscious people...or maybe they're fully conscious of what they're doing, after all.

Retrogrades involve course corrections. Venus retrogrades involves course corrections in relationships, having needs met and money.

Read the signs in your own life, especially in relationships, and be proactive in following them to the roots and making changes as the retrograde progresses.

Whatever isn't right is keeping you from what is. Be brave. Prune your relations how they need to be pruned. Speak up. Don't look the other way and increase the already massive pressure on our relations at this point in human history. Release some of the pressure by earnestly digging in to the thorny issues that will be thrown up by this potent little transit of Scorpio and Venus retrograde.

Draw water and draw water and draw water again until it runs clear. Get closer and closer to your core truth, your core reality, and speak it, no matter what anyone else has to say about it. (If it evokes a "You're so negative/bitter/dark" reaction from a New Ager, you're in good standing.) Interact from that place so you will find yourself, at the end of this Venus retrograde, interacting with people who are closer to compatibility with your authentic soul self.

If you feel comradery, support those around you who are attempting to work some of those nasty thorns the collective refuses to acknowledge to the surface - especially when it deals with the dark feminine perspective. Help clear the path a little if you can for those who are struggling to bring some long-neglected aspects of the collective to the surface, pushing through immense constriction and opposition. Don't just put another boot in their face like most will.

Run the Via Combusta gauntlet by reading the signs in the human relations around you and avoiding the detritus that is not your's to deal with. There are plenty of energetic traps we can step around and emotional meltdowns we can avoid during this time if we masterfully heed our Scorpionic intuition.

Nowhere will these dynamics be more apparent in the relations and energy dynamics between men and women/the masculine and feminine.

Imbalanced and oppressive energy dynamics and power structures have been reinforced here for so long that most people do not even recognize them anymore. Feminism is an antiquated concept, right? No need for that any longer. We're EQUAL now.

So very conditioned the people are to accept the unacceptable and then smile about it...

Within the context of the tail-end Piscean era, we have the task of airing grievances that haven't been properly aired in centuries or millenia possibly, grievances that have all the subtlety and difficulty in expression you would expect from such complex, compressed and covered-over energy. Getting to the nitty gritty perspectives of the parties or groups involved and working outward from there toward peace is a time-and-energy-consuming, emotionally difficult, back-and-forth, hard-won process. Again, one that Libra is often not all that keen on taking on.

Saturn transiting Libra, though, is going to force the maturation of that sign's expression through challenges of this nature.

The Venus in Libra trines to Neptune-Chiron in Aquarius September 4/5, carried into the Venus retrograde and repeated not-quite-exactly as Venus stations direct November 18, will start to show anyone who has the courage to look how based in wounding illusion, coercion and domination many of the current versions of "peace" really are. Scratch the surface, and you will see a much different story.

With vigilance and the skillful use of the Scorpio energy, the catalyzing power of the truth about these facades can really gain traction.

On the other side of the coin, though, people will be using the trine energy to reinforce more of the same, creating the illusion of common ground where it does not exist. Watch for this personally and on the global stage, and don't allow yourselves to be drawn in. Any false bridges begun now will be dissolved (or blown up?) in early January when Venus, coming out the the Scorpio retrograde, squares Neptune-Chiron - but be very careful what you let pass until then.

With Neptune-Chiron involved, these dynamics will be highly apparent in the New Age paradigm. Where all is love and light until someone speaks a truth that doesn't fit into the carefully-manufactured and artificially-sustained world of pseudo-harmony.

Here we find the labelling and explaining away of anyone who has a difficult perspective or voice - one the generally socially privileged, white people populating the New Age cannot accept lest it burst their collective bubbles - as bitter, negative, self-hating or whatever makes them feel better and able to divide off, ostacize and alienate that which disturbs them.

It will become crystal clear to those with the eyes to see how New Age labelling, agenda-pushing, and pseudo-spiritual elitism has led to people getting farther and farther from their real voices - and from the honest expression of their experiences that will really start to get things done on this planet.

Keeping people speaking bland, ineffectual New Age 101 ideology on heavy-rotation, huffing dirty Neptunian false light energy until they're light-headed, and desperately looking for some sort of easy out is purposeful, of course. As is bullying people into abandoning their true experiences, their true voices, and the work of bringing the words of their experiences to the collective...

