The month of October emphasizes intense feelings leading to personal re-evaluation especially as it relates to your friendships, lovers, and physical and financial well-being. This intensity starts on October 2, 2006 as Mercury enters Scorpio and begins its journey towards creating a fixed T-square involving the planets Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune.
Mercury is about your ability to analyze, seek information, and gather facts. Jupiter and Saturn are considered societal planets because they emphasize the need to understand the difference between pushing the boundaries of societies while knowing that sometimes you have no choice but to work within your social structure. Neptune represents your dreams. It also represents either the feeling that you need to go through life sacrificing for those dreams or believing that your dreams are so spiritually motivated that everyone in the world will support them.
What’s interesting about this month is that there’s a secondary underlying influence at work as well: the signs of Libra and Scorpio. Libra represents the need for relationships and negotiating your needs within these relationships; Scorpio represents values others expect you to hold because those values are important to them. And, Scorpio also represents your desire to imprint your values on society through the legacies you leave behind.
All of this leads to this month’s theme: Moving forward with your goals while maintaining your place in society.
This theme can lead your emotions in one of two directions: Believing that it’s more important to keep your feelings and thoughts private, thereby avoiding many human interactions; or, reaching out to other people who are willing to communicate with you about the direction of your life and the direction of their life. The direction that you decide to take emotionally may depend on how safe you feel in your relationships with other people. For communications to be successful right now, it’s important not to criticize others or let them criticize you.
When Mars forms a trine to Neptune retrograde on October 4th, you may feel confused about the direction to take, but that’s all right. As the full Moon, with the Sun in Libra and the Moon in Aries, occurs on October 6, 2006, this is the time to understand that your relationships work better in situations where you are accepted for your individuality. There is also a desire to find that “soul mate” if you’re not in a relationship right now. Since the full Moon represents a time to let go of old situations that prevent you from living your life successfully, this really is the time to review your relationships and see how much support you either you receive from these people or you are able to give these people.
When Mercury forms a trine to Uranus retrograde on October 10th, you will feel more optimistic about the possibilities in your life. Mercury in Scorpio tends to hold back, but today there’s this sense that you can more forward with life and rewards start coming.
This sense of optimism continues as Venus forms a trine to Neptune on October 13th. This is a day when dreams might come true. You’ll find that you feel better about yourself and your goals. You could possibly meet that special someone. You know which people in your life are able to give you the support you need.
Just be cautious to apply realistic approaches to your dreams. On October 15th, Mercury forms a square to Neptune retrograde. This is a day of caution if you want to begin something new. You need to be careful of contracts because not all the information is present. At the same time, your intuitive ability is higher than usual. This is a good day for meditation and paying attention to your intuition. You may not start anything new right now, but at least you’ll be able to gain a better understanding of the emotional direction you may need to take.
The most important time period for the month of October is between the 22nd of the month into the beginning of November 2006. Several important astrological phenomena cascade into a series that crescendos around the November elections and continues into December 2006. It begins with the new Moon on October 22nd.
The new Moon is considered an ideal time to start new things. This new Moon that occurs on October 22nd is found in the sign of Libra. The first few weeks of this month were spent evaluating your life’s direction and your various relationships. It was also a time period to understand what others expected of you and whether those expectations were realistic. Now you’ll find out just how realistic those expectations were. If people were deceiving you, the truth of that deceit will surface. If people were expecting too much of you, you’ll be able to tell them that their expectations are just too unrealistic. And, if you need to negotiate anything, this is a good time period to do so. There is a greater willingness to communicate and be truthful in that communication.
That same day, October 22nd, Mercury forms a conjunction to Jupiter and the next day it forms a square to Saturn. This is almost a preparation for the square Jupiter will form to Saturn on October 25th. Yet, before Jupiter does form a square to Saturn, three more astrological entities join Mercury in the sign of Scorpio: the Sun, Mars, and Venus.
The Jupiter square Saturn aspect is a very important cycle that occurred two times earlier within the last twelve months. It began its underlying influence on December 17, 2005 when the square formed for the first time in this current cycle. It occurred a second time on June 26, 2006. This is a cycle that occurs approximately every 19 to 20 years and focuses not only on your personal life but also global events.
Jupiter represents the desire to expand quickly while Saturn represents the need to take responsible actions and develop a structure in your life to support those actions. Because this particular cycle occurs in a series of three, it’s very important to think back to your actions the first two times this cycle occurred. If you expanded too rapidly with activities in your life, you may be feeling like a toy that’s gone beyond its elasticity and it now being pulled back by external forces. If you took the time to create a plan and structure before expanding and taking on new projects, this is a time when you’ll feel impatient because you know you’ve paid the price for your success by developing a good foundation and you’re ready to move forward and receive your personal rewards.
Before continuing in the explanation of this energy, it’s important to go back to the fact that on October 24th, one day before this square occurs, there will be six astrological points (Venus, Mars, Sun, Jupiter, Mercury, and the Moon) in Scorpio. This could be the crisis point in your life if you haven’t structured your plans carefully. This will also be a global crisis point in those parts of the world where plans weren’t considered carefully yet implemented between December 2005 and June 2006. Because Scorpio represents other people’s values, as well as the legacy you’d like to leave behind, this could be a time period where there is disruption in the world because one person’s values don’t match what you believe is a good legacy to impart. Scorpio, in its absolute negative represents vengeance. It could bring up feelings of anger that have percolated under the surface and create a tsunami effect in your life or around the world. Yet, spiritually, Scorpio also represents the ability to dig deeply into your psyche and pull out information that can help you develop calming and peaceful solutions to very serious problems. Scorpio is represented as the symbol of the phoenix for the reason that good can arise from the ashes of old actions. Scorpio is also the alchemist that can generate new energy and ideals through the power of thought. The Scorpio energy is one of deep determination and drive. This is the time when you can use this positive determination, create plans, and find your path to success. The key is to release any anger that you may feel and just move on.
If you use this Scorpio energy in its most spiritual form, you’ll find that this last square of Jupiter to Saturn on October 25th represents the ability to spring forth from the foundation you may not even know you created. Because this energy of the fixed T-square continues into November and even December 2006, you’ll see its impact on elections as well as other aspects of your life.
Issues such as immigration, electional difficulties, and scandals will continue to make front page news. Historically the following has been seen: Governments become more concerned with maintaining their national identity over global expansion. Technology is introduced with grand designs but insufficient testing; and scandals increase because there is a tendency to believe in the hubris of the public persona (meaning an erroneous belief that different sets of rules apply to different classes of people). Yet the true lesson of Jupiter square Saturn is really even more important. Through global expansion there is a greater reason for peaceful co-existence. Suddenly, more people have a vested interest, even if it’s economic, to get along. Through sufficient testing of technology, life can become easier for all of us. Through realizing that societal rules are meant for all classes of people, it becomes easier for you to find common bonds for people who are not quite like you. Historically, this square has occurred at time periods when people are actually attempting to reach out and understand each other. Spiritually, this is a time to understand what is important to you and how you can bring spiritual love and caring into your daily relationships. (You can find detailed information on the historical occurrences in my Trend Analysis for the Year 2006 book.)
The month of October ends with Mercury, still in Scorpio, turning retrograde on October 28th and returning to the conjunction of Jupiter on October 30th. This conjunction will once again open the door to communications. You’ll find that people are willing to take time to understand you. And, you’ll be willing to do the same for others. This is still a time to delve deeply into your real needs and how they apply to your current lifestyle. The intensity you feel during October will not end at this time, but the fact that Mercury is retrograde means you’ll get a second (or even third chance) in “getting it right” in your life.