It’s hard to imagine that we could pack anything more into this month of October.  Fall is usually a busy time as we resume our routine, projects and work after the languid days of summer.  Now that the kids are back to school, life seems more hectic than usual.  And the cosmos is not about to let up or give us a break.

The beginning of October finds messenger planet Mercury conjoined with the moon’s north node and heavyweight Saturn all in Scorpio.  This means business.   Literally and figuratively, getting down to the business at hand.   What we began excavating last month, turning over for a really solid, inescapable look, continues through the entire fall season.  Continuing, and heightening in some instances, are tug of wars over resources, good ol’ money matters: divisions of what’s mine versus what’s yours, what belongs to whom in terms of banking, finances and property; some of us are figuring out how to fulfill basic survival needs while others are figuring out how to dig themselves out from overspending and overextending themselves.  Ka-ching!$$$.  Still others are wheeling and dealing big cash, planning or landing major deals.

Since Scorpio is also the psychologist of the zodiac, many of us, however, are involved in much deeper issues at play.   Think of Scorpio like a gigantic X-Ray machine:  it shows us exactly who we are and the situations we find ourselves in.  And with Venus leading the aforementioned troika in Scorpio during the first week of October, there will be a thorough examination of how and where we’ve refused to change.  We will have no place to hide from what we least like about our lives, ourselves or our situations.   Scorpio rules karma and balancing the karmic slate.  There is no other choice but to acknowledge road blocks in our lives, either internal walls we have built over time or external walls we’ve refused to work around.  Any obstacles in our path cannot be ignored.  It’s time to go to the doctor and get that shot we’ve been dreading.  Yes, it will sting.  Or if situations have been ignored way too long, surgery might be necessary.  We must get down to the bones of the matter.  But the treatment ultimately serves to heal us or prevent further illness.  Because Venus is essentially about love and money, in Scorpio, she stings to move us toward the deepest kind of love:  self-love.   So we evolve.  Grow.  In its essence Scorpio rules transformation of any kind, but especially the deepest kind:  sex, joint./collective finances, death, rebirth.  This month, think resurrection.   If it means confronting and exorcising emotional (or by extension, financial) hurt to learn the lesson, so we can finally love ourselves completely, go for it.  You will be a new and better you when all is said and done.

Standing back to observe the celestial interplay on a global level, it is hardly comforting to live through yet another US government shut down (BIG collective money).  Congress is more interested in operating a government-by-crisis, maintaining walls (their positions and stances) than cooperating to benefit the public good.  And the estimated $2 billion ticket for actually shutting down the government is only part of the sting.  The rest of us, government employees from the military to park rangers, as well as ordinary citizens (read taxpayers), users, consumers and recipients of government services will feel a mighty sting of inconvenience.  

On the opposite side of the coin there is Iran.  From seemingly out of nowhere comes an effort by the Iranian government to suddenly go along and get along.  Cooperate.  Participate.  Hardly imaginable even two weeks ago, the new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has reached out to the West, is willing to allow to nuclear weapons inspectors to examine Iranian facilities, all in order to stem the tide of Western economic sanctions and bring much-needed relief to its people.  Dare I suggest  the US Congress should take a cue from Iran and cry Uncle?  Get over themselves and put the public welfare before individual egos.

On a personal level with Mercury in Scorpio, be mindful of what comes out of your mouth this month.  Be careful how you respond to others.  The messenger planet can have a laser-like tongue, good for shearing through any bullpucky you’re mired in but deadly if words once out of the mouth cannot be taken back.  Apologies might not get you anywhere this month.  Or the next.  So better to be tightlipped than fully regretful!  Instead of impulsively lashing out, consider putting the Scorpio X-Ray vision to use:  sit back from that irritating person or situation.  Watch, observe, listen.  Gather as much information as possible.  Scorpio is at its best doing deep research.  Dive deep and collect what you need.  When the time is right, speak your mind.  Launch carefully shaped words aimed precisely at your target.  You get the hint.