For a group of people who profess to shine so much light, they sure like to skip over the darkest corners, don't they?

I had an experience recently with one of the edgy brand of New Agers. This individual mis-represented himself to me as someone who shared my perspective so he could use me to publicly voice his own dissatisfactions with certain elements of the New Age establishment while keeping himself safely within its confines, never risking his status with the NA in crowd.

This experience showed me yet again how desperate the New Age establishment is to sustain itself into Aquarius, as the Piscean Age paradigm dries up. How devious its methods are in leeching new sources of energy from outside the New Age herd. It also reminded me how potent the New Age embedding really is - to the point that people can't (or won't) recognize it in themselves, though it boggles my mind how that could be.

The discord, the injustice, the swallowed oppressions are just thrown into the dumpster to be added to the trash heap. Fill one landfill of emotional/energetic garbage and just move on to another one.

But again, we're at tail-end Pisces, and the landfills are full to overflowing. There's no more room to throw away and worry about another day. Another day is here. Actually, it was here last week.

The work as Venus, Eros and Mars enter Scorpio is in the subtle, energetic realms. In the unspoken and the unseen...but felt. In the everyday relational oppressions and power imbalances. In the anger we rightfully experience and too often swallow. In the oppressions people stay silent about or gain benefit from...and thereby reinforce. In the falsity people accept and allow and reinforce to stay socially acceptable and likeable. The areas upon which people refuse to shine a light...

I can feel it coming. Can you?



September 4/5 - Venus in Libra trine Chiron-Neptune in Aquarius (26/27 degrees)
September 5 - Venus enters retrograde shadow (27 Libra)
September 8 - Venus enters Scorpio
September 14 - Mars enters Scorpio
September 15 - Eros enters Scorpio
October 8 - Venus stations retrograde (13 Scorpio)
October 19 - Ceres conjunct Pluto (2 Capricorn)
October 28 - Sun conjunct Venus (5 Scorpio) - discharge point
November 7 - Venus re-enters Libra
November 18 - Venus stations direct (27 Libra)
November 29 - Venus re-enters Scorpio
December 19 - Venus leaves retrograde shadow (13 Scorpio)
January 7, 2011 - Venus enters Sagittarius

Willow's October 2008 Astro Perspective

Man, I'm a rockstar. Here's the monthly update...on time! And after a hellish five days of packing, moving, cleaning, unpacking, painting, more cleaning and still the astrology is flowing like water. heh heh

This month, we will be striving with all our ability to find our equilibrium, attempting to find a neutral point between the wild events of September and those yet to come in November. This is always the case with Libra energy (where the Sun will be for most of the month and the currently retrograding Mercury will be until November 4), but Libra's refined airiness and awareness of beauty are needed more than ever at this point to give us a moment to breathe, to give us something lovely to inspire us through some bumpy channels.

Libra is the sign where we attempt to achieve balance, equilibrium, and peace - sweet, sweet, peace - if only for a moment. As fleeting as they seem to be, peace is Libra’s goal, its directive. It is the sign of partnership and relationship, where we are constantly existing in relation to and acting accordingly.

As I said in the September Astro Perspective, Libra energy has its work cut out for it at the moment. We’ve got a lot to balance, a lot piled on the scales and only more to come, it seems. The scales are working hard, correcting where necessary, swinging wildly up and down at times. We just think we’ve gotten it together, a moment to relax (which Libra, ruled by Venus, loves to do most of all), when something else gets added to the pile and we’re forced to take yet another angle into consideration, to rebalance.

Libra is driven for justice, and it just wouldn’t do to leave something or someone out who should be taken into the fold. That wouldn’t be fair. True harmony, true peace (and the peace of mind that comes with it) can only come when we have left nothing out, when every piece gets its say and its consideration. Bringing many disparate elements together into one beautiful, harmonious tone.

But of course, this is not as easy as it looks. Getting a ragtag group of human beings who all sing in different languages, who all have different levels of experience, all singing in harmony, seeing the beauty in each other and enjoying being together. Libra is one harried choir director at times.

Which brings us to the other parts of Libra and Venus, the parts that are sometimes glossed over and that is the strife and battle and discord that exist on our way to finding that harmony.

