October is a “1” Universal Month [10 (October) + 9 (2025) = 19 = 1+9 = 10 = 1+0=1] in a “9” Universal Year. We are finally getting a respite after a rough eclipse season and some major action with our outer planets that are cresting the boundaries between signs. This is the cleanup phase, also known as the new beginning that follows the intense endings we’ve been experiencing as our personal planets move across the South Node. We are not out of the woods yet, but we are getting there.
The Set Up
We begin October with the Sun and Mercury in Leo, Venus in Virgo, Mars in Scorpio, retrograde Saturn in Pisces, retrograde Neptune in Aries, Uranus in Gemini, and retrograde Pluto in Aquarius. This is a month of major planetary transitions: the Sun enters Scorpio, Mercury moves into Libra and then Scorpio, Venus enters Libra, and retrograde Neptune enters Pisces from the back end. Pluto also stations direct at 01° Aquarius, and Mercury enters their pre-retrograde shadow.
The Nitty Gritty
Our personal planets are all bunched up from Virgo to Scorpio all month long, which is tightening and focusing our energies on the natural transitions associated with the end of summer, moving into autumn. Something is really and truly over – symbolized by what has been an exceptionally harsh eclipse season that is heavily highlighting our South Node in Virgo – and it is time to move on and discover what our lives have in store for us in the aftermath. Although this looks easier than eclipse season, it is by no means easy. Each of our personal planets meets up with retrograde Saturn this month, a signal that there is work to be done and demands to be met.
Saturn
All eyes are still on Saturn, which is now moving retrograde through Pisces, the last sign of the horoscope. Like all retrogrades, this is covering old ground, lessons that we should (perhaps) have already learned but need to revisit for some reason or another. This is putting a lot of stress on the last degrees of the signs – before a planet can exit a sign, they must meet up with (and be judged) by Saturn.
Saturn is not at its best in Pisces, which is mostly immorphous water and quite adverse to the state of exactitude and consequence that Saturn naturally provides. Pisces, ruled by Jupiter and Neptune, would rather dream big and hopefully never face the results of their often maladaptive musings. That’s definitely the easy road, but there really is no easy when Saturn is involved.
The big flex here is to change before you have to, but the “have to” side of that sentence may have long since passed. Saturn is the planetary reminder that certain things will happen no matter how much you might fight against or hide from them. Aging, for example, happens to all of us.
Or, at least, all of us who live long enough to age. That’s a secret to Saturn that few seem to remember – Saturn times can (and perhaps should) be reviewed with some level of pride. You have lived long enough to face the consequences of your past actions. Congratulations, you’ve made it.
Our Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars will all share Saturnian aspects this month, which shows that this measuring of fate continues despite our movements away from the lunar nodes. For the average person, the eclipses happened outside of our homes – they were strikingly impersonal (they sure as fuck showed up in the national and international news though!). Now, in the aftermath, we need to come to an understanding of how what is happening in the world affects us in our lives, our hearts, and in our homes.
Adjustments must be made. Limitations should be acknowledged. With Saturn at the forefront of most of our essential aspects all month long, we can anticipate that some people will have to make some difficult decisions. The big flex this month (as it always is when Saturn is heavily in play) is to own your own shit while having iron boundaries about the things that are NOT your own shit. Stay in your own lane and (for the love of all of the gods) use your blinker.
Our Saturn aspects happen in the following order:
10/05 – Moon conjunct Saturn 27° Pisces
10/11 – Venus in Virgo opposed Saturn in Pisces
10/24-10/25 – Mercury in Scorpio trine Jupiter in Cancer and Saturn in Pisces (water grand trine)
10/28-10/29 – Mars in Scorpio trine Jupiter in Cancer and Saturn in Pisces (water grand trine)
Overall, we should note the trend from more difficult (Moon conjunct and Venus opposed) to easier (Mercury and Mars grand trines). We can infer from this that the farther we get from our eclipses, the easier this energy will feel. Mind you, Saturnian energy is never easy, but the grand trine with Jupiter in its exaltation in Cancer will do a lot to smooth things over. (Okay class – let’s all say “Thank you Jupiter!”)
Saturn has been in a play all year long as it crept ever closer to our big hitter degrees of the year at 29° Pisces and 00° Aries. By now, I assume most of us have figured out what it is what we need to be working on during this major transition. If not, you can look to where late Pisces/early Aries falls in your chart and to any planets which have strong aspects to these degrees. This month, Saturn will be sitting from 27°-25° Pisces. This is as far back as Saturn will go; they will hold 25° until 11/27 when they station direct and begin their last forward movement out of Pisces, crossing the threshold of the start of the horoscope, and onward into Aries, sign #1, for the last time. Saturn enters 00° Aries on 2/13 – do the work now so that you don’t have to do it then.
The Lights: the Sun and the Moon
The Sun is thankfully relatively unaspected as it moves through our skies this month. We got enough activation through eclipse season, and we can use a fucking break. Our Libra Sun will oppose Chiron before it moves out of the sign, which reminds us that the world hurts right now (we don’t need the reminder) and then will square off with retrograde Pluto in Aquarius once it enters Scorpio. Neither of these two is a significant big deal by any means, but both may contribute to the itchy emotional vibes we will be experiencing all month long.
Our Aries full moon on 10/06 is an 8/9 full moon.
1 (Aries Moon) + 7 (Libra Sun) = 8.
8 (Aries full moon) + 1 (October 2025) = 9.
