As October begins, many (if not most) of us will still be adapting to the recent shift Saturn in Virgo has foisted upon us, a change which is likely to manifest as intensity of focus aimed at what you’re doing. Or not doing. Or what you should be doing, but may not want to do. 

Saturn in Virgo often inspires us to learn how to improve ourselves physically, mentally, motivationally, causing us to perfect (or at least improve!) our methods of getting where we want to go. The down side? Saturn in Virgo also manifests as reluctance—and that ugly moment when one’s proverbial chickens coming home to roost. So this is a time when you can move ahead—or suffer set backs. It all depends on your relationship to constructive effort and responsibility. 

Not that this passage is about drudgery—far from it; the aim of Saturn in Virgo is all about opening the door to personal success (and success as a person). It’s just that getting there may require effort, organization and yes, a bit of sacrifice. You may have to actually DO all those things you know you should have been doing all along, whether the issue is that exercise routine, that quitting of the bad habit (or bad relationship) or just getting yourself in gear instead of simply figuring someone else (everyone else) was going to pick up the slack.  

And just to underscore the fact that this may be annoying (yes, this can be a period of periodic annoyances) the 2-½ years just spent with Saturn in Leo (July 2005–September 2007) got many of us off on a spree of self-indulgence. Some of us got diligent and creative with our lives, yes, and those folks will now be getting somewhere—not that the work is all over (far from it!). And yes, the passage prior to Saturn in Leo (the 2-½ years of Saturn in Cancer) was another time span where some of us got real about life long-term while some of us opted for escapism and short-term comfort.

In fact, this five-year span (Saturn in Cancer plus Saturn in Leo) was life’s way of separating the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. You’ve probably noticed it among friends, family and coworkers. Some put their nose to the grindstone and some were out fiddling on the beach or with their friends.

But now comes the results. If you were one of the "diligent" people, Saturn’s entrance into Virgo will be marked with opportunities. If you were one of the "doing what I want and like" folks, now you have to deal with hard realities. Yes, it’s that simple: Saturn in Virgo is about what we need to do, not what we want to do, and that’s the rule from here until July 2010. If you chose want over need—and the universe will tell you this very clearly, so don’t try to substitute your own logic here—you’re going to have to work hard to maintain and even harder to excel.

Either way, rewards await those willing to accept the responsibility for being a human being. The trick is that we don’t always get to decide what we were created for. There is a certain amount of Fate operative in life; what we do with that fate is what we mortals call Free Will. Saturn embodies both these qualities by rewarding us for making efforts to do the best with what we have while teaching us that we were each created for a specific purpose—and that may (or may not) be what we like best.

This month the Saturn emphasis remains physical: it’s on the functionality and maintenance of your physical body, personal choices (methodologies) and those things which we utilize to get things done. And with October starting out with Sun in Libra, Mercury in Scorpio, Venus in Leo and Mars in Cancer, chances are that situations at hand are revolving around various combinations of the following:

• Being receptive to information on how you relate to others and the quality of important relationships; getting help/advice from someone qualified in a particular area (or finding such a person); connecting to and getting reactions/input from people; the process of offering the best of who you are or what you know how to do (Sun in Libra)
  
  
• Grasping other people’s values, aims and motivation/orientations; negotiating and reaching agreements on divisions of effort and/or responsibility; confrontations with the emotional self, especially those having to do with desire/fear of vulnerability; revelations of truths which alter perception (or) denial of truth in favor of internally driven fantasies; dealing with resources which are either shared, owed, committed or required (acquisition, reorganization or divestment of property, investments, partnerships, intimate bonds, debts or financial responsibilities) (Mercury in Scorpio)
  
  
• Striving to appear as you want to be seen; create situations in which you can garner the sort of appreciation you want/crave/deserve; being creative for the purpose of appealing to others (Venus in Leo)
  
  
• Wanting to dictate life’s parameters; working to create/repair emotional foundations; dealing with powerful historical/traditional/habitual values learned from, or which play out in the home or through family relationships/lacks thereof; needing to make changes aimed at creating a life more in keeping with who you are as an individual (Mars in Cancer)

Once Venus moves into Virgo on October 8 (late on October 7 for those in western Alaska or Hawaii) "obligations" increase, but with them come a sense of ability which is yours for the taking through doing. If you just require yourself to make the effort and push through discomfiture, results may be ultimately empowering and become very useful in months to come. 

Then we come to October 10 (or 11, depending), a date on which a few more items come into play. The first involves the New Moon. The Moon is the object closest to Earth. It acts as our clock, clicking off day-to-day activity patterns, feelings, needs and situations, all of which revolve on a 29.53-day lunar month.

Put roughly, at the New Moon we begin, at the Full Moon—which this month falls in Taurus on the 24th in America/Alaska/Hawaii and on the 25th in all points east of Greenland—at the Full Moon we complete. Sometimes that completion is merely the finishing of one phase within a greater whole, sometimes it’s the whole deal.  