This month, the Sun in Libra and retrograding Mercury in Libra are ruled by Venus in Scorpio, making it a very strong influence. Venus isn’t ever-so happy in Scorpio, but nonetheless, she will do her job here. She would rather keep things lovely, smiley and beautiful, but in Scorpio, we're faced with both sides of the coin. We understand that our relations with other people contain ugly things as well as beautiful, and that we have to see the dark parts of our relations with others in order to bring them to light.

Scorpio knows that superficial, surface-level peace will never last. Whatever we leave hidden and neglected will eventually come out in nasty, indirect ways to undermine the peace and harmony in our relationships. It drives us to the root, to the very centre, to see what’s REALLY going on underneath it all, so that we can break underlying dynamics that are holding us in a places where we don’t want to be. Also so we can intuitively recognize and merge with those who will strengthen our ability to reach our soul’s directives - both personal and collective - without dragging a bunch of detritus along with us that will smother the alchemical flame guiding us through.

Scorpio shows us the dark parts to bring about awareness of them, so that we can choose wisely when it comes to merging our precious energies with another. So that we don’t walk blindly into situations and relationships designed to give us karmic bites in the ass.

As the balance shifts from Libra energy to Scorpio throughout the month, things take on a depth and an intensity. A “do or die” quality. We are driven to tunnel, tunnel, tunnel right to the core of what is going on in our relations with others and root out what we know in our guts is rotten. Scorpio, ruled by Pluto and Mars, is about bottom-line reality. Whatever can’t morph into something better and stronger, more adapted to what is going on right now, will die, plain and simple. This means in our relationships, our lives, our selves. Any part of the cocoon that threatens to catch and contain our butterfly wings has to go, with little to no sentimentality. Why attach ourselves to something that will hold us back, smother us, kill us? This is what Scorpio energy teaches. To cut ourselves out of that which will eventually collapse us, to trust our intuition to nip it in the bud and to move directly to a new force field that will hold us in a mutually beneficial orbit as we continue to unfold.

Scorpio understands intuitively what needs to be done and sets a goal, directed by the soul - often a complicated, multi-layered, emotionally and/or energetically dangerous goal. And it does not give up until that goal is reached or until it is “told” that to continue would bring it closer to destruction than abandoning the goal.

Scorpio energy can see things no one else can. It sees what no one else will. Will. That’s the word. Scorpio is the place where the will of nature/of the universe and personal will join forces, merging into one direction. To ignore the directives of the soul is to die, either literally or figuratively. To refuse to root out what is rotten is to choose to infect everything. Nothing can be right until this is right. That’s what Scorpio knows. It knows it would rather die than leave things as they are. It knows it is already dead if things are left as they are.

So much talk about death. But this is a Scorpionic subject. To die a million deaths before the physical death. To say goodbye to multitudes of versions of self, relationship, life. To shed a million cocoons, all that is done, to get to the fresh, raw strength of the emerging soul-driven path. And to have the otherworldly Plutonic drive to continue, against all odds, to face deeper and deeper, at times darker and darker, realities. Intricate and intimate. Complex. To burn through an amount of energetic detritus that would be unimaginable to someone without the guidance of that alchemical flame, ridding us of the garbage that threatens to clog up the works and screw us over.

It is to this end that Scorpio energy does its work, so that it can lay the very purest of matter on Libra’s scales. So that the shifts in balance that are made are only the necessary ones. The upsets of the scales are as minimal as possible. Nothing laden in the energetic tar of the past.

This is why Plutonic people sometimes creep other people out. They are driven by something unseen, something not understood by people looking from the outside. Plutonic people must follow the directives of the soul, from the gut, bringing things to light that most people would avoid looking at. Severing unhealthy dynamics as they go, freeing the energy up for new growth, and going deeper than most people care to go. It can be seen as an obsession by other people. But when one understands that it is a case of: do it or perish. there is nothing else to be done.

What Scorpio energy does can also be seen as not very nice (which is why Libra takes issue with it at times). It often doesn’t feel too great to have a Scorpionic surgeon dicing energetic dynamics up around you or within you. But it's necessary. Scorpio energy triggers in us an awareness of what needs to come out and what needs to be purged completely. It triggers an alchemical process where we have to look into the depths of ourselves and our lives to see what is not in integrity and to see old energetic patterns that we fall into and continue unaware. Places where we’ve been fooling ourselves, where we haven’t gone deep enough, where we haven't truly looked reality in the face. In Scorpionic interactions (which will be coming up with Venus in Scorpio), the relationship dynamics make each person aware of certain dynamics that are past their usefulness.

