As the editor of the Astrology Arizona newsletter, I compose an overview of each month. Today we take a look at the primary factors for the month.

The Overview for October

This year the month of October brings us Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mercury all going stationary direct, marking the renewal of “forward motion” in all the departments of our charts ruled and occupied by these planets. As Mercury is still retrograde through the first 17 days of the month, we’re in the heart of the review of how successful we’ve been in learning how to alternate between “hard power” and “soft power” this past year.

There are many excellent aspects this month promising serendipity and stability as the inner planets begin their yearly closure on the outer planet span between Pluto in late Capricorn and Uranus in mid-Taurus. As the beginning of the month shows we still have SIX planets retrograde, with four of them about to go direct, the first half of this month is going to mark a watershed of sorts, with major sea changes in our charts wherever we have Capricorn and Aquarius!

With Mercury retrograde, we’re all getting a “look back” at recent developments so we can adjust what needs adjusting and be moderate in our initiatives during the time the Sun, Mercury retrograde, and Mars are all in mid-Libra. This shows a lot of what is begun early in the month will be subject to review and re-thinking in the future, but it also could bring the return of ideals and perspectives we may not have thought of in a long time. If there’s a return of someone from your past, welcome them, but be moderate keeping in mind that you’ve probably retired from some things since you last saw them!

This month Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, and Aquarius are all heavily accented, making those parts of our chart highly active. Because of the coming compression of planets in January and February, this month is pretty much a Bowl Jones pattern except when the Moon is outside the span at the very beginning and end of the month. The Bowl is marked by a division between the known and unknown, what we have to offer and what needs to be filled.

With Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto all going stationary direct this month, we’re done with our review of things seen and unseen, and renew our spiritual progress through the end of the year and beyond. Saturn’s station on a degree of “a child born out of the Cosmic Egg” promises manifestations from Cosmos not “born of a local tradition” and based in all which has not been actualized before now. When we add Jupiter’s stationary direct theme of “training to pick up and deliver spiritual power” from late November on, it’s easy to see that we’ll all experience the emergence of new things coming our way over the next few months!

Since April, Jupiter and Saturn have put us through major transfigurations designed to help us accelerate our spiritual growth. May 2020 initiated a “graduation into a new realm of Being” for all of us. Jupiter expanded the transfiguration process in late April and early May, and again during its second transit of “the Transfiguration Zone” at the end of Aquarius which occurred in the first half of August. The third pass in December will finish the process of expansion to be powered up between the middle of February and the middle of April 2022. All three transfiguration periods this year hold the promise of great opportunities, vision, and understanding!

Saturn has now shown us techniques of direct accomplishment and an acceleration of our evolutionary potential once we have a vision, a plan, and a good time to execute the procedure. As Saturn rules Capricorn and Aquarius, those parts of our chart are where we’ve been reflecting on past Saturn experiences and lessons to find new understanding from different perspectives based in a holistic view. In 2022, Saturn will “make real” what Jupiter has promised this year.

Planets Slowing Down and Shifting Signs

This month we have only Uranus and Neptune slowing down, while Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto are all stationary and about to speed up. (Mercury slows down until the Inferior Conjunction, and then begins to speed up.) So Uranus and Neptune still offer us a review of those parts of our spiritual reality, while Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto show us we’ve hit a platform with major sea changes ahead! That means the visible part of the spiritual field represented by Jupiter and Saturn is now going to bring us the results of our review, while the invisible factors in the spiritual field symbolized by Uranus and Neptune are still offering a review. The entire time the Cosmic Purifier sits on its station, showing us how we’ve reached a “transcendent security” on the threshold of new individual, mental, and spiritual seeds sprouting through the end of 2021 into 2022.

All retrogrades represent a review, or a time when we get a different angle of understanding about what that planet brought us when direct. An analogy for the direct to retrograde to direct process would be that the first direct movement through the Shadow Zone (the span of degrees between where a planet goes stationary retrograde and where it goes stationary direct) is when we “toss the stone into the pond.” The retrograde period is when the ripples, having hit the far edge of the pond, return to center. The third transit of the Shadow Zone happens after the retrograde, and indicates a time when we can be clear about how to use that planetary function effectively within the conditions we’re in. So right now we’re getting the “karmic returns” of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, with three of these about to take that karma forward into the future!

