September is a “6” Universal Month [9 (September) + 6 (2022) = 15 = 1+5=6] in a “6” universal year. The number 6 is all about striving for balance and harmony and you will see this general energy reflected throughout the month as it heightens the energy of our year. A lot has happened since January: both Mercury and Venus retrograded in Capricorn and Aquarius in conjunction with the planet Pluto, Venus then experienced a rough besiegement between Mars and Saturn in Aquarius, and we’ve been under the constant strain of year two of our Saturn-Uranus square which is being further activated by our lunar nodes in Taurus and Scorpio and our Sun, Mercury, and Venus every time that they transit one of the fixed signs. All of the stop/go push/pull energy that has been accumulating all year long is coming to a head and it is highlighting for us what isn’t working for us anymore so that we can either fix it or move on.
Like back in January, we will have to deal with a tenuous Mercury retrograde from air back into earth which highlights that talking about it isn’t enough – grounded action is in order at this time. Virgo likes to fix things – we can use this to our advantage.
The Set Up
We begin the month with the Sun in Virgo, Mercury in its pre-retrograde shadow in Libra, Venus in Leo, Mars in Gemini, Jupiter retrograde in Aries, Saturn retrograde in Aquarius, Uranus retrograde in Taurus, Neptune retrograde in Pisces, and Pluto retrograde in Capricorn. The big news bears are three-fold. One, the Saturn-Uranus square is deepening towards the point where our two giants will be within one degree of one another later this year. Two, Mercury will retrograde at 08° Libra this month and Mars will enter its shadow at 08° Gemini.
By month’s end, our Sun will be in Libra, and Mercury and Venus will reside in Virgo. All of our other planets will have remained in their respective signs otherwise. Other than the retrograde season shift, there isn’t a lot of other transit activity during the month of September which shows that the lunarly aspects may have greater influence than in some months.
The Details
If September feels flight and untethered, it is almost by design. There are relatively few aspects going on compared to the past few months which will strongly emphasize a few key points. The two main things to watch out for are our upcoming Mercury and Mars retrogrades (Mercury will retrograde this month and Mars at the end of October) and the continual impact that the moon is having on our ever-tightening Saturn-Uranus square. By mid-month, Saturn and Uranus will be within one degree of each other which is going to exert a lot of pressure. This is the same energy we’ve been experiencing for a year and a half now but it won’t release until Scorpio season – expect things to be tense all month long.
There isn’t a lot going on during the first half-week of September. On Thursday 9/1, Mars in Gemini makes a quick sextile to retrograde Jupiter in Aries which could be a quick windfall if you are willing to let it be but we are already being stressed by the moon in Scorpio opposing Uranus in Taurus late Thursday night and squaring off with Saturn early on Friday morning. Whatever it is, we want to do something about it. But wait.
Mars enters its shadow at 08° Gemini on Saturday. This is, in some ways, the Big News Bears of both the month of September and October. Mars will retrograde on 10/30 and will remain in backward motion through the rest of the year. This energy is very similar to that of our Saturn-Uranus square: you can’t get there from here.
This is Right on Time, even if it doesn’t feel this way. Mars retrogrades about every two years and was last retrograde in the fall of 2020 in the sign of Aries. Mars retrograde in Gemini is a reminder to think before you act. Or even, to think AFTER you act. Just think about your actions at all. This will be harder for some than others – perhaps especially hard for Aries and Scorpio types who aren’t on good terms with self-reflection or anybody who has Mars in Gemini in their natal charts.
This is the pre-retrograde shadow which means that we may find that we fall in a few more Marsian holes than normal. These things are our stopping points – the red flags and long nights – watch what comes up for you know and it will almost inevitably repeat itself as Mars retrogrades later this year and then, perhaps for a third time, when Mars is direct during 2023.
The first full week of September may feel liminal and deep. Mercury will be at a complete stand-still all week as our planet of communication and travel prepares to retrograde at 08° Libra on Friday 9/9. Note the recurring numbers here: Mars entering its shadow at 08° Gemini, Mercury retrograding at 08° Libra – though these two personal planets will not fall into aspect with each other during this time – they are both carrying with them some of the 8 energy of the ouroboros – the eternal cycle of repeated lessons throughout our lives. Mercury will be retrograde through the rest of the month (they station direct on 10/02) so keep in mind that everything may run a bit slower during this time. Check your work, proofread thrice, and don’t expect to travel in a straight line (no matter where you are going) – all of the standard Mercury retrograde “warnings” apply.
This energy will lead immediately into a nebulous full moon at 17° Pisces the next day on Saturday 9/10. This will be a great day for Neptunian activities like divination, pathfinding, meditation, or other very esoteric pursuits and not a whole lot else. This is energy better sat with than acted on though Saturn and Uranus may have other things in mind. I expect the energy of the full moon to be somewhat muted by this energy, somewhat deeper.
The energy going forward into the week on 9/12 is just going to deepen from there. On Wednesday, the moon in Taurus meets up with the North Node and retrograde Uranus and squares off with retrograde Saturn – this is the gong bell of the Saturn-Uranus square. We may feel the need to hunker down and get prepared for something – the energy will be intense and downward trending. Stay aware if you are prone to periods of melancholy. The Sun in Virgo will oppose retrograde Neptune in Pisces on Friday 9/16 which may be the nadir of this energy. Venus in Virgo will be squaring off with Mars in Gemini the same day which may direct our already downcast mode towards our others.