We can be repulsed by what we see during this process, blaming the person who did the triggering. (This is a dynamic that goes on all the time - as Scorpionic/Plutonic people know all too well.) Not so comfortable.

Too much Plutonic energy is poison. Best to take only as much as you need, nothing more.

This is a hard lesson that most Plutonic people have to learn - that some people find being around them a medicine taken best in small, maybe even tiny, maybe even microscopic, doses - or not at all. But once one understands that it's the process being triggered that people find distasteful, it’s possible not to take it personally - sort of.

Scorpio and Pluto go beyond the personal ego. The process trumps social niceties. But it still smarts at times.

Note: “Plutonic” people are what I would call anyone who has these similar drives for getting to the core of the matter, bringing hidden or neglected parts of reality to awareness - planets/placements in Scorpio, aspects to natal Pluto, bodies in the 8th house, and such.

As I said, our Mercury in Libra retrograde this month is ruled by Venus in Scorpio until Venus enters Sagittarius on October 18th.

The Sun in Libra is also ruled by Venus in Scorpio until it enters Scorpio itself on October 22.

Mars enters Scorpio October 3 and is there into November. (Note a pile-up of consequences for any passive-aggressive tendencies/Libra avoidance techniques as Mars passes through the last degrees of Libra before entering Scorpio. October 1 - 3)

So these Libra - Scorpio themes are prevalent.

What we’re leading up to this month is a big month in November. We’re getting our bearings, doing the prep work, so that we can navigate these energies.

There are two big things going on in November (which I will, of course, write about in November’s Astro Perspective):

First, Saturn in Virgo opposes Uranus in Pisces for the first time since the 60s. Saturn rules our concrete material structures (how things are set up) and Uranus rules revolution. Hmm…sounds about right. The current structures of our material world are about to get a shake up.

Saturn will be opposing Uranus’ freewheeling, future-oriented, slightly erratic, nothing-to-hold-onto-but-the-vision-of-where-we're-going, revolutionary, maverick spirit. And Uranus will be opposing Saturn’s traditional, tried-and-true, conservative, for-our-own-good limitations, restrictions and concrete structures.

Material structural readjustment related to a new understanding and vision of things to come. But also making sure that our revolutionary vision is grounded, that it has legs. That it is practically applied and will really take root within the material and build there - not just stay on the fringes as fluffy, pie-in-the-sky ideas from a bunch of drug-addled burn-outs. (No offense to drug-addled burn-outs, but this is a time when we really have to stay in reality” to bring it to the people - especially those people in suits and SUVs.)

A leap of faith into the future, but one concrete and common sense enough to appeal to more conservative minds.

The last time Saturn and Uranus opposed each other was in the 1960s, so you can see where this is heading. Think of the upheaval of those times that brought strides for humanity - civil rights, women’s rights, anti-war, etc.

But at the same time, the wave of revolutionary spirit didn’t go far enough. The mainstream Baby Boomers got caught up in material trappings and the ego glorification of being the person with the biggest and best.

So now is a chance to continue what began then, to go farther, hopefully to go as far as we need to go. To make the revolution structural, to come in from the fringes and really affect the mainstream flow.

The second big event in November is Pluto moving through the final degree of Sagittarius and heading into Capricorn November 27. Here is the transformation of allllllll our material structures and our understanding of success, prestige and importance on a public level. This is why it is crucial that we take this step-by-step, to really give it lasting impact.

Anyway, that’s next month. But as nothing exists in a vacuum, we have to see October as leading up to that. This is why the Scorpio energy is insisting that everything be put on the table. We have to be real now. It’s imperative to our survival as human beings on Planet Earth. We have to see through the shellaced smiles of those attempting to lead us somewhere our gut tells us we don’t want to go - not only in politics but in our personal lives. The personal is political.

We have to look for motivation - a big thing for Scorpio. What is the root motivation? If it’s something you can get behind, good stuff. If you get a little sick feeling in your stomach, no matter how slight, listen to it and take action, even if it seems like drastic action - action that no one but a Plutonic person would understand. The Mars influence on Scorpio means we often don’t know why we don’t like something or someone. We just don’t. We can sense we don’t agree with the root motivation or that we are being somehow manipulated. We just might not know the particulars in the moment because they’re somehow hidden to us. Here, we have to act on instinct, taking action based on intuition and gut-feeling…and figure out the logistics later, at a safe distance from whatever dynamic/situation/person we didn’t want to participate with.