As Venus, the Sun, and Mars change signs this month, it indicates that the rulers of six of our houses and signs (Aries, Taurus, Cancer, Leo, Libra, and Scorpio. The Sun is the co-ruler of Cancer.) will experience a distinctive change in those areas of our chart. Venus, ruler of Taurus and Libra, will give us two sign experiences (Scorpio and Sagittarius), the Sun, ruler of Leo and Cancer) will give us two (Libra and Scorpio), and Mars, ruler of Aries and Scorpio will give us two (Libra and Scorpio). This clearly indicates a lot of activity in the Libra and Scorpio sectors of our chart!

Mars

Mars in Libra seeks a balanced, elegant, reasonable and just expression. In Libra, the sign of its “exile,” Mars is as far away from its “home” in Aries as it can be. Mars, the planet of direct action, supposedly doesn’t do well in tentative Libra, but it should be excellent for weighing and balancing various approaches, as well as for developing more diplomatic ways of achieving our ends.

Mars is moving fast and continues to speed up, transiting between 11 Libra and 2 Scorpio this month. That means Mars is ruled by Venus for most of the month before it enters its home sign of Scorpio at the end of October. Mars in Libra is ruled by Venus which changes signs the second week of October. While Venus is in Scorpio, these two social planets will be in each other’s signs, which is called a “Mutual Reception.” This is a very powerful closed loop of self-reinforcing energies, and with both planets in signs opposing the ones they rule, it could be a time when many feel like there’s never quite a satisfactory resolution even if things are getting done. Once Venus enters Sagittarius, then it will be ruled by Jupiter in Aquarius, which is ruled by Saturn in its home sign of Aquarius. So Mars is ruled by Venus, Venus is ruled by Jupiter, making Saturn the “final dispositor” of Mars.

This month Mars makes a mixed bag of aspects, mostly favorable in the first half and frictional the second half. The beginning of the month is dominated by Sun and Mercury retrograde conjunct Mars, with the only friction provided by Venus semisquare Mars and Mars quincunx Uranus. The second week of October Mars is tredecile Saturn and beginning its trine to Jupiter, and then moves through its quincunx to Neptune and square to Pluto around the time Venus septiles Mars.

As I’ve offered before, when Mars is within a degree of forming or separating while making a hard aspect with a planet, slow down and show deliberation and caution in how you use force, with an eye to moderating or antidoting impulsiveness and impatience. The aspects this month show great serendipity, understanding, and stability along with needed sacrifices, adjustments, and somewhat extreme conditions which will make space for the emergence of the new mutations discussed earlier.

Sign Focus

October is a month when the first week features one combination, the middle of the month another, and the last week yet another. We begin the month with a heavy Libra and Scorpio accent, then move into a Libra and Sagittarius period, and end the month with Scorpio coming into prominence via the Sun and Mars. This puts a heavy emphasis on those parts of our chart.

When Venus enters Sagittarius it ends the Mutual Reception and brings that sign into prominence, especially due to the aspects Venus makes with Saturn and Jupiter. We then move through the swirl of three planets going stationary direct, after which the Sun enters Scorpio followed by Mars entering that sign. That makes Libra a constant all month, with enough Scorpio to give us a hint about what’s coming in November!

The Aquarius-Taurus Tension This Year

In January and February, Jupiter transited the first half of Aquarius, heralding what will be crystallized by Saturn throughout 2021. What Jupiter opens, Saturn will structure as it rumbles through the first half of Aquarius this entire year. Jupiter’s transit of 17-24 Aquarius in March opened what Saturn will secure in 2022, and Jupiter’s transit of 25-29 Aquarius in April opened what Saturn will secure initially between May and July 2022, and fully crystallize in January, February, and early March 2023.

Because Saturn is about to go direct and Uranus has begun its retrograde movement, even though they are still out of orb of the square, that tension resumes in October! This marks the approach of their third square which will be exact in December and early January. (The final square happens September, October, and November 2022).

This square shows the need to stay focused on what’s really pertinent while disregarding older or unimportant interference. Even though the Aquarius to Taurus square is somewhat offset at present, it will be activated by various semisquares, squares, sesquisquares, and oppositions during the Scorpio transits, as well as the late Sag transits. All of these will generate powerful releases wherever we have these sectors in our charts.

These Octile aspects, especially those from Scorpio making offset T-squares with Saturn and Uranus, indicate we’re moving into a powerful period good for integrating some pretty intense energies. The oppositions provide the awareness of what must be integrated, and the third planet making the square drives the integrative process via the void. As Scorpio transits create offset T-squares there will be a need for good Leo responses, with the Moon triggering things when it moves through late Mutable signs as well as between 6-14 degrees of the Fixed signs.

