>> Click here to see the chart <<

Sun/Moon together with Venus and Mars in Libra

If you have the feeling you’ve been climbing a cliff face, and hanging in at the last step, this is the month you get to see those last pieces that need to be let go so that you can get to the top by the end of November. That’s where the view widens out, full of possibilities for the future (Jupiter moves into Sagittarius).

This New Moon is about harmony and balance in partnership – co-operation. (The whole Libran bunch sextiles both Saturn and Pluto, while moving towards squaring Chiron as the month progresses.) Particularly, this coming month is for learning about ourselves through our relationships, rather than trying to control them to stay in our comfort zone. The issues that arise may hurt, but knowing they are there, and accepting them, is healing for everyone.

Jupiter in Scorpio squaring
Saturn in Leo (end 05, June 06 and end October 06)

Jupiter has been revealing to us our deep emotions since end November 05. This expansion of feeling is intense, sometimes completely wild, often only a sense of the need to survive holding it in check. But, if Saturn is accepted as a restriction rather than a block, the nozzle of Jupiter’s emotional hose creates a powerful deliberate jet instead of spraying emotions everywhere, or focuses a blazing torch into a laser beam. Focused emotional energy achieves great things – many people consciously use ‘the power of intention.’ Limitations enable creativity – bread dough on a board will expand till it drops off the edge, but with limits it will rise into a loaf of whatever shape you choose. So, as long as we are prepared to adapt our style to accommodate the limitations we meet, we will achieve what we choose to go for.

While Mercury conjuncts Jupiter in Scorpio, the energy will be expressed in our speech and actions.

We are likely to find ourselves communicating from a deeply emotional place, whether we mean to or not. The best approach is to feel what comes up – our reactions to events, our responses to things said or done around us – and notice those emotions before acting them out. It may not be appropriate or helpful to express them all, especially because they are liable to be exaggerated at this time; but we do need to give them validity as our own, very real, experience. I have to keep remembering that whatever I feel does have a cause, it’s just that the cause may be lost in the mists of my past, and the present situation has just lifted the lid!

It often helps if we can stop when an emotion arises and make sure we feel it consciously before communicating from it. For example: suppose I feel hurt by something said; if I allow my response to be an angry remark, I might end up thinking I’m angry rather than really feeling the bit of me that hurts, and giving it time to ‘talk’ to me. Whereas if I listen to the hurt, I might be able to find out and accept its origins, and so not have to suffer so much in that way again.

Old emotions that resurface are crying out to be healed, not to be defended. It may seem strange, but our expressing an emotion can be an avoidance of actually feeling it. But an emotion that is truly felt often changes, and in the process we may need to revise what we were about to say.

Mercury and Jupiter square Neptune

What may be showing up this month are temptations to be dishonest, to fudge the truth, or even just refrain from speaking it so that we remain partially hidden. Another part of the picture is a tendency to leap to conclusions that are far from the truth about other people’s facial expressions or behaviour. So it is advisable to check with people, to ask what they meant, before we judge or decide about them. Rather than going straight into accusing someone, questioning will reveal our worries more gently. So rather than: ‘How could you do that!’, we can say: ‘Did you do that?’ or ‘What did you mean when you did that?’ And the other person is more likely to reveal their actions and true motivations.

All this may work the other way, too. You may find your emotional sharing misunderstood. If that seems to have happened, ask the other person what they thought you meant, before trying to explain again. We need to check that we’re ‘on the same page,’ not each in our own reactive worlds.

This is all about honesty in relationship: the difficulty, and also the rewards honesty brings. Think about this: do you feel better with (a) a person who is prepared to tell you what is true for them, even if it’s uncomfortable, or (b) a person who is carefully saying what they think you want to hear? . . . I feel best with someone who is prepared to tell me their truth kindly, so that’s how I try and relate. But it takes courage when you feel you may lose their esteem or company. I’ve discovered, though, that relating to someone who doesn’t want my truth is a lonely experience.

Mercury retrograde in Scorpio
28 October – 17 November

When Mercury is retrograde (appears to be going backwards through the Zodiac) we tend to find that communication needs more focussed care. Our thoughts tend to be directed inwards, many things on our minds; we fret, worry and plan about things past and future, to the detriment of our present. This needs to be balanced by more conscious focus on what we’re doing and saying as we go along – noticing where we put the car keys, checking the diary not to miss important events. Mercury retrograde is very appropriate for inner work, for thinking before speaking - perfect for working on our relationships this month. Perfect also for realising our own deeper human layers, not beating ourselves up about them, but accepting our humanness kindly. Let’s go for clearing out as much useless criticism and judgement as we can - gratefully!

Just a thought . . .

Saturn gets within ¾ degree of trining Pluto, right through November, as it slows down to retrograde in Leo once more. This is a combination of focus that is likely to bring about a transformation in the way things are organised – and it could bring forward some very powerful people. The trine will be exact in August 07, but during November we are likely to feel disturbed by the power that any law, or authority, has over us.

Any governing body is a reflection of the strongest energy in the governed group. If the strongest energy is a call to live in the past, a government out of the past will arise. If the group is driving for complete individual freedom, they are likely to be governed by one who acts independently of the group.

Likewise, when each individual is strongly motivated to work together with others for the common good, we are more likely to have a humanitarian government that works for the good of us all. So one of the opportunities on offer during November is for each of us to put our energy into behaving in ways that are worthy of the government we would like to have. I wonder what next August will manifest, as a result of human motivations from now onwards . . . :-)