From October 9 to October 14, Venus in Scorpio is squaring the North Node, Chiron and Neptune in Aquarius. This is a bottom-line, reality checking-type of aspect…again, related to not getting too far ahead of ourselves on this future vision thing. Especially with Neptune here, there is a tendency to get a little starry-eyed and lose sight of where we actually are. To get caught up in the rhetoric (Pluto in the last degrees of Sagittarius) of what’s possible and to act as if we’re already there. Scorpio keeps us right in the thick of what is going on right now. It doesn’t allow us to move forward until things are dealt with, until all the crap is brought out into the open for resolution. Until the subjugation-domination dynamics are truly destroyed and we’re truly equals. We’ve still got a lot of work to do here. The vision may be there, but are we really willing to do what it takes to get there? Are we willing to go to the mat on this one? To fight for that vision with everything we have? To leave no one behind? These are the kinds of questions brought up with these squares.

Mars in Scorpio will repeat the squares to the North Node, Chiron and Neptune in Aquarius during the last week of October. Here, we’re challenged to put our personal energy behind it. To make it personal, a personal goal, to deal with everything Scorpio brings up, especially the ouchy, ugly parts. To look at the inequality, the injustice that still exists, the fallacies we’re being told, the manipulation of the people - and to really deal with it.

Mercury Retrograde is also working away, bringing up all the things we might have missed since September 4. A whole lot happened last month, so this is a good thing. Any decisions made or actions taken will come up for a review. We’ll get information that we didn’t have at the time. and, again, with Venus in Scorpio ruling, it could be stuff that was hidden at the time.

All giving us a chance to orient ourselves with as much information and understanding as possible.

Mercury goes direct October 15 and leaves its shadow (heads into new territory) October 30.

Just in time for my favourite time of year: Hallowe’en! Mwah-ha-ha-ha-haaa! (also known as Samhain or pagan New Year) A time when the barrier between life and death is oh-so-thin.

So nothing really “new” until then, but lots of necessary information coming up and interactions playing out, especially those interactions that have a sort of fated, soul-mate quality to them. Déjà vu.

Our Full Moon this month is in Aries on October 14. (On the same day as the federal election here in Canada.) The new directions we’ve taken related to our new sense of personal identity are bearing fruit now. The Sabian Symbol for the degree of Aries where this Full Moon takes place is: The Gate Opens to the Garden of all Fulfilled Desires. Let’s hope that’s not just hype. ;-) My Scorpionic “show me the money” side is acting up on this one, but let’s give the universe the benefit of the doubt on this one, shall we? Heh heh

The New Moon in Scorpio on October 28 starts a new cycle of growth - a shedding of past dynamics, as was talked about earlier. The New Moon kicks off a month that will probably feel very unstable as the past structures and dynamics of our lives turn to rubble. As I said before, November is going to be a heck of a month, and this New Moon is an indicator. It really does feel as if we’re going through a gateway, and we have to be 100% real, stripped down, doing only what feels right to us to make it through. It’s a tight squeeze! Getting caught up in what others want us to do, getting caught up in THEIR stuff, allowing any kind of abuse of your energy (no matter how subtle) - all this is detrimental now in a big way.

I have this image lately of always having to stay a step ahead of what is crumbling under our feet, to keep moving on, moving on as a matter of survival. If we aren’t staying true to our own path here, we’re asking for trouble. If we’re clinging to old structures, relationships, ego constructs, personality traits, we just might go down with the ship.

So as always, to thine own self be true. It’s more important now than ever as the waters get a little choppy.