Further enhancing the Scorpio X-Ray vision is Mercury’s angle to Neptune giving our insights pristine clarity.  This fosters our understanding of where we stand with others, loved ones, co-workers or complex situations.   The pair will help us see our way through the catalytic effects of the Sun as it opposes radical Uranus, both challenging transformer Pluto.  All bets are off as our will and identity are taunted unexpectedly the first week of October.  This is part of a larger, much bigger picture coming into play:  what we have known, taken for granted and assumed about life, its traditions, patterns, our relationships, even our purpose, is dodging curve balls one right after another. 

The best (and truly only) plan is to be flexible and remember that the single constant in life is change.   In a hurricane, which many of us feel as though we’re living amidst, the trees that survive are those with branches that sway in the wind. So be like the Yew tree and bend before you break!  If you push back now, resist bending, the consequences are less than desirable.  The good news is that the New Moon on October 4th opens the way for a clean slate.  What ideas and dreams do you want to plant now?  Time spent carefully tending the healing work begun in September grows deeper, richer, more fulfilling.  Rewarding, even. 

On October 8th, Venus enters the sign of Sagittarius, helping us to see life philosophically, broadening our outlook, opening our eyes, relating to life as an adventure.  Sagittarius rules spirituality and higher learning.  Even as the Saturn-Mercury duo align beautifully with Jupiter, Venus now adds to this mixture, prompting us to step away from the hullabaloo and chaos of the last few weeks and ask thoughtfully, “What does it all mean?”  How does our behavior impact our larger, human family?  Further still, how does humanity affect all creatures on this planet?  

At mid month, Jupiter challenges the Sun while messenger Mercury cycles past a critical, attention-getting degree.  Practice deep breathing, check your tongue at the door and exercise far-reaching diplomacy skills you never knew you had.  You may need every ounce of grace over the holiday weekend, especially if family events are planned.  Remember:  you’ll never regret what you don’t say.
All of this planetary activity is setting up for the lunar eclipse on the Full Moon, Friday, October 18th.  Lunar eclipses mark endings in our lives. 

Ponder:  what is over and done with in your life so you may begin anew?  Especially as it pertains to relationships?   Where have you given all you could, fulfilled your purpose in another’s life, tried your very best in a relationship?  Whom do you need to (gracefully) allow to leave, say so long, farewell?  Let them move on to someone or something else.  It is time.  Pluto and Uranus make an exact challenging angle the day before the lunar eclipse.  This will feel like a labor pain pushing us hard to release the old in order to deliver the new.  And relationship changes are usually the most painful because of the personal histories and emotions involved.  Fortunately, like a midwife to ease our pain, an abundance of celestial help envelopes us during this transition despite the utter work and drudgery to let go, clean house of those habits and people whose time is up and must depart.

Only three days after the lunar eclipse, Mercury turns retrograde in Scorpio for three weeks.  Repeated messages uncovering, unearthing emotional scars, mysterious deaths, psychological wounds, financial wrong-doings, and wrongs to be righted will surface.  Buried “ghosts”, aspects of our lives we thought to be dead come alive now, be they long lost friends, relatives or incidents from your past.  There is no better time to heal old traumas than during the end of October and beginning of November.  Long unsolved homicide cases will be re-opened now and find solutions; long-standing debts, money owed, will be paid.  On the psychological side, what potential discoveries about your own past can you identify so you can heal, start fresh, change course when Mercury turns direct motion in November?

It often, usually, takes several steps back in order to keep moving positively forward.  During the final days of October, with Mars in the healing sign of Virgo aligning helpfully with Pluto, we can focus on the required work and maintain healthy regimens.  Healing and restoration of well-being is sure to follow.

A Special Note to all my readers and clients:  Thank you for your continued interest and support in astrology!  I have some very exciting news to share:  along with continuing to see clients privately, I am so pleased to now offer astrology readings through the Tremont Tearoom in downtown Boston and Celestial Beginnings in South Natick, MA.  I am thrilled to partner with each of these wonderful groups which offer myriad healing methods.

The Tremont Tearoom is the oldest psychic institution in New England; Celestial Beginnings is an alternative wellness center created by intuitive healer Annemarie Seidenberg.  Please see www.tremont-tearoom.com or www.celestial-beginnings.com for more information.