Astrology of 10/11 – 10/17: Scorpionic Atmosphere

Jupiter has moved into Scorpio, and this week Mercury follows suit. We have an active Saturn-Chiron square being triggered into a t-square as Venus and Mars in Virgo square Saturn in Sagittarius and oppose Chiron in Pisces. Besides Venus entering Libra this week, many of our planetary alignments correlate with a certain harshness – whether it is probing into something and seeing layers underneath, becoming more aware of our shadow, or feeling more acutely critical – these are possibilities. It may be important to remember that in the world of Scorpio (of which we are increasingly descending), transformation is the game. That which we can identify consciously, we can have more agency in working with. While this energy of sharpness plays out, it is just as possible that we might feel breakthroughs in our process such that we are sharply aligned.

These transits remind me of a surgeon who is able to work in a situation many would be squeamish of. Perhaps it is a character trait, or perhaps it is a certain way of framing the situation that the surgeon has learned. Because the surgeon has a way of identifying what is happening, or expertise in this realm which is harrowing to most, they are able to work through the surgery with deep focus and precision, but not so much fear or anxiety. When we touch places in ourselves and our experience which we deem as needing correction (such as a surgery) it is easy for us to get overwhelmed with emotions which spin us, throw us off balance, and make us unable to engage. When we seek higher knowledge of the human condition, especially related to areas that trouble us the most, we find new ways to encapsulate our experience, and we are given tools, such as the surgeon has, to cut into and alter our own experience without fear. Yet just as the surgeon goes to a medical school which no doubt has a kind of worldview and cosmology, so do our various forms of expertise which inform and guide us through life. Our tools, and praxis, are in confrontation with these bigger picture views. The Reiki practitioner, as an example, also has tools which are of a different nature than the surgeon’s. Different experiences will call for different worldviews and tools. Part of our individuation is finding which path(s) call to us.

On the flip (less harsh sounding) side, the sweetness of Scorpio is the love and tenderness it can show for the most vulnerable places of the heart and psyche – the places which to us, are like life and death. This is why we associate Scorpio with trust. Take care this week to be tender with both yourself and others even when the mind gets sharp. Is our sharpness just a worldview clashing with our experience? The nervous system, the way we feel – registers tenderness all the same, and we may as well generate more of it in the places it is most needed.

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(Top image: Beth Avary)

Here’s our week:

October 11

Mars in 22 Virgo square Saturn in 22 Sagittarius: 6:37 AM PDT

Mars and Venus are in a new phase together in Virgo (after forming an exact conjunction last week) and together they both form last quarter phase squares to Saturn in Sagittarius. Along with Chiron in Pisces, a t-square is formed. The Saturn-Chiron square is still active – read about it in the archives here. It is the transit I associate most right now with feelings of despair/hopelessness at broken situations in the world or the structure of society, as well as crises which appear to be breaking points. Based on these archetypes, the strategy I picture for this transit as a whole is that broken situations reveal the need for imagination – imagination which can take us past our restrictions.

(Image: Hiroshima Mon Amour 1959)

Here are some things to note with Mars/Venus and Saturn:

• The need for (and/or experience of) breakthrough with energy levels: how our lifestyle or habits may support or hinder our vitality.
• A key confrontation or shift with how we are being conditioned or are willfully conditioning ourselves for a project/mission/goal. The sense that in order to do something great or of significance, we will have to get stronger. If we love (Venus) our mission, our spirits may be high and the tension creative and fruitful. If we find that we do not value the mission, there may be more need or inspiration to change course. And in between, it’s not so simple: sometimes love unfolds because we commit and create a container.
• For those who are not ramping up the heat (it’s not relevant for everyone), it may be about smart choices which allow a structural support to take the burden off – aka working smarter not harder.
• The time to be less precious with our excuses, and more vigorous about our inspiration.
• In the case of a crisis of energy (feeling low energy/feeling drained), Mars-Saturn transits can be a good time to seek help from a practitioner/professional/guide you resonate with or feel intuitively drawn to. Expertise is a boost.
• The special kind of love for the grind; and for the harvest that it produces, the vitality/esteem that comes from breaking a sweat (literally or metaphorically).
• A philosophical shift along the lines of perfection and our ability/inability to create or maintain perfection – and the reroutes this can offer us as we adjust our expectations and open up to new experiences which have something to teach us in their imperfection.
• Through becoming aware of misalignment, this creative friction inspires us to uncover a new tool for dealing with a situation at hand.

October 12

Last Quarter Moon in 19 Cancer: 5:25 AM PDT

As our last Full Moon formed a T-square with Pluto at the focal point, now we have another Pluto t-square but the Moon and Pluto are opposite, with the Sun as the focal point. Some ideas:

• In order to radiate or shine one’s essence into the world in a way that brings greater balance, peace, harmony or justice, one’s interior being must be empowered. In this way, personal empowerment is an act of social justice. Deepening the self helps us have something to offer. We need to navigate the tension creatively that is showing up to deepen our inner lives, without getting stuck or encased there like someone getting ready all night to go out but never going out.
• The way in which relationship carries us out of our comfort zone and necessarily so. The types of ego structure that dissolve when we meet another (especially the more intimate the connection).
• The way that interpersonal dynamics cause us to open up or harden (a la Cancer/crab archetype) and the potential to be more aware of movement on this front for this Moon. How do we trust? How do we feel safe? How do we create safe spaces for others?

