The Existential Cul-de-Sac

Mercury in Virgo is literal, pragmatic, and adept at taming disorganization with spreadsheets, checklists, and hospital corners. However on these events when logic leaves us stranded in an existential cul-de-sac, spinning round and round with no rational resolution, it’s time to attraction to the invisible, the magical, the not possible.

Enter Mercury’s opposition to Neptune (Oct. 2, 2023, 8:34 am PDT), a reminder that instinct and logic should not enemies, however can in truth complement each other. Not the whole lot that’s necessary in life will be quantified, says Neptune. Truthful sufficient, replies Mercury; however neither are all of the issues we consider actually true, simply because we would like them to be.

These two act as mandatory checks on each other’s extra, and once they’re in opposition, we are able to see the place it’s mandatory to regulate the steadiness.

The Energy of Phrases

As Mercury trines Pluto (Oct. 3, 2023, 12:19 pm PDT), a portal opens for redefining ourselves. It’s like a teenager who goes away to school and acknowledges the chance to undertake a brand new nickname (or drop an odious one), and exchange their “slacker” label for a spot on the Dean’s record.

Names and titles matter. They’re Mercury’s manner of telling the world what to think about us.

Mercury in facet to Pluto calls consideration to the facility of names, phrases, and definitions to affect how we’re perceived. Normally, that begins with how we consider and discuss ourselves. This week, take discover if you end up utilizing self-deprecating jokes or placing your self down. Observe how usually you apologize reflexively, when no apology is required, apologizing for merely current. When Mercury connects with Pluto, it’s time to take management over our labels, names, and tales. They matter. So can we.

Kicked Out of the Nest

Mars opposes the North Node of the Moon (Oct. 4, 2023, 9:06 a.m. PDT, 24º57’ Libra and Aries) this week, which suggests it’s transiting over the Moon’s South Node, which might do one in all a pair issues. It will probably kick us out of the nest push us towards the North Node in Aries, the place we’re being requested to face on our personal and go after what we would like as people. Or it may possibly, particularly with the approaching Mars-Pluto sq. (precise subsequent week), get us mired in battle and Libran indecision that retains us from shifting forward.

This opposition is inside a couple of levels of the upcoming Oct. 14 New Moon/Photo voltaic Eclipse in Libra. It’s an necessary time to concentrate to how we’re coping with battle, and about how we could be letting {our relationships} with different folks maintain us again from shifting ahead on an necessary particular person path.

A Good Argument

Mercury enters Libra this week (Oct. 4, 2023, 5:08 pm by way of Oct. 21). Mercury within the previous signal, Virgo, analyzed the knowledge at hand and sharpened important pondering abilities. In Libra, Mercury likes to make use of these abilities to interact others in debate, bargaining, haggling, and mediation. We’ll have till Mercury enters Scorpio on Oct. 21 to refine our negotiation techniques.

Libra is an indication related to good manners, however these with this placement whom I’ve identified properly truly love a superb argument. They’re scrupulously truthful, although, and whenever you’ve gained the purpose, they concede with out hesitation. What’s necessary is that the controversy be truthful and the opponents equally matched, and that the reality and worth of what’s beneath dialogue be absolutely revealed.

Whereas Mercury is in Libra, be ready to take your concepts to {the marketplace} and interact in a spirited debate about them. You’ll quickly discover out whether or not they maintain water.

Belonging

The Most cancers Final Quarter Moon (Oct. 6, 2023, 6:48 am PDT, at 13º02’ Most cancers) is on the Sabian image 14 Most cancers, A really outdated man going through an unlimited, darkish house to the northeast, and the Sabian image for the Solar is 14 Libra, A midday siesta. On the Most cancers Final Quarter Moon, we glance again, just like the outdated man going through an unlimited, darkish house to the northeast. And as we do, we are able to relaxation for a second, a little bit of a midday siesta time, earlier than we launch into the final a part of this lunar cycle.

Most cancers is a nostalgic signal, and it’s an indication about belonging – to a household, a neighborhood, a tribe. Do you may have that sense of connection in your life proper now? Does it really feel necessary so that you can discover extra of it?

We have been not too long ago watching a Netflix documentary about so-called Blue Zones, the place a bigger than common variety of folks reside into outdated age, some into their 100s, in vibrant good well being. One of many constant through-lines of those locations was the premium positioned on social connections within the household and neighborhood.

What do household and neighborhood imply in your life? Are there perhaps relations proper now who want extra from you, and the way is that impacting different areas of your life, your partnerships, your work?

This Final Quarter Moon concludes the work that started on the Virgo New Moon on September 14, or no less than the preliminary part of that work, which was one thing concerning the purification of our goals, about being more healthy and having a life that’s easier and extra helpful. After all, we don’t obtain that in a single 28-day interval. That’s work that may proceed. However at this Final Quarter, it’s time to no less than look at the function household performs in that imaginative and prescient of a more healthy, easier, and extra helpful life.

Brick Home

The Final Quarter Moon blows us into this week’s Mars/Pluto sq. (Oct. 8, 2023, 6:04 pm). Mars is insistent and impatient, even in an indication as civilized as Libra. It’s the large, dangerous wolf from the Three Little Pigs fairy story, decided to have what it desires – and that’s pork barbeque for dinner. The pigs construct homes to guard themselves from the wolf. The primary pig builds his from straw; the wolf huffs and puffs and blows it down. The second builds a home of sticks, and the wolf makes brief work of that one, too. However the third pig builds a home made solidly of bricks, and the wolf is out of luck.

Pluto is a pig that builds from bricks. There is no such thing as a penetrating its home. The more durable we push and the stronger we blow, the much less impressed is Pluto. And so, this isn’t one of the best week for pushing a person agenda. However we overlook generally that we personal the Pluto in our charts. It’s not simply the planet that resists our decided advances. It’s additionally the fortress, the facility place inside ourselves that we are able to retreat to after we really feel attacked.

The Social gathering’s Over

It’s the day after an enormous, loud, memorable social gathering, and your own home is a shambles. You will be forgiven for simply flopping down on the couch to get better. However ultimately, surveying the harm makes your head damage and your nerves jangly. You determine you possibly can handle the mess on the espresso desk, so that you slowly clear away glasses and crumpled cocktail napkins. On the way in which to the kitchen rubbish bin, you choose up a couple of bottles, cans, and paper plates. The kitchen counter seems to be overwhelming, however you begin by scraping serving platters and bowls and shifting them to the dishwasher. Quickly, you’re shifting methodically from room to room, buzzing a contented little tune as you restore order.

After the lengthy Venus in Leo social gathering that started on June 5, when the emphasis was on enjoyable, shiny colours, and usually overdoing issues (a few of them greater than as soon as, whereas Venus was retrograde), Venus enters Virgo (Oct. 8, 2023, 6:11 pm PDT by way of Nov. 8) to play cleanup. Simply keep in mind that whether or not it’s cleansing your own home, balancing your checkbook, or organizing your workplace, it doesn’t should be finished suddenly. Choose away at it, piece by piece. You’ll quickly end up sitting in a clear, quiet house, with a mindset to match.

Writing and pictures © 2017-23 by April Elliott Kent

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