Willow's September 2008 Astro Perspective

We start September slowly progressing into the new post-eclipses lunar cycle after the New Moon Black Moon in Virgo on August 30. Slowly because Saturn is involved, and Saturn brings a certain sombre weightiness with it that can seem to make the proceedings slow to a crawl. Saturn relates to making concrete structural changes and progress, and in Virgo, it’s about perfecting all the nitpicky details, making all parts of the whole function together properly. Realistic progress here is slow, sometimes arduous and even depressing at times. But at the same time, things still feel uber rocky to me after the eclipses…nothing seems on solid ground. Not sure if this is a universal thing or if it’s because I just had my Saturn Return. Anyway…

The first major aspect of the month is the Moon in Virgo squaring Pluto in Sagittarius on September 1, as Pluto slows to go direct for the final time in Sagittarius for 248-odd years (and odd they certainly will be, I think). This square echoes the squares of Mars, Mercury and Venus in Virgo to Pluto in Sag last month (that I talked about quite a bit in the August update and the New Moon update) and brings up some emotional reconciliation related to the themes there. Again, this is related, partly, to getting to the bottom of what people really believe, deep down, and deciding how to refine our personal roles in relation to that. Being very precise about how we perform our function, what we say and just what/whom we will support, based on what WE really, deep down believe.

The emotional work shifts to outer-expression work (all that Virgo work, work, work!) as we move to a Sun - Saturn conjunction in Virgo on September 3. Again, this is a weighty sort of aspect related to growing up and taking on the responsibility of our roles and who we are. Can feel pressure-filled and stressful. Here, we’re refining and maturing ego, personality and self-expression as we come closer to self-mastery. Channelling who we are and how we express that into a role that serves a purpose for the whole. But also finding what is fun and inspiring within our responsibilities. Gleaning joy from a more grown-up role that only we, with our special talents and characteristics, can perform.

September 4, Mercury enters its retrograde shadow in Libra. All that happens now - from September 4 until Mercury goes retrograde on the 23rd - will be coming back up for our perusal and discussion. And a lot there will be, it seems!

September 5 and 6 are very quiet days. Almost no aspects at all, and I can see why. We’re leading up to both Jupiter in Capricorn and Pluto in Sagittarius going direct within about 24 hours of each other. We need some time to take a deep breath and prepare!

Late September 7, Jupiter turns direct in Capricorn, and there is a lot of action involved in the direct station. Throughout Sept. 7 - 9, we have Venus, Mercury and Mars in tight conjunction in Libra exactly squaring Jupiter. All three of these personal planets (moving in conjunction) will square Jupiter in turn and all three squares could create a squeezing, stressful feeling. Stationing planets are already very potent, appearing from Earth to be motionless in the sky, and these squares will create the tension necessary for a strong initiating energy. The things begun at this point forward, given a strong cosmic push, have legs and will for a while. The ways we are expanding the structures in our world, the ways we are broadening our public role or status and our optimism related to the concrete progress we are seeing are all getting a check from the Libra planets. Libra warns: Don’t forget, in the raised dust of all our expansion and business agendas and material goals, that it’s our relationships that really count! It’s our relationships with others and with nature that bring things back to a place of balance…rather than allowing for free rein of the full-speed-ahead expansion and plans of Jupiter in Capricorn.

Mercury conjuncts Mars September 8, as well, and will again as it slows to go retrograde on the 23rd. In Libra, this conjunction has a balancing, tempering effect. Balancing our interactions and actions so as to maintain diplomacy with the people around us. This is not a time for aggressive, blatantly ambitious moves or for focussing strictly on what you want. We’ll have to balance our needs with others in order to make the progress represented by Jupiter in Capricorn.

Libra energy has a tendency to passive aggressiveness, especially when being squared by either Capricorn or Cancer. Considering it is the sign of partnership, Libra can be pretty selfish…all the while claiming otherwise. Doing things for others it doesn’t want to do…while angry about it underneath and acting out in passive aggressive ways instead of being honest. Honesty is another thing Libra has to work on. It’s too concerned with how other people are going to react a lot of the time and this makes for wishy-washy behaviour that causes problems for everyone involved. Not being honest seems like a selfish thing to me, regardless of justification. This is the caution here. Our communications and behaviours could have a passo-aggro tone if we're swallowing something we don't like but don't have the balls to speak up about it. Don’t get poisoned or play into any of those games. If we don’t get sucked into tit-for-tatting passive aggressive behaviour, hopefully this conjunction, active throughout the month, will help us to verbally call out some of that behaviour and bring things back to a true state of peace.

The symbol for Libra is the scales of justice, and justice is what we need to keep in mind as Jupiter starts moving forward in material goal-conscious Capricorn. We must build and expand with an eye towards making things right, making things fair and just, living within a natural balance.

