It’s the third week of October and both Mercury and Jupiter have stationed direct — a gentle relief, but a relief nonetheless. Jupiter’s mu...

Your Horoscope This Week: October 17, 2021

It’s the third week of October and both Mercury and Jupiter have stationed direct — a gentle relief, but a relief nonetheless. Jupiter’s muddy retrograde transit has gone on for about four months, making its impact less acute and its shadow period a lengthy one. Meanwhile, Mercury’s retrograde transit has certainly lived up to its reputation for chaos and confusion this Libra season and despite a shadow period that lasts two weeks, forward movement feels possible once again. But, possibility and pleasure don’t always share the same route, a feeling made all the more evident by the Sun in Libra making a square to Pluto in Capricorn on the 17th. Apparently, moving forward means reckoning with the past. Reckoning, though, is not so much about letting go as it is about making peace with all the parts that live in us and influence us, even as newer selves are born. 

This striving toward balance across timelines and lifetimes is echoed by Mercury in Libra making an opposition to Chiron in Aries on the 18th. On the same day, Mars in Libra makes a trine to Jupiter in Aquarius, meaning that if we stand still and breathe deeply, we might actually get to feel our spirit widening to hold space for the parts of us that nurture big dreams for a world that is suffering — and for the parts of us that believe in joy even though we are suffering. This belief in dreaming despite despair is a child’s belief, a child’s right to joy, and each one of us has it, this reminder seen in the bright full moon in Aries as it surfaces against the unknowable night.
Aries Sun & Aries Rising

Nothing like a full moon week to bring on some full moon feelings. Sure, Aries people are spitfires, but there’s something about Libra season that has them looking more like a firelog, ready to ignite quickly and burn for hours in service of that sentimental cozy vibe. It’s good to lean into it, to invoke the child inside, to make some nostalgic recipes and put on your softest sweater. Sitting with your own wish to be cared for and given space to play and dream is also sitting with the hurt you feel when those parts of you are neglected. When you give yourself space to be soft, it’s easier to witness the softness in others, to recognize that while people are fallible and signals get crossed from time to time, we all want to do right by the people we love. Illustration by Stefhany Lozano
Taurus Sun & Taurus Rising

You know how, in movies, there’s this moment when a clairvoyant offers the protagonist information about their death and the protagonist declines because knowing would gravely change the course of their life? Well, everyone knows you like to play smart instead of playing hard, and, surely, if you could plan out your life’s most difficult moments, you would. Unless such a seer has come to you, you’ll find that planning for a perceived future is more of a ritual than anything else. And, even if a seer came, the movies know, the score is bound to change. Life, as they say, is what happens while you’re busy making other plans. This week’s full moon encourages you to sit with the ways you tried to induce transformation, and the ways it chose to sneak up on you instead. Illustration by Stefhany Lozano
Gemini Sun & Gemini Rising

Sometimes knowing more is just knowing more, and sometimes it's an opportunity to examine your own preconceived notions and get to work on a new foundation. What separates one from the other can feel like a matter of context or level of immediacy; learning what decolonization means, for instance, and what it can mean for you But, sometimes, what separates intellectual acquisition from sea-change is the perceived impact of this information on who we know and how we are known. It’s only right that our coalitions change. This week’s full moon can serve to remind you that the communities to which you belong reflect your own efforts to know more about this world, its undersides and implicities. It also reminds you that the belonging — while never stagnant — is always mutual. Illustration by Stefhany Lozano
Cancer Sun & Cancer Rising

There’s a good chance that you grew up with the understanding that our lives are split into two realms: the public and the private. And, a good chance that you encountered this idea in reference to home and career. Intuitively, you understood that few aspects of our lives maintain an organic separation. Surely, in these remote and distanced times, it’s become ever more clear that the line is drawn in sand. As Libra season comes to a close and you (the mooniest sign) anticipate the Aries full moon, you’ll find that the universe has an unrelenting way of reminding you that your private life is in direct relationship to your public life. There’s no choosing between them, even temporarily. Your sense of security, your need for belonging, your drive to contribute to the world and have purpose are all bound up in each other. Illustration by Stefhany Lozano
Leo Sun & Leo Rising

We’re always learning how to be in relationship, even if we’re learning while spending most of our time alone because the nature of human beings is to relate, not just to other people but to animals, to land, and to stories. Ever since Saturn settled into Aquarius early last year, the pitch of these lessons has increased for Leo Risings especially. With Jupiter’s co-presence this year, the nature of your lessons has shifted and while the shift is nourishing to your spirit, growing pains are to be expected. How you relate to the world around you has widened your heart and put some of your more difficult attachments into stark relief. With Jupiter stationing direct on Oct 17th, the blur of your shifting lens is coming into focus. Give yourself time to process what comes into view and don’t rush to action. Witness and recognition are action enough.Illustration by Stefhany Lozano
Virgo Sun & Virgo Rising

