Ripe: Moving into Libra Season

September 16 - 30

In the coming months, the Fire element will disappear from the sky for a while and Water will begin to dominate, or rather saturate the celestial landscape and seep into consciousness.

We’ll have the opportunity to get back in touch with what's most important to us emotionally, spiritually — fundamentally — and absorb as much of it as we can before Fire and Air return early next year to ignite and light up the path forward.

This time of year is always one of change and transition, but this year is different. More than the Light is changing.

The last half of September is a dense period of shifting signs and strong aspects punctuated by a new moon solar eclipse at the final degree of Summer/Winter — a time when the Light is balancing, teetering for a few days, then pulls us like a sail across the waters.

The seed of this eclipse, and the new beginnings it promises, will likely reflect the quickly changing intensity of this time for better or worse. As we enter Libra season, cries for Justice on both sides of conflicts everywhere are amplifying and proliferating through the body politic on all levels. As Mercury moves into Libra, and Mars into Scorpio, we can expect protest and vigilantism to rise along side tightening control and power.

September 21 Virgo New Moon Solar Eclipse

Based on current events and rising tensions across the globe, the tone of this new beginning is precarious at best, and, unfortunately, out of any one individual’s control.

These are fast-moving, incendiary times with potential for increased upheaval. But these are also times of unprecedented innovation and technological advancement; of marking quantum leaps forward (or backward) in communication and social restructuring; of spiritual/scientific discovery and new understanding about consciousness; of unapologetic hubris in the realms of bio-technology and artificial intelligence; and above all, times of great uncertainty enthralling for some, dreadful for others.     

Yet, we are hopeful, and for the most part, life-seeking creatures — embodied souls living in a perpetually appearing/disappearing environment — even in the face of Fate.

I love Autumn.

There is no way around it, though — it’s simply this way for now.

In our personal lives, however, where we do have some agency, this Libra season can provide a backdrop for reflection on how we define ideas like Balance, Harmony, Peace, Justice, Law, Truth, and —  an often overlooked aspect of Saturn’s home of exaltation — Consequence.

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October through December are steeped in Water. February 2026 will evaporate that pretty quickly. But before then, there’s the last fourteen days of September.

On September 16/17, two oppositions perfect within just a few hours of each other; one seemingly in the background, yet potent with history; the other directly related to the solar eclipse.

First, Mars opposes retrograde Chiron at 26 Libra/Aries, then Mercury opposes retrograde Saturn at 28 Virgo/Pisces.

On September 18, Mercury enters Libra and opposes Neptune in Aries, now the second planet to activate the historic Grand Air Trine/Kite outer planet configuration; Mars being the first on August 6.

The next day, the 20th, Venus enters Virgo and squares Uranus at 1 Gemini.

September 21: the Sun opposes Saturn and the Moon eclipses the Sun at 29 Virgo.

September 22: Equinox: Sun enters Libra. Mars enters Scorpio.

September 23: Sun opposes Neptune and ignites the Grand Air Trine.   

September 24: Mars squares Pluto until October 1.

MARS/CHIRON OPPOSITION

Mars and Chiron have squared three times over the last year (October 13 2024, February 3 2025, March 26 2025) due to the Mars retrograde through Cancer. Events are culminating in some way in regard to this on-going cardinal relationship between the two.

With the squares, wounding conflicts involving home, our sense of security, emotional vulnerability and psychological foundations, and how these relate to our identities, self-image and esteem, could’ve boiled over a few times, causing unforgettable harm or distress.

Due to Mars’s back and forth through Cancer, these square contacts likely triggered buried memories, perhaps rooted in family traumas or patterns that might not’ve been handled with grace or tact earlier in the year due to the poor condition of Mars.

With this opposition on Sept 16, Mars is in detriment again (this time in Libra) and hosting Chiron again in Aries.