The capitalist system has run amok, and we now seem to be living in (and leaving, I hope!) a system that banks on inequality, injustice, the benefit of the few from the subjugated position of the many. The structures and the “way things are” are operating according to some bizarre man-made production march - very far from the ebbing and flowing cycles of nature. The mainstream of society no longer seems to take its cues from the world around it, and we can feel that. Things don’t feel right. We’re not all that connected to our food sources, our water sources, or to the origin of many of the products we use each day. The sun and moon are no longer comforting constants to be viewed throughout the day and night, giving us a sense of timing and grander purpose. Gazing at the celestial bodies no longer gives us a daily dose of soul nurturing. We can’t even see the stars from a lot of places in our urban centres! The production/consumption cycle keeps us disconnected, as we buy things in the store without much thought about where they come from or who made them (although, this is changing to a certain extent). Driving is the way of life for most in North America, and people sometimes spend only minutes a day with their feet on the Earth. All this adds up to a lifestyle that exists as a sort of veneer over the natural world - never touching the earth (literally and figuratively), never getting our hands dirty, never listening to the cues of nature. Not that this is the fault of the people - it’s the way things have been set up, how things have been structured. And this is what now needs to be addressed. The further we get from the wisdom of the natural world and its cycles, the more of an imbalance is created. Addressing this imbalance is Libra territory.

At the same time, with the Libra - Capricorn squares, there is tension between getting along and getting things done. Capricorn has the material goal in mind at all times and strives for it, sometimes to the detriment of those things Libra rules - balance, harmony, relationship with others, social justice, beauty, enjoying life for what it is. The old saying “business and pleasure don’t mix” is one theme of the Libra - Capricorn relationship…probably from the Capricorn standpoint!

Again, though, there is a balance, as with all things. And there is a holistic whole that must be kept in mind. Nothing exists in a vacuum. Nothing can be severed or denied for the sake of the progress of something else - although this has often been tried and possibly with great “success.” In the end, though, we always pay the piper. We can spend 60 hours a week at the office, living on coffee and processed food. But our health and our relationships will eventually suffer. We can pour ourselves into work and buy into the obsessive focus and drive that is so valued in a corporate capitalist system, but in the end, we will realize how much we have missed, how many relationships we have let slide, and how we have been duped.

Keeping in mind the health of the holistic whole is what Saturn in Virgo is asking of us these days. Virgo relates to living close to the Earth, to natural cycles, in order to live in attune with “the flow” so to speak. Saturn in Virgo trines Jupiter in Capricorn September 8, bringing these themes into play, as well, and infusing Jupiter’s steps forward with these considerations. Here, we are challenged to bring those Virgoan principles into our structures, especially into our business practises. All parts, all aspects of life and self, matter. They all need to be taken into consideration - something that needs to be worked on in our “anything for money, status and power,” yang-heavy structures. Sustainability, “greening” business and corporate responsibility are all things coming into focus during Saturn in Virgo.

Pluto goes direct at the tail-end of Sagittarius the day after the Jupiter station, in the evening of September 8, but because both Pluto and Jupiter are almost motionless in this window of time, in effect, they are stationing at the same time, combining potent energies of transformation and expansion. This sets up the work of Pluto in Capricorn, which begins again in November. We are dredging up the beliefs that we have based our structures upon in the past and getting rid of what doesn't serve us anymore (after first looking it square in the eye), so that we can transform those structures to better suit our needs now and in the future.

Pluto spends a little shy of three more months in Sagittarius, and that is it for 248 years! It will continue its work of dredging up the deep, dark stuff and bringing it to light, forcing us to address things we often would prefer not to, confronting us with anything that is detrimental to the unfolding of new cycles of soul growth. Once confronted, we can cut away any dead weight that is holding us to old dynamics and free ourselves for regeneration and transformation. Again, in Sagittarius, these are things related to belief systems, concepts of “the truth,” religion, culture, higher education, foreign countries, and philosophy, among other things.

I think we are seeing this tail-end Pluto in Sagittarius dredging up quite a lot in politics - especially with the U.S. election coming up. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how honest elected officials are having to be about their personal beliefs and how their beliefs affect how they do things and the decisions they make. It seems to be going beyond polished political veneer - we may just be getting somewhere! (Although…it is politics…let’s not be too hasty.)

