On The Erotic Ecliptic for October 2023

THESE ARE SO LATE, I AM SO SORRY, I LOVE YOU

Photo by Jongsun Lee on Unsplash

Dates to Note:

2^nd: Mercury in Virgo opposite Neptune in Pisces, 11:34 am ET

3rd: Mercury in Virgo trine Pluto in Capricorn, 3:29 am ET, BLACK MOON LILITH ENTERS VIRGO

4^th: MERCURY ENTERS LIBRA, 8:09 PM ET

8^th: Mars in Libra square Pluto in Capricorn, 9:05 pm ET, VENUS ENTERS VIRGO, 9:11 PM ET

10^th: Venus in Virgo opposite Saturn in Pisces, 2:11 am ET, PLUTO STATIONS DIRECT IN CAPRICORN, 9:10 pm ET

11^th: Mars in Libra opposite Chiron in Aries, 2:21 am ET

12^th: MARS ENTERS SCORPIO, 12:04 am ET

13^th: Mars in Scorpio trine Saturn in Pisces, 8:29 am ET

14^th: NEW MOON/SOLAR ECLIPSE AT 21 DEGREES LIBRA, 1:55 pm ET, Mercury in Libra opposite Chiron in Aries , 6:31 pm ET

20^th: Mercury in Libra conjunct Sun, 1:38 am ET, Mercury in Libra square Pluto in Capricorn, 8:51 pm ET

22nd: Venus in Libra square Pluto in Capricorn, 10:09 am ET, Venus in Virgo trine Jupiter in Taurus, 12:32 am ET, MERCURY ENTERS SCORPIO, 2:49 AM ET, Mercury in Scorpio trine Saturn in Pisces, 12:12 pm ET

23^rd: SUN ENTERS SCORPIO, 12:21 pm ET

24^th: Sun in Scorpio trine Saturn in Pisces, 3:14 am ET

28^th: Mars in Scorpio opposite Jupiter in Taurus, 12:03 pm ET, FULL MOON/LUNAR ECLIPSE IN TAURUS (the last of this series), 4:24 pm ET, Mercury in Scorpio opposite Jupiter in Taurus, 11:44 pm ET

29^th: Mercury in Scorpio conjunct Mars, 10:22 am ET

31^st: Venus in Virgo trine Uranus in Taurus, 8:51 am ET – HALLOWEEN/SAMHAIN

Hello sweet things. Deep thanks for your patience with me as I round out the last of my book, including the edits and 10,000 additional words I just sent to my editor on Monday. I posted this on Threads this morning:

Just like pregnancy brain, “book brain” is a thing. After delivering a 270-page manuscript and responding to edits, my neurons are weary…

And yeah, I’m probably also tired because October is REALLY SOMETHING! If you’re not already feeling it, you soon will, unless you’re made of the toughest stuff (and even if you are, because the hardest-shelled of us are usually concealing pretty significant vulnerability under their emotional armor). This month, the key phrase is: LET IT GO.

Not only is it eclipse season, which comes with its own challenges, but there is heavy Pluto energy in the air all month, thanks to the planet of transformation’s direct station and multiple interactions with personal planets across the month. Mars is VERY active and puts us in a super Scorpionic frame of mind when it enters the sign it rules, a few weeks before Mercury and the Sun do the same. Saturn is also speaking loudly through an opposition from Venus early in the month and a series of trines from planets in Scorpio. In other words, after months of hot-pink Barbie-fied Venus in Leo energy, the malefics are having their say this October.

Let’s briefly talk about Venus exiting Leo and entering her “I can fix you, lover!” Virgo era on the 8th. This is the true end of a very long love/romance/sex/creative story that first began around the Summer Solstice, when Venus entered its pre-retrograde shadow in Leo. We could even rewind all the way back to June 6th, when the love planet initially moved into Leo. Imagine that as the moment the spark was lit in your consciousness. Maybe you wanted to fall in love or make some art, but didn’t know how to begin. As the summer unfolded and the plot points of your personal story were revealed, Venus Retrograde became entangled with Mercury Retrograde, because they were fairly concurrent, especially in August.

Tearing through tattered, bookmarked pages you had to go to get back to your heart’s desire. Venus stationed direct early last month, and perhaps the most consequential revelations are already apparent. But after she decamps for Virgo (a few days after Black Moon Lilith does the same) you may experience a truer denouement. This is when you can close the book, feel some kind of satisfaction for having read it, whether you enjoyed it or not, and put it back on the shelf until you want to read it again, perhaps 8 years from now.

I have a LOT to say about Black Moon Lilith’s long stay in Virgo (through next June), but I’m going to write about that next month, because October is just full to bursting with other astrological activity.

If we were governed by the energy of Venus for the last few months, October firmly puts us in the target range of Mars’ sharpened weapon of choice. The passion planet is LOUD this month, and it behooves us to pay attention to our own natal Mars and its tendencies. If our Mars is in a water sign like Cancer or Pisces, we might be empowered to find healthier forms of expression for our aggression. But if you have natal Mars in Scorpio you’re about to have your first Mars Return in two years sometime in the next six weeks, and your cauldron could boil over if you’re not careful. To be clear, we wholly remain in a relational sphere – it is Libra season after all and both eclipses are ruled by Venus this month. But we are moving from a place of understanding the art of receiving to a place of wielding our passion and will as a force.

Mercury will be in Libra from the 4^th, giving us smidgen of diplomacy with which to communicate our very intense, overwhelming feelings. If things feel out of control at any point, remember that you can fall back on this and make repeated attempts at active listening even as it seems like drama is erupting all around you.

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.

The eclipse itself, even if it were the singular event of the month, stands out for its potency and because it’s the first in a series of eclipses that will be with us for the next 18 months or so (until late March of 2025). We can look back at past eclipses at this degree of Libra for clues to what kind of karma we’re facing here: October 14^th 2004 was the last one here. This eclipse speaks to what we might experience or attract during the next six months, hinging on what we’re willing to let go of. But as I always warn at these times: eclipses are not the right time for manifestation and magic. Just sit with this one and see what comes up. Mercury in Libra opposes Chiron in Aries on the same day as this eclipse, potentially bringing up our oldest wounds around relationships – the foundational ones that were supposed to make us feel safe. Communicating about the nature of our attachment style could be a major point of focus at this eclipse.

Possibly the best day of the month is the 22^nd thanks to a sweet trine from Venus in Virgo to Jupiter in Taurus, but that comes a few hours after Venus squares Pluto! It really is a can’t-catch-a-break month.

The Full Moon in Taurus eclipse on the 28^th asks us to face the things we’re most reluctant to let go of, those habits and old, possibly dead relationships and other attachments we’re clinging to for dear life, and to LET IT GO. This is the FINAL eclipse in a series that started in the fall of 2021, so hopefully you’re feeling resolved about some of the important issues that have impacted your life since that time. The very next day Mercury and Mars are conjunct in Scorpio, and this energy feels like it’s of a piece with the eclipse, which is to say – not very comfortable.

An unexpected sweet spot for the month comes on Halloween, when Venus trines Uranus in Taurus, allowing us to get weird and let our freak flags fly. It feels like a truly terrific moment to dress up, become someone new, and inhabit the transformative power of Scorpio season, not to mention flirt our asses off.

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