Stark Choices
September 2024Our choices define us and lead us to the place we now find ourselves in. There is no right or wrong. There is only learning on planet Earth.
Increasingly since the Covid pandemic, we see with greater clarity the stark, contrasting choices we must make in the pursuit of happiness, peace or sheer survival. This vivid contrast is markedly underscored at the onset of September. There is no mistaking our distinct options:
Love or fear, and the choices stemming from either of these.
Powerful Pluto returns to Capricorn on Sunday, September 1st for its final pass in this earth sign. The planetary bulldozer, Pluto in Capricorn suffers no fools, accepts no excuses and draws exact boundaries on the ledger of life. You either did or did not. Pluto in Capricorn allows for no blurry areas or gray zones. It says you made your choices, now deal with the consequences. For the next two and a half months, only those wearing their big boy and girl pants need apply.
September is as serious as it gets.
The New Moon in analytical Virgo the very next day, on Monday, September 2nd, takes stock of where we stand and how to most effectively move forward. Our health and well-being are paramount. Because if you’re not functioning optimally with adequate resources, nothing else really matters. Opposing Saturn in Pisces, the New Moon suggests that we control what we can, prepare and plan, and make sure to have a plan B, C, and maybe D, too; then surrender what falls outside of your control.
What IS surely within our control is self-care. Motivating Mars turns into nurturing Cancer the Crab on Wednesday, September 4th. The action planet is not really comfortable in this emotional water sign; however, over the next month, Mars draws our attention to family, home, nation and ancestral heritage. Cancerian energy is The Great Mother. Mars in Cancer moves us to nourish ourselves at a soul level; because if Mama ain’t happy, nobody’s happy.
Filling our cups first by tending to the backyard of our lives creates a ripple effect. We model constructive behavior for others and demonstrate how we expect to be treated. When we feel replenished and aligned, we can assist others to do the same.
For much of September, Mars challenges the north and south lunar nodes in cardinal signs Aries and Libra, meaning: we have choices to make (libra) about forging a new path (aries) for our self-care, our loved ones, our homes and homeland (cancer mars). Notice how family conditioning and programming shapes your conscious decision making. This appears first as a call to attention followed by a call to action. The more you resist the call, the more urgent it sounds until it may no longer be ignored.
An example might be as obvious as you are what you eat. If you suffer from a skin or digestive ailment, look at what foods and beverages you consume. Another more abstract example might be how you take care of your place of residence, consider and treat family heirlooms, or participate in elections, our attitudes and approaches to which stem from our upbringing.
Helping us assess and catalogue our behavior, Messenger Mercury shifts into its own sign of Virgo on Monday, September 9th. Gradually Mercury aligns helpfully with Mars to target our optimal health and wellness. These two operate hand-in-glove through mid-month like a well-oiled machine shaping our work and lifestyle routines and practices into peak form.
The tipping point comes at mid-month on the eve of the Full Moon Lunar eclipse on Tuesday, September 17th, in Virgo-Pisces. If you did not receive the message at the beginning of the month, this eclipse has your name on it: surrender and surrender now. With Saturn, Neptune, and the Moon in dreamy Pisces opposing the Sun and Messenger Mercury in detailed Virgo, we are called to implement our divine inspirations. Dream and then do. Follow up your dreams with a detailed plan.
This is the first of THREE, count ‘em three eclipses occurring between September 17th and October 17th. As a reminder, eclipses are neither bad nor good but rather markers of significant events especially if they connect to or impact your astrology chart. Eclipses operate like doors opening and closing. Have no concern. Rather, watch how results play out knowing you can choose whether to get involved in events stirred up by the eclipses.
As dreamy Neptune finishes its cycle in its own sign of Pisces and taskmaster Saturn marks the halfway point through this same sign, they join the moon at the time of the September eclipse. The moon rules our emotions as well as the ocean tides. So it is worth avoiding “getting swept away” by emotional tides, carried away without rhyme or reason. To counter irrational thoughts or behaviors: ground yourself. The Sun (our will) and Messenger Mercury (our minds) are in earthy Virgo.
They remind us to rely on healthy routines and practices such as exercise, mindfulness and meditation, hobbies and service to others to ground yourself and keep it real. Wear, hold or tuck grounding stones into your pockets such as black obsidian, hematite, or onyx.
What is meant to be cleansed and cleared from our lives will be washed away; conversely, what is intended to stay permanently in our lives now, will.
Several days later we head into the Fall equinox as the Sun turns into Libra on Sunday, September 22nd. We stand at a crossroads trying to read the signs and determine which way to go. Assisting our decision making, Valuable Venus shifts into Scorpio on the very same day. Here, Venus takes no prisoners. Her spidey senses and X-Ray vision are sharp and 100 per cent accurate. The planet of love, money and relationship knows what’s up, whether she’s dealing with a player or a truth teller.
In this way, she offers immense support to the otherwise indecisive Sun and Messenger Mercury which joins the Sun in Libra on Thursday, September 26th. Scorpio Venus does deep research then informs Sun-Mercury which way to go, and long-term consequences benefitting your own best interests. The caution here is canvassing every possible opinion, or being persuaded too easily by popular consensus rather than harkening to your own conscience and wisdom.
As you approach key junctures, then, reserve quiet time to contemplate your heartfelt desires. Libra energy often forgets and forsakes its own needs and agenda as it rushes to please others. But Libra’s purpose is to balance. Balance your needs in equal measure to those around you. The most difficult decisions often involve voting for ourselves first. Doing so, we risk alienating another.
However, if we choose conformity, staying on the hamster wheel of tribal conditioning and programming, doing as we always have been told, we face a greater risk: losing ourselves entirely, to long-term soulful disappointment, resentment and worse.
And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. – Anais Nin
Go forth and blossom.
Of Special Note:
The 3 Wise Women is off and running! Join three veteran metaphysical practitioners for community, conversation and connection via zoom every first Tuesday of the month @6 pm eastern. For just $10/session, feel safe among like-minded seekers to ask your wildest woo questions and learn from each other. To enroll: www.cathyripleygreene.com
FIERCE: Boston and New England folks, join me at Fierce Female Weekend Workshop, 9-12 noon, Saturday, September 28th, Needham, MA, for yoga and astrology discussion, cosmic happenings in this age of monumental shifts. To register: www.fiercebychoice.com.
Zenathon is approaching! Join me and a host of spectacular speakers on Sunday, September 22nd in Sharon, MA for this one-day spiritual retreat featuring inspirational speakers, yoga, and marketplace with vendors in a beautiful natural setting. Use PROMO CODE: ZenHilary to purchase tickets at www.zenathon.org.
Mystical Messages features my monthly astrology forecasts if you prefer listening via podcast. Also featured are cutting edge healing arts practitioners. Tune in and listen through Apple or Spotify or hear previous episodes: www.hilaryharley.com