October is a “9” Universal Month [10 (October) + 8 (2024) = 18 = 1+8=9] in a “8” Universal Year. In numerology, “9” is the number of completions and endings. For some, big projects will finally be coming to fruition. Others of us may be dealing with endings, for good or ill. This aligns with the month’s astrological energy, which includes our last solar eclipse in Libra in this lunar node cycle and some significant planetary shifts.
The Set Up
We begin the month with the Sun and Mercury in Libra, Venus in Scorpio, Mars in Cancer, Jupiter in Gemini, retrograde Saturn and Neptune in Pisces, retrograde Uranus in Taurus, and retrograde Pluto in Capricorn. By month’s end, the Sun and Mercury will have moved into Scorpio and Venus into Sagittarius. Additionally, Jupiter will have retrograded, and Pluto will station direct. Mars will also have entered its pre-retrograde shadow in Cancer.
The Nitty Gritty
The month begins with a bang with a solar eclipse at 10° Libra on the second. Otherwise, all eyes are on Pluto, who is on its last legs in Capricorn for the next two months, and Mars, who is entering its pre-retrograde shadow. These three events not only set the tone for the month but will ripple through the rest of the year and into the coming one ahead.
Our Lights: The Sun and the Moon
The Sun will spend 3/4 of the month in the cardinal air sign of Libra and the last bit in the fixed water sign of Scorpio. This is our last Libra season before our lunar nodes switch to the Pisces-Aries axis in January of 2025, and we all have one final reckoning to meet around the themes of independence vs. togetherness. We’re coming out of a pandemic that highlighted both ends of this spectrum: on the one hand, we all felt the loneliness and isolation of the quarantine times, but on the other, it took a considerable amount of working together to create and distribute novelle vaccines to the entire world. We all got a deeper glimpse into how big and how small our lives really are. How interconnected, but also how separate.
I don’t mean to downplay this event or the trauma it has caused us all, but instead, to emphasize its complexity. What I have found the most fascinating about these past four years is how differently people experienced and synthesized these moments—sometimes even people who lived in the same house as one another! When somebody we loved could understand our experience with the pandemic, we felt more connected; when they did not, we felt more isolated.
Although this certainly isn’t over, it IS a good analogy for what is happening inside all of us and what is being highlighted by this last Libra eclipse on the Aries-Libra axis. All of us, every human on this planet, have a baseline of where we fall on the individuality to connectedness scale. Some of this comes straight out of our natal birth charts – Aries, often, are quite independent, and Libras are most certainly not. But our backgrounds, experiences, triumphs, and traumas all shape who we are and what we are comfortable with. We have all been forced to look at where we fall on this scale; we have all been weighed, and some of us have been found wanting. I don’t mean to imply a universal right or wrong in this regard, but there may often be for a certain place at a certain time.
Then you have two choices: You can adapt, or you can leave and find a place that is more to your liking.
Because the Aries-Libra axis is one of independence and connectedness, relationships have been on the hot seat for a long two years. Many of us really had to consider whether what we were doing (and with whom we were doing it) was worth the sunk cost. I don’t just mean Big R Romantic relationships here, either. All human interactions are relationships. Some will be worth every effort we put into them. And others were never worth our time.
All of this will come to a head leading into our solar eclipse on 10/02 because Libra is the sign of relationships and togetherness. This is a mixed energy eclipse as it involves the energy of a new moon conjunct to the energy of the South Node, our axis of past-facing fate. Also, our two relationship signs (Venus in Scorpio and Mars in Cancer) will be in a wide grand trine with retrograde Saturn in Pisces. Many people will ask themselves, “Is this really meant to be?” and likely coming up short. Because, after all, is ANYTHING truly meant to be? This astrologer says no, not that way anyway; that’s just not how fate works.
But this isn’t a post about synastry and how we fulfill lessons in each other’s lives. It’s about the cosmic, often overdue, realization that you cannot live for another person – you must live for yourself. That’s the lesson of our North Node in Aries, and we’re almost out of time.