So! If you’re in the Americas, Alaska or Hawaii, the New Moon occurs on October 10. If you’re in Europe or points east, the New Moon takes place on October 11. No matter where you are, this 17 Libra New Moon is about how you relate to your world. The quality of that determines the quality of responses you receive. 17 Libra is about breaking with societal-familial-traditional status-quo-type values, so the underlying question is why you are as you are, or why you’re doing what you’re doing. If your reasons really fit you as an individual, things move forward positively. If you’re "faking it," or simply doing what someone else has told you that you should do (read: compromising your true nature) expect a rocky road—and no, I don’t mean the ice cream.

One other note here: this New Moon is accompanied by an asteroid named Psyche. Taken from the tale of a beautiful maiden who destroyed her chance to have everything she ever dreamed of through unrestrained curiosity and an unfortunate streak of insecurity which caused her to listen to those who didn’t have her best interests at heart, this is a warning to us all. Know who you are and be who you are. Don’t allow others to define you—your job is to take who you are and make all you can from that.    

The second issue of the moment is Venus moving out of the shadow of its July-August-September retrograde on October 11, opening the door to move ahead after a really trying period of doldrums, inhibitions and feelings of lack, regret, inexperience, dissatisfaction or opportunities missed. The sense of needing to get on with life and wanting to get on with life is strong…

….and yet October 11 is also the day when Mercury goes retrograde at 9 Scorpio, a degree which is all about strength of unity based on understanding common values. The hard part here is the lurking emotional hesitancy which infuses all things 9 Scorpio, things which may take many forms. At some level, you want to be really sure before diving in… at the same time you’re questioning the functionality of relationships and whether you can trust your alliances. Add to that a little dollop of feeling insecure whether you’re up to the task at a hand and knowing if you wait all may well be lost and voila! You have 9 Scorpio.

Bottom line, the issue here is the sense of personal vulnerability. How to cope with that?

Answer: don’t take wild risks, but don’t sit on the sidelines. This degree of Scorpio is all about doing—it requires that you take stock of the situation then take a step. If that goes well, you take another step, and another. 

However—given that this signal does concern Mercury retrograde, don’t finalize anything. Try something new. Get your toes wet. No, you don’t know everything you "need" to know—not yet. But you do need to try. No signing dotted lines, no proposing/accepting requests for “marriage” (personal or professional) but no hiding in the basement, either. 

The Sun moves into Scorpio on October 23. If you’re in the Americas, Hawaii or Alaska, Mercury also retrogrades out of Scorpio (back into Libra) on October 23. If you’re in Europe or points east, Mercury makes this shift in the wee hours of October 24.  Either way, this "trading places" signal underscores the difference between thinking and doing. When the Sun was in Libra and Mercury was in Scorpio, the object was to get honest about yourself (or your situation) and test the viability of this "conception" through interaction with others. It wasn’t about putting on an act to impress, and it wasn’t about going around asking everyone their opinions on what you should or shouldn’t do. Sun in Libra/Mercury in Scorpio is about recognizing what works and what doesn’t work and making adjustments based on understanding the other person so that you interact with them more effectively while remaining true to your inner convictions.   

Now with Sun in Scorpio and Mercury in Libra, the emphasis is on what it takes to get things done (resources), hearing others out on the subject of strategies and finding the proper people to interface with—people who are headed in the same direction as you are. Don’t assume you know what someone else wants and don’t try to manipulate or convert someone. Also—whatever’s afoot, don’t fret if it takes a while to get answers. You may have to wait now. Try checking back around November 1.

And that’s it for October—apart from the fact that Pluto will finish its transit of the Galactic Core come October 30, an event which only happens every 248 years. All celestial contacts to the Core indicate a dynamic which is being turned to the benefit of all. In this case, Pluto has eliminated some things and brought other powerful influences into all our lives in order to get us to think bigger. Life has felt karmic, like being on some cosmic and evolutionary (even revolutionary) roller coaster. Those of us with natal symbols (planets, dwarf planets, axis points, notes, Arabic parts, etc.) at or within 5 degrees of 26 Sagittarius have been called upon to act as a karmic force and that hasn’t been easy. For all of us, the distance here between glee and grief has been about purpose; where you worked for the greatest good, life flourished. Where you "thought small" or only about your personal world, problems bogged you down.

The handwriting is still on the wall: if you act on this instruction, in time you’ll be glad—and yes, it will take time, but the promise is absolutely there. There is a box of happiness in this universe with your name on it, but it may contain something other than you suspect. How can that be? Simple—it’s because life is much bigger than any of us imagine. So the bad news is that you can’t control life—but the good news is you don’t have to.

Unbeknownst to us, the universe is unfolding as it should.     

Have a great October!  
Boots Hart, CAP

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