AUTUMN EQUINOX HOROSCOPES

SEPTEMBER 22, 2024 | 8:44 AM EDT

text and image created by Shane Powers

The horoscopes I write offer broad strokes based on ancient and modern astrological techniques.  Natal astrology consultations express finer detail particular to your sole astrology.  Whether you have met with me before or not we can look back, in the present and future together.  Book a new client or follow up consultation here.

ARIES

Autumn begins with Mars, your planetary guide stirring in the cardinal water sign Cancer while transiting your fourth house of origin, home and family; particularly parental or ancestral figures. Dissent, or the dissolve of a foundational support system that once leaned on family or a loved one may have or could soon spiral, dispersing unpredictably in patterns beyond your control. Contrary to Mars in Cancer's tendency to react carelessly, aspire this fall to understand where a numbing sense of heartache has become so docile that you no longer feel its omnipresent effects on your constitution; a net of resistance cast over opportunities that would further anchor self sufficiency. Sift the quietly frustrating connections between sustaining fragile support systems within the demanding reality of showing up where you feel you are seen and heard; surrendering where you no longer have the bandwidth to nurture. There is an urgency here to revisit far out dreams and places, imagined or real, where your place of home is no longer reliant on a particular cachet or the whims of others, but nested within an obvious place, familiar versus afloat in perpetual survival mode.

TAURUS

Venus, your planetary guide is radiant within the final degree of Libra, vulnerable above the setting sun on the western horizon at equinox time. Venus at this vital degree crosses a threshold where peace ought to be restored; where equilibrium was held for better or worse concerning your vocation and the wherewithal to go about it. As the Sun who guides your sense of home and foundational support approaches the south node in your sixth house of stress and affliction, a metaphysical release may be looming as topics of financial and residential stability ebb and flow. Weigh your options whether to remain in a place of composure for the sake of keeping the peace or finding the grit to cut ties with a personae and platform of visibility that no longer bears significance. Within hours following the precise moment of the equinox, Venus in Libra's golden spine balancing the scales will grow a stinging tail as the planet enters Scorpio. At this time long buried discussions with a loved one or a union of contractual agreement may need your tough love; a poison delivered in non-life threatening, precise and loving dosage.

GEMINI

Come autumn Mercury, your planetary guide is noble-minded in Virgo transiting your fourth house of homeland, lineage and a sense of rootedness. As Mercury applies to all three of the outer planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, this autumn focuses your awareness on concerns beyond the limits of personal identity, things beyond your control yet destined to bring about change at a geological pace. As this transit is focused on matters of home you’ll begin to feel the earth move under your feet subtly but surely; fine-tooth combing the nuances of comfort and efficiency within your four walls and asserting if the foundation you rest upon is sincerely firm or needs adjustments. As Mercury travels between the oppositions of Saturn and Neptune in Pisces in your tenth house of destiny you may come clear on synthetic promises placed on accomplishment versus the humble obligations that sustain a home sweet home. You possess sobering judgment this fall enabling acute decision making, preemptively noting situations that feel too good to be true or where short term comforts are traded for long term liabilities. Button up loose ends on the homefront before mid December when Mercury stations retrograde, testing your eighth and seventh houses of close relationships and the crosses we bear to strengthen them.

CANCER

Matters of best applying your talents are magnified as the eclipse cycle continues to bridge topics of the unconscious, potential and destiny for you. The Moon, your planetary guide, was recently eclipsed in your ninth house of higher education and mystical matters. This is an omen of philosophical transparency versus fugitive realities that remain a mirage. At equinox, Moon is in the early degrees of mercurial Gemini in your twelfth house of sabotage and opacity. Ask yourself where an indulgence of worldly influences or the residue of an overbearing partnership has become a source of limitation upon your otherwise fluid and capable makeup. Consider also where you are better able to filter the entanglements of others' concerns rather than squarely addressing your own compromising tendencies. Autumn is a gateway for reigning in the gathering and hoarding of excess, in all its forms, where it bears dead weight, hiding out of view. Notice as well where tasks mastery is used as an avoidance mechanism. This ability to still the mind with time management and economy of know-how is intrinsically connected to domestic and financial calm. As Mercury who guides the Moon is exalted in Virgo at this time albeit between the diabolic rays of Saturn and Neptune, give the same loving attention to your own demons as you have so willingly for others.