Some relationships will end in and around the solar eclipse, that’s just the way of things. It may be hard, and it may really fucking hurt. But people who can’t agree on what a relationship means, who can’t bend and align to live a life together with interconnectedness rather than codependence, well, they really aren’t meant to be, aren’t they?
I know that there are some Libra types out there who have never learned this lesson and who are very mad at me for writing this. What can I say? I have an Aries moon. That’s my bias. Do you know what yours is?
This new moon is a 5/5 moon.
7 (Libra moon) + 7 (Libra Sun) = 14 – 1+4 = 5.
5 (Libra new moon) + 9 (October 2024) = 14 = 1+4 =5.
5 is a bit of a warning, a conflict number. This aligns with the energy of the eclipse pretty seamlessly. It’s not that what is meant to be is easy, per se, but when you are well aligned, you can get through conflicts easily. Pay attention to that during the eclipse and the days surrounding it.
Otherwise, our Sun squares off with Mars in Cancer on 10/14, which will be a rough-and-tumble fighty sort of day. Be ready to get into it, or step the fuck out of the way. You might be able to channel this cardinal energy into a project if you’ve got a well-aspected Mars in your natal birth chart but don’t push your luck with other people during this time. The Sun’s trine with Jupiter on the 13th may smooth things over, but only if you’re especially lucky. (Jupiter is retrograde and in its exile, after all)
Our full moon on 10/17 falls at 24° Aries and will pull in a lot of energy from our Sun-Mars square and our total solar eclipse last April through the Moon’s conjunction with Chiron. Our solar eclipse was at 19° Aries and was part of a major stellium between the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, and Chiron. Now slow-moving Chiron is still sitting at 21°, holding that wound.
This is an 8/8 full moon.
1 (Aries Moon) + 7 (Libra Sun) = 8.
8 (Aries Full Moon) + 9 (October 2024) = 17 = 1+7 = 8.
8 is the number of the ouroboros and the infinity sign; it is a reminder that what comes around goes around. Everything that goes up must come back down, and vice versa. Expect the highest highs and the lowest lows on an 8 moon, which is a double 8 moon. You can work with the Stength card or the Wheel of Time in the tarot to further this energy.
As the Sun prepares to exit Libra on 10/22, it forms a quick square with Pluto in Capricorn, repeating the theme of endings this month. Pluto is the planet of death and transformation, and he will be in Capricorn for a scant two months more for the next two hundred years! If you couldn’t put it down on the eclipse, do it now.
This energy will shift rapidly as we exit our very last eclipse cycles and enter Scorpio season. Things may get dark and moody, but they will certainly feel less fated as our luminaries pull away from our lunar nodes.
Mars
Mars gets near-to-the-top billing this month as it enters its pre-retrograde shadow on 10/04. This retrograde will occur between 06° Leo and 17° Cancer, so the switchover from cardinal to fixed sign will be in the hot seat for the next seven months. You read that right: 7 months from 10/2 when Mars enters its pre-retrograde shadow to 5/2 when it exits its post-retrograde cycle.
I feel like we’re in for a reminder here. All retrogrades happen in three stages as the planet will pass over the same points in the horoscope wheel thrice: first in forward motion (the pre-retrograde shadow), secondly when moving backward in retrograde, and thirdly as it moves forward the final time in its post-retrograde shadow. This is why (how?) retrogrades tend to bring with them our deepest lessons: any aspect that Mars makes with your chart will happen three times in the next seven months.
I will explore this energy more in my Mars retrograde Update, but the transition from cardinal to fixed signs is one of actualization. Cardinal signs are the searching signs and the first signs of the season. Fixed signs are the root signs; they take what the cardinal sign has uncovered and plant it/make it solid. Mars is the planet of action. Retrogrades are a time of re-s: we get to rethink, revise, revisit, renovate.
Mars will be in the pre-retrograde shadow phase for the entire month. During this phase, Mars will be in aspect with all of our personal planets and Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and Chiron. Because this astrological event lasts for seven months, we can acknowledge the Sun, Moon, Mercury, and Venus as a part of this story. However, we know they will be across the horoscope and into Taurus season by the time this transit resolves. Our outer planets and Chiron move much slower; they are the meat of this retrograde cycle.