The Fixed sign squares represent turning points and braking actions necessary for us to get our wisdom aligned with our understanding. These points of tension occur off and on the entire year as Saturn “makes real” all which Jupiter promised by its transit the last half of January and first half of February.

The first square from Saturn to Uranus in February was from 8 Aquarius to 8 Taurus; the second was in June, with Saturn retrograde at 14 Aquarius square Uranus at 14 Taurus; the third happens just after the December 2021 Solstice with Saturn direct at 12 Aquarius and Uranus retrograde at 12 Taurus. These waning (upper) squares between Saturn in Aquarius and Uranus in Taurus mark the culmination of the cycle of these power planets which was set into motion when Saturn conjuncted Uranus in 1988. Interestingly, in 1999-2000 Saturn in Taurus made its waxing (lower) square to Uranus in Aquarius, so this year activates conflicts dating back 20 years.

We’re Actors On A New Stage With A New Set

The Grand Mutation in December 2020 began a new 20 year Aquarian Era, marked by Jupiter conjunct Saturn at 1 Aquarius. That conjunction also set a new 200 year Era into motion, moving global energies out of Earth and into Air. We’ve begun to move beyond the materialism of the past 200 years and entered two centuries of Air emphasis, with its qualities of relatedness, receptivity, versatility, movability, lightness, and cooperative ideas, visions, and ideals.

The 2020 Summer Solstice Solar eclipse is still facilitating a grand reorientation in our lives, including an acceptance of new allegiances and life directions, and the December 2020 Solar eclipse at 24 Sagittarius is still helping us remove blocks to our happiness. The recent Solar eclipse at 20 Gemini is already removing irrelevant and extraneous ideas and considerations from our decision making process.

We’re still "under the beams" of the Solar Eclipses we experienced in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, and these “cosmic recyclers” continue to remove all that we no longer need in our lives. Take note of where you have 1 Cancer, 24 Sagittarius, and 20 Gemini, since 1 Cancer aligns us with a larger reality, 24 Sagittarius helps us find happiness, and 20 Gemini removes what cannot be assimilated or communicated.

We also recently had a Total Lunar Eclipse in late May at 6 Sagittarius/Gemini affecting us all through late October. Mid-June brought the Solar Eclipse at 20 Gemini, shutting down parts of our lives in that sector for 5 years to come. These eclipses are removing old ideas, old perspectives, old truths, and old futures, creating voids for new manifestations of these to come forth at the right time in our lives.

As we study how successive Eclipses have affected various areas of our charts and lives, we can get a sense of the utility of these “Cosmic Recyclers” in removing what we no longer needed in those areas, creating a void which attracted new life experiences. They invite us to look back, and then forward, to see the continuity of “letting go, taking in, letting go, taking in” across the years.

The Grand Irrationality

In October the 7-pointed “Star of Destiny" I’ve termed The Grand Irrationality is activated the first week of the month when Mars and the Sun make biseptiles to Pluto, and again between October 6 and 15 when Mercury biseptiles Pluto and the Sun and Mars triseptile both Uranus and Neptune, creating an evolutionary “Kite” configuration! As Mercury heralded this configuration in September, this is the month to follow through on those major signs and signals marking a “fork in the road of destiny” wherever the seven zones in the configuration occur in our charts.

All the septile-series aspects trigger crucial choices and changes at “forks in the road of destiny.” I have written extensively about “The Grand Irrationality” which has been active for many years at this site and why all of humanity is forging its future destiny at this time. If you have a planet or point near any of the seven zones, your life is sure to be affected. In October these zones are around 29 Capricorn – 3 Aquarius, 20-24 Pisces, 12-16 Taurus, 4-8 Cancer, 25-29 Leo, 16-20 Libra, and 8-12 Sagittarius.

If things seem irrational and don’t make much sense, there’s always a septile-series aspect in the mix. During the periods these 7th harmonic aspects are in play, if things get a little weird or crazy, just go slow and be clear about the choices you’re making. While a lot won’t “make sense,” it doesn’t have to; all we must do is be clear about what we’re doing and why. Even though it may bring interactions with unreasonable or irrational people, we still have the power to respond in productive ways.

