Release Point: Stepping Out of the Shadows
After months of being at sea, September brings landfall. We move away from exploring our watery depths and move toward practical action, using our discrimination and powers of analysis as a compass.
That said, the murkiness and shadows don’t wholly dissipate until later in the month, when Pluto stations direct on September 20th.
This month can be best used to eliminate the old, outworn and obsolete in our lives. Internal housecleaning – be if of our attitudes, our behaviors, our routines, our emotions – pays off mightily this month. As a symbolic way to honor this energy, go through your home and give away items you no longer use. Host a garage sale or take unwanted items to your local charitable thrift store.
Cast a hard look at recurring patterns. This month’s intense need for investigation and analysis enables us to uproot rigid, entrenched emotions, patterns of thinking and behavior.
Where do you feel stuck? What actions might you take to get moving again? Where are things dissatisfactory or less than ideal? Questions like these point toward the small, incremental steps or sweeping revisions required of you.
Honest appraisals of shortcomings, necessary corrections, and existing obstacles can provide a framework for change that improves who you are and how you live. Just make sure you include a healthy dose of self-acceptance and compassion to the mix. Use your stocktaking as a starting point, a realistic blueprint to make improvements, not as a hair-shirt to punish yourself for perceived failings.
We’ve spent months in the intangible depths of our emotions and nonverbal realms. This month we are trying to bring those stirrings into the world, to make them more visible and real.
There is no right or wrong way to do this as long as the motion is forward. A seasoned traveler knows to pack light, as you can always pick up items you need along the way. Use this month to put down anything that has become too heavy and slows you on your journey. Then continue on your way.
September 5 – New moon at 13° Virgo
This new moon rewards practical action, so roll up your sleeves and get to work. Analyze where you are at now versus where you would like to be. If you have pockets of chaos in your life, tackle them and create order. This month you’ll find decluttering your life declutters your mind, so when in doubt clean, organize, and make lists. You’ll find practical tasks focus your attention in a way that allows your mind to freely ruminate in the background on larger issues.
With Mars and Saturn in tense relationship to one another, projects that allow you to channel your energy in a focused, structured manner can provide a constructive outlet. Without a mountain to climb, you may find yourself feeling frustrated, angry and easily irritated – especially through the 9th of the month. That said, Jupiter and Pluto support this new moon, pointing to creative regeneration and buoyancy, if we keep working on the tasks at hand.
September 9 – Mercury enters Libra
Mercury leaves discriminating and practical Virgo, its home sign, for Libra. While Virgo enjoys absolutes, Libra excels nuance and seeing multiple sides of any argument. Its sense of fairness and ability to mediate between people and competing ideas can reconcile disparate viewpoints. If you’ve been struggling with an issue, Mercury’s stay in Libra – through September 29th – is a perfect time to make your pros-and-cons list and get a 360° view of your options.
September 11 – Venus enters Scorpio
Venus leaves the sign of its rulership, Libra, to slip into the dark chambers of Scorpio, the sign of its fall. Scorpio, traditionally ruled by Mars, aims to perceive deeply, cutting away the extraneous until it reaches the heart of the matter. (And so be it if the razor’s edge hurts a bit.) Venus’ desire to smooth rough edges and reconcile differences finds itself at odds in this brew of suspicion and intensity. Between September 11th to October 7th, we tend to scrutinize our relationships. This holds particularly true the days of September 16-19th, when Venus will join Saturn, and we find ourselves on our own and perhaps feeling a bit unsupported. Insights into relationships and their value – and whether, in some instances, their costs outweighs their benefit – come into focus.
September 19 – Full Moon at 27° of Pisces
If we put one foot after the other at the new moon and done our work (taking practical steps in our life as well as moving our psychic garbage to the curb), we find ourselves at the point of release, where we can surrender a behavior, pattern, or situation that holds us back. What we started at the new moon becomes illuminated: we see into it in a new way or finally see its meaning.
We may conclude the person, idea, or situation we’ve been obsessing over isn’t worth the pain and we let go. We may discover an unhappiness we’ve nursed is a sacrifice we’re willing to make once we see it from a grander, more elevated vantage point. Compassion, loving acceptance of our own or others’ foibles and pain could arise and change our approach or melt away previous resistance.
On the other hand, if we haven’t engaged or actively avoided our issues, by the time of the full moon we may feel victimized by the behaviors, situations and people with whom we’ve been obsessing and struggling. Feeling disempowered, we may find ourselves directionless, full of doubts, or emotionally overwrought.
