THE MOOD: Relationship is a Resource

Good heavens! As the end of September leaves us on edge, we may find it difficult to make a graceful, elegant entrance into October. With Mercury at odds with Pluto and Venus arm wrestling with Jupiter, the first days of the month expose our promises not kept. The planets moving through Libra just want everything to be nice -- and amidst this swell of perfumed pleasantries, we may have let a few too many untruths escape our lips. Why were we afraid to speak honestly? What hurts were we trying to hide? These early days of October shed light on the realities behind our sweet, winning whispers.

What we say, why we say it, and what it means to others are extremely important throughout the month, too. Retrograde for the first half of October, Mercury reassesses our conversations and urges us to speak with greater intention and integrity. As this expressive planet makes trines to Jupiter and passes over the Sun and Mars, we have an opportunity to deeply comprehend the wide-ranging impacts of our exchanges. A conversation is a living, breathing thing. When we show care through our words (and other forms of non-verbal communication), we can cultivate relationships that are trusting, sincere, and expansive. When we begin to communicate with more care in our closest relationships, we contribute to a collective conversational ecology that is more grounded in trust; and the more collective trust we create, the more care and sincerity we can weave back into our individual conversations. How we speak, listen, share, and receive is a communal concern. Each word that we exhale becomes part of the air that we all breathe.

Through our exchanges, we may also be able to see more clearly when our words come from wounds. As the Sun and Mars oppose Chiron this month, we confront the discomforts with who we truly are -- these planets spotlight our messiness, motivations, and all that we would prefer to hide beneath a glamourous veneer. However, if we sit with the discomfort, we may come to some honest conclusions about who we are becoming, what we need to do to be in right relationship, and where diplomacy aids us and fails us. Venus’ jaunt into Sagittarius provides welcome assistance in this weather, giving us extra oomph to relate to one another with more freedom and less shame.

By the end of month, Mercury, Jupiter, and Saturn all station direct, and the Sun and Mars move into Scorpio. After such rigorous retrograde reflection, we emerge with greater determination and a stronger will to move towards what we want. Our extended flirtation with Libra’s charm now gives us the courage to dive into our rawest depths, whether they are pretty or not. And as we bid farewell to the month on October 31, Mercury in Libra makes one final trine to Jupiter, offering us a little boost in speaking with ease, elegance, and polish. Despite it all, the heavens are good, indeed.