As with “hard” aspects to and from Mars, if that planet (or really any planet) is involved in any non-rational aspect, whether one to our natal Mars or transiting Mars making a non-rational aspect to one of our planets, it’s a time to be cautious during the period when the aspect is within a degree of forming or separating. Things have a way of getting strange during 7th harmonic aspects, so those are times to be especially deliberate and thoughtful in choosing our responses.

Primary Action Beats for the First Half of the Month

October begins with some aspects carrying over from late September. The beginning of October we have an interesting mixed bag of aspects promising we can get a lot accomplished as long as we don’t believe everything we’re told, take care of old business, and keep our eye on the prize while not getting distracted by the downside of things.

September 30 and October 1 and 2 brings us Venus square Jupiter, Mars opposed Chiron, Mercury retrograde square Pluto, and Venus sextile Pluto. (At this point, Pluto is about to go stationary direct, making the energies more volatile and far-reaching than usual!) Venus square Jupiter encourages us to hang in there, keep our eye on the prize, and don’t settle for lesser things when greater things are at stake. Venus sextile Pluto is great for getting to the core of what we like and why we like it, and is very favorable for all our late Earth and Water planets while releasing the greater spiritual potential through Jupiter, itself harmonized by a trine from Mercury lasting through October 4.

So Venus builds with Pluto and releases through its square to Jupiter, and Mercury builds with Jupiter and releases through its square to Pluto! These sorts of configurations work very well to curb some things while stabilizing others, building through the harmonious aspects and releasing the potential through the squares. So Venus harmonizes Pluto which releases through Mercury, and Mercury harmonizes with Jupiter and releases through Pluto. Pluto harmonizes Venus which releases through Jupiter which is harmonized by Mercury.

This is roughly equivalent to navigating an obstacle course with great intuition, good connections, and the promise of things to come after a period of reflection, review, and reconsideration of things in the recent past. During the run of aspects listed above between September 30 and October 4, we have Mars opposing Chiron on October 1, followed by the Sun opposing Chiron on October 3. In the case of these oppositions, it should be excellent for bringing some form of healing to surface in our lives, or the appearance of a mentoring and teaching energy helping us balance something related to a new law of our life preparing us for Mercury going direct which also opposes Chiron at the end of its retrograde run.

The first week is “Old Moon” energy. We are told this is a time to pull back, consolidate, and prepare for new energy and new initiatives at the coming New Moon at 14 Libra on October 6 just as Pluto goes stationary direct! Given Mercury retrograde is conjunct the Sun and Mars during that time, expect a swirl and be very moderate in your moves.

The 6th brings the New Moon, Mercury retrograde, and Mars all quincunx Uranus, indicating a lot of sacrifices and adjustments from then through early November. As that’s the day Pluto goes stationary direct, you can bet there will be HUGE developments after that New Moon! The 7th brings Venus’ entry into Sagittarius and Sun conjunct Mars, with the Inferior Conjunction also conjunct Mars on the 9th, active through the 11th.

When Venus is in Sag, it ends the Mutual Reception with Mars and brings Saturn back to the forefront as the final dispositor for all the planets except Neptune. Then Saturn goes direct on October 10, and it’s off to the Cosmic Mutation races for all of us! The first half of the month ends with Mercury quincunx Uranus, Venus sextile Saturn, and the Sun quincunx Neptune, triggering the Grand Irrationality as described above.

Primary Action Beats for the Second Half of the Month

As noted, the second half of the month has a different energy than the first half, even if the New Moon’s influence will extend through the last 3 weeks of October into the first 6 days of November. October 15 begins a week of Sun trine Jupiter, Venus trine Chiron, Mars quincunx Neptune, Mercury sextile Venus, Sun square Pluto, Jupiter going direct, Mercury going direct, Mars trine Jupiter, Venus quincunx Uranus, and the Full Moon! This will be a very packed period, with harmony shown by the sextile and trines, adjustments and sacrifices shown by the quincunxes, and sea changes for everyone in our Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces sectors due to Mercury and Jupiter both going direct.

The fourth week of October kicks off with Mars square Pluto. We will already have had numerous signs and signals about this square via Mercury’s first two squares in September and early October, as well as when the Sun squares Pluto on October 16/17. We have Mercury again quincunx Uranus on October 24, followed by Venus square Neptune on the 26th and Venus sextile Jupiter on the 28th. The month ends with a major shift, as the last two days of October bring us Sun square Saturn, Mars’ entry into Scorpio, Mercury quincunx Neptune, and Mercury’s third trine to Jupiter. Mercury square Pluto trine Jupiter is very favorable for us turning away from corrosive influences and expanding into a much wider vision of effective interrelationships.

