From Eclipse Hangovers to Spiritual Reboots: How October’s Astrology Is Shaking Things Up
Are you feeling an emotional hangover from September’s lunar eclipse in Pisces? You’re not alone. Eclipses open a potent portal of release, renewal, and transformation. As you step into October, I encourage you to rest, reflect, and expect the unexpected.
“Leaves and leaving call October home,” once wrote Palestinian-American poet and Scorpio Suheir Hammad. October starts on the heels of the autumnal equinox, signaling a shift to shorter days and longer nights. Leaves change color, plants gradually decay, flowers shed their petals, animals prepare to hibernate, and the wind carries a cold chill.
Nature is all around us, cueing us to embrace the entire life cycle and flow through change. Transformation is a painful, awkward, and nonlinear process.
October’s astrology requires us to shed old, worn-out skin to accommodate new growth.
Libra season initiates the last quarter of the year, a time to bring balance, beauty, and harmony into our daily lives. It also demands a reckoning with our values, commitments, and relationships.
We’re being asked to turn conflict into connection and stay with the trouble instead of settling for false peace. The good news? This spooky season’s night vision may just be the wake-up call we need to realign ourselves on our souls’ path.
On October 2nd, we have the final south node solar eclipse in Libra. This is the last of a trilogy of eclipses that started on October 14th, 2023. Look back to identify the lessons you’ve been learning in relationships this past year. As a justice-oriented sign, Libra also reveals where our relationships are misaligned with our core values.
How are the injustices in our world mirrored in the power imbalances within our relationships and vice versa? Conversely, how can we initiate meaningful social change by healing our relationships?
The North and South Nodes are two celestial points of karma that have been mythologized as the head and tail of a dragon. The dragon’s tail is a point of sacrifice, surrender, and letting go.
With the solar eclipse near the south node, we’ll be asked to release any behaviors, beliefs, and attachments that no longer serve us. Consider taking time to answer Audre Lorde’s “Questionnaire to Oneself” and dare to speak your truth even at the risk of being misunderstood.
This month, Venus and Jupiter, the “benefic” planets known for their favorable influences, are debilitated.
Even the Sun and Mars are on the struggle bus. When a planet is debilitated, it doesn’t have access to the resources it needs to satisfy its planetary duties.
For instance, Venus, the planet of love, is in Scorpio until October 17th, when it descends into the underworld. Venus in Scorpio invites us into what historian and astrologer Richard Tarnas calls “the deep night sea journey,” where “you have to risk everything, you have to experience yourself burning to ashes before you can be revivified through the mysterious grace of the life process.”
Venus in Scorpio puts us in contact with our shadow, surfacing hidden desires and secrets to face and integrate. Scorpio venom contains both deadly neurotoxins and healing compounds that can help fight bacterial infections. This is the complexity of Venus in Scorpio. It is a signature capable of immense destruction and regeneration.
How can a personal or social crisis precipitate necessary change and transformation?
Before Venus moves into Sagittarius on October 17th, tap into its mysterious and powerful Scorpionic energy.
On October 9th, Jupiter, the planet of good fortune, expansion, and wisdom, will station retrograde in Gemini, prompting us to review our spiritual beliefs and philosophies before forging ahead. Rather than depend on celestial luck, we must create our own. This potential crisis in faith can be a call to trade blind optimism for a durable hope that honors grief.
What is our collective burnout trying to tell us? How do we sit with our difficult feelings before rushing to joy and resilience?
After an intense start to the month, Jupiter forms a harmonious trine to the Sun on October 13th, providing a much-needed day of increased goodwill and abundance. This bright spot resources the parts of us that may feel depleted and drained from the South Node solar eclipse.
Fill up on the good stuff, and remember to cherish moments of ease and sweetness as they come.
Scorpio season kicks off on October 22nd, and the veil between realms thins. In the weeks leading up to Dia de los Muertos, we prepare our ofrendas, or altars, to honor our dead and rejoin our departed loved ones.
Maraṇasati is a Buddhist meditation practice that involves remembering the ever-present potential of death in order to accept the impermanent nature of everything. Both traditions embody the spirit of Scorpio season, which holds death as a sacred affirmation of life.
Gather your velas, marigolds, and pan de muerto and celebrate life by making an offering to the dead.
Here’s your October Horoscope. (Read for your Rising and Sun signs)
Aries
Aries, you’ve been learning how to balance relationships with your own needs for independence. Which creative collaborators and romantic partners feel most aligned with your purpose? This month, you will be asked to let go of any lingering patterns, habits, and attachments that are holding you back from stepping more fully into your power. October brings a cosmic graduation in your public roles, career, and reputation. Listen to the stirrings of your heart’s desire about who you want to become and give yourself the time, space, and rest to prepare for a new beginning.
Taurus
Taurus, you have been cultivating self-trust by journeying into the unknown and navigating unexpected and sudden changes in work, love, and even the bigger spiritual and philosophical questions that inform your values. Betting on yourself has been transformative, but it hasn’t been easy or comfortable. Find ways to self-soothe this month as you continue to ride the turbulent waves of change with grace. As a fixed earth sign, you require deep rest to regenerate before charging ahead. Listen to early signs of burnout by intentionally slowing down and honoring your need for presence. This isn’t the month to skip nap time.