This is looking ahead a lotta bit (but this will go until May 2025 so stay with me here), but this theme of hoovering on the edge between two planets (which Mars will now embody) has been in place all year as Pluto moves back and forth over the line between Capricorn and Aquarius. Now, looking ahead to 2025, Uranus will do so on the line between Taurus and Gemini and Neptune between Pisces and Aries. On top of that, our lunar nodes change signs in January!
Mars can get a little bit off of its game when so much is going on. Mars is also in its fall in Cancer., where it will be all month.
If you don’t know where to turn or what path to take, know you are right on time. It’s frustrating AF, I’m sure, but it is a part of the process. As we transition into this new era, many of us are finding that the ground underneath us has shifted. What made sense before may not make sense now.
You can consider these next seven months our planetary adjustment zone.
Things to remember: Cancer is considered the fall of Mars because the crab doesn’t move in a straight line. The crab is also known for holding on for dear life, so maybe work on loosening that death grip (you know what I mean if that is intended for you).
This will affect everyone because Mars is one of our personal planets. Mars is also the one personal planet that is beyond the Earth, which means that it works a little bit differently from Mercury and Venus. Mars isn’t tied to the Sun, which seems important to note here. These are the people that will be most affected by our Mars retrograde. Note here that you may have more than one and each compounds.
- Anyone with Sun, Moon, or Ascendant between 00-06° of the fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius) or 17-29° of the cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn) with additional emphasis on Cancer and Leo/conjunctions
- Anyone with Mars in those degrees of any sign (but the ones listed above most specifically)
- Anyone with Mercury of Venus in those signs/degrees
- Any Aries or Scorpio Sun or Moon
- Anyone with a Mars dominant chart
- Anyone with a luminary or personal planet between 00-06° Aries and Sagittarius or 17-29° Scorpio and Pisces
I’ll get into what this means more as we start working through this transit (I have seven months to write about it, apparently), but it’s time to become aware right now. And to give yourself grace is your work – whatever that means to you – happens more slowly.
Mercury
Mercury will be in Libra until the 13th when it enters Scorpio. In Libra, it will square off with Mars in Cancer, which may make the days around the 6th challenging and bitey. The next day, it will trine Jupiter in Gemini, so this likely won’t have any lasting effects.
Before it enters Scorpio, it will square Pluto on 10/13. I think this may feel like a bit of a release. This is the last time Mercury will square Pluto while Pluto is still in Capricorn. This day may feel somber, as if the hollows are extra hollow. You can work with that.
Mercury in Scorpio trines retrograde Saturn in Pisces on 10/22, reminding us of where we’ve been and how far we have come in the last four years. This will sit better with some people than with others, and it may be a deeply emotional day for some. At the end of the month, Mercury meets up with Neptune and Uranus as it begins to make moves to switch signs again. This could be intense for some, but it will mostly pass uneventfully.
Venus
While Mars is mired in its pre-retrograde shadow all month in Cancer, we look to Venus to see if we will get anywhere at all. Both Venus and Mars are our two movement planets; their interactions with each other show us how we attract (Venus) and go out and get (Mars) what we want. The world will run a bit smoother when Venus and Mars are better aligned. People will get along better. The two, especially poorly maligned, have indications for war and other human-made calamities.
Venus begins the month in the fixed water sign Scorpio until 10/17, when it enters the mutable fire sign of Sagittarius. As the Morning Star, Venus is at full speed, rushing ahead of the Sun. For as long as the Sun is in Libra, Venus will be our guiding planet, and she will be the intense watery depths of Scorpio. Note here that this is the sign of Venus’s exile as it is the opposite sign of Taurus, its domain.
Venus in Scorpio can be quixotic and demanding. She may not tell you what she really wants but instead, expect the world to read her mind. Monsters are lurking in those depths. She does have magnetism, though, something that Venus LIKES. This may be why Scorpio is the sign of Venus’s exile; Venus loves the power that Scorpio provides her, and that much is clear. The problem comes when the rest of the world doesn’t exactly enjoy how she is yielding that power.
