On The Erotic Ecliptic for November 2023

It's okay not to be okay

the constellation of Scorpio

Dates to Note:

3^rd: Sun in Scorpio opposite Jupiter, 1:02 am ET

4^th: SATURN DIRECT AT 0 DEGREES OF PISCES, 3:03 am ET, Mercury in Scorpio opposite Uranus in Taurus, 12:07 pm ET

5^th: DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME AT 2:00 am ET

6^th: Venus in Virgo trine Pluto in Capricorn, 9:38 am ET, Mercury in Scorpio trine Neptune in Pisces, 8:37 pm ET

8^th: VENUS ENTERS LIBRA, 4:30 am ET

10^th: MERCURY ENTERS SAGITTARIUS, 1:25 am ET, Mercury in Sagittarius square Saturn in Pisces, 10:07 am ET

11^th: Mars in Scorpio opposite Uranus in Taurus, 4:11 pm ET

13^th: NEW MOON IN AT 20 DEGREES OF SCORPIO, 4:27 am ET, Sun in Scorpio opposite Uranus in Taurus, 12:21 pm ET

17^th: Mars in Scorpio trine Neptune in Pisces, 3:36 am ET, Sun in Scorpio trine Neptune in Pisces, 9:52 am ET

18^th: Sun in Scorpio conjunct Mars, 12:42 am ET

20^th: Mercury in Sagittarius trine Chiron in Aries, 10:08 pm ET

21^st: Mars in Scorpio sextile Pluto in Capricorn, 8:16 pm ET

22^nd: SUN ENTERS SAGITTARIUS, 9:03 am ET, Venus in Libra opposite Chiron in Aries, 11:45 am ET

23^rd: Sun in Sagittarius square Saturn in Pisces, 4:47 am ET, THANKSGIVING DAY (US)

24^TH: MARS ENTERS SAGITTARIUS, 5:15 am ET

25^th: Mars in Sagittarius square Saturn in Pisces, 11:57 am ET

27^th: FULL MOON AT 4 DEGREES OF GEMINI, 4:16 am ET, Mercury in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces, 8:27 am ET

Hi. How are you holding up? I mean it – how are you really? It’s ok not to be ok. I’m not okay at all, and as a person who has intentionally cast myself in the role of space-holder for others, it feels uncomfortable to say that I’m not okay. But I’m saying it to create space for you to say it, even if you’re the designated caretaker for others in your life. We’re going through a massive, historical shift. Millions of people are in danger while deep, old, entrenched, conspiratorial hatreds are being unleashed, and we’re all feeling it no matter who or where we are – not just because we’re seeing the images but because this astrology is in us, too. I wrote about my experience of it all here.

Let’s breathe together for a moment before we enter the forecast zone. Take a slow, deep inhale through your nose into the bottom of your belly, hold for a moment, and then exhale, long and deep, through your mouth or nose, whatever is comfortable. Do that again. Visualize your breath traveling in a glow of warm pink light to add more softness to your body/mind.

It feels like 10,000 years have passed since I wrote your October forecast, in which I said this:

One of the hottest danger-zone days is the 8^th, when Mars in Libra squares Pluto in Capricorn just two days before Pluto stations direct on the 10^th. Starting on the 7^th, I’d avoid getting into any even small arguments with your loved ones, honking too aggressively at annoying drivers, getting huffy with customer service agents, and so on. I’m not saying not to stand up for yourself, but I am saying that it’s easy to set people off into a rage. This is also the prelude to the very intense New Moon/Solar Eclipse in Libra on the 14^th. The whole period from the 7^th to the 16^th is a potentially volatile time when hypervigilance can overtake our nervous systems. Get all your best cortisol-reducing tools on deck now, if you can.

I hate that this came true in the worst possible way. I almost feel like I must apologize on behalf of the cosmos, even though I’m just the analyst and interpreter here. And I wish that I could say that what’s ahead is better – it’s not the same, but it’s not, frankly, any better. It’s a different kind of terrible. There are some glimpses of possible peace and safety – a life raft or two in certain transits during the next thirty days. But navigation will likely be fraught and the seas may roil unpredictably.

