Cancer Horoscope for September 2023

This is another interesting month for you, Cancer, of changing perspectives. In the midst of the significant inner planet retrogrades of Venus and Mercury, you find yourself in an extremely thoughtful and introspective time, when nothing is quite as it seems, and when you must utilize discernment to find your way forward in the midst of a plethora of possibilities and choices. Venus is retrograde as September begins, in your values sector, stationing to direct on the 3rd, while Mercury, in backward motion until the 15th, in your sector of communication and learning, is, in its post-retrograde shadow period, recovering thereafter, right through to the Aries Full Moon of September 29th. This implies an inward turning, when the truest information comes to you from your own internal process. The superficial story of the Mercury Retrograde period as missed connections and mechanical breakdown, and as re-thinking and re-evaluating, becomes when you can look more deeply an enormous opportunity to get clear upon your own evolutionary process. You do best not to expect outward results but rather these internal rewards, measuring your progress by your growth in understanding. Punctuated by the potent Virgo New Moon of September 14th, you are meditating and learning this entire month, when you look at it right.


The following was written by our guest columnist Alea Balzer. You can write her at alea.balzer@gmail.com


September begins in the wake of the recent Leo New Moon of mid-August, with two weeks yet to go to complete its 30-day Leo lunation cycle, which planted a new beginning in your sector of your resources, cash flow, and values. The Uranian electric focus infused into this lunation cycle might help you connect with some far-out ideas regarding your life path and the resources required to make them happen, many choices. You win when you can stay open to possibility and yet also manage the necessary discernment to avoid going over a cliff. There could be unexpected elements into the mix that may upend the best-laid plans or budgets and yet there also shines the potential for a revived sense of power and personal autonomy.

Mercury is also retrograde in Virgo as September begins, meaning that your communicative outreach takes on a distinctly introspective turn. You truest information might come from intuitive sources deep inside yourself. Your outer world performance is active although it might be held back by lack of confidence or awareness of inner wounding that needs to find the potential of a healing pathway toward solution.

On September 3rd, Venus stations direct in Leo. Her six-week retrograde period has emphasized renewal related to your finances, skills, and values and how these influence your self-esteem and happiness. Your time, energy, and attention are valuable resources, and this recent period could have involved a reevaluation of who and what you spend time on, in addition to more tangible material realities of income and expenditure. Venus' slow recovery and Mercury's ongoing retrograde reflect a continuing process of reassessment this month, where significant decisions and action might align with the first or second week of October once both planets have escaped their retrograde shadows.

In the early morning hours of September 6th, ending about 7 am PT, Mercury Retrograde moves through its Cazimi, its journey through the heart of the Sun, in Virgo, signaling a moment of clarity amidst the general fogginess of the introspective Mercury Retrograde cycle. This progresses through the sphere of your chart related to learning, communications, and your daily environment. The Last Quarter Moon in Gemini this same day extends the analytical emphasis of this moment in the lunation cycle, connecting your conscious mental processes and dialogues with those of the subconscious, spiritual, and non-rational. Gemini and Virgo, both Mercury-ruled signs, welcome a flexible attitude and readjustment, possibly calling attention to the importance of rest, solitude, and slowing down to nourish your mental health. With Gemini ruling your sphere of the inner psyche, you might consider the influence of undermining beliefs related to self-worth or your right to experience and enjoy abundance. A supportive trine from the Sun and Mercury to Jupiter in Taurus indicates you might receive good news from a friend or beneficial alliance related to a life aspiration, be recognized for skills you have mastered, or have the confidence to share your ideas with a wider community.

The Virgo New Moon transpires on September 14th in your sector of communication and learning, and opens a new cycle that calls for consideration of details while keeping an eye on your big-picture goals, with the aim of restoring health or refining our approach there. This lunation answers to a constructive and well-dignified Mercury, which stations direct the following day. You do well to harness this shift in the energy over the next two weeks to act on any insights that have emerged since early August, eventually establishing new habits around mental health or information sharing and correspondence, perhaps including phone and internet use. This could also involve editing or finishing past work, implementing structures to support learning and communicative endeavors, or returning to a past curiosity. A trine from the New Moon to Uranus in Taurus connects this cycle to evolution in your community sector and might also imply that you could find unexpected support for articulating and beginning to act on your ambitions. The influence of Venus' ongoing square to Jupiter, which has remained active since August 22nd, also places continued emphasis on your Leo and Taurus sectors of resources and community involvement. Perhaps you might reflect on where your situation was in early June versus where you are now, particularly the way your finances and values relate to colleagues, kinship, collective participation, and long-term goals.

From the 17th to the 20th, the Sun in Virgo forms its annual opposition with Neptune, which may have you feeling mentally exhausted, particularly if you are habitually focused on academic, higher mind, or communicative pursuits. Neptune favors non-rational forms of intelligence connected to the spiritual, philosophical, and imaginative, which could see you reconnecting to dreams, travel ideals, or the pursuit of new horizons of understanding. If you have a lot on your plate, writing down a clear list of priorities and processes or reconnecting to the larger meaning that your work is in service of may help with overwhelm. This transit could also illuminate the need for boundaries relating to communications and social media that are affecting your focus or attention. Supportive aspects from both the Sun and Neptune to Pluto in Capricorn connect changes within your intimate partnerships or attitudes to relating and that of your mental processes or wider belief systems. This might help you to approach past or current one-on-one relationships with more compassion.

The Sun enters Libra on the 22nd, which may draw focus to your home, family, or sense of belonging over the next month.

From the 22nd to the 25th, Mars applying to an opposition with Chiron in Aries could move you out of equilibrium, possibly connecting challenges within your professional life to the on-going problematic influence of early foundational experiences or familial expectations. Supportive aspects from Venus to Chiron and Mars may aid integration or healing around self-worth and how you provide for yourself or your family. With this Libra sector of your chart, representing home and family, balancing the energy you share within your domestic scene with that of your career might be an ongoing project of adjustment.

The Full Moon culminates in Aries on the 29th, bringing in themes related to your vocation and reputation. This lunation is further characterized by Venus making her final square to Uranus, the wildcard factor. Mercury is simultaneously leaving its retrograde shadow, and Mercury is also connecting to Uranus through a trine. These transits suggest a freeing up or a revivification process related to a story that has been unfolding since the beginning of July across your resource and community sectors. This might be aided by the deconstructive and problem-solving influence of Mercury located within your mental sector, which supports changes of mental orientation as you update your values and knowledge.

The end of September supplies emerging cohesion following a period of recalibration. The liberating influence of Uranus in Taurus and the boldness of Venus in Leo could offer you freedom from social expectations, life ambitions, and values that are no longer resonant. This will provide fertile ground for new systems of social and material support that will take you toward a more vibrant future.