Gemini
Gemini, the cosmos is nudging you towards growth and expansion. We don’t talk enough about the grief that surfaces in periods of growth. The relationships, jobs, and versions of ourselves that we must mourn before we can inhabit our new skin. Give yourself the solitude you need to shed, to compost old fears into new visions. Prioritize the friendships and community groups that nourish your soul. Find people you can trust with your tears and your dreams. This month is also a good time to live within your means and prepare for the austerity of winter.
Cancer
Cancer, you are undergoing a powerful rebirth, clarifying your needs in romantic partnerships and creative collaborators. As a result, you have been purging the connections that aren’t aligned with who you are becoming. Honor your intuition about who nourishes your soul, and pay attention to moments of synchronicity and ease. This month, make time to tap into your creative gifts and channel any residual grief, frustration, and anxiety into your sacred practices. You are letting go of limiting self-beliefs you inherited from your family and rewriting a new narrative. When you come up against external resistance, pause before responding. Make yourself a safe space to rest in.
Leo
Leo, this is a month of slowing down before you flame out. If you do not heed the call to rest, you could be caught in irritability and conflict cycles. Life has been throwing you curveballs, especially in the realm of work. Before you embark on a new chapter of purpose, you are asked to release any lingering attachments and self-limiting beliefs that keep you stuck in cycles of work addiction. Pay attention to any messages that come through your dreams with clues about your deepest, unexpressed desires. Let your friends and communities show up for you and borrow their reflection of you when you’re feeling mired in self-doubt.
Virgo
Virgo, last month, you stepped into an eclipse portal that will transform your self-identity and relationships from the inside out. Be open to magnetizing new love by making time to be spontaneous and social. If you’re already partnered, infuse more playfulness and date nights into your weekly routine. This month, you are graduating from a cosmic boot camp that will start you on a new chapter of creativity, allowing you to let your inner child roam free. You may be forced to clear out any remaining self-sabotaging behaviors that prevent you from embracing your inner artist. Prioritize friends that bring out your carefree side, and let fun be your guide.
Libra
Libra, it’s your season; the universe wants you to step into your power and purpose. You are taking giant leaps of faith to set yourself up for a new beginning. Some of you may be moving to a new city, pivoting careers, and either ending or deepening relationships. This change may be kicking up old fears that may rear their ugly head this month. Before you level up, you’ll be asked to grieve, purge and cleanse. And while it may be challenging to slow down, try to pause before reacting when conversations get heated. Be patient with the transformation process and allow life to unfold with trust.
Scorpio
Scorpio, what do you want to release and clear before ringing in a new year? More than any other sign, you intimately understand that the process of rebirth requires a symbolic death. Remember that clarity is kindness, and protecting your secrets can be a lonely and isolating strategy. Tie up any loose ends and ritualize your grief. As you accept and integrate your growing pains, you will make space to accommodate new growth. Listen to any body aches and pains as a sign to confront any buried or repressed fears and anxieties. Schedule an appointment with an acupuncturist, and if meditation is part of your daily practice, stay consistent. By the time Scorpio season arrives you’ll be ready to return from the underworld and be seen.
Sagittarius
Sagittarius, you will be in an introspective mood as we inch closer to your birthday season next month. Whether you’re single, coupled, or somewhere in between, you’ll be reflecting on the lessons you’re learning in relationships. If dating has been taking its toll on you, consider taking a pause from swiping to check in with yourself. You may need to turn your attention to friendship and nurture the connections that feed your soul in essential ways. If any misunderstandings arise in any relationship, use it as an opportunity to turn conflict into connection. How can moments of tension draw us closer rather than pull us apart? This month will also ask you to reel in your spending habits and come up with a plan to save your coin.
Capricorn
Capricorn, you are on the precipice of a new beginning. You have had to leave many people, places, and things behind in preparation for this fresh start. As a Saturn-ruled sign, you know how to endure pain and keep going. Even your closest friends may not perceive your vulnerability and sensitive, tender core. Who do you trust with your softness? How do your steely boundaries keep you from being known? This month, practice delegating tasks and asking for help before you get overwhelmed. If you experience moments of conflict in your relationships, pause and locate in your body where you’re still harboring fear and anxiety. Let the right people love you.
Aquarius
Aquarius, you are navigating major changes at work and in your career. Something is coming to an end. You are entering a season of personal reinvention that will make waves in your relationships, your career, and your broader life vision. This month, you are called to travel and adventure after a month of dealing with unexpected financial headaches and work stress. Protect your solitude while resisting the urge to self-isolate. Channel your frustration through creativity and introduce more play and artistic exploration that has no goal attached to it. If any conflict flares up, pause and cool off before reacting. You may be extra sensitive right now and in need of rest and relaxation.
Pisces
Pisces, you are coming into yourself and magnetizing new lovers and friends into your orbit. Don’t be afraid to be discerning with who you give access to your time, attention, and affection. You’ve been in a season of strengthening your boundaries and confronting any delusions or fantasies that keep you stuck in self-destructive cycles. This month, you’ll be asked to release any attachments, habits, or desires that no longer serve you. Protect your downtime and stay connected to your inner voice of truth. Pay attention to any fears that surface related to finances, both personally and in your relationships. Prioritize fun ways to socialize that don’t break the bank.