The Full Moon in October, which will occur on October 9, 2022 at 1:54 p.m. on the West Coast, is traditionally called the Hunter’s Moon, following after September’s Harvest Moon. Hunting means killing and storing meat for the winter. It can also mean searching for and finding whatever you need to survive lean times ahead.
When the Sun is shining in the sign of Libra, the Full Moon is in the opposite sign, Aries. Both are cardinal signs, representing initiatory action. Libra is air. Aries is fire. In the natural order of the zodiac, Aries comes first, like a baby just out of the womb. It’s about survival. It’s about Me, whereas by the time the wheel has progressed 180 degrees, the Libran focus is on who and what is other than Me. The Aries-Libra axis highlights perennial quandaries about what is mine and what is to be shared. These quandaries raise questions of maintaining good boundaries because only by taking care of Me can I be truly present and available to focus on Us.
Key words for Libra include aesthetic beauty, grace, negotiation, compromise. Key words for Aries include impulse, instinct, fearlessness, drive. An Aries Moon is sharp and feisty, even prone to sudden anger. There is typically a feeling of tension when the Sun and Moon are opposed in the sky, especially so with this pair of signs.
To contemplate how this Full Moon’s energies might manifest, we can look at what other planetary alignments are in play at this lunation.
On October 9, the Moon will be just two degrees from dwarf planet Chiron, often referred to as the “wounded healer.” The Sun will be in close companionship with Venus, currently in her airy home sign of Libra. This near conjunction between the Sun and Venus is like a high beam shining on everything to do with relationships. Yet the opposing Moon-Chiron conjunction may be hotly volatile. This may be a time for some kind of deep healing process, like a trial by fire that eventually subsides in resolution.
Venus, so close to the Sun right now, fosters beauty in myriad forms. The Moon has to do with how we seek security, and in Aries, there may be an urge to do something brave and bold. The days surrounding this Full Moon may be a perfect time to zero in on an artistic endeavor, especially one with a healing vibe.
At the October 9 lunation, there will still be an abundance of planets in retrograde motion, with Saturn, Neptune, Jupiter, and Uranus all in their retrograde periods (and Mars will move retrograde as of October 30). With the Moon, Chiron and Jupiter, too, all in Aries, the psychic atmosphere may feel heated.
Yet there is also at this time a bit of a metaphorical breeze offered by a beautiful Grand Trine in air signs in the sky. Trines are made by planets located about 120 degrees apart. They are in the same element. At this Full Moon, the Sun and Venus in Libra will form two trines, one with Mars in Gemini and the other with Saturn in Aquarius, making an equilateral triangle. The Grand Trine is an aspect of ease and comfort. In air signs, this suggests thinking, speaking, and making social connections. It’s a brief transit, not like someone who has such a configuration in their birth chart. Briefly, this Grand Trine in air may lighten things up.
That’s good because as October progresses, we are moving toward the intensity of an eclipse season. Eclipses come in pairs, usually twice a year, when the New Moon and Full Moon are close to the Moon’s own nodes. There will be a partial solar eclipse with the Scorpio New Moon on October 25 followed by a total lunar eclipse on November 8, the day of the U.S. midterm elections. Who knows what will happen?
Before all that, though, will come a rare phenomenon. The Sun and Venus will make an exact conjunction at 29 degrees of Libra. This final degree of any sign is called the anaretic degree. It’s a last opportunity for a planet to manifest the qualities of a sign before it moves on, until the next go-round. With a last breath in Libra, the Sun and Venus together will illuminate relationship issues before they proceed into Scorpio.
What will make the Venus-Sun conjunction of October 22 so extra starry is that these two have not met up in Libra, Venus’ airy home sign, in about 150 years. The conjunction of Venus and the Sun is called a Venus Star Point, part of a cyclic pattern that Venus manifests in the sky. At 8-year intervals, the Venus Star Point (moving slowly backwards) returns to approximately one of five zodiacal points, and over an 8-year period, these five points in different signs form a pentagram, a symmetrical five-pointed star. It is like a silent clock beating behind Venus’ more apparent, shorter cycles, beaming love and protection in the spheres. The Venus Star Point is a complex astronomical phenomenon studied by a number of prominent astrologers, including Arielle Gutman, author of the book Venus Star Rising.
The Venus-Sun conjunction of October 22, 2022 is one of the five points in the star pattern that will form over the next eight years. This point spells the beginning of a shift (backward) from Scorpio, a Mars sign, to Libra, the sign of peace.
Between the October 9 Aries Full Moon and the New Moon eclipse of October 25, now is an ideal time to focus one’s inner light on anything and everything that will bring greater love down to Earth.
Blessings for the Full Moon and the coming eclipses!
~Sara
Sara R. Diamond, an astrologer based in the San Francisco Bay Area, is a life-long student and practitioner in several esoteric paths. Her style of astrology combines modern-psychological astrology with insights from traditional astrology. Sara is also an estate planning attorney. In addition, she has published four books on right-wing movements in the United States and earned her Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. You are invited to contact Sara via her website at www.SaraDiamondAstrology.com.
Whoops …in my previous comment, I mistakenly drew attention to Pluto stationary ‘Retro’ creating a powerful moment in time. As you know, Pluto Lord of the Underworld is “stationary direct” (not retro), but still creating a powerful moment in time.
Absolutely!
Yes, Pluto stationed direct on Oct. 8th and that is very powerful. I might have mentioned that, too but I sometimes wonder if I’m mentioning too many things at once. Thanks, Sara
An illuminating & inciteful article for sure; while at the same time yet unmentioned, transformational Pluto Lord of the Underworld, is exactly stationary retrograde at the same time. What a powerful moment in time!