"Real change, lasting change, happens one step at a time." ... Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Pisces Sun, Scorpio Moon, Saturn in Aqua)
This week is going to be an intense one folks:
MONDAY - Mercury squares Pluto
TUESDAY - Sun into Libra/Equinox
WEDNESDAY - Mercury squares Saturn (enters shadow of October's retrograde)
THURSDAY - Mercury opposes Mars
SUNDAY - Mercury into Scorpio
When Mercury went into Libra we knew at some point he was going to have to square the Cappy pile-up and oppose Mars.
So, here we go. This is the week.
We could be challenged by information, communication and conversations this week. Our feet held to the fire. Made to account for past mistakes. Issues with authority can have our attention. Relationships will be tricky fields to navigate. We could be tempted to dominate someone or have someone pushing our back against the wall.
Negotiations to reach a space of fairness/balance will be complicated and some will be long and messy. Buttons will be pushed and probably not so much the kind that open the door to a brand new car.
Our Libra shadows coming into the light - out of balance
relationships, passive-aggressive tendencies, any need to please or pour
that pink paint!
People with planets/points near 22- 26 degrees of the cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn) will be feeling this energy strongest.
It will be important to keep a cool head - and also to forgive ourselves and other people when we/they can't always do that.
A heads up that Saturn is slowing to station (direct) and Mercury will begin walking degrees he/she (as us) is going to walk three times - expect some slow downs, some things to not go as planned and even just fall apart by early October. And then October itself looks kind of like a fall picnic without any sandwiches, or good weather, or friendly banter or well, any actual picnicking.
It might be our most challenging month of 2020. Muscles will be built.
Remember our guiding star/North Node in Gemini - stay flexible and curious, keep it small and local. There won't be one big move that fixes everything, so don't make yourself nuts. Our mantra within all communication, and maybe especially in our closest relationships, could be something like, "when I listen and when I can learn from this other person, I win".
Keep in mind the reflective mirror life is holding up to us via outer circumstances and other people - to show us WHO WE ARE now. This is actually a great gift that only looks like an overdrawn bank account notice or some upsetting words/news from a friend/partner. This is all Libra/Capricorn. Grit and grace. Calm assertive. The most important thing and sometimes the only thing that is important at all is how we will respond. Maybe think - what would Ruth do?
With two inner planets changing signs, an inner planet squaring multiple outer planets and two inner planets squaring each other - the collective world is being squeezed down into our personal experiences. The patriarchy is ending. There is no Plan B for the patriarchy because
in reality it has already ended. We are looking at/holding onto
something that no longer exists. Most of us are carrying karma and old
contracts and commitments that have already ended.
For everyone now in order to stay sane during these changes a need to make things simpler/less crowded, less complicated - more authentic.
Know we are truly all in this together - let's unpack the week.
MONDAY - Mercury at 22 degrees Libra squares Pluto at 22 degrees Capricorn.
Mercury in Libra wants to be polite and wants things to be fair and
Pluto is all hard edges. Intense interactions and conversations.
Manipulations. Obsessions. Jealousy. Authority. The need for diplomacy. A
push for the truth. An intense focus. Clear your head.
Words can cut like a knife.
Challenging news/verbal confrontations where maybe we are fighting about one thing, but there is a whole other level of stuff underneath that we are really fighting about. If pressure has been building in us (or someone else) to SAY SOMETHING, well, here is where it might get said. And probably in a more cutting /harsh way than anyone intended. Plutonian squares can be hard "no's"/firm endings. Situations that feel like life and death and sometimes they actually are, but not usually.
This is powerful energy - especially happening at the powerful 22 degrees Cappy - activated in January via the "time runs out" Saturn/Pluto/Mercury/Ceres conjunction. A good use of this would be deep research, really listening, getting to the bottom of something, disclosure, TRUTH.
Pluto can show us via Mercury (in Libra) an uncomfortable truth and we push it back into the closet at our own peril. Especially with Mercury about to go retrograde in Scorpio answering to Pluto!
TUESDAY - the Sun moves into Libra, crossing 0 degrees (an Aries point - where our collective attention is focused on the SAME THING) and giving us the Autumn Equinox (Spring, down-under). This year's Autumn Equinox chart is kind of dicey because Libra squares Capricorn (Saturn, Pluto, Jupiter) and opposes Aries (Mars), so the Sun will kind of be repeating what Mercury is doing this week later in October.
A light (the Sun) will be shone
on what is out-of-balance or what is unfair, particularly within
relationships. The curtain is drawn back and our Libra houses (and their themes) wake up.
With the Sun in Libra we will all be burning Libra fuel. We move
ahead through balance, compromise and through our relationships with
other people which won't be easy with the Cappy squares and Aries opposition, but nothing about 2020 has been easy anyway!
WEDNESDAY - Mercury at 25 degrees Libra squares Saturn at 25 degrees Capricorn.