Mercury in 23 Libra sextile Saturn in 23 Sagittarius: 8:03 PM PDT

• This is a good diplomacy transit that can be willfully engaged. Perhaps we are thinking about ways to bridge barriers between different cultures or worldviews. To do this, it helps to study the ways of speaking and the ideas of the other so that synthesis and connection can occur.
• If the timing is not ripe for the great diplomatic epiphany, sometimes this is just about showing up for connection where connection can be made. Rapport sets the stage for future teamwork. If there are people in your family, circles, community, etc. with which you don’t see eye to eye, yet some level of friendship or connection is possible, I wouldn’t underestimate that at this time. Friendship builds bridges, even if it takes time.

October 14

Venus enters Libra: 3:11 AM PDT

Venus stays in Libra, a home sign of Venus, until November 7, 2017.

• As Venus moves into Libra, we may be putting more focus on how we cooperate with others. Themes such as yielding, teamwork, and weighing decisions (rather than acting impulsively) arise.
• The gradient between impulsive, unconscious people pleasing and refined, aware, arts of love.
• The enjoyment and satisfaction intrinsic in creating harmony and rapport with others.
• Watch for the need to be liked, or to possess another’s affection. Is this truly a value (a deep calling to form connection, to elevate one’s charisma and charm, to please one another out of love for them) or is it something to let go? There is not one answer. Libra is a balancing act.
• Jupiter has recently left Libra and is in Scorpio (at the 0 degree) before Venus enters Libra. While Venus and seduction both have their shadow sides, seduction is also a love language. With Venus and Jupiter both at thresholds – Venus of pleasing and balance, aesthetic, and Jupiter of depths and sexuality – how do we go into the deepest of mystery with those that we love? Charm and charisma carries to those layers too, especially if that is an area of life we choose to refine and to individuate. As Jupiter in Scorpio may highlight during this transit, even as Eros is harnessed by media and industrialized in this fashion, Eros has room to be unleashed – to actually expand our consciousness of what new frontiers of ecstasy are possible.

October 15

Mercury in Libra opposite Uranus in Aries: 12:51 AM PDT

• The frequencies of thought we pick up in the Uranian realm (revelations, flash insights, new ideas, etc.) are in direct relationship with the balances/imbalances in our nervous system. Things like massage work can be revolutionary – freeing energy in the body and subtle body.
• The awareness that many of our “this or that”/“either or” thought constructs are abstractions – that the things we pit against one another are not inherently at odds; we have just chosen to see them that way. “I can have money, or do what I love” Is an example. These stories have power. Whether we are dropping stories, becoming aware of them, or using story creatively as an act of agency, these are all possibilities this week.

October 16

Sun in Libra sextile Saturn in Sagittarius: 4:13 AM PDT

• The realization that charm and charisma can have positive consequences in a situation; the authority deployed in actually using it and becoming aware of the responsibility that charisma carries. How are we honest with people about our intentions?
• The judiciousness of what situations call for charisma that one has, or how to maturely harness charisma as to not be deceptive.
• The way in which becoming more charming/pleasing for a specific purpose can alchemically shift the heart – what was once fake becomes authentic.
• The above points speak to charisma coming out that has previously been restricted because of judgement (like “I shouldn’t be fake”). What about charisma we don’t know we have, or we don’t think we are particularly charming? This transit can also bring elevation of those qualities of we engage with beauty and what we find pleasurable. With enough inspiration, we rise to the occasion, and discover charisma-in-reserve.
• The expansion of self-esteem that comes from being liked or approved by someone that we admire, the ability to raise the self-esteem of others by authentically being confident about their prospects and reflecting back at them their innate beauty and gifts.

October 17

Mercury enters Scorpio: 12:59 AM PDT

(Image: Leonora Carrington)

Mercury stays in Scorpio until November 5, 2017.

• When Mercury transits through Scorpio, we can become more aware of the messages we receive in the form of hunches and intuition. We may feel more curious about engaging these intuitions.
• Mercury in Scorpio is like an archetype for fanatic research: the obsession or focus on collecting information on a particular topic. For various reasons, fanaticism is magnetic: both attractive and repulsive. We obsess, think we shouldn’t obsess. We enchant others we meet at a party or alienate them when we tell them about what we’re *really* into. Sometimes we just get more articulate and discerning about how we navigate and communicate obsession by throwing ourselves into it. It’s not a gentle path. It’s hot and primordial, can transform consciousness.
• Fixation is key with Scorpio. Paranoia, and negative fixations, are focuses wrapped around things we are repelled by, which creates a great deal of inner tension. It is harder to avoid or just stop thinking about negative fixations. Sometimes, a replacement fixation is better – tuning in with our desire more than our fear. Think – activities that take you out of your mind or drop you into deep presence, mantra meditations, focusing on a symbol.

Thank you for meditating on the planets with me this week!

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Thoughts about this week? Leave them in the comments!

With love,

Sabrina Monarch

Sabrina Monarch is a soul-centered Evolutionary Astrologer who publishes weekly astrological forecasts. She has been collecting astrological experience for over a decade. She also enjoys kundalini and ashtanga yoga, hiking and creative writing.