Mars and Venus are sexile at the time, and Chiron trine Venus at 26 Leo, this is supportive, but short-lived.  The Sun, hosting Venus, is applying in opposition to Saturn and about to weaken in dignity once in Libra right after the eclipse; so while Venus softens the opposition a bit, it seems to also reinforce the central role relationships are playing in the tension and confrontation of the Mars/Chiron opposition.

Whatever events and developments have occurred since late March stemming from this Mars/Chiron dynamic — whether healing or a deepening of wounds — the story is likely at either a peak of healing or at another spike of wounding and will begin to evolve closer to “resolution” when Mars squares Chiron again in January 2026; but at that time, Mars will be exalted in Capricorn and just beyond renewing its cycles with Venus and the Sun simultaneously.

On May 16 2026, the Mars/Chiron cycle resets at 28 Aries sextile Venus at 27 Gemini — Venus the ruler of the Taurus New Moon occurring at exactly the same time at 25 Taurus.

That Venusian new moon should mark a new beginning for many who have been working to heal, repair, and perhaps rebuild, their identities or sense of Self in some way related to home, family and/or one-to-one relationships.

How this opposition is tied to the Mercury and Saturn/Neptune opposition the following day will be a different experience for everyone; but because Saturn, Neptune and Chiron have been in Aries together from the end of May until September 1, connected they will be. Now that Mercury is moving into contract and relationship-focused Libra, the Mars/Chiron opposition might bring these issues back into conversation for some.    

MERCURY OPPOSES SATURN/NEPTUNE & MOVES INTO LIBRA

Mercury’s ingress into Libra is a turning point, or another peak in the unfolding activation of the Grand Air Trine with Uranus and Pluto. Whatever planet crosses 00 Libra for the foreseeable future will trigger it. The Sun will do so next at the time of the eclipse.

When Mercury and Saturn/Neptune oppose each other, how we think, communicate, rationalize, and process information is confronted by limitation and undulation — the reality of uncertainty.

Boundaries are porous; clarity, nebulous; logic, spiritualized.  Yet, at the same time, this confrontation can create enough tension within us that we feel a need to act in order to structure our dreams and give order to the imagination. In this way, the aspect has powerful creative, artistic and imaginative potential.

However, dangers also exist because Saturn/Neptune can affect not just how we think, but what we think about. Darker hues can project onto mercurial matters. This can bring fear, strict judgement, closed thinking, dogmatism, and stark definitions of “the real”. Unbalanced, negative thinking should be tampered to avoid Saturnian shadows of depression and perceived alienation.

With Mercury in Libra, communication takes on Venusian qualities in order to persuade or get along, making delusion, deception — intentional and unintentional, self-inflicted or ill-intended — more likely now. Thoughts can create dreams and illusions, and vice versa.

VENUS INTO VIRGO, SQUARE URANUS

On September 19, Mercury’s new host, Venus, moves into Virgo; and the two planets effectively swap homes and provide good support to each other.

With Mercury’s aid, Venus becomes a little more bolstered than would typically be the case in Virgo, a sign where beauty, relating, and desire are a little more reserved, ordered and tethered to specific codes and systems of expression, on the surface at least.

Once in Virgo, Venus is challenged by Uranus retrograde in Gemini. Venus is protected somewhat by Mercury in Venus now, but this square adds unpredictability and the chance of flare-ups, especially in regard to communication. Unexpected, quick, lively banter with strangers in new places could be flirtatious but fleeting. Innovations or disruptions in social media might contribute to ongoing social power struggles and centers of protest.

Disruptions in markets or commerce are also possible due to Venus and Uranus being ruled by Mercury in Venus’s sign (Venus/Mercury is often related to currency and trade).

When Venus enters Virgo, she also becomes co-present with the South Node, now slowly approaching her. Venus is the last planet this year to crossover the South Node and will be asked — like Mars, Mercury and the Sun were — to release or shed something in our lives in the name of future growth; but this time something of a Venusian nature.

Venus crosses over the South Node on October 4, and we can expect certain desires, beauty habits or routines, aesthetic perfection practices, or worries and obsessions about such things to in some way decrease from our lives.

