Scorpio Horoscope for October 2023

This is another highly significant month for you, Scorpio. You have been re-thinking your pathway forward and its relation to the work you do in the world. Collaboration with partners of one kind or another has been a huge factor there lately including as a source of new ideas. There have likely been unexpected curveballs as well with all this. How colleagues and personal pertners interact with you in business situations has been a moving target and perhaps subject to a degree of soul searching. Mars, your ruler, enters your sign on the 13th in aspect to limiting Saturn, and you could find it difficult to get things done, although the results after persevering will be more meaningful and long-lasting. Limits to growth might ultimately prove to be in your best interest, and with so many ideas bubbling through you, discernment is required as well as inspiration. With the advent of the potent New Moon and Solar Eclipse of October 14th taking place in your sector of dream imagination, unconscious process, and inner work, you are encouraged to look beneath the surface layers of your routine day-to-day involvement for the deeper meaning.


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


The first half of October reflects the completion of the lunation cycle initiated at the September 14th Virgo New Moon, which lasts 30 days. Social networks and long-term aspirations remain an emphasis for you, consistent with the Virgo placement of this powerful New Moon, that also featured a stationing Mercury in the same sign, and a highlighted presence of Uranus in Taurus. the influence of Trickster Uranus on the current lunation cycle may have you harnessing Mercury's dexterity to adjust to elements of surprise and change within your committed partnerships. This attitude of flexibility will serve you well as you enter eclipse season this current mid-month.

Mercury and Venus enter new territory as October begins, with their retrogrades in your social and professional spheres abating to now provide a firmer foundation to move forward.

From the beginning of the month as well, your Libra sector of the unconscious process and inner work is also emphasized, with intensity building as you approach the Solar Eclipse of October 14th. This activation is heralded by a conjunction between Mars and the South Lunar Node in Libra as it applies to a square with Pluto in the last degrees of Capricorn. The planet of metamorphosis is prominent the early part of this month, barely moving in the sky as it slows to turn direct on the 10th in your sphere of the mind. With the potential to be both explosive and cathartic, these transits point to the return of the repressed. Though it may be painful, consciously engaging with what is coming up may help you identify and release past pain affecting your current reality. You have significant mental power at your disposal for self-analysis and depth work, as well as for learning and research.

That said, the first three days of October may arrive with some confusion due to Mercury's opposition to Neptune in Pisces, suggesting topics emerging at this time could relate to a romantic partner or social scene. Schedules, details, and communications within friendships and groups may also go out the window. There's intensity in the air, so lean into the artistic, dreamy qualities of this transit. You might make a study of learning to relax, listening to music, collaborating on shared visions, and spending time with people that lift you up.

Mercury joins the planetary buildup in Libra on the 4th, placing additional focus on your inner process. Compulsions and obsessions might be activated; if you are ruminating over a situation or dynamic, it can be helpful to divert your attention to something neutral until you can consider it from a less charged frame of mind. Making a conscious effort to unplug and be present with yourself every day, even briefly, will help. Perhaps this includes regular journaling or keeping a dream diary, as your inner world may be particularly vivid during this time.

On the 7th, Venus moves into new ground for the first time since late July, immediately opposing Saturn in Pisces before entering Virgo the following day. The Venus-Saturn dynamic, active from the 8th to the 11th, may expand themes related to its retrograde through your career and reputation sector and the culminating Virgo lunation cycle; social restructuring may be underway as modes of relating, values, and goals reach their limit. Virgo offers you the gift of discernment; these changes are likely in service of commitments to a creative project, career, or children. The tension between your co-ruling planets, Mars and Pluto, remains active from the 5th to the 9th, suggesting topics arising at this time may relate to power dynamics within your social milieu or a process of reconciliation or accountability.

Mars brings a boost of vitality and enthusiasm when it moves into your home sign on the 11th. Topics connected to your identity, body, psychology, and self-presentation are now emphasized. Your instincts are sharp; follow your gut and go after what you feel passionate about. However, if you encounter conflict, sitting with your feelings for a few days will support self-advocacy over defensiveness.

The Libra New Moon and Solar Eclipse on October 14th heralds a new era of rebalancing related to your inner landscape that will evolve over the next six months. Consider the idea that every part of you belongs, even as you may be called to establish a more profound connection with your spiritual nature or unfamiliar parts of your psyche that seek integration and expression. As you strengthen your connection to more subtle aspects of yourself and the world, the emerging eclipse cycle may help you listen more deeply to yourself and learn to distinguish intuition from patterns of vigilance or paranoia.

Mercury's conjunction with the Sun on the 19th is a closing act to the concentration of energy in your Libra sector for the month. Both planets square Pluto from the 18th to the21st, indicating situations at this time may illuminate outdated patterns of thinking or communication that compromise your inner peace.

When Mercury ingresses into your sign late on the 21st, closely followed by the Sun on the 23rd, the emphasis on your inner world now shifts to outward expression. This marks the beginning of your solar return month. Your sphere of individuality, appearance, and ambition is now a significant activation point. Both planets form a trine to Saturn in Pisces – strategic use of the abundant passion, energy, and focus at your disposal will effectively serve creative projects or can be diverted into topics related to romance, fun, and children.

The final eclipse of the year takes place on October 28th with a Taurus Full Moon and Lunar Eclipse in your partnership sector. Full Moons traditionally bring in themes of completion, revelation, and fulfillment and in this case, with the eclipse, these may be related to the culmination of the past series of eclipses across the Taurus-Scorpio axis. You could find it illuminating to reflect on the series of changes related to your identity and relationships since late 2021, particularly in terms of your sense of self-esteem, values, and security. During this period of closure, close commitments, modes of relating, or stages in a relationship may also be drawing to an end.

As the cycle of eclipses across the Scorpio-Taurus axis culminates at this Full Moon eclipse of the 28th, Pluto offers a karmic clearing out of what lies buried deep in the recesses of your mind that may help you enter a new cycle with a sense of closure or release. Self-observation and compassion will deepen a connection to your inner essence that exists outside your personal mythologies, outer presentation, and relationships.

Emotions could be amplified in the days around this lunation due to the influence of Mercury's conjunction with Mars in your sign, signifying your physical embodiment and the way that you come across to others, active from the 27th until the 30th. Both planets form an opposition to Jupiter in Taurus, which does signal luck and expansion in partnerships, although perhaps too much expansion beyond practicality, and also might heighten relational tensions. Attachment and control restrict your power and energetic flow. Remaining curious about whatever intensity is emerging at this time supports regeneration, depth, and authenticity, which lay at the core of the Scorpio archetype. As this eclipse cycle ends, this transit may mobilize you to address an issue you have been avoiding, which may relate to self-advocacy or expressing anger, desires, or vulnerability to others.

Both eclipses taking place this month are Venus-ruled, in Libra and in Taurus, and call attention to a process of aligning your life path to what you love and feel affinity for. With Venus in your sphere of friendship, group affiliation, societal contribution, and long-term vision, this speaks to an inner evolution that will support closer kinship with others that is anchored in shared values and agency.