We made it through October.
Not unscathed, not unchanged. But, hopefully, a little more renewed. This month finds us tending. Tending to the upheaval of the last month.
If you’re new here, welcome. If you’re back, thank you.
October rocked me. Especially the first half.
I think it rocked all of us, in one way or another. In this Wheel of Fortune year we’re in, the Venus Rx is the most poignant moment of something higher taking the wheel of our ship and redirecting us into choppy waters.
Are you letting the wheel turn you? Or are you fighting tooth and nail, like me, to control its direction?
And what is that control costing you?
I’ll go first.
My spiritual practice started going sideways in September. Venus’s shadow phase in Scorpio upended me into waters I’d thought I’d already forsaken. But I was dropped, head first, back into punishing territory.
And the punishments came from me.
Venus rules relationships, and most of the astrology pointed to our partnership with others being in the hot spot, and there was certainly truth to that.
There was a spiciness to interactions, a raw unearthing where the mask was peeled off and we saw what lay underneath the stoicism, the politeness, the reservedness of the people we surrounded ourselves with.
I witnessed pain. So much Pain.
Truthfully, I didn’t really know what to do with any of it.
Including my own.
Because what came up for me most was my relationship with vice. My relationship to food, to alcohol, to smoking. How I use all of the above to hide. To hurt. To shove my inner turmoil so far down it feels impossible to deal with. Impossible to face.
When I’m laid low, I use the material world as a cork, plugging myself up. To stay safe. To stay comfortable.
And I witnessed how excruciating that it is now. Yet, I continue to do it.
Venus in Scorpio showed me just how deep these habits are imbedded. It showed me how afraid I am to let go and become someone else. It showed me how incapable I am of even fathoming a different way of existing. How resistant I am to becoming someone true. The claws of numbing are buried so deep within me, I fear I’ll bleed out before I can tend to the wounds.
Most of all, it showed me how obstinate I am to not tend to myself in general.
And that’s what November is here for.
A little debrief:
Venus began retrograding in Scorpio on October 4th at 8°. Their shadow phase, which began in September, was already constricting us, giving us glimpses into what we we are facing, and October 4th was when the hold tightened.
It felt like immovable restraints. Like the planet was holding me in place, forcing me to stand still and watch a highlight reel of all the wounds I have not yet addressed. Not properly, anyway.
I couldn’t not see it, and I couldn’t do anything with it either. I just had to watch. Witness. And it nearly broke me. The theme that kept replaying was punishment. All the ways I continue to punish myself, to hurt myself, in an effort to stay safe. To stay still.
I tell you this not as a reach for sympathy, but as a hand to hold. You are not alone in your strife. I am there with you. Struggling through the muck together as we strive to do better.
The through-line is fear. My inner child is terrified. Terrified of embodying anything other than chaos. Chaos kept me safe at one point. Chaos kept me going for years, and the thought of releasing it in exchange for ease, for stability, for consistency feels horrifying.
Because as I mentioned in October, Venus Rx embodies the Sumarian myth of Inanna. I only gave you the cliff notes then.
This time, I’m going to tell the story.
Queen of the Heavens, Inanna is dressed in her finest clothes, wearing the crown of heaven, beads around her neck, a breastplate, a golden ring, and carries a sceptre.
Her older sister, Ereshkigal, is Queen of the Dead, whose husband, Gugalanna, the Bull of Heaven has died. Inanna has chosen to enter the Underworld to witness the funeral Rites. Before she enters, she tells Ninshubur how to come to her aid if she fails to return.
Knocking on the gates of the Underworld, she is greeted by Neti, the chief gatekeeper, who asks who she is and why she has come to the land “from which no traveler returns.” Inanna states her name and intention, prompting Neti to leave and deliver the news to Ereshkigal.
The Queen of the dead appears unpleased with the news and instructs Neti to bolt the seven gates against Inanna after letting her in. She states that her sister is required to remove one of her royal garments at each gate. There are seven which she must pass.
Neti obeys, and Inanna is stripped of her crown, beads, ring, sceptre, and clothing until she enters the throne room of Erishkigal “naked and bowed low.” The judges of the underworld, the Annuna, surround her and pass judgement. Erishkigal fastens Inanna on the eye of death,
“She spoke against her the word of wrath
She uttered against her the cry of guilt
She struck her.”
(From the Sumerian poem, Descent of Inanaa, translated by Wolkstein and Kramer, 60)
Inanna was then turned into a corpse and hung from a hook on the wall.
After three days and three nights, Ninshubur acts on his instructions, going to Inanna’s father-god, Enki, for aid. He receives two Galla, two transgender beings to help her return to earth. The Galla enter the underworld, following Enki’s instructions, and come upon a distressed Erishkigal.