With Mercury in Libra hosting Venus in Virgo, this could also be a relationship that’s grown too critical or unhealthy; a source of income that’s run it’s course; or perhaps simply the routines within a relationship need to be refreshed in order to rejuvenate the bond.

VIRGO NEW MOON SOLAR ECLIPSE & EQUINOX

Horoscopes

This Autumn Equinox is unlike any in the recent past. This is because the Sun will take its turn activating the Grand Air Trine, forming another Kite configuration.

This activation is the activation in my view, and concentrates all the planetary players under a consolidated sense of will and purpose. All eyes are on Libra as the “funnel” for these energies at the moment. This is new human territory moving forward.

This is the beginning of the Time when we really find out what that territory might look like in the coming years.

MARS INTO SCORPIO, SQUARE PLUTO

Mars moves into Scorpio on September 22, where it’s at home and rejuvenated after six weeks or so exiled in Venus-ruled Libra. Once in Scorpio, it immediately squares Pluto in Aquarius.

This aspect is active the entire last week of September and is an explosive one; hopefully not literally.

Scorpio takes the assertive, active drive of Mars underground into more hidden areas of life; whether emotionally or dynamically behind-the-scenes in the physical world. Being a water sign, Scorpio directs Martian energy inward and can be secretive, or less eager to outwardly show how much activity is actually boiling beneath the surface.

Mars here in challenging aspect to Pluto, in fellow fixed sign Aquarius, pits unstoppable transformative force against immovable groups of people with entrenched social beliefs and ideals. It’s the passionate regenerative rebellion disguised as the will of the people, as well as the violent reactions of controlling systems of power keeping destruction at bay.

This is Saturn (Aquarius) and Mars (Scorpio) after all.

Saturn, Pluto’s host, as we know, is in Pisces and has just opposed Mercury and the Virgo Solar Eclipse. Saturn’s host, Jupiter, is exalted in Cancer — this is the buffer against violence.

However, Jupiter in Cancer, even exalted (which just means more powerful, not necessarily “better”), can inflate Jupiter’s identification with home, homeland and Nation, ballooning emotions, reactions, and beliefs about Nation to exaggerated levels. With Mars in Scorpio hosting Neptune in the first degree of Aries, delusion, deceit and fantasies around nation, political party or ideals could also amplify.

The recent movement of Mercury and the Sun into peace-loving Libra could help mitigate, but there could be a flash point when the Moon passes over the Mars/Pluto square on September 24.

On the dark side of the coin, this could enflame tensions surrounding Libra issues such as Justice and bring with it a sense of Aquarian revenge and a deepening of conflict and emotional volatility and volcanism.   

On the bright side of the coin, the emotional intensity and transformative action Mars square Pluto provides can be channeled through Libran systems of Justice, like the Courts, or through emotional out-pouring and demands for empathy —- even mercy —  inspiring powerful oration (Mercury) and argument (Mars) for social justice reform (Aquarius).

We’ve never been here before.

I feel this bears repeating:

This time of year is always one of change and transition, but this year is different. More than the Light is changing.

The seed of this new moon solar eclipse, and the new beginnings it promises, will likely reflect the quickly changing intensity of this time for better or worse.

Based on current events and rising tensions across the globe, the tone of this new beginning is precarious at best, and, unfortunately, out of any one individual’s control.

There is no way around it, though — it’s simply this way for now.

Yet, we are hoping creatures — embodied souls living in a perpetually appearing/disappearing environment — even in the face of Fate.

In our personal lives, however, where we do have some agency, this Libra season can provide a backdrop for reflection on how we define ideas like Balance, Harmony, Peace, Justice, Law, Truth, and —  an often overlooked aspect of Saturn’s home of exaltation — Consequence.

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I love Autumn. I really do.

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This is a general forecast. If you'd like to learn more about how this time relates to your chart, please consider booking a reading.