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September launches with the destabilizing planet, Uranus, slowing down to turn retrograde. It will square Mercury and trine the Sun during this month where it will remain retrograde for the remainder of the year. Uranus is often one to look at with “out of nowhere” events, so keep September 7, 19 & 24 on your calendars as ones to pay attention to for surprising news stories.
Mars enters into Cancer, the sign of its fall, the first week of September and maintains a fast speed through this sign all month. Considered a debilitated place, Mars in Cancer can increase the prospect for personal injury or emotional defensiveness. It can trigger the internal Mama Bear spirit and the potential to overreact to perceived injustice looms large. Aries, Cancer, Libra & Capricorn risings may see the most discord in the big topics of life: career, identity, home life & relationships.
The Sun will oppose both Saturn & Neptune, trine Uranus and square Jupiter this month, engaging with most of the outer planets. On brand for the mutable season of Autumn, it may feel a little like whiplash with the Sun having such a variety of encounters. This isn’t a smooth sailing month for the Sun. The Sun’s opposition to Saturn is a transit that happens once a year and brings up distrust, delays and setbacks that can take the wind out of one’s sails. The week of September 7-14 is a time of reckoning. It could be frustrating or clouded by self doubt where one might have to dig deep to see what silver linings there are on the other side of this challenging time. Just before the fall equinox on the last day of Virgo, the Sun will trine Pluto in Capricorn. This moment can offer some last minute support to lift above the fray, away from the tangible setbacks and into more positive solutions. May this day help shift the sails away from whatever misfortunes happen in September towards an easier ride in October.
On September 9, Mercury goes into Virgo, the sign of its domicile and exaltation. Celebrated and at home in Virgo, Mercury is empowered to effectively express its significations here. For better or for worse, Mercury in an earth sign, likes to see consequences of its actions, so look for tangible results for efforts spent. This is the second time it enters into its familiar sign. It will have been in Virgo for a few days last month as it retrograded through the early degrees of Virgo and into Leo for most of August. By the time we get this second chance, Mercury has a lot going for it: it’s at home, it’s exalted and moving fast! Having an agile communicating planet freshly purified from its cazimi with the Sun during its retrograde in Leo, we should expect the fast moving, highly intellectual and curious Mercury to be a friend to humans and help navigate some of the challenges this month. Enjoy collective curiosity with mindful observations and the ability to process information quickly. The mutable risings will see this transit the loudest. Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius & Pisces risings have this planet activating the big topics of life. Mercury in Virgo likes to analyze the information that’s already been gathered. Analysis, as a pause in the momentum, creates an objective space to review before making decisions. Mercury will oppose Saturn (on the same day of the lunar eclipse) but Mercury has more agency than Saturn this month and so the opposition could bring a clear perspective to momentary tension. Mercury will also oppose Neptune twice this month, once when it is retrograding and once when it is direct. Engagement with Neptune can be the source of a distorted reality, sometimes paranoia, often confusion and uncertainty. This can also serve as a time for creative solutions for things that don’t have clear answers, a potent time to marry intellectual problem solving (Mercury) with unformed artistic dreams (Neptune). The fact that the opposition is happening twice, on September 17 and 24, you will get two bookends to take the best advantage of this transit. It’s recommended to channel energy into something personal and creative rather than feed into conspiratorial fantasies that may not be in your best interests. These are especially potent days for Pisces and Virgo risings.
Click your heels three times, because Venus will be in her home sign of Libra by the start of September and is in better shape than the challenging transits she experienced in August. Venus will trine Jupiter in Gemini this month. Trines are of the nature of Jupiter, the greater benefic, and are largely seen as times of support. Just before Venus leaves Libra she will square Pluto in Capricorn. This is the last time in our lifetime that Pluto will be in Capricorn. It has retrograded back here a few times and for this last pass it is here to tie up some final loose ends. Themes of women (Venus), Justice (Libra) and boundaries or restrictions (Saturn/Capricorn) may come to a head especially at the end of the month. When Venus leaves her home sign and goes into Scorpio at the end of September, she will return to face some new challenges. Similar to the debility that Mars in Cancer experiences, Venus is not comfortable in Scorpio. The sense of exile or not belonging and the resulting resourcefulness come into play for the venusian areas of life. When a planet is far from “home” think of it like a traveler to a foreign land: it doesn’t have the comforts of home and much agency of its own. It is reliant on others and has to make the best of its circumstances. It does have new perspectives and resourcefulness to problem solve with whatever tools it can access. Necessity is the mother of invention and this is expressed in an exiled planet.
The big lunation in September is the first eclipse in the Virgo/Pisces series. The last cycle of eclipses in these signs was during 2015-2017. The lunar eclipse in Pisces is on September 17 and both luminaries will be in a loose square to Jupiter in Gemini. Eclipses are stories told in chapters as the eclipse cycle unfolds and tend to signify great endings and beginnings. As the moon has been the common timekeeper for humans, we get the word “month” from the word “moon”, the moment of an eclipse continues to be auspicious even for us in the modern day. Look to the areas of your chart ruled by Virgo and Pisces to see glimpses of where you may see major shifts in the stories of your life. This cycle begins in September 2024 and continues until February 2027.
The Sun enters Libra on September 22 and Autumn begins in the Northern Hemisphere. This is the time when night begins to overtake the day and things will grow darker until the Winter Solstice in three month’s time. The last week of September does not have many major changes reflected in the astrological weather. It will be a continuation of the stories that begin to show themselves mid-month.
I was asked to write horoscopes for regular folks by a paranormal publication. Yes, indeed. Writing horoscopes is surprisingly difficult. Astrology is complicated and to distill complex, multidimensional shapes down into more geometric ones, you lose nuance & context. I love those two things. However, as an experiment I wanted to try to see if I can retain at least some of the nuance in September’s transits and hope that you find context for them in your life this month. Please let me know how I did, for better or for worse. I love when you write back.