Sagittarius Rising
You’re learning another lesson about what it costs you when you doubt your own intuition. But hey, you can still be proud of yourself for wanting to hear people out and give others the benefit of the doubt, because you’re not interested in erecting monuments out of your worst suspicions. Hopefully, this current moment of recalibration will help you attune to your own signal more clearly so that you can always hear yourself loudest amid the noise of the outer world.
There’s a lot of commotion swirling around you, and much of the drama may not even involve you directly. However, this could still be an important turning point for your involvement in various friendships and communities. Venus and Mercury both station retrograde in Scorpio, which can bring up a lot of resentment and wounding for you, especially if you have past trauma around “not belonging to the group.” That said, do you even want to belong? That’s the crux of the matter at hand, and even if all you do this month is quietly observe everyone else crashing out and revealing the true nature of their value systems, it will definitely change how you engage with your wider social sphere going forward. The new moon in Libra on October 10 might amount to a tipping point in this regard, or a moment of realizing who the real ones are.
You might also find yourself more embattled than usual when it comes to your politics and knowledge systems, as Mars spends the month in your 9th house of beliefs, cozying up to your ruling planet, Jupiter. For whatever reason, you’re feeling called to promote how you see the world and make an impassioned case for your perspective. Think of this as a moment of “defending your thesis.” For academics, this is something that requires years of training and preparation. For everyone else, there is the real-world practicum of amassing knowledge and experience that hopefully amounts to more than a shouting match over beer.
You could have places to go this month with Mars adding jet fuel to your tank, and you might have more energy than usual to take on the world. An argumentative streak comes with the territory, though, so try not to take your inner bar brawler past customs. The conflict potential is heightened for you, particularly that which finds you on the road, so take extra care to not accidentally offend the locals with behavior that wouldn’t necessarily be considered rude back home. Maybe a little dose of culture shock is necessary sometimes to snap you out of your own projections, so just roll with the sensations as they come up. You’re meant to be feeling some amount of alienation right now.
Capricorn Rising
You’re starting to feel like you need to pull back on some of your commitments, which is perfectly okay, in case no one’s told you that lately. Maybe you came in with the best of intentions and thought you’d have the capacity to get involved, but then you saw the true complexity of all the group dynamics at play and decided you just don’t have the energy for all these social politics. You never meant to volunteer yourself as head of the PTA permanently, and maybe that other solo traveler meetup can get on just fine without you.
While researching her new novel Sunrise, novelist Téa Obreht encountered the long-lost glories and forgotten histories of the Mountain West’s former boomtowns.
Venus and Mercury will both retrograde through your 11th house of groups and communities this month, which means a large part of your attention will be focused on reassessing who you feel connected to and where you feel called to participate, especially in any leadership capacity. With a new moon in Libra occurring in your 10th house of public roles on October 10, there are implications for your career and legacy, and much of this deliberation will ultimately stem from a desire to honor your values out loud and prioritize the things you want to represent. If you’re an artist, you might be deep in the midst of a professional rebrand, or maybe reassessing how you connect to your audience. This might be the moment in your autobiography where you ditch the record label, or swap the corporate arena for more intimate venues where your fans can feel like they’re really in the room with you.