Something is coming to a culmination all month. September, being a Number 9 month, is by its nature a month of endings. We will all get a peek at fate on the weekend of 9/17 – the day after Venus and Mars square, Venus will trine the North Node and Mars will sextile Chiron. Two paths are diverging in the woods – if you take the less traveled one, you will be walking the path of the Wanderer (retrograde Mercury, aka Mercury Chthonia) but as always, the choice is up to you.
On Sunday 9/18, the Sun in Virgo trines retrograde Pluto in Capricorn and retrograde Mercury opposes retrograde Jupiter. We will all likely still be very in it but if you have found your path, there is a way forward. Trust the white rabbit.
By now, the energy is getting so deep that it’s almost subterranean. That won’t happen until 9/23 when the Sun and Mercury cross each other at 00° Libra in opposite directions and then Mercury moves backward into the mutable earth sign of Virgo. This is a beautiful actualization of the seasonal energy that we Northern Hemisphere witches and other magical practitioners associate with the turning of the seasons. It is almost as if Mercury is kindly taking our hands and bringing us into the Hallows season.
But then, once you step over the threshold you realize that you were already here. It’s just going to be that kind of month.
Keep your traveling protections on all month if you’re the superstitious type. Take a walk around your neighborhood to remind yourself that every day is a journey. Be in the moment. This astrological weather calls for reverence and awareness. These retrogrades are a gift from the sky gods – you just have to let them be. You just have to breathe with the planets rather than struggle against them.
We’ll be feeling it all month, there’s no way around it. Venus in Virgo opposes Neptune on Saturday 9/24 while the dark moon moves through Virgo. You may not be the same person that you were at the start of September – embrace that. That is the journey.
The new moon at 02° Libra on Sunday 9/26 will be uncharacteristically deep for a Libra lunar event. Though many of us are drawn together during Autumn, we may find a need for solitude that is uncharacteristic for the season. Mercury is still conjunct to the Sun and Moon but they will be out of phase in some way due to their separate signs. We need to go back to the drawing board about something. Somebody might be getting critical. Try to keep egos out of it and let retrograde Mercury do its best work. The Sun and Moon may try to turn the fix-it energy onto their relationships but that isn’t wise unless all members of that relationship are amenable to a great deal of scrutiny and stress.
Monday 9/26 might be the pick of the month. That said, we might all be too exhausted to utilize its energy. Mercury and Venus meet up in Virgo and for a trine to Pluto in Capricorn, and the Sun in Libra opposes retrograde Jupiter in Aries. If you’re willing to let all the chips fall where they may, this is a day to have a good day. If you’re not, proceed with caution.
Mercury makes its second trine to Pluto in Capricorn on Tuesday 9/27 which may feel like a big hit from the fate train. Pluto, our planet of death and transformation, has had an intricate part in all three of Mercury’s retrograde cycles this year. If something comes to the surface from January-February or April-May that you thought was dead and buried, that’s why. Mars in Geminis trine to Saturn the next day shows that even if we want to do something about it, we probably won’t be able to muster the energy to get anywhere.
Out of gas. I don’t even know what that means but somebody needed to hear it.
Getting nowhere fast. By month’s end, September may feel like a blur. You might wonder where your time went or what you were doing. If you have a lot of deadlines for the month, get on them early and try to set a soft deadline of 9/9 (the date of the retrograde) for the first drafts of anything written. Don’t push things and you’ll get there eventually.
The Nitty Gritty
9/1 – Mars in Gemini sextile retrograde Jupiter in Aries, Moon in Scorpio opposed retrograde Uranus in Taurus
9/2 – Mercury in Libra opposed retrograde Jupiter in Aries, Moon in Scorpio square retrograde Saturn in Aquarius
9/3 – Mars enters its pre-retrograde shadow, 08° Gemini
9/8 – Moon in Aquarius conjunct retrograde Saturn and square retrograde Uranus in Taurus
9/9 – Mercury retrogrades, 08° Libra
9/10 – Full moon 17° Pisces
9/11 – Sun in Virgo trine retrograde Uranus in Taurus, Moon in Aries opposed retrograde Mercury in Libra
9/14 – Moon in Taurus conjunct retrograde Uranus, square to retrograde Saturn in Aquarius
9/15 – Saturn square Uranus intensifies (within 1°)
9/16 – Sun in Virgo opposes retrograde Neptune in Pisces, Venus in Virgo square Mars in Gemini
9/17 – Venus in Virgo trine North Node in Taurus, Mars in Gemini sextile Chiron in Aries
9/18 – Sun in Virgo trine retrograde Pluto in Capricorn, Retrograde Mercury in Libra opposed retrograde Jupiter in Aries
9/20 – Venus in Virgo trine retrograde Uranus in Taurus
9/22 – Moon in Leo square retrograde Uranus in Taurus, opposed retrograde Saturn in Aquarius
9/23 – Sun conjunct retrograde Mercury at 00° Libra, retrograde Mercury enters Virgo
9/24 – Venus in Virgo opposed retrograde Neptune in Pisces
9/25 – New moon 02° Libra
9/26 – Sun in Libra opposed retrograde Jupiter in Aries, Retrograde Mercury conjunct Venus 26° Virgo, Venus in Virgo trine retrograde Pluto in Capricorn
9/27 – Retrograde Mercury in Virgo trine retrograde Pluto in Capricorn
9/28 – Mars in Gemini trine retrograde Saturn in Aquarius
9/29 – Moon in Scorpio opposed retrograde Uranus in Taurus, square retrograde Saturn in Aquarius