Sorry for the tardiness of this post!  I was traveling yesterday for nearly 24 hours and overestimated my ability to post from airports using my ipad.

I took this photo in the Doge’s Palace in Venice.  This is not a clock but rather a marking of the Sun through the zodiac. It fascinates me that the highly religious Catholics of the time made such a prominent point of the astrological symbolism! (The needle seems to be stuck at Pisces since every photo of this clock has the needle in the same place.)

The astrology last week was pretty intense, what with the Aries Full Moon opposing Mars, squaring Pluto and conjunct Eris.  I hope you survived it and were able to harness all of that power and use it for good. 😊

This week we have a bit of a break, with mostly lunar aspects.  Retrograde season is over and the world is rushing ahead at breakneck speed in an effort to catch up from the tidal reversal over the past couple of months.  Currently only Uranus, Neptune and Chiron are retrograde which is a relatively small number of retrograde planets.

The biggest news of the week is Mars entering Scorpio on October 30th.  This is kind of symbolic because that is the day before Halloween, All Hallows Eve, which is the quintessence of Scorpio season. Conquering our fear of death. Transcending boundaries of alternate realities. Embracing darkness.  While Mars is in Scorpio it will translate the ever tightening final square between Saturn and Uranus and likely inflame the conflict over control for the sake of public health (Saturn) versus the freedom and personal liberty of making one’s own choices (Uranus).  This Mars-y influence will peak the week of November 10th-17th and of course we’ll be talking more about that in the next week or so.

But let’s take advantage of this week to take a breath and regroup. Dates and times are for the Eastern time zone, please adjust for your locality. 

The Moon entered Cancer at 5 pm on Monday October 25th, and on Tuesday the Cancer Moon squares Chiron for some emotional sensitivity around noon Eastern.  Meanwhile though, a strong square aspect from Venus to Neptune culminates at 9 pm on October 26th, building all day on Tuesday and filtering into Wednesday the 27th.  Venus is in Sagittarius right now where our desires and longings are expansive and not comfortable with restriction, and the square to Neptune will exacerbate that.  Tuesday and Wednesday are days for dreaming and using imagination to power action but don’t expect to get much accomplished.

Wednesday October 27th features only lunar aspects, and with the Moon in the sign of her rulership we can expect emotionality to prevail.  Late on Wednesday and early Thursday (EDT) the Moon sets off that pesky Mars/Pluto square that was the powder keg for the Aries Full Moon last week.  If you can avoid difficult conversations during this time it would make life easier, but I find that usually it’s just those times when difficult things tend to come up!

art by Amanda Clark

Fortunately, a harmonious sextile from Venus to Jupiter is building on the 27th to culminate on Thursday the 28th and this is one of the gentlest astrological gifts we can hope for.  This sweetness will filter through the challenges of the sensitive Cancer Moon rubbing up against the Mars and Pluto bullies which ought to help somewhat.

The Moon enters Leo at 5:07 am EDT on Thursday October 28th and infuses us with a longing to bring more joy into our lives.  This will be a welcome lift! While in Leo the Moon squares the Sun for its final angular alignment before the New Moon, sometimes showing us that an adjustment of some kind is needed.

The focus on Thursday and Friday is primarily the Leo influence of learning to find joy in the small things and spread it around, although the Leo-ruled Sun is building towards a square to Saturn which could put somewhat of a damper on the whole joy thing unless we use good Saturn practices of organization and structure to create a path to bringing in more light and fun.

The Sun/Saturn square culminates just before 6 am EDT on Saturday October 30, just before Mars enters Scorpio.  Mars rules Scorpio, don’t forget, so this is a time of passion and intensity.  The Moon moves into Virgo at 2:09 pm EDT on Saturday to purify the Mars/Scorpio desire into something useful and practical.

On Sunday the Virgo Moon harmonizes with the Sun and Uranus, making this a great day to try something new and generally let yourself enjoy the day. A harmonious trine from Mercury to Jupiter is building which will culminate on Monday November 1st just after midnight EDT, bestowing general good will and feeling.

What a great way to end the week!  It’s also the end of the month, so watch for the November Planetary Illuminations report in your inbox.  If you’re not already subscribed you can use the link below. ❤️

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