Sure, there’s lots of transformative power in serving others, and a great deal to be learned from the kinds of relationships we cultivate in both our private and professional lives. But, as the sign of service, a sign invested in creating systems and support for others, there’s incredible transformative potential available to you when you focus on yourself. This week’s full moon in Aries encourages you to prioritize alone time and give yourself restorative space to separate who you are from who you are in relation to those around you. Recognizing the parts of ourselves that are singular to us from what we’ve built with others isn’t easy. But, honoring what separates us from others allows us to combine powers in new and exciting ways. Illustration by Stefhany Lozano
Libra Sun & Libra Rising

Not all solar returns are meant to be joyful, and if yours hasn’t been then you are far from alone. For one thing, the world is as it is and joy is hard to access in the midst of global grief. Yes, there are cultures that have taught their people to weave celebration into mourning, but there are just as many that leave their people isolated when they need community most. For another, Pluto’s transit through Capricorn has surely done its work on you, pushing you to the limits of your capacity — and for what? Isn’t there another way to transform? Doesn’t love transform us too? It does. You’ve spun the wheel from the bottom before with less certainty and less support. Speaking of joy and grief, a line from Leonard Cohen’s “Tower of Song” comes to mind: “But I feel so close to everything that we lost/ We'll never, we'll never have to lose it again.”Illustration by Stefhany Lozano
Scorpio Sun & Scorpio Rising

With the Sun dragging through the last degrees of Libra, you’re surely feeling the drain. It’s true that most Scorpios can run on coffee alone for an undisclosed (naturally) amount of time, but even hard-shelled babes need their beauty rest. Admitting you need rest is easier than taking it, however. And, while it’s true that a week when the moon grows full might be ever-inviting to the sandman, a full moon in Aries can have some Scorpio placements doing their damndest to prove that they’re fully capable of getting to the bottom of the heaping plate they overfilled. Just because you can, though, doesn’t mean you should. Just because you’re driven, doesn’t mean you gotta drive all night. Even machines need to power down from time to time.Illustration by Stefhany Lozano
Sagittarius Sun & Sagittarius Rising

There’s nothing wrong with spending a little money on yourself and your appearance, especially when Venus is in Sagittarius. But, unless money is truly no object for you (and, honestly, even then), it's important to recognize when you’re acting from a place of self-celebration and when you’re reaching for pleasure in commodities to distract yourself from a more vulnerable desire: to nourish your own relationship to pleasure. As the Zodiac’s renowned risk-taker, you know more than most that feeling vulnerable can be necessary. You know that, sometimes, our small acts of avoidance, our cheat codes for proximity to beauty, are the results of a culture that would have us be creative our whole lives and never call ourselves creators. Illustration by Stefhany Lozano
Capricorn Sun & Capricorn Rising

While Libra season winds down, you might find as you’re weighing the minutes that the more you measure yourself by standards you inherited, the more likely you are to feel frustrated and futile. What if, this week, you acted with a sense of righteousness? What if you moved forward with irreverence? It’s possible, dear Capricorn, that you have always had everyone’s best interests in mind. It’s possible that in order to feel free from the expectations of others, you might have to move forward as if we’re all responsible to — and for — our own selves. And, if that’s true, then there’s space, too, to play a little, to reward ourselves, to be proud. The freedom to do as you please, it turns out, is a lot more tempting to strive for when it’s tasted from time to time. Illustration by Stefhany Lozano
Aquarius Sun & Aquarius Rising

As Libra season edges to an end, you might find yourself noticing shifts in perspective, especially when it comes to relating with others. It’s not necessary, either, for the dynamics between parties to have changed. Rather, the dynamics seem somehow more obvious, a pattern that you co-create and have the power to change, simply by changing how you position yourself. Here, there’s an echo of a larger theme around good faith efforts: the more you act from a place of compassion for yourself (your energy, your learning curve, your human needs), the more possible your ambitions feel. The more you move forward with faith in another person's desire to move toward you, the more common ground you find between each other.Illustration by Stefhany Lozano
Pisces Sun & Pisces Rising

Being intuitive is one thing, learning how to interpret the signs is another. You have to accept the signs as they are and not as you’d like them to be. It’s tempting to pick and choose, especially when accepting all the signs means accepting that while some excuses are compelling, they’re still excuses for behavior that’s unlikely to change. This year has had a lot to teach you about friendship and about connection, what kind of intimacy endures and what kind is subject to time. And, it’s important to understand that these kinds of lessons cycle, resurfacing again and again in both magical and mundane forms. What feels off now will feel off tomorrow. too. You know this — and you know it won’t change unless you do something about it.Illustration by Stefhany Lozano

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