October is the tenth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar, coming after September and before November. It has 31 days. Its name comes from Latin oct, meaning eight, as it was the eighth month of the year in the Old Roman Calendar before January and February were added to the beginning of the year, though its name did not change. The tenth month at the time was December. We take a look at the planets for October 2015.
Venus re-enters Leo
Venus re-entered Leo on September 30th. The Sun rules Leo and represents the ego, the I within everyone. Where the Sun is – is most important in birth charts. Venus and Sun are enemies, one to the other. While this is not as difficult as a Mars – Saturn opposition, one can still expect all that Venus stands for – balance, gracefulness, generosity, artistic pursuits and surrounding oneself with beauty will be present. However, we must watch the ego, the fire of desire within, and not fan the flames of possession, for love is never possession of the object of desire. Love is self-sufficient, and allows all that is to be in its own state.
The Sun is a fire planet and Leo is a fire sign, it is pitta in nature and a fixed sign. While Venus is transiting Leo, we take care of our digestion (Jupiter is in Leo at present and among other significations, Jupiter has a large appetite); we must take care of circulation and keep in mind that blood actually boils when we get angry. It is a scientific fact that hamsters can live with O Positive human blood, and if you take the blood of an angry person and give it to a hamster in a transfusion, the hamster will be dead in 24 hours. Energy and thought forms inhabit our blood, so take care that the driving ego does not contaminate desire and turn us to negative, fire emotions when desire is thwarted. We should take one leaf from the wisdom of Venus (two planets are Guru’s – Jupiter is Guru of the higher wisdom, Venus is Guru of worldly knowledge) – and that being the wisdom of balance. How do we arrive at balance?
When people engage in a decision making process, there is the gathering of data, the logical analysis of that data, the application of values and feelings to the data and the consideration of the impact outreach of that decision on others. Venus uses values – drivers to action – in what is called the “feeling function” in analysis and making of decisions. This is often overlooked in the evaluation of the role and function of Venus in life, and in decision making. We should never be making decisions that hurt others, nor ourselves. We should always be looking to the outcome of our decisions, our choices on others. And in this time of Venus in Leo, we may be alert to the drive of the ego, “I, Me, Mine“. As we told, Love is never a battle of possession or territory.
Mercury Direct on October 9
At present, Mercury is retrograde and will continue so until it reaches the station of Rahu, the north node of the Moon, which will occur on October 9. As Mercury rules communication and all travel, along with mental perception, we need to take absolute care that what we expect and plan for is absolutely grounded, while Mercury is in the same sign as Rahu – that being Virgo, where Mercury is in exaltation. This is Mercury’s home sign where Mercury shines. However, Rahu can have us planning, anticipating, expecting, looking for certain outcomes. Well, where there is smoke (Rahu) there is fire (dashed outcomes – Mercury retrograde). So we need to look at what to do when Mercury (or any other planet) is retrograde.
Retrograde is a word of Latin origin, it means ‘do good with a firm foundation’ … in many respects, we take a step back from the hurly burly and rush of decision making and getting things done and start with a firm foundation and persevere with patience and firmness toward our goals. This is how we take planets to our advantage. While the planets are there with their magnetism, subtle energy and reflecting light in specific measure to us, unless we learn to use the planets – and that well – we will simply be sleepwalking through our lives with karma rolling out right on schedule during our dasha periods. It all depends how we utilise the planets, they can raise us up, they can pull us down. Mercury – an air planet – retrograde in a sign ruled by an air planet, with smoky Rahu in the same sign and unhealthy vata energy in Virgo means slow down. Plan carefully. Takes sure, measured steps instead of putting the pedal to the metal.
New Moon October 13
In the last month we had a partial solar eclipse, and a full lunar eclipse at perigee – where the moon is closest to the Earth, giving a so-called “blood moon”. You can see the difference in these moons above, and how the moon – during such eclipses – gets the appellation “blood moon”. As we move through October 2015, we get a situation where nearly all planets (except Saturn) are in two signs. This is shown below.
When the moon approaches the Sun, and enters within 60 degrees from the Sun (begins at two signs before the Sun, until the Moon has moved more than 60 degrees away from the Sun (two signs past the Sun), the Moon is in debilitation. Debilitation means deprived of energy. There are two luminaries – sources of light – in astrology, and these are the Sun and Moon. The Moon is the presiding deity of the mind, and where the external Moon is in the skies and the astrology chart, is very important for the state of the mind.
A new Moon is a time of depleted mental energy, and if we look to where the Moon is at the time of this new Moon, we see it is in the final portion of Virgo, an air sign, ruled by an air planet, Mercury. (Mercury takes the energies and characteristics of the planets it is conjunct with, so Mercury is no help to the Moon, and nor is Rahu as Rahu bedims the Moon.) This is a world-weary situation for the Moon, and we would be well advised to consider the advice given for both Venus and Mercury for this month, look to our values and and our careful, measured steps, and plan carefully. The best help is to practice our values to the full and stand up to our words – we keep human integrity by keeping our thoughts, words and actions in alignment. Take another look at the chart above. When the Moon leaves Virgo, it will be papa ketari, hemmed in by malefic planets, all the month long. Saturn is a malefic planet, and so is Ketu, although Ketu is somewhat benefic in Pisces. No joy there, and we need to practice patience, and move forward drawing on our character bank and our values bank to get through the month.
Sun moves into Libra, October 18
The Sun moves into its sign of debilitation on October 18. Libra – an air sign – is ruled by Venus, which is a water-type planet. As we told earlier, there is no friendship between Sun and Venus, each to the other, so we may need to take care with our egos for thoughts may move quickly in the wrong direction in an air sign, and we also need to maintain positive feelings within, for Venus rules emotions. It is very much a month of being careful with what is floating around inside of us by way of thought and feeling, and externally, keeping ourselves grounded. This does not mean we have to be miserable – far from it – but it does mean we have to be alert to the energies within ourselves. Keep in mind the “arms” of Saturn, who throws energy to signs each side of his location, and understand that we may even feel that time is dragging super-slowly for us. Inner patience – a gift of Saturn – will reward us richly this month.
Joy is in the Heart
Joy is a sub-value of Love. Love (one of the five human values) has sub-values of kindness, friendship, forgiveness, generosity, compassion, tolerance and selflessness. A person who practices the human value of love is loving, kind, considerate of others, gentle and compassionate. They are generous, have an understanding nature and are dedicated persons. They know how to generate and multiply their inner wellspring of love, joy and harmony. They are capable of managing their personal and social lives.
Shared Dimensions of Joy
Joy of its nature shares itself. It is selflessness and happiness at the happiness of others. It is kindness and giving of consideration to other people, of their needs, wants, and care for them. Joy is contentment with self, contentment with others, and contentment with all life. The satisfaction derived from joy is equanimity, evenness and steadiness of mind in all circumstances. That equanimity is felt and known in others that we share joy with.
The ABCEFG of Joy are:
Always Be Cheerful
Always Be Careful
Always Be Content
Don’t Ever Forget Goodness
this material recently appeared on narayanaoracle.com and is © Chris Parnell