Great responsibility and all that…
Venus in Scorpio trines Mars in Cancer on 10/08, which is generally indicative of lovey-dovey weather. It’s worth noting here that retrograde Saturn is a part of this equation and in a grand trine to them both during this event. Yeah, sure, love might be in the air, but consequences are also on the table. This is echoed twice as Mars has just entered his pre-retrograde shadow. Stay aware of who you cuddle up with during this time; what glitters may not be gold.
If you’ve said yes before and the two of you love getting mushy together, this will be a great day to have a watery date. Real Valentine’s Day energy. But, like with V-Day, it may be better to sit it out of you don’t trust your potential date. And definitely don’t sign any contracts (romantically speaking).
We will still be a bit hung over from our solar eclipse, which was all about the pitfalls of relationships. Don’t do somebody that day just to have somebody to do it, if you catch my drift.
Venus will lighten up some once she enters Sagittarius, but she, too, needs to come clean with Pluto on the way out of Scorpio. Again, some romantic relationships are not meant to make it all the way to November this year. This square with Pluto will be the last time Venus makes a major aspect with Pluto before it exits Capricorn next month.
In Sagittarius, she immediately trines the North Node, again, for the last time before the North Nodes switch signs in January. There are a lot of endings here.
After that, Venus in Sag squares off with retrograde Saturn in Pisces, putting even more tension on the consequences and endings we are experiencing all month.
Jupiter
On 10/09, Jupiter will station retrograde at 21° Gemini. As one of our intermediary planets, Jupiter retrogrades aren’t felt as deeply as those of our personal planets. The days immediately around this retrograde may feel liminal or a bit uneasy, as always happens when a planet stands still in the skies. Jupiter – the planet of expansion – is weaker while it is in retrograde, compounded by the fact that it is in the sign of its exile (Gemini).
Pluto
On 10/11, Pluto will station direct at 29° Capricorn. This is a big shift as it is the final curtain call on our Pluto-in-Capricorn era. In November, Pluto will move into Aquarius for the last time in this cycle. Outer planetary shifts happen very slowly; Pluto changes signs every 15-30 years. It’s the end of an era. Most people won’t feel this personally as this is our outer most dwarf planet, but the effects of this will ripple forward through 2025 and beyond.
The Details
10/02 – Solar Eclipse 10° Libra
10/04 – Venus in Scorpio trine retrograde Saturn in Pisces, Mars enters its pre-retrograde shadow 17° Cancer
10/06 – Mercury in Libra square Mars in Cancer
10/08 – Mercury in Libra trine Jupiter in Gemini, Venus in Scorpio trine Mars in Cancer
10/09 – Jupiter retrogrades 21° Gemini
10/11 – Pluto stations direct 29° Capricorn
10/12 – Retrograde Jupiter in Gemini sextile Chiron in Aries
10/13 – Mercury enters Scorpio, Sun in Libra trine retrograde Jupiter in Gemini, Mercury in Libra square Pluto in Capricorn, Mars in Cancer square Chiron in Aries
10/14 – Sun in Libra square Mars in Cancer, Venus in Scorpio opposed retrograde Uranus in Taurus
10/15 – Venus in Scorpio trine retrograde Neptue in Pisces
10/17 – Full Moon 24° Aries, Venus in Scorpio sextile Pluto in Capricorn, Venus enters Sagittarius
10/21 – Venus in Sagittarius trine North Node in Aries
10/22 – Sun enters Scorpio, Sun in Libra square Pluto in Capricorn, Mercury in Scorpio trine retrograde Saturn in Pisces
10/25 – Mars in Cancer sextile retrograde Uranus in Taurus
10/28 – Venus in Sagittarius square retrograde Saturn in Pisces, Mars in Cancer trine retrograde Neptune in Pisces
10/30 – Mercury in Scorpio opposed retrograde Uranus in Taurus
10/31 – Mercury in Scorpio trine retrograde Neptune in Pisces
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