Although November is an intense month with multiple flashpoints, it’s not quite the portal to darkness that was October. What we’re talking about here is the difference between a month that featured two eclipses – the end of one series and the beginning of another – and Mars squaring Pluto in Capricorn still on the edges of the American Pluto Return, days before it stationed direct — the weekend the violence erupted. Mars and Pluto both dominated the energy of October. This energy is uncontrolled barbarism, the face of evil, a trip into the bowels of Hades.

I’m not going into it deeply here, but the Mars in Scorpio transit directly and harshly impacts the natal chart of Hamas (their chart has a Mars/Pluto conjunction in Scorpio, telling you much about who they are and what drives them) and the chart of the state of Israel (with the Sun and North Node in Taurus) suggesting the unrelenting force of an institution that doesn’t want to change its mind. The transits that erupted the weekend of the Solar Eclipse in Libra also directly hit sensitive points in both charts.

November feels more like the dangerous aftermath of an earthquake, with aftershocks coming on suddenly. It’s as if October opened the karmic hellmouth, and we were forced to peer into the pit of darkness. November feels like an “after the rupture” month, where we can decide if we want to get further entrenched in violence and centuries-long conflicts funded by superpowers and Qatari billionaires or begin to pull the proverbial shrapnel from our collective psyche. Yet as we’re trying to decide our strategy, suddenly the earth shakes uncontrollably, and we are thrown across the room just as we are beginning to get our bearings. 

Part of what’s different now is that Saturn turns direct on the 4^th at 0 degrees of Pisces, squaring off with planets moving into Sagittarius throughout the month. If eclipse season forced us into a confrontation with our karma, personal and collective, November asks us to heal ourselves and others by defining our boundaries. But before Mercury and Mars move into Sadge, they both make jarring oppositions to Uranus in Taurus (Mercury on the 4^th and Mars on the 11^th). Both of these are days when anxiety might be sky-high and unexpected events, possibly involving technology and electricity, are possible. I’d have battery backups on hand around this time.

The New Moon in Scorpio on the 13^th is also profoundly Uranian, another series of days when it's wise to have copious CBD or Rescue Remedy or good old weed on hand. Breathe deep into your belly, watch a dumb movie, snuggle with a pet, do whatever you can to allow yourself to be held and hold others. Maybe that’s doing activism to help those who are suffering and grieving. Employ all your calming techniques and technologies. Rest, if rest is possible. Begin this a day or two before the lunation.

The Sun, newly in Sagittarius, squares Saturn early on Thanksgiving morning. The saving grace here is that this is waning by the time people are at the table with family where I imagine a lot of screaming and arguing is going to take place no matter what the stars are doing. Mars in Sagittarius squares Saturn on the 25^th, embedding its signature on the Full Moon in Gemini a few days later, and then blending into the confusing Mercury-Neptune square that closes out the month.

Now that we’ve waded through the vicissitudes of the clusterfuck, let’s talk about where we can find November’s better bits. Venus is one sweet spot after she moves into her ruler Libra on the 8^th, giving us at least some small hope that diplomacy is possible. If you need to talk with someone, the 6^th through the 8^th may be a good time to initiate.

The very last days of the month, after the Full Moon at 4 degrees of Gemini on the 27th, offer the second-best window for breakthroughs. After Mercury moves into Sagittarius we get a break on the communication front, at least in the sense that every word out of lover or partner’s mouth is less likely to feel like it’s “stuck in a barbwire snare” to borrow a metaphor from Scorpio Sylvia Plath. But the field has been mined by the recent eclipses and harsh aspects, and anywhere we step can cause an explosion. Complicating things further, Mercury enters the shadow of the December retrograde by the 22nd.

The first joke I told after the war broke out was this Tweet.

Despite the heaviness all around, I still stand by this advice.

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