Evolutionary Development

This is the eighteenth month of the North Node in Gemini era, showing that our line of greatest evolutionary development is through seeing the many ways to learn and communicate a given thing, especially with an eye to actional discoveries leading us to unexpected gifts and blessings.

Because we are in the thick of learning lessons associated with Saturn in Aquarius, keep showing patience as you lighten and brighten your life where you have Aquarius in your chart. As I’ve mentioned in past newsletters, this year we’re being tested to use the (almost) non-stop friction of the Taurus/Aquarius square to launch new visions, new models, new interactions, and new teamwork. We are now cruising into the last third of the year, with inner planet transits of Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius making all kinds of aspects to the outer spiritual planets. We’re beginning an Autumn of understanding, serendipity, concentration, and balanced focus as we renew our spiritual quest, mutated by Spirit, in October.

Through transiting Jupiter and Saturn, we’ve begun to catch glimpses of how to shortcut certain processes, whether our own evolution or to accelerate some work we’re doing. Keep open to ways you can make a greater contribution to your society or the world while understanding 2022 will bring us radical new experiences which will be very different than 2021.

We’re definitely in a new era, so use the integrative power of the offset T-squares involving Scorpio, Aquarius, and Taurus to demonstrate good Leo traits such as strength, courage and determination. When Scorpio squares Aquarius and then opposes Taurus, BE the “Light and Mind” of Leo; show heart, take heart, trust the heart, strengthen the heart, and radiate the Love you ARE to your world.

While Leo is about finding what we can put our hearts into, Virgo helps us learn the “lessons of significant form.” Libra helps us find a pleasing balanced perspective on things, and Scorpio helps us eliminate all we don’t need to fulfill whatever the cycle is about. Venus heralds the adventures promised in Sagittarius, so embrace the dance of the expanding group work and keep in mind that we're all more aware, capable, and stronger together than we are separately.

The Sun in Libra is a time to see the Light of how to embrace our archetypal roles, demonstrating Divine Justice and balance as we find the right rhythm and perspective to see the truth of the new Aquarian era. We’ve all “graduated into a new realm of Being,” with new openings to all who know they are a unique spark of Light within infinite fields of Light.

As we’ve launched into a new 20 year and 200 year cycle, remember a new era has dawned, so have courage and take the initiative to leave the Earth and fly free into the Air of what’s opening as the Grand Mutation expands its promise into the Divine transfigured ideal of a more just truth and future in Libra, concentrated into focused power in Scorpio.

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Since I also include this in the newsletter, I’ll offer it to you here:

PLANETARY MOTIONS IN OCTOBER 2021

SUN – 9 Libra to 9 Scorpio
MERCURY – 25 Libra, then back to 11 Libra, then forward to 22 Libra
VENUS – 24 Scorpio to 26 Sagittarius
MARS – 11 Libra to 1 Scorpio
JUPITER – 23 Aquarius (all month)
SATURN – 7 to 8 Aquarius
URANUS –15 Taurus back to 13 Taurus
NEPTUNE –22 Pisces back to 21 Pisces
PLUTO – 25 Capricorn (all month)
TRUE NORTH NODE –4 TO 2 Gemini

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SIGNIFICANT ASTROLOGICAL OCCURRENCES IN OCTOBER 2021

NEW MOON – October 6; Sun and Moon at 14 Libra
PLUTO STATIONARY DIRECT; October 6 at 25 Capricorn
VENUS ENTERS SAGITTARIUS; October 7
SUN CONJUNCT MARS; October 5-9 (exact October 7) at 16 Libra
INFERIOR CONJUNCTION OF SUN AND MERCURY; October 9 at 17 Libra
SATURN STATIONARY DIRECT; October 10 at 7 Aquarius
JUPITER STATIONARY DIRECT; October 17 at 23 Aquarius
MERCURY STATIONARY DIRECT; October 18 at 11 Libra
FULL MOON – October 20; Sun 28 Libra, Moon 28 Aries
SUN ENTERS SCORPIO; October 22
MARS ENTERS SCORPIO; October 30

Reprinted on crystalwind.ca with written permission from Robert Wilkinson. Copying this article to other blogs is strictly prohibited. It is copyright protected. 

© Copyright 2021 Robert Wilkinson

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