The Queen of the Underworld is bowled over in agony, to which the Galla empathize with and bear witness to her struggle. In gratitude, Erishkigal offers them a gift of their choosing, and they ask for Inanna’s body. Ereshkigal agrees, and they revive Inanna with the water of life, and she rises from the dead.
I could have gotten into this last month, but I feel there is more potent power to be held in the reflection of both myth and the transits than I do in my own divination and foresight. This story would have landed differently had I brought it up before than it does now, having experienced what we’ve experienced.
Because October, and halfway through this month, we have ventured into the underworld, stripped of our garments and protections, facing a kind of death. Naked and bowed low.
We have had to face our own wrath, our own guilt. The ways in which we harm ourselves. Our jealousy, our agony, our intimate betrayals.
What is this retrograde peeling off of you? What are you being forced to discard as you face a form of death, and how are you mourning it? How are you witnessing this grief, this agony within you? Have you witnessed it at all? Have you offered empathy and attention to the pain inside you, stripped of all accessories and armour?
November feels like the water of life, being gifted to us, so that we may drink and be reborn, be renewed. But I’ll get into that a little more later.
First more of the recap:
October 23, the sun moved into Scorpio and met Venus Rx at 0°. The Venus star point/cazimi. In the midst of death and decay, there was a burst of life, for the light of the sun amplifies the power of the planet its meeting.
Venus’s potency was bolstered that day, an offer of illumination and maybe, a moment of respite. They were still retrograding, they were still in Scorpio. Death was still occurring, but it held you that day. What came to you in its gentle swath?
The next day, October 24th, Mercury stationed Rx in Scorpio. Our final one of the year. I forgot to mention this in the October issue, because, well, I forgot about it.
Mercury in Scorpio feels tricky. Not a trickster, per se, though it does get that rep. Either way, it feels illusive. Mercury in water signs speak more intuitively, and in Scorpio it lives in the subtext. What’s underneath the overt, what’s actually going on beneath the directness.
In its Rx stage, though, the undercurrents start to bubble to the surface. Things left unsaid may burst forth like a geyser. Words usually stifled, become a heated debate. A scathing comment, an overdue conversation, a long withheld scream. Let it come, and do your best to be intentional with your expression.
Because at the end of the day, Scorpio wants to get to the bottom of things. It finds safety in uncovering what is hidden. Mars lends an interrogative edge to establishing credence, and, at times, this can snowball into paranoia. Scepticism is important, especially right now when we’re being force fed propaganda, but discernment is essential during the confusion of Mercury’s Rx.
October 25, Venus moved back into Libra, it’s domicile. A more comfortable fit, perhaps, but no less daunting. No less sharp. It’s following the current made by Scorpio, the torrential wave brought on by a tectonic shift in the very foundation of you. Something cracked and Libra moves to balance it, while also delivering a heavy dose of justice. To yourself, and to others.
In all your nakedness, in all your agony, Venus Rx in Libra works to soothe by interrogating your values and self worth, steering you toward action that aligns. Scorpio laid you bare, and now Libra asks you to choose how you will move next — knowing what you know now, after seeing what you have seen.
What will you fortify yourself with? How will you bridge the divide between your old self and the renewed one?
And after being blessed with the water of life, how will you honour it? How will you tend to this new version of you? This new form you must walk in. The old one is dead, a corpse hung on a hook in the wall. You can’t take it with you, so what are you taking with you?
This Month:
In the Northern Hemisphere, we are in the thick of Autumn. In the South, the middle of Spring. The earth is sustained. Either in the midst of shedding the last remains of foliage, contending with the first signs of frost and the darkening days, or the burgeoning of new seeds, new plants, new animals, and the longer rays of sunshine.
In the northern hemisphere, we are in Scorpio season. Fixed water. Death. Decay. Release. The sun is here and Mercury as well. But we’ve been in this transformative energy since September.
November 1st is Dio de (los) Muertos, Mexico’s traditional Day of the Dead. Despite the name, this is a day of celebrating life, and not one of mourning. It is a day to honour loved ones who have passed, sharing favourite foods and telling stories that keep the memories of our ancestors alive.
Venus remains Rx in Libra on this day while trining the North Node in Aquarius. Whether you celebrate Dio de (los) Muertos or not, this feels like an important day to venerate our ancestors.
For us white people, that means reaching for our own roots – before colonization and capitalism happened – while also contending with the racism, violence, extraction, and appropriation held within our lineages.
We can all utilize the power of Venus’s energy in Libra to balance within ourselves both the gifts and curses carried in our ancestral lines, allowing the North Node in Aquarius to help us bring forth justice for ourselves and the collective.
There is healing to be had on this day, utilizing spirit and intellect to shift our values toward ancient practises that bring us into alignment with the land and with community.
On November 11, the South Node in Leo conjuncts with Jupiter, and this is at once going to amplify and release something within us. Simultaneously.
