Cancer Horoscope for October 2023

You are in many ways inhabiting a new strength of purpose this month, Cancer. This is an important and a visionary step forward and does not come without its price in terms of putting aside the ghosts of ancient wounding and getting to better know yourself at depth. After weeks of introspective questioning of your beliefs and worldview, your options as you look ahead are myriad and multi-faceted. The world is your oyster once you get the pattern to unlock it, although it might be a slippery business to fully grasp this new code. Your inner wounding could also keep coming up and if so, is asking you to pay it a different kind of attention, seeing this internal residue of early trauma not so much as a barrier to your progress, although it is that, but rather as an important component of who you really are that must be accepted, integrated, and included in future planning. The Solar Eclipse and New Moon of October 14th takes place in a key sector of your chart that references foundational patterns, and might also indicate a fresh start in familial matters. Your eventual transformation is still unfinished and must derive from deeper places within you in order to be entirely effective.


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


October begins under the influence of last month’s rather intense lunation cycle that featured Mercury in retrograde and in the same sign of Virgo as the previous New Moon. The inception point of last month's Virgo New Moon was your sphere of the mind, learning, and local environment. This cycle continues in its closing two weeks throughout the first half of the current month, with an introspective reflection on your mental and learning process being a major theme. It ends of course with the Libra Solar Eclipse and New Moon of the 14th. As in the preceding lunar cycle, the exciting and erratic influence of Uranus in Taurus is again present, suggesting trickster variations and plenty of options as far as the influence of your social ecosystem and future goals. The strong Uranian presence might add a certain electricity to an otherwise practical and grounding cycle.

During the first three days of October, a Neptunian tension is in the air as Mercury, fresh out of its retrograde shadow, comes into an opposition with Neptune, planet of inspiration and dreams, located in Pisces that he rules. This corresponds to your sector of life philosophy and worldview, education, and foreign travels. While communications could be less than precise, imagination has a field day over this short period of time. Perhaps you will be called to more subtle or spiritual truths than the rational mind can easily accommodate, or that cynicism might exile; and yet this irrational form of perception is yet very real.

Mercury's simultaneous trine to Pluto in your Capricorn or relationship sector points to a focus or new perspective on transformation with regard to your close partnerships.

Pluto calls attention to relational themes early this month as it remains almost stationary in the sky, turning to direct motion on the 10th. This theme is echoed by a building intensity in your Libra sector of the home, belonging, and family, signaled by Mars joining the Lunar South Node there in October’s first week as he moves into a square with Pluto. While you could feel defensive around your foundational safety or be grappling with charged material at this time, these transits offer catharsis that requires authenticity rather than necessarily keeping the peace. That being said, retreating to a private space to be present with yourself and taking time before engaging with others may aid in reducing emotional explosions.

Mercury joins the planetary buildup in Libra on the 4th, and could arrive there as harbinger of mental clarity, particularly in discerning what concerns correlate to reality. This ingress may help you find common ground or compromise if tensions have emerged within your relational ecosystem or align with considerable focus on matters of the home and family.

On the 6th, the Last Quarter Moon in your sign might speak to readjustments linked to your identity, appearance, or personal ambitions that are connected to the current lunar cycle. This may relate to moving homes or any similar change in your local environment, or perhaps meditations on considering how adjustments over the recent three weeks might have catapulted you into new understandings regarding your family of origin or current household.

These topics may remain in view when Venus enters Virgo on the 8th, moving into new ground for the first time since July. An opposition between Venus and Saturn in Pisces is active from the 8th to the 11th. This transit may illuminate a tension between your values and structures of belief; maybe you are calling into question particular unyielding attitudes or the teachers and gods you serve. This could also relate to a deepening commitment to your search for meaning through a spiritual or learning path.

Mars enters Scorpio on the 11th, bringing vigor and energy to topics of creativity, children, romance, and life enjoyment for the next month and a half. With an eye for being judicious with your words, courtesy of Mercury in Libra, you might harness the power of Mars in its home sign of Scorpio to sever romantic ties or social habits that do not feel generative. This could include exploring self-protective behaviors that may hold you back from more authentic connections with others.

The Libra New Moon and Solar Eclipse arrives on the 14th, which not only births a new thirty-day cycle but one that will play out over the next half year on the strength of this lunation. This correlates to your realms of the home and family, and also to its opposition point in your career sector where the North Node resides. You are entering a period of important change and growth. Issues of belonging, intergenerational pain, and relational imbalances, particularly within family and cohabiting dynamics, may become particularly obvious over this time. Both eclipses this month are ruled by Venus, suggesting that what is evolving now may be in service of a reorientation towards what you love and value that will fortify you at your foundations and nurture your growth outward.

The final flourish of the planetary buildup in Libra takes place on the 19th as Mercury conjoins the Sun. Both planets form a square to Pluto that is active between the 18th and the 21st These transits may illuminate by bringing your unconscious biases and behaviors into the light, possibly illustrating how early foundational experiences play out in your present relationships. This time could also align with revelations or personal insight connected to your family or one-on-one partnerships, possibly through prompting difficult conversations.

Romance, intrigue, and passion may be on your mind as Mercury moves into Scorpio on the 21st, closely followed by the Sun on the 23rd. Topics related to children, fun, and self-expression may take precedence over the next Sun season.

The Full Moon and Lunar Eclipse in Taurus on the 28th concludes an eclipse cycle dating back to late 2021 across your sectors of community and creativity. As the cycle culminates, certain friendships, collaborative efforts, or life dreams may also be receding. Mercury's conjunction with Mars in Scorpio, active from the 27th until the 30th, may see emotions run high at this lunation. Both planets form an opposition to Jupiter in Taurus, which may amplify discord within romantic or social dynamics. While it could be easy to obsess over interpersonal drama or fears about loss or change, Jupiter's presence in your Taurus sector promises the generative growth of new beginnings that are built into these endings. This may coincide with an emerging sense of clarity around the values that inform your social identity and unfolding life path, supporting a deeper sense of kinship and belonging by helping you connect to those who share your dreams.

The movements of your life have an organic flow to them; moving with these tides may help simplify things or at least alleviate some internal conflict this month. While the astrology of October could take some time to integrate and play out, you may leave the month with a clearer sense of the reality you occupy, empowering you to be more creative in your response and movements forward.