The Astrology Of October 2023: Extreme Grooming

We enter October with Mercury having just moved beyond the shadow of his recent retrograde and Venus, at last exits hers on the 7th, so by the time October is warmed up and broken in both of these inner most planets are finished with their retracing loops and ready for new territory. By being closer to earth they are more personal, our thoughts, ideas, interests, how we communicate, investigate and organize as well as our values, desires, preferences, creativity, love, pleasure and aesthetics. What we resonate with and what we think about it. Mercury’s rethinking process was highly logistical, and had a lot to do with Mars’ stab at operations Mars attempted mid to late Summer. Venus’ re-evaluation was an augmentation process to our hearts and the energetic dynamics of our higher selves’ authenticity, what we desire in our true natures and how that gets mapped onto who we outwardly express as. Now that these technical and dynamic re-wirings are complete we face fresh circumstances in our updated versions of personal articulation and posturing. Have you noticed something new about your style or image or the way you process things or run your affairs? These nuances are beginning to be applied to the world and are part of an array ready for change, especially in how energy, effort, and action is directed and what and who are at what level in the mix of our life.

(above image: NYCHOS)

James Ensor

Mercury and Venus exit their shadows then very quickly ingress into new signs. Mercury enters Libra on the 4th after trining Pluto at the tail end of Virgo the day before. The end of a monumental era via Pluto in real and stacking up with time Capricorn readying to depart after having been in the systematic fortress since 2008 being harmonized with the more temporally local and recent thinking around logistics which we’ve been organizing for months on end getting finally wrapped up and a bow put on them leads our thoughts and words and exchanges into the more social, cultural and relational Libra. There’s a switch between things and data to people and the goings on of the human world. Although, Venus moves into Mercury’s earth sign on the 8th continuing the Virgoan influence, but now with the pair in mutual reception. The desire to get romance, creativity, aesthetics, pleasure and satisfaction just right blends with the organization, analysis and communication of relational equilibriums and cultural balances, and the hosting of gracious and beautiful affairs is woven to technical procedures and attention to detail so that things can go off without a hitch. Mars squares Pluto the day Venus enters Virgo, so these critical details we are attracted to dealing with are serious business. An era stretching back to 2008 is drawing to a close, more recently we have discovered we are new people with desires central to our incarnate purpose, there’s issues in our relationships, or in the culture we are involved in or socially at large, if we are going to be able to proceed in an authentic way which satisfies our souls then a sorting out of what pieces contribute to the puzzle of our lives must ensue, and ultimately we are going to have to cut back the dead ends and groom our social and relational dynamics for us to

correctly participate with others.

Evelyn De Morgan

By the 10th this more serious tone is quite present. Venus opposes Saturn, Pluto stations direct, and the Sun opposes Chiron. Saturn demands we be responsible for the atmosphere and ambiance of our life and how we apply nuanced form to the way we go with the flow and are able to let go, relinquish control and move on as a kind of evolutionary strategy. Taking responsibility for what we are immersed in governs this about face into a totally new era where the power dynamics of the future are sweeping away the formidable limits precedented by the past. Some of the people who observe us in our lives are not going to relate which our new visions, we see things differently now, and what we pay attention to and what motivates our actions reflect this. It’s a two way street, and we may not find common ground with some of those we are collected together with either. In the curatorial and have it your way right away world of the internet along with enhanced communication abilities has led to a new kind of social network which alienates us from our previous acquaintances based more on proximity but allows us to connect with others of like mind who share ideas even if they are remote and far away. Over the next 20 years new collectives and syndicates will form from this and our intellectual obsessions will pull us into the unknown how property and corporate infrastructural influence has dominated our lives in the gentrifying process of the world since the late 2000s till now shaped the experience we’ve landed at and how we deal with it. Mid October brings us towards a pinch point in this pivot and what we do about it with the people who have been in our lives as we roll into oncoming new stories populated with characters who will be the people in our lives up stream. There will be crossover and cameos as we transition, as if from Cheers to Frazier, but ultimately there will be a new cast as varied activity, directives and circumstances are introduced. This focus on one individual out of the web of interrelations (in this case you) opens doors to developments and activities as the fold is left behind for the pursuits of the protagonist.