The full moon is relatively unaspected at 14° Aries, but it does coincide with Mercury’s ingress into Scorpio and an inevitable square to retrograde Pluto in Aquarius. This is our first lunation after eclipse season, and it’s in the sign of Aries – where Saturn must eventually return early next year. This feels like it will be a mixed lunation – very freeing for some (especially Aries types who Saturn has not already pressed), but feels like a pretty severe eclipse hangover for others. Acknowledge where you are on this journey and act accordingly. Chiron is widely conjunct to this lunation as well, letting us know that some people may be licking their wounds.
Our Libra new moon on 10/21 is a 5/6 new moon.
7 (Libra moon) + 7 (Libra Sun) = 14 – 1+4 = 5.
5 (Libra new moon) + 1 (October 2025) = 6.
At 28° Libra, this lunation is making (mostly off-element) aspects to all of our outer planets: it inconjuncts Saturn in Pisces, Neptune in Aries, Uranus in Gemini, and squares Pluto in Aquarius. (In this case, off-element means the aspects are in the wrong sign: Libra is not naturally inconjunct to Aries and Gemini) The energy feels highly changed and prickly; all anxiety with no cause. This dark moon also picks up a lot of the energy of the hollows season. This is a dark day to do dark things.
The Personal Planets
We’re seeing the most play this month out of our personal planets, which have all taken a back seat in the months prior due to eclipse season and Saturn’s travails, but are happy to resume their duty of creating our daily vibes.
Mercury is moving fast towards their inevitable next retrograde (moving from Libra to Scorpio to Sag this month), catching up with and passing Mars in Scorpio in the process. Venus still rounds out our pack of movable planets as she plays catch-up in Virgo before entering her home sign of Libra.
From 10/13 until the end of the month, we will have Venus in her home sign and Mars in his, in conjoining signs. This is the best augury we’ve had for social grease and a note of diplomacy in quite some time. Venus and Mars have shared some tense squares this year; it’s time that they meet up and make amends.
Venus has a difficult road this month. She conjuncts the South Node at 16° Virgo on 10/03, the last of our movable planets to do so. This may spell some domestic trouble, especially early in the moon. She then opposes retrograde Saturn in Pisces on 10/11 before entering Libra on 10/13.
Mercury and Mars, while in Scorpio, move more in lock step with one another, conjunct to one another on 10/20 (THE best day to do magic all month long) and then each meeting up in a water grand trine with Jupiter and Saturn. These repeating grand trines won’t be fabulous days of wonder, but they are the cosmic right time to fix your shit and get realigned with life coming out of these rougher transits from August and September.
Mercury enters their pre-retrograde shadow at 20° Scorpio on 10/21 (the day of the new moon) and enters Sagittarius, the sign of their fall, on 10/29. That’s mostly November’s problem, but we may be feeling the stirrings of their retrograde as we near the end of the month.
Neptune
Neptune has been retrograde for a while and is now setting up at 00° Aries, about to retrograde back into 29° Pisces on 10/22. This is the weakest of any of the 29°/00° dates I have talked about all year, but it is worth mentioning all of the same because if you’ve been religiously working these degrees, we are in the zone of the next opportunity. A reminder: 00° Aries is the first degree of the horoscope, and 29° Pisces is the last.
Looking Forward
November will be dominated by Mercury’s retrograde, which will trine Jupiter and Saturn (water grand trine) three times as well as conjunct the Sun, Venus, and Mars during its retrograde phase. We are moving on, though slowly. There will be a lot to think about during November as we adjust to the new normal.
The Details
10/01 – Mercury in Libra square Jupiter in Cancer
10/03 – Mercury in Libra opposed Chiron in Aries, Venus in Virgo conjunct South Node 16° Virgo
10/06 – Full Moon 14° Aries, Mercury enters Scorpio
10/07 – Mercury in Scorpio square retrograde Pluto in Aquarius
10/08 – Venus in Virgo sextile Jupiter in Cancer
10/11 – Venus in Virgo opposed retrograde Saturn in Pisces
10/13 – Venus enters Libra, Venus in Libra opposed retrograde Neptune in Aries, Pluto stations direct 01° Aquarius
10/14 – Venus in Libra trine retrograde Uranus in Gemini, Venus in Libra trine Pluto in Aquarius (air grand trine)
10/15 – Mars in Scorpio trine North Node in Pisces
10/17 – Sun in Libra square Jupiter in Cancer, Sun in Libra opposed Chiron in Aries (cardinal t-square), Mercury in Scorpio trine South Node in Pisces
10/20 – Mercury conjunct Mars 19° Scorpio
10/21 – New Moon 28° Libra, Mercury enters its pre-retrograde shadow 20° Scorpio
10/22 – Sun enters Scorpio, Retrograde Neptune enters Pisces
10/23 – Jupiter in Cancer square Chiron in Aries
10/24 – Sun in Scorpio square Pluto in Aquarius, Mercury in Scorpio trine Jupiter in Aries (water grand trine)
10/25 – Mercury in Scorpio trine retrograde Saturn in Pisces (water grand trine)
10/28 – Mars in Scorpio trine Jupiter in Cancer (water grand trine)
10/29 – Mercury in Scorpio trine retrograde Neptune in Pisces, Mercury enters Sagittarius, Mercury in Sagittarius opposed retrograde Uranus in Gemini, Mars in Scorpio trine retrograde Saturn in Pisces (water grand trine)
10/30 – Mercury in Sagittarius sextile Pluto in Aquarius