October Astrology & Aromatheraphy
October Astrology & Aromatherapy with Sheridan Semple
October is filled with a solar eclipse, Underworld themes, and Scorpio depths. There are plenty of opportunities to look into the deeps of our hearts, into the caves we hide our shame within, and bring the vibration of self-love and compassion into our hurts. Bringing us into the wholeness that is all of us are the gifts being offered with this spelunking. Several planets station direct bringing movement. There’s a lot going on in October.
October Sky Viewing – The Moon continues its monthly journey around all the planets and constellations. This happens each and every month. The Moon is an excellent marker to help us see where the planets and constellations are. Plus, the Moon is my favorite way to begin connecting into the night sky, if this is a new experience for you. One last thing I’ll add is, the Moon passes around your own natal chart each month too, activating and highlighting the planets and relational aspects between them. As the Moon touches into your chart, this will feel more personal and illuminate your own life purpose and journey.
Mercury goes direct – October 2 – waxing first quarter Moon
Mercury starts moving forward again (from our earthly perspective) in Virgo. We conclude our Mercury-inspired opportunity to step into our right brains, the feminine side, the place that needs more of our attention as we shift towards balance. This occurs in the sacred priestess sign, emphasizing more of the divine feminine energies. Some say that what occurred with the onset of the patriarchal paradigm, is writing that moved us into our left brains more, emphasizing linear and masculine energy. Mercury retrogrades always offer a chance to help right this imbalanced ship.
Moon near Saturn – October 3 and 4 – night sky viewing
Look out in the evening sky to see where Saturn is, guided by its proximity to the Moon. If you are in some sort of Saturn inspired cycle, this will impact you and your life path more than others. Does this make sense?
Pluto goes direct – October 8
Pluto has been retrograding since April, taking a long, deep dive into the shadow of Capricorn and now begins moving forward (again from our earthly view). We move from stillness, marinating in the shadowy aspects, into movement around what we’ve learned. The movement starts very slowly, but now two planets have stationed direct, in less than a week. We are moving into more action.
Aries Full Moon – October 9
Less than a day later, we have the Full Moon in Aries. Pluto stationing direct is part of this Moon’s energy. Aries is full charging, actional, moving energy. The Full Moon always brings in the axis with the Sun. Libra energy in this case. There’s a potential to look at where relationship and individuation meet or wrestle with each other. The Full Moon, especially in Aries, is an excellent time to celebrate your uniqueness, your separate self, and your strength.
Mercury enters Libra – October 10
Mercury follows the Sun, then Venus, into Libra. We now have our internal and external source of light (Sun) the sacred feminine (Venus) and our minds of perception and communication (Mercury) in the “in service to community” sign of Libra. Libra serves the community through one-on-one personal relationships. We learn about ourselves through others thanks to Libra’s wisdom. Relationship themes could be up for us, especially how we perceive ourselves through other’s eyes.
Moon viewing – October 12, 13, 14, 15
Follow the Moon through the Lakota Sacred Hoop, around the Orion constellation. First with the Pleiades, then Aldebaran (the eye of the Bull) and finally Mars.
Moon viewing – October 20
The crescent Moon will show us where the royal star Regulus is - the heart of the Lion constellation, that astronomers call Leo.
Venus and Sun exact conjunction – October 22
Venus and the Sun meetup exactly. This is called the exterior conjunction as Venus is on the opposite side of the Sun from us. Venus, representing the sacred feminine energy, is receiving the maximum light hidden from our view, while living in the alchemical transformation of the shamanic death and rebirth cycle, due to being in the Underworld. Is there anything that needs letting go to help you step into a wiser more authentic expression of yourself? This is the opportunity that Venus traveling through the Underworld provides. She’ll be there until December 1, so this is a longer cycle.
Sun enters Scorpio, Saturn stations direct, Venus enters Scorpio – October 23
Saturn ends its retrograde cycle, which it has been in since June. We’ve spent a long time in this one area of the sky. That’s what retrograde actually looks like. Now, we’re ready to move on with the skills and tools we’ve gained through this deeper exploration into what actually works for us and leave behind what doesn’t. That is Saturn’s offering to us; embrace what flows.
Scorpio New Moon, partial solar eclipse – October 25
This is the big event of October! It is visible in most of Europe, north Africa, west Asia and the Middle East. A solar eclipse is not only in alignment with the Scorpio vibes, but also with Venus traveling through the Underworld. Mercury is there too. That’s a lot of Underworld, Scorpio, eclipse energy. This will be a huge opportunity to dive into our depths, big time. What do we hide in our shadow, afraid to show the world, even to look at within ourselves? Yet… shinning the light of love on that, bringing it up for compassion and acknowledgement, will seriously serve our being more of who we came here to be. This is an important intention the heavens are inviting us to participate with.
Join us at True Nature for a Scorpio New Moon Ceremony, Thursday, October 27, 6-7:30 PM,
in the Kiva, where we’ll dive more into these themes and set our Moon intentions. You can learn more about it and register here. Thanks to recent feedback, we’ll be doing less information and more ceremony and experiential aspects to these ceremonies. Hope to see you!
Mercury enters Scorpio – October 29
Our perceptions want for a dive into the depths. This could provide an opportunity to bring our eclipse intentions and shadow drilling into greater awareness and consciousness.
Mars goes retrograde – October 30
Another big moment, as we move closer to the end of the current Mars cycle begun in October of 2020 and towards the start of the new Mars cycle on December 7. Our sacred masculine has been undergoing a transformation over the last two years within the Aries, warrior archetype. Aries is truly more about serving the community through its strength and protection than being the steroid-infused, meathead, who simply upholds the patriarchy. We can see the old guard desperately white knuckling its grip as the unhealthy masculine paradigm is slowing crumbling. Won’t more balance feel great?!?
Popular time to celebrate Samhain – October 31
Happy Halloween and Samhain!
October Aromatherapy – for all this eclipse, Underworld and Scorpio energies:
Vetiver – it seems I am repeatedly recommending Vetiver, but we keep getting opportunities to move through the shadow. Vetiver holds our hands while we look at and heal the harder aspects of ourselves, bringing them from shame into love.
Spikenard – another root, but one that grows in the highest mountains of the Earth, the Himalayas. Spikenard, made famous by Mary Magdalene, helps us traverse our light and shadow simultaneously.
Black Cumin Seed – also known simply as Black Seed Oil, has been revered in the Middle East, where the eclipse is visible, for millennia. The Islamic prophet Mohammad supposedly said it cures everything but death. This major immune system supporting oil helps us face what blocks our fullest health and expression.
Ylang Ylang – not an essence that screams Underworld support. It smells flowery and sweet. I usually use it for Taurus, on the opposite side of the Scorpio polarity. Ylang Ylang helps us stay with challenging emotions and our difficult inner work. She could be just the sweetness we need through October.
Blessings on your journey through October,
Sheridan Semple, Shamanic