Hu Zaobin

Before the mid month South Node Solar Eclipse in Libra Mars ingresses Scorpio and trines Saturn. Trines are typically considered soft aspects but when malefic planets are harmonized its not something that goes unnoticed. Challenges, confrontations, obstacles, difficulties and problems resonating off each other from two different dimensions of life tends to create perfect storm type scenarios. This doesn’t mean it will necessarily be disastrous. At times the challenges we face are constructive and of our own choosing, as we forge ourselves in the crucible to transform into more formidable beings. Mars famously rules Scorpio where he is his most animalistic. Mars’ response to intensity and primal urgency in concert with Saturn’s finding a way to add form to the flow and let go to proceed with the plan describes a instinctual approach in tactical maneuvering. You may find that a swift and stealthy attack that kills on first strike is most effective, at which point you can then go unseen back to your hiding place surrounded by an atmosphere of protection where everything in the field contributes to a shelter from harm. Fight or flight impulses and fixation on results of one kind of another could add to the guttural level of goings on within which you have to read the reality of how things are floating together on their own accord.

Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach

Mercury and the Sun follow Mars into this state after the identification with reduction and refinement event of the October 14th eclipse, but not before a Mercury cazimi on the 20th while they square Pluto. As they socially and relationally clash up against the climax of an era dominated by oligarchs, central banks, skyrocketing rents and everything becoming a brand some sort of ah ha moment delivers a particular download which is a kernel of valuable info for insertion somewhere in your narrative. Like, oh, well then, vvvveerrrryyyy interesting indeed. You might have drawn into a certain kind of quiet leading up to this, likely related to the turbulence of the eclipses fast forward plot advance in the key of who or what no longer belongs in your life, and after this key mental notification you measure how fucked the world is, how you have bigger fish to fry, and drop into a prowling and tracking modality to scheme and detective your way towards real rewards that mean something in the tangible world. Where can one hit the jackpot of prizes with real quantities of meat on the bone? Where can one hunt for game you can sink your teeth into?

Leonora Carrington

Mars, the Sun and Mercury oppose Jupiter in Taurus, the final Taurus North Node Eclipse occurs, Venus trines Uranus all in the later part of the month. Its a mean world out there where we are forced to slave away for the sake of monopoly men, its scary to contemplate where we go from that as a contemporary platform to the specter of AI and what it represents, we’re beginning to break from co-dependencies which can have us moving in the dark like a scared animal, but as we will find out, once we exit outdated relationships, deceased cultural enclaves and stale social circles we find a world with tasty morsels up for offer, for which our appetites wet and mouths water. In fact, it is imperative we feed, as if we are vampires for what we now understand we need to survive outside of the social or relational safety nets we relied on for far too long. By early November Venus will be in rulership in Libra and Saturn will be direct, so there is progress and we seem to like the fit of what we are beginning to trim back in the sanguine balance of life’s ongoing soiree. Much of 2023 is like a practice round for the real thing we will do in 2024 and onward. October marks a moment when this practice phase notices there is an end in sight and things are beginning to get real, as internal as well as external reactions to the play out of the practice are seen to effect the actual central plot, and put us in participator rather than bystander position. It’s been fun, but having stayed too long at the fair we cheers one last time and move on to endeavors we’ve been experimenting with and changes to our baselines we’ve been attempting to make for a while. The proof is in the pudding they say, and now that we’ve tasted our just desserts, its the dawn of renewed fixations, and to each their own, you do what you got to do to bring home the bacon, even if for some, or many, that comes in the form of biting necks.

Frans Snyders

3rd

Mercury trine Pluto

4th

Mars conjunct South Node

Mercury ingress Libra

7th

Venus exits shadow

8th

Mars square Pluto

Venus ingress Virgo

John James Chalon

10th

Venus opposite Saturn

Pluto stations direct

Sun opposite Chiron

12th

Mars ingress Scorpio

13th

Mars trine Saturn

14th

South Node Solar Eclipse in Libra

Mercury opposite Chiron

17th

Sun conjunct South Node

18th

Mercury conjunct South Node

20th

Mercury cazimi

Mercury square Pluto

21st

Sun square Pluto

22nd

Venus trine Jupiter

Mercury trine Saturn

23rd

Sun ingress Scorpio

Arnold_Böcklin

28th

Mars opposite Jupiter

NN Lunar Eclipse in Taurus

Mercury opposite Jupiter

29th

Mercury conjunct Mars

31st

Venus trine Uranus