In general, I find the week preceding the full moon emotional. Many of us don’t sleep as well, so fatigue kicks in. The days reach a crescendo: we feel things deeply, fully, and that includes the stresses of life and the emotions of those around us. Thus, we bounce off the high emotion of all those around us, not just our own.
As Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac and a water sign, this phenomenon can be exaggerated. In addition to Pisces propensity for transcendent highs and bleak lows, Pluto is slowing to a stop (stationing) the day after the full moon, churning up the waters. Even if you feel grounded those around you might not.
Call on your compassion and pay attention if you become triggered. This month points to a need to release and eliminate entrenched patterns. If you see your triggers as clues, you can use them as guides for further internal housecleaning.
September 20 – Pluto station direct at 9° Capricorn
Hitting the day after the full moon, Pluto slows to a stop at 9° Capricorn. After six months in the underworld, Pluto steps out of the shadows. If you’ve had an obsession, a recurring pattern, or an old habit you want to put down, today is a good day to cut your ties to the past. When Pluto reaches the stationary direct position of its cycle, we reach a release point. Our ugliest secrets, our shame, the darkest corners of our psyches can be brought to the surface and into the light to be released. This day represents the unconscious made conscious, so make the most of it. Journal, dream, meditate, see your therapist: actively connect the dots between worlds. Use your awareness and intention to let go of past hurt, pain, and patterns that keep you fettered.
As if to underscore the theme, the moon squares Pluto and then joins Uranus the same day of the station. This day points to breakdowns or breakthroughs, but with one goal: liberating yourself from the past and untethering yourself from limited ways of seeing or being in the world. If you could cast off any part of your history, any troubling emotion, any situation, any habitual way of moving in the world, what would it be? Start there.
September 22 – Sun enters Libra
Sun moves from industrious Virgo to relationship-oriented Libra, where it is said to be in its fall. The sun, tied to our individuality and self-definition, must compromise its goals in Libra to engage in the dance of intimacy: its individual wants must take a backseat to the demands of genuine partnership. Libra loves to be surrounded by beauty. Take a trip to the art museum, enjoy good friends.
September 29 – Mercury enters Scorpio
Mercury leaves compromising, rational Libra for uncompromising, investigative Scorpio. Dig up a bit of dirt or dig into your favorite mystery novel. But don’t forget to look closer to home: the best secrets to explore are your own.
2013 September Forecast
If you know your rising sign (the sign on the ascendant at the time of your birth), read that description as well as your birth sign. If you don’t know your rising sign and would like to find out, click here for instructions.
As always, a broad analysis such as this is no substitute for a personal astrological consultation based your full birth data. If you are interested in setting up an appointment, please email me or call me at 800.604.0299.
ARIES TAURUS GEMINI CANCER LEO VIRGO
LIBRA SCORPIO SAGITTARIUS CAPRICORN AQUARIUS PISCES
Gemstones: Rose Quartz
Create or reinvigorate your health and work routines this month. You tend to soldier through everything. Try infusing your routines with bit of self-care and gentleness: if you’re tired, sleep; when you’re hungry, eat; when you’re stiff, get a massage. Sometimes it is the little things that make the difference. At work, what has felt overwhelming or stalled gets traction. You’re positioned powerfully. Be ready to remove obstacles, especially those you place in your own way. Though you like going it alone, this month feedback from others shines light on what you can’t see.
Gemstones: Azurite
Frustrations and irritations may arise this month, with every step forward seemingly blocked or thwarted. Check your plans, don’t doubt yourself, and keep moving forward. You have enormous reserves of creativity available to you at this time. Your point of release? Old beliefs about yourself, the world and life. Sometimes we turn our assessments and judgments into cast-in-gold Truths, never to be questioned. This month? Question. Someone (you-know-who) may have gilded a turd on occasion.
Gemstones: Carnelian
Silver-tongued Twin, not every conversation can be contained or managed, especially at work. Turn verbal jabs into building blocks: use disagreement as a starting point for fierce conversations that air long-buried resentments. Turn your attention to home and family this month: putting your house in order puts your world in order. Old psychological material, fears, debts (real or metaphorical) need to be put to rest. The clearer you are about who you are, where you come from, and the foundation on which you stand, the easier it is to let go.