LEO

As the autumn equinox arrives, the Sun, your planetary guide of sound mind and body, approaches and succumbs to the ebbing effects of the south node, still in Libra. This meeting soon concludes nearly a year and a half of questioning your adaptability within mundane circumstances and habitual thought patterns. The writhing nodes of the Moon are completing their final reach across your third and ninth house axis of wisdom and the rituals that nurture spiritual reason and growth. Venus, who guides matters of your personal beliefs, is bold in its preferred sign of Libra albeit in a degree of urgency, where it knows the rules and is willing to break them. Lucidity may be challenging at this time regarding your life purpose and its effect on your fundamental principles. Consider this fall where you could effectively employ heresy, whatever that may mean to you, breaking from etiquette and the haunts of dogma. Take note where mesmerizing distractions have wilted your curiosity and defaulted to auto pilot. You more than anyone at this time are seeking harmony amidst externally abrasive ideologies contrary to your unifying nature.

VIRGO

Mercury, your guiding planet is astute in Virgo at this time as it separates from a tense but eye opening aspect with Jupiter in Gemini in your tenth house of vocation. Matters of the home, family and close relationships may feel as if they’ve become one plate too many as responsibilities regarding the work to maintain them have multiplied significantly. Grant yourself time to untangle the granular details of what is truly possible in regards to pressing goals and ambitions. Jupiter who struggles with portion control in Gemini has spread dreams thin, exceeding a healthy or sensible plan. Jupiter brings success to matters of career but within the parameters of Gemini it must be handled incrementally. Sustainable growth comes with the analytical processing and planning for the gradual dispersion of energy to carry your vision forward. Although Mercury is clear headed and highly adept in the influential first house of mind, body and your environment it is between the confronting aspects of stern Saturn and mystifying Neptune. This configuration is further confirmation to consolidate your efforts before lapping on more socially, at home or professionally. Jupiter will be retrograde in your tenth house from October 9, 2024 - February 4, 2025 ensuring there is ample time to finish the numerous things you’ve begun.

LIBRA

Your guiding planet, Venus, is at the final degree of Libra in your first house of perception, about to enter Scorpio where preferences for social niceties meet subterranean truths. In a critical degree of Libra governed by thorny Mars, this is a cosmic terrain that feels contrary to your otherwise balanced and peace seeking nature. There could be the tendency to lose one’s composure here. As imminent change is afoot, be aware of chasing harmony where it no longer exists; clinging onto the image of oneself. Venus is an evening star at this time bright above the setting Sun on the western horizon; a warrior of love offering a glimmer of venusian courage and poise versus fleeting comforts and avoidance. Come October 2nd, the Moon who guides your life’s mission and purpose will eclipse the Sun who represents your worldly desires, aspirations and the networks that support them. This new Moon marks simultaneously a noteworthy beginning and ending as the final solar eclipse in your first house of life, health and survival skills. Topics of destiny and career may feel fated at this time for better or worse and will need to be given your undivided care and attention in order to land well. Acknowledging what you honestly do and do not know, and working with what you already know, may be helpful. If it feels as if a chapter is ending, prioritize possibilities that lead to critical self sustenance over faded dreams and relationships that will be better served later.

SCORPIO

Mars, your planetary guide, recently crossed the northern bending of the nodes suggesting a moment of truth regarding the release of lingering sorrows in relationships and circumstances where you’ve experienced burdensome positions of service. Transiting your ninth house of wisdom, temperamental Mars in Cancer pursues honorable questions of where your beliefs have been fostered and sculpted by others unbeknownst to yourself. Mars and Jupiter share a hidden aspect laying bare issues that naturally wouldn't surface. This connection bears the wherewithal to open up and peer through tarnished surfaces within relationships especially. Emotional debts you have long ago placed under the mattress or kept in the most out of reach box in the basement become apparent. Approach those memories and lasting frustrations buried in said boxes with a tender touch, bringing messages from the depths into new light. Perhaps this fall you’ve become fed up with the heaviness of an emotional stasis point. Sometimes we have to become fed up, have an ugly cry and follow a path of forgiveness and less resistance. Mars in Cancer is the healing tears of pain. These tears, like acid rain, may swell from a deep well of collected toxins and fall indirectly, quickly dissolving matters unpredictably, possibly painfully, but with ultimately liberating opportunities.

