Autumn Equinox

Autumn Equinox — Focus On The Future

"But screw your courage to the sticking place,
And we'll not fail."

— William Shakespeare
Macbeth

The run up to this Saturday's Aries Full Moon (9:48 AM PDT 3° Aries/Libra) is fraught with Neptune's confusion — as well as deep, powerful inspiration and increasing determination. Venus forms an extended quincunx to the stationary retrograde Uranus — a connection that will be maintained through the retrograde station of Venus on October 3rd and beyond. The quincunx, from Scorpio to Gemini, challenges our capacity to fully express our deepest concerns in the midst of the uranian disruptions that will continue to keep us off balance well into next month. The basic challenge is to maintain personal courage and self-confidence without succumbing to the temptations of impulsive recklessness. We reach the Autumn Equinox — the Sun's arrival into Libra — on Monday. As the Fall season begins, we may begin to feel an instinctual drive to 'clean up' loose ends and focus on future initiatives with a remarkable amount of determination. We seem to find a new capacity to deal with the pressurized environment (the pressures suggested by the upcoming retrograde station of Venus — both squaring Pluto and in a quincunx to Uranus) and simply 'get on with it'. Once in Libra, the Sun begins to form a Grand Air Trine with Uranus and Pluto, offering a great deal of excitement. But the optimism and sense of freedom may be a bit deceptive — recklessness, haste, or irresponsibility is a trap with a considerable downside. There are increased temptations to simply 'ride a wave' of optimism rather than carefully and methodically consider how to make the most of the freewheeling energy offered by the Grand Air Trine. Autumn's imperative to responsibly prepare for Winter may feel like an inconvenient 'affront'. There is a strong inclination to simply 'do as we please' without fully acknowledging the fact that Summer's over and we have reached the time when preparations for the future must be made. The lunar cycle that culminates this week began with a Virgo New Moon (September 10, 8:26 PM PDT 18° Virgo), which emphasized the need for a 'process-driven', methodical approach. However, we have also needed to address some significant internal doubts and the 'second guessing' of our initiatives and approaches. With both the Sun and Mercury in Libra, we can find ourselves struggling with indecisiveness and vacillation this week. The Aries Full Moon, coming at the end of the week, is tightly conjunct Neptune, inspiring a great deal of courageous determination — contrasted with wild swings of confusion and uncertainty. Mars rules the Full Moon from the last degree of Cancer — and also rules Chiron in a tight square to Mars from the last degree of Aries. The Mars-Chiron square puts us on 'the knife's edge', suggesting struggles with effectively balancing aggression and deference. The Full Moon's conjunction with Neptune can leave us vulnerable to deception as well as unfocused aggression. Frustration is extremely draining at the Full Moon, threatening to completely derail our initiatives. Self-confidence comes in unsteady bursts that are extremely difficult to maintain. Nonetheless, Neptune also offers potent capacity for transcending our base frustrations and impulsive recklessness in order to realize our greater potential.

Sunday's intensity produces a sense of 'imperative' that is somewhat misleading. The pressure seems to demand more than we feel capable of producing. There is an instinctual drive on Monday to 'clean up' loose ends and focus on future initiatives with a remarkable amount of determination. We seem to find a new capacity to deal with the pressures and simply 'get on with it'. The optimism and sense of freedom on Tuesday may be a bit deceptive. Recklessness, haste, or irresponsibility is a trap with a considerable downside. We're prone to looking for ways to 'bend over backwards' in order to keep the peace and maintain a facade of 'charm and pleasantries' on Wednesday — even as situations seem to unravel or spiral out of our control. The new information that surfaces may actually be more important than we realize at first glance. Effective communication can open doors on Thursday. Measured decisiveness is extremely powerful — if we can avoid vacillation in order to actually get there. We're prone to wildly shifting between daunting confusion and deep inspiration on Friday. While we might be tempted to look for someone else to simply tell us what to do or who to believe, the message is simply to listen to the still, small voice within. Self-confidence comes in unsteady bursts but is extremely difficult to maintain on Saturday. We may easily be lured into impulsiveness or recklessness.