Gemstones: Chalcedony
September asks you to communicate what you know: clearly, precisely, judiciously. When in doubt, arm yourself with data, facts, and analysis to support your ideas. A master nurturer, you struggle letting others reciprocate. Remember: you empower yourself and others when you negotiate for what you honestly desire. Let the other party worry about his/her needs and let your vulnerability—the honest disclosure of where you’re at—be your place of strength. If you surrender control and redefine relationships, life regenerates.
Gemstones: Jasper
You may find yourself with energy to spare this month. Be selective: focus it on a few choice areas that support you financially and align with your values. If you meet those two requirements, projects take root and flower. You may find plenty of duties and obligations crop up around home or family. Think of it as paying forward, as each act strengthens your foundation. If you’ve been fretting about work or health of late, this month presents opportunities for a shift in a new direction.
Gemstones: Adventurine
September provides you opportunities to set your own agenda and empower yourself. What is it you want and how would you like to shine? Prioritize those desires and be your own best support person and cheerleader. This year offers you the chance to revitalize your hopes for the future and dream on a larger scale than you previously thought possible. Your creativity and capacity for joy and romance loom large. Don’t minimize their importance: begin a personal crusade to abolish barriers to your free expression.
Gemstones: Rhodizite
Your work this month is to dig into the ways you sabotage yourself and the fears that can sometime paralyze you. How about family secrets? Look back into your childhood and explore the topics that were considered taboo, the conversations left unsaid that you had to navigate on your own. Somewhere in the mix are ideas about yourself that are destructive, that undermine your foundation and make it hard to feel wholly at home within yourself. This month you have a chance to take all that baggage and leave it at the curb.
Gemstones: Blue Lace Agate
Where do you find tribe? A group of like-minded souls who share your view of the world? Your creative vision, sense of aliveness and capacity for inspired risks hinge on surrounding yourself with the right people. So does your ability to have fun. Ultimately, you stand on your own and your choices speak for themselves, but this month the feedback of community powerfully improves anything you share. Your place of transformation? Ideas and obsessions that have calcified. Let dialog break you free.
Gemstones: Tiger Eye
As they say, the devil’s in the details. Pay attention to the little things this month, especially in your career and in public roles. Where you find chaos, create order; where there is work to do, get to it. Doing so feeds your foundation, strengthening your core. Applying yourself to the tasks at hand now ensures you’ll have wiggle room for play later. A powerful shift can occur around your values and your relationship to money this month. Look to your self-discipline and your patience for clues on how to pivot.
Gemstones: Jade
Sometimes it’s less about what you know and more about what you believe. September presents an opportunity to merge the two: how do the facts align with your truths? If you experience cognitive dissonance, adjusting what you know (perhaps opening to the possibility that you don’t know) or how you interpret what you know (your framework) open gateways to new understanding. Ultimately analyzing what you believe leads to changes in how you define yourself. The Pluto station provides the point of integration, so dig deep.
Gemstones: Turquoise
Before you can move forward, you need to bring things to a close. September is a month of endings: clean up old projects, let go of old attitudes, tie up what has been left hanging. The clearing may be psychological or external, but consciously make room for the next phase of life. If you do, the resources you need – be they financial, spiritual, emotional, or intellectual – will be there for you. Your point of release? Acknowledging the way you undermine yourself. Taking ownership opens up an abundance of spiritual gifts.
Gemstones: Sunstone
September gives the gift of reflection. Not contemplative reflection sitting on one’s own, but the reflection of seeing oneself through another’s eyes. Pay attention to the feedback and needs of others this month as they provide vital clues on how you can become a more productive, effective human being. Filling the cup of others ensures the waters flow back over you, especially when you provide practical know-how. Look around you. Are your friends heading in the same direction as you are? Do you have a clear sense of direction? If the answer to either of these questions is no, use this month as a vision quest: unleash your sense of purpose, connect with tribe.
TO FIND YOUR RISING SIGN (the Ascendant):
You’ll need the following information: date of birth, place of birth, and, most importantly, time of birth. Go to the following webpage and select “Extended Chart Selection” at the bottom right section of the page.
- Select the bar which says “Click here to show the chart,” which is to the right and above the “Options” area of the page.
- You should find yourself at another page. Select “Click here to go directly to data entry page.”
- You’ll be taken to the data entry page. Enter your birth data and click on “Continue.”
- Your natal chart with the positions will appear. At the upper left, look for the information in red text. Your rising sign appears after the word “Ascendant.”
- You can print the chart if you like, too.
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