This is the first of three squares - the one with Saturn retrograde. We get the next on November 1st with Mercury retrograde and the final square on November 6th with both planets direct.
So, we know whatever this complicated negotiation is this week - it is long-lasting. We are back and forth reaching a point of balance/fairness with something/someone. Libra/Cappy makes me think of those "grit and grace" signs. Or that dog whisperer guy who was always asking people to be "calm assertive". And, of course, the incredible icon of justice and equality (and steel!) Ruth Bader Ginsburg (who passed last week as first Mercury in Libra (news of a woman) squared Jupiter in Cappy (structural changes within our legal system) and then the Moon - our emotions, the public knowledge - followed).
Whatever this is, it matters or we wouldn't be getting three shots at it!
In the meantime, the here and now, as Mercury squares Saturn there could be verbal/written rules that need to be followed. We are required to say the right thing/maybe even agree to something we don't totally agree with or are unsure/undecided about. We might feel we have to be polite out of fear of what will happen if we aren't and this might snowball into an explosion later.
Saturn is retrograde so this won't be an entirely new situation/conversation. This also speaks of an added seriousness to partnership communications and mental activities. This is not a time to be glib or airy. Sober words mean serious business. Keep in mind the three-peating design of this challenge - we will be here again. If you are signing a contract now, prepare to keep your end of the bargain.
(echoing this theme, Mercury begins walking the degrees she/he will walk three times between now and November, so pay attention to what is happening - we start this journey in cordial Libra then merge into intense and penetrating Scorpio then we double back)
THURSDAY - Mercury at 26 degrees Libra opposes Mars (retrograde) at 26 degrees Aries
We really need to be walking our talk now!
Here's the exploding cherry on top of Mercury's messy week. Arguments. Competition. Challenging information. Internalized anger - what are we really so pissed off about?! - comes up and out through fiery words.
Take care driving. Stay safe. Take care operating heavy machinery (and light machinery, don't toss your phone across the room - just sayin'). Patience is needed.
Of course, this is probably connecting to the Mercury/Pluto, Mercury/Saturn stuff and we can only take so much. Give yourself a break. Turn off the news if you need to because it will surely be cray/cray.
On Friday, Saturn stands still preparing for his direct station on the 29th - things can change around on us. Keep this in mind and stay flexible.
SUNDAY - Mercury enters Scorpio and because of his/her upcoming retrograde will be here (other than a quick two week dip back into Libra) until December 1st.
So, now instead of answering to Venus and the Sun, Mercury is answering to Mars and Pluto - that's a pretty big left hand turn! His actual retrograde will be from October 13th - November 3rd - stationing direct on the United States Election Day!
During this transit we will be getting to the bottom of things and will not be satisfied with Libra's (Mercury's last stop) conversational civilities. We'll want to know, and think/talk about, what is really happening.
It won't always be comfortable.
Decide first if you really
want to know what is hiding underneath because Plutonian authenticity
is not only transformational - it is permanent. There is no going back to "not knowing". Mysteries can be solved. The truth could come out. Secrets can be languaged and spoken out loud.
Difficult conversations will create deeper levels of intimacy now. If you are dating someone and you have sex (also Scorpio ruled)
with them you can never go back to not having sex with them even if
you never have sex with them again.
The intimacy is still there.
It
will be like this with our words now.
And once we know the information - we own it. It's our move (with Scorpio the move might be internal).
It changes who we are and we ignore who we are at our own peril.
Mercury is going to oppose Uranus three times during this transit - think : "mind blown" - we need to hold on loosely to our certainty about ALMOST EVERYTHING.
Careless language (disrespect for ourselves and others) and our careless treatment of other people's words (and their reaction to ours) will be karmic. Keep this in mind.
There could be battles for mental supremacy and mind games during this transit. People prone to manipulation could be extremely effective (or someone will finally see right to the bottom of what we are doing - maybe that someone will be ourselves).
This is a time to take a good, long look at what we are really
seeking when we are trying to make a situation/person behave in a way
that pleases us. Think about it. There are gold nuggets to be mined
now. Even tiny specks can be used to create great fortunes. Scorpio rules our inheritance.
The fly in the jelly here is that we might think we are mining for gold
when we are really just obsessing on the same old same old. Scorpio rules obsession and compulsion and our minds could easily go there now.
Notice it. Don't judge it. Think about - "what does it mean that I keep thinking about this?".
Scorpio rules death, too. It's not only what we dig up, but what we put into the ground that matters now. This is going to be a long transit, we will talk about it more as we move through it.
Back with the dailies as we add in the Moons.
Get enough rest.
Take care of yourself.
Know there are some things we are just going to have to experience. Because as challenging as this week is with Mercury's squares and oppositions - in October, we will have both the Sun AND Mars making them.
xo all
artwork by the talented joel8x