Venus and Mars come together in Libra September 11. Should be a nice supportive aspect balancing our personal will within our relationships. Also making sure that we are valued for what we do, especially for those things that often don’t have a dollar value in our society - building relationships, maintaining peace, making things beautiful, keeping things harmonious.

The Sun in Virgo opposes Uranus in Pisces September 12. This sets us up for the Full Moon in Pisces September 15. The Moon conjuncts Uranus in Pisces just before it becomes full on the 15th, and this conjunction infuses the entire Full Moon phase.

This Full Moon seems to be a culmination of the shocking shake-ups we’ve been dealing with as we enter the Aquarian paradigm. We're being "handed off" from Pisces to Aquarius and the changes have been challenging, to say the least. Bizarre, confusing and exhausting to be somewhat less diplomatic about it. Things can feel unbearable during a Full Moon as everything is brought to an emotional head, and in Pisces (conjunct Uranus), anything is possible! The veils will be thinner than usual and could stir up some karmic unpleasantness…odd events or becoming emotional or overwhelmed as we deal with odd events...psychic powers are strong…we will be very aware of the suffering going on on the planet as we move through these bumpy times, but we should also have the strength of Piscean faith to guide us through. When Pisces is strong in the sky, we often have to surrender and be carried along. Of course, with Virgo (Pisces' opposite sign) also strong this month, we have to participate actively. So here is the balance theme again - determining when to coast and when to dig in. We have to know what we can influence with our actions and what is beyond our conscious control. Navigating these times as an active participant but also knowing when to "give up" and let go of the wheel for a while.

Sometimes, the only solution to our problems is divine intervention, and this feels like one of those times.

The Fall Equinox happens September 22. The Sun enters Libra and the day and night hours are of equal length, perfectly balanced. Our focus now turns from self-improvement, personal health, role, function, service and general nitpicky Virgo navel-gazing for the sake of perfection to our relations with others, partnerships, balance, justice, peace.

The Libra energy has its work cut out for it creating balance and harmony these days!

Venus enters Scorpio September 23, a few hours before Mercury turns retrograde in Libra. Our relationships take on a bottom-line intensity and either get stronger or break apart. Anything holding us back from our highest soul-directed growth potential will fall away…or sometimes be stripped away in gut-wrenching ways. The more we hold on to what is dying, the more it hurts, so we must go through the process of Venus in Scorpio aware that we may be asked to cut to the bone for the sake of our own soul survival. This gets annoying to hear, I know. But there are processes at work right now so powerful that to try to buck the flow would cause some damage.

September 29, we have a New Moon in Libra. A new relationship cycle…whether new people are involved or new dynamics with the same crew. Ruled by Venus in Scorpio, this New Moon will start us in the direction of our most important soul growth…bringing new soul mate work to us through other people and finishing old cycles of it. Disengaging from people and relationship dynamics that are done and have lost their charge.

I wrote this about soul mate relationships and thought I would include it:

“Soul mates are the people with whom you have relationships based on mutual soul work that can't be done alone. It requires the coming together with another person (or animal) and interacting with the hope of getting something done that your soul desires to do/work through/complete. The feeling of familiarity with the person comes because your soul recognizes the person as someone you are meant to merge with in mutually beneficial ways - not necessarily for a long time, but until the charge has been played out. There is a emphasis on busting through karmically entrapping energetic dynamics with these types of relationships, working through issues and traps in relationship dynamics. They are not the types of relationships that necessarily always feel good. They are more about being in it for the long haul, until the work is done, working through the events that come up with a strong commitment to seeing it through. Family members, friends, work relationships, lovers, marriage partners...any relationship that challenges us and triggers us to grow or become better or stronger in certain ways in the ways our souls most desire can be a soul mate relationship.”

Soul desire is a big theme of Scorpio, and since Venus in Scorpio rules this New Moon, this is part of the flavour of what is beginning now.

The Sabian symbol for Venus’ place in Scorpio at the time of the New Moon is: Deep-Sea Divers with Special Machinery. This adds a little more interpretation...

“In the situation facing you, you may need to get deep below the surface to find out what’s really going on. It is down within your subconscious and intuitive wisdom that you must search for solutions…You may feel a huge pressure from the world you have dived into…You can handle the pressure as long as you are not pushing against it, or by changing your perceptions of that pressure…Remember, you have special machinery which can help you in this other world.”