On one hand, you may feel a burst of inspiration, a feeling of brightness in the darkening days. Creativity and authenticity may spring forth from you in a rush, and I encourage you to put it into form – in all its wonderful imperfection.
On the other hand, you may also feel a sense of inferiority. A nugget of uncomfortable truth about the ways in which you perform for approval and recognition. Jealousy will rear it’s green head, and arrogance may spike in an attempt to avoid.
Sit with both of them. Do what you can honour the former and interrogate the latter.
And then we have November 13. The day Mercury AND Venus station direct. The first in Scorpio, the latter in Libra. Again, this isn’t going to feel like an immediate hooray. Mercury will still be in its post-shadow phase, and Venus is treading over territory it’s already gone over.
The difference, hopefully, will be a shift in perspective. Allowing you to see the ground you’re walking on in a different light. To tread the path differently with renewed perspectives and fresh insights.
On November 22, the Sun enters Sagittarius, and our feet finally feel solid ground. This is where the tending really starts to feel possible. Sagittarius expands the path Scorpio has dug into. It brings an healthy dose of optimism and tenacity to spread out. To seek adventure and philosophies from new experiences, and different cultures.
Sagittarius is mutable fire, so there is earned bravery here that can be called upon to create the change we seek to make. It’s also associated with the Temperance card in Tarot. Integrating opposing forces and dualistic energies to alchemize ourselves. Life with death. Spirit with Earth. Soul with Body.
Our worldview has shifted, and Sagittarius energy strives to unify it into new belief systems, new points of view. It wants to reach higher heights, aiming its arrow up so that its arc can travel great distances, landing in different soil then where it took off.
This is how we tend. From the burnt rubble of Venus and Mercury’s Rx, we can see the ground beneath us with new vibrancy, churning the earth, and ourselves, with fresh soil and renewed hope.
The Lunar Phases:
With the Last Quarter Moon in Leo at 9° happening on November 1st, along with Venus Rx trining the North in Aquarius, this is a time to witness ancestral harm and transmute it to something sacred.
This is the day to face your ancestral and spiritual bypassing. To speak out loud your intention to celebrate life and align yourself with it, and to release all the ways in which you and society work to kill and extract it.
Heavy? Yes. Essential? Completely. The earth and sky demand it.
On Nov 9, we have the new moon in Scorpio. This is yet another potent opportunity to plant seeds of transformation. To dig deeper.
You may think you’ve delved as far as you can go, but I assure you the ground is not beneath us yet. There is more to uncover in the darkness of the New Moon, and under its shaded gaze, put down intentions reclaim the dreams you’ve hidden from yourself.
What changes do you want to make on a micro and macro level? You can put down new intentions for the lunar phase, while also working to transmute them for the next six months. Scorpio loves to work with both.
On November 17, the first quarter moon lands in Aquarius at 25°, the same degree and sign as the North Node. We’re being asked to assess the intentions put down on the new moon: where do we feel resistance? How are we getting in our own way?
Aquarius energy tends to zoom out, but try not to get lost in big picture thinking, and remember to act on your insights. This is a time for both contemplation and conduct.
On November 24, the Full Moon in Gemini rises. Mutable air in the emotional and illuminating waters of the moon. Intellectual stimulus and the need to speak on it will infuse us, and allow raw truths to be received, then shared.
While the Sagittarius sun works to expands your worldview, let the Gemini Full Moon help you extrapolate the data and put it into motion.
Now for something different:
I felt called to do a card pull for this month. Just one card. Nothing fancy.
I pulled Judgement. With Temperance on the bottom of the deck.
You can’t make this shit up.
The Judgement card is associated with Pluto, which makes sense for all this Scorpio energy weaving through us the last couple months. Being number Twenty in the deck, it’s the card of transformation. In Numerology, twenty narrows down to two (2+0=2).
Two is a number of duality, and also the early stages of movement. It’s the number that takes you outside of yourself and into the world. It’s the first step in a new direction, the first idea in a new plan, the first word in a new sentence.
In the image above, you can spot similarities in the two cards. The red angel wings against a blue sky, human forms standing on water. Transformation is an alchemical process, and it’s not done alone. There is a higher force involved, whichever one you believe. Either way, it involves both spirit and body. Sky and earth.
Judgement reminds us we are not alone in transformation. There are greater forces at work, within us, above us, next to us. We cannot do it alone, we are not doing it alone.
Let this be a boon for the tending required this month. Look to your neighbours, your friends, your family, your beloved ancestors, and your guides during this season of change.
Don’t do it alone. Even if you think you can, remember:
You do not have to.
Okay. Take a deep breath. Go plant your feet in crunchy leaves, if the weather permits.
Thank you for being here. You’re doing great.
I’ll see you next month, lovelies.
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