SAGITTARIUS

As the Sun enters Libra it will soon contact the withdrawing effect of the south node in your eleventh house of friendships, alliances and aspirations. The glue that binds matters of social relationships and long term motivations may diminish at this time. Your sense of calling or purpose in this world is audited closely while Mercury is transiting Virgo in your tenth house of vocation in an anxious aspect with your planetary guide, Jupiter. October 9th, Jupiter will station retrograde in your seventh house of relationships and circumstances that mirror yourself. This mirror may be faceted, bent or cracked at this time where distinguishing a faithful reflection of oneself may come with distractions. Personal truths may bend convoluted. Clues may be heard, not taken. Recognition alone, may be the cart leading the horse. Where pleasure seeking has become a luxurious diversion, so cloying it has spoiled the shared fruits of relationships, it is likely to become a liability, overpowering the sweet taste of success. We cannot be everything to everyone. This autumn is a tender fermentation process where an overabundance of enthusiasm that can no longer be of practical use may strategically decompose. Hold the wisdom to know when your unique flavor has developed into an acquired taste before ruinously sour.

CAPRICORN

Saturn, your planetary guide, remains retrograde in your third house of messages among common folk, siblings and the divine. Discussions with friends and loved ones may reveal defeating patterns in themselves that only you can see. Jupiter, who guides matters of your mental bandwidth and undue sorrow, is moaning while over committed in your sixth house of fruitless labor. Mars, who has recently ground patience to a pulp in relationships, shares a hidden aspect with Jupiter upending imbalances within efforts to keep the love alive in partnerships of devotion, friendship or vocation. The Moon who cares for topics of partnership in all its forms is restless in the early degrees of Gemini forming a covert opposition with Pluto, god of the underworld, making its last haunt through the final degrees of your first house of transparency. Pluto takes no prisoners. Considering you’ve got your hands full while carrying the weight in relationships, this fall is an omen of enough is enough. Find solace and affirming guidance while Mercury in Virgo transiting your ninth house of reverie and cosmic wisdom is highly adept at reading between the lines. Through sober analysis and rational foresight, follow the messages you would normally brush off as too idealistic or disruptive at this time. These flashes of insight will lead the monkeys off your back.

AQUARIUS

Mars, who guides topics of your vocation and destiny will be transiting your sixth house of work for work’s sake, maintenance and bodily ailments. As Mars makes a supportive aspect to your planetary guide Saturn, who governs issues of your body, mind and spirit, take note of your dietary nutrition this autumn if you have not begun already. Comfortable in the sixth house, Mars makes good trouble here acting as a cosmic “fever” alerting us of imminent sickness but also the fires we tend to unnecessarily as diversions from the needs of our body. Symbolically this is an invitation to check in with all matters of health. Listen closely to any clues your body is messaging at this time as we are conditioned to ignore our intel systems for the needs and wants of enterprise. Meanwhile, if the work you do to make a living, or ambition directed merely for praise has you spinning your wheels, pause and book a few appointments with your chosen health professionals this fall. This is not an alarm but merely a postcard from the cosmic wellness office to make all your yearly appointments. Healthy or not, no worldly accomplishment will give you more confidence than knowing your biological ducks are aligned yet may be easily ignored in the wake of pride and humility.

PISCES

As the Sun enters Libra it will soon meet the surrendering effect of the south node in your eighth house of idling nerves and avoidance. The Sun guides your sixth house matters of commitments you seldom receive credit for but assume a lot of your attention. This fall you may hit a wall, letting go of senseless routines and eliminating busy work.  The eighth house may refer specifically to the wear and tear on your constitution brought about by overextending yourself in friendships and fleeting intimate relationships that provide little return. Jupiter, your guiding planet, will soon station retrograde in Gemini in your fourth house of home, where the life-giving sap of your cosmic tree descends for winter. Ample time well spent at home will be a nesting place for your best ideas throughout fall and early winter but locating the will to remain still long enough to reap its rewards may be challenging. Jupiter has recently separated from a tense but ultimately supportive aspect with Mercury who symbolizes a special person in your life who has shown exceptional agility and strength in recent times; a galvanizing influence. Develop pleasures that come solely with prolonged time and focus within the home and worthwhile partnerships; both are multivitamins for deficiencies elsewhere.