New Moon in Scorpio: Perceive, Penetrate, Power

The Sun entered Scorpio just three days ago, and today was the New Moon (exact 3:56 p.m. ET). There should be no doubt in anyone's mind, heart, or nether reaches that we have entered the Scorpio Zone. Mercury and Venus are also transiting this sign. With four out of ten planets in Scorpio, the atmosphere is intense, to say the very least, with a 90 percent chance of intrigue combined with dead-on perception and transformation. You may feel as if you are living in a 007 film, or perhaps an NC-17 one.

If you self-identify as lighthearted, superficial, or asexual, I would strongly advise laying low till November 2 (when Mercury and Venus enter Sagittarius). If you are a Water sign or have this element predominant in your chart, on the other hand, you should feel right at home -- though Scorpios or individuals with Scorpio planets may feel slightly overwhelmed by this particular type of energy (not that they would ever admit it), due to its co-ruler Mars transiting incompatible Leo.

We just went through the Venus-Mars square (exact today at 6:23 p.m.), not the greatest aspect for love and sex. Particularly with Venus in Scorpio and Mars in Leo, possessiveness or jealousy was likely, as well as plenty of drama. Mars in Leo is apt to issue ultimatums, while Venus in Scorpio is less than likely to toe the line. Whatever issues were raised by this square, they are not finished -- the Mercury-Mars square on Friday (exact 11:08 a.m. ET) will continue the conversation, if indeed it is a conversation; the temptation to yell, accuse, and throw things will be quite strong. Lock all sharp objects away and keep a pillow handy if you need to punch something.

The good news is that even though there is another challenging aspect on Friday (Sun opposing Jupiter, 9:42 p.m. ET), we get a helpful, opportunity-making sextile between the Sun and Pluto, as well as a wonderful trine between Jupiter and Pluto. Ideally, both the sextile and trine will modify the extravagance and false promises likely to occur under a Sun-Jupiter opposition. The trine occurs in Earth signs (Taurus and Capricorn, respectively), which indicates physical comfort, pleasure, and material abundance. However, because the Moon will enter the Jupiter-ruled sign of Sagittarius on Friday, and Pluto rules the sign of Scorpio (where the Sun, Venus, and Mercury currently are), there will also be a strong, even unshakable sense of faith and regeneration.

On a mass level we have a dire need for such a potentially healing aspect, and so does the planet that houses us; on an individual level I urge each and every one of you to try to tune in to it however you can. Meditate, make art, re-create, celebrate -- preferably at a costume party or seance, since it will be the weekend before Halloween.

Whether or not you believe in ghosts or the spirit world, this is an ideal time to look past the surface, beyond other people's masks...and to stop deluding yourself, no matter how rude the awakening.

Master of Disguise: Happy Moon-in-Leo Halloween!

My Halloween weekend forecast is a simple one: with the Moon in dramatic, showy, party-hearty Leo, and the Sun, Mercury, and Venus in equally dramatic, provocative, secretive Scorpio, the stars are perfectly aligned for you, regardless of your Sun sign, to attire yourself in a costume and mingle at a masquerade, not sit home alone watching horror movies and scarfing down bite-size Hershey candy bars. Of course, since Halloween falls on a Sunday this year, you can actually do both--go out and socialize tonight, stay home and go into a candy-corn-induced coma with your favorite cinematic psychopath tomorrow.

Fire signs (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) and water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) should have a particularly wild time.

Trick-or-Treat!

Tail End of Libra: Another Full Moon Will Launch Us into Scorpio

I hope everyone enjoyed the imaginative, romantic, soothing energy of the Sun/Neptune trine in airy Libra and Aquarius (exact 10/19 at 8:20 a.m. EDT) and was also able to surf the dynamic, expansive wave created by the trine between Mars in Scorpio and Jupiter in Pisces (exact 10/20 at 9:42 p.m.).

However, today that Mars in Scorpio made a challenging square to Neptune in Scorpio at 11:37 a.m. EDT, and I fear that many of us, caught between dreaming (Neptune) and doing (Mars), wiped out. (Some of the literal forms this wipe-out may have taken: food or alcohol poisoning, drug ODing, viral infection.)

Adding to the emotional intensity is the imminent Full Moon in Aries, exact at 9:37 p.m. EDT. The Sun is now in the last degree of Libra, and is obviously going out this year with a bang, not a whimper. You may know already that this is the second Full Moon we've had in Aries (the first being the Harvest Moon of 9/23). Optimistically speaking, this gives us a second chance at harvesting our relationship between ourselves and others, finding that elusive balance (Libra) between fulfilling our needs and wants and those of the people with whom we share open, aboveboard connections.

(Please note that the 7th House, which is associated with Libra, is where all of our relationships that are there for all the world to see are located--for hidden friends and enemies as well as secret romances, go to the Pisces-ruled 12th house, and if there is a decidedly unequal or unsavory power dynamic involving sex or money, head to the Scorpio-ruled 8th house.)

With the Sun's entrance into Scorpio tomorrow at 8:35 a.m. EDT, the Northern Hemisphere plunges into the heart of autumn. The last bit of summer, which lingered in NYC well beyond the Autumnal Equinox, has faded away; foliage will soon reach its peak as the temperature continues to drop; and at the centerpiece of the zodiac's most intense, transformative sign is Halloween, followed by the Day of the Dead. The benign pumpkin is carved into a scary Jack-o-lantern; the dead rise from their graves; horror movies are spotlighted. Hordes of costumed children may no longer wander about their neighborhood trick-or-treating after dark, as my generation did back in the '70s and early '80s, without a squadron of parents hovering nearby to protect them (and also to ration the candy booty instead of letting their kiddies go into their annual sugar coma). But if NYC is any indication, Halloween seems to be, more than ever, an adult-oriented holiday (sexy nurse costume or ridiculous politician mask optional). Interestingly, the majority of Gen-Xers, born 1961-81, have an outer planet in Scorpio--either Neptune (1961-70) or Uranus (1975-81). Stay tuned and see if Halloween becomes more popular with septo- and octogenerians in the 2040s and '50s!

Between tomorrow and 10/28, we will have four planets in Scorpio (Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Mars), and with Jupiter and Uranus in Pisces, there is an awful lot of emotional, intuitive water energy going on. So it won't come as a surprise that the next five days will most smile on the water signs of Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces. Capricorns should also benefit, but Taurus and Virgo may find some resistance if they push their practicality or pragmatism too hard. All that water is urging us to go with the flow, even though Scorpio is admittedly the most stubborn and controlled (and controlling!) of the water signs.

Stay tuned for my Halloween forecast!