watercolour on paper by me: d. stapleton

UPDATES

Happy Fall Season to you all from here in the Northern Hemisphere. Our home on Vancouver Island has now plunged into cooler, rainy days again, beckoning me inward to write and create indoors.

Virgo Season flew by, and I didn’t get a newsletter or astrology overview out. Much of that time was spent with Mercury retrograde, reviewing and refining my plans and activities. I was processing a lot and living out the various cosmic shifts internally, as my ideas were always vividly churning in my imagination.

What came out was a lot of painting and an exciting shift of my work growing in format onto canvas. I need to gather more materials, but I plan to create larger works with more physical presence soon.

Seeing Rothkos in person in NYC this Summer reminded me of the magnetic power of large fields of colour and texture. I’d love my own works to expand in a similar scope, drawing the viewer into their orbit in a more relational way.

IN-PERSON SESSIONS

I will continue my in-person sessions in Victoria in Fernwood Square, but I will pare down to one Sunday a month for the fall and winter seasons. This concentrated schedule helps me reduce my driving into the city during the dark, rainy times of the year. Should the demand call for it, I’ll consider opening up more days again, perhaps in the new year.

Here are the in-person Sunday dates for the last quarter of 2024:

October 27

November 24

December 15

Meanwhile, I’ll continue with online sessions on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

LIBRA SEASON 2024 OVERVIEW

September 22: Sun enters Libra/Fall Equinox, and Venus enters Scorpio

At 5:44 am PT, the Sun crossed cardinal Libra’s threshold, initiating the Fall Equinox. On this day, light and dark come into balance, and we begin the descent into the ever-darkening last quarter of the year until the Winter Solstice.

Libra Season officially closes out Summer’s dwindling days as we turn toward gathering, harvesting and reflection. It’s time to consolidate our energies and hold our attention in balance.

As the Sun enters Libra, Venus, the ruler of Libra, spends her last hours moving through her sign of power, forming one last square aspect with Pluto in Capricorn at 2:15 pm PT. This catalytic and transformative connection punctuates reckonings and recalibrations of power dynamics in our romantic connections and creative endeavours.

Then, at 7:36 pm, Venus plunges into Scorpio’s potent depths until October 17, signalling a time to explore darker passions and the shadow side of love. In fact, Libra Season in bookend by Venus’ sign shifts, as she shifts into questing Sagittarius just as the season of equanimity draws to a close.

Libra Season 2024 holds many poignant passages, including a Solar Eclipse in Libra and a dynamic Aries Full Moon that, although not an eclipse, as has been the recent trend, is sure to be spirited and cathartic.

Where is your attention and awareness turning to as the Sun enters Libra? What aspect of your energy are you harnessing and balancing now? Check the Rising sign guide below to track the main life topics Libra Season is illuminating for you. Read for your Sun and Moon sign for other layers of resonance:

LIBRA: self, identity, body

SCORPIO: solitude, retreat, inner work

SAGITTARIUS: allies, support, patrons

CAPRICORN: vocation, career, public presence

AQUARIUS: travel, education, spirituality

PISCES: joined finances, inheritance, death

ARIES: marriage, partnerships, collaborations

TAURUS: health, service, obligations

GEMINI: children, creativity, pleasure

CANCER: home, housing, family

LEO: neighborhood, community, siblings

VIRGO: wealth, possessions, security

September 26: Mercury enters Libra

Mercury enters Libra from September 26 until October 13, turning the focus of conversation and thinking toward themes of balance, justice and diplomacy. Knowing which house Libra connects to in your birth chart will illuminate what themes and areas of life you’re organizing your communications around.

Since Libra is a cardinal sign, the conversations Mercury highlights here may have an initiatory quality, where we’re starting something or taking the initiative to enact changes.

As an air sign, Libra points to the mutual exchange of ideas and hearing out the other party to meet everyone’s needs. Venus, the ruler of Libra, is in Scorpio at this point, where she can feel a little uneasy, highlighting discord and resentments more than harmony and ease at times.

Venus in Scorpio adds a moody subtext to Libra Season, hinting that the conversations we initiate around this time involve what has come out of balance in our relationships, propelled by heart-level needs that are not being met. Untenable arrangements or lop-sided agreements are ripe for redress during this time.

September 30: Mercury Cazimi @ 8° Libra

New agreements and how to negotiate them will likely become more apparent as Mercury merges with the Sun on September 30. This conjunction purifies what we think about and what we need to say. We may find our indecisions of the season collapse into a clear choice.

We may see the way forward with more certainty after this point, with all of the mental clutter burned away. What’s left in the ashpile is an enduring pearl of truth we must pluck out and polish anew.

October 2: New Moon/Solar Eclipse @ 10° Libra

As the mental clutter burns away, the Moon and Sun come together to form a Solar Eclipse in Libra. This eclipse is one of the last in this series along the Aries/Libra axis, pointing to profound shifts in energy for us all. Again, focus on the area of life in our birth charts where these shifts are happening, as they have been happening for the past year.

It’s a time for letting go as profound changes are initiated, clearing the way for renewal.

October 9: Jupiter rx @ 21° Gemini

Jupiter, the greater benefic stations retrograde on October 9, lasting until February 4, 2025. Wherever Jupiter has been transiting since May 25 in your birth chart highlights where Jupter’s affirming, growth-oriented energy is working for you this year, so any growth that happened so far is about to go into a period of pause and refinement for the next few months.

This retrograde is an opportunity to pull back and gain perspective on any bold new endeavours. It also invites us to ensure that all information and lines of communication are clear so that what is developing can fully blossom. Jupiter’s retrograde is a time when we may feel cautiously optimistic, tempering hopes and balancing these with essential limitations.

October 12: Pluto direct @ 29° Capricorn

Then, on October 12, Pluto stations direct in Capricorn, heading back through the last degree of this sign. Pluto leaves Capricorn on November 19 and won't return to this sign for over 200 years.

This transit is the end of an era that began back in 2007, so we will be wrapping up a time when Pluto transformed our collective and personal relationships with materiality, structure, and wealth.

Wherever Pluto has been transiting in your birth chart for the last several years points to an area of life where you’ve engaged with potent forces and grappled with extreme powers. This time has left us all irrevocably changed, and we will carry these soul-deep lessons forward into the new era Pluto in Aquarius brings for the next two decades.

Notice what you seem to be reckoning with now. Does it feel like a particular theme is coming to a close once and for all? Think about how you felt toward this theme in 2007, and compare where you are now.

October 13: Mercury enters Scorpio

Then Mercury leaves diplomatic Libra to enter Scorpio’s nocturnal depths. This time is an opportunity to explore the emotional underpinnings of our conversations and the power dynamics at work behind the scenes. Conversations take on a cool and more strategic quality, the sort needed to carry us into emotional and perhaps more defensive territory.

Note where this transit is happening in your chart to see where in life you may be developing a new vocabulary or system to facilitate the expression of this house topic.

October 17: Full Moon @ 24° Aries, and Venus enters Sagittarius

The last significant lunation and sign shift of Libra Season happens on October 17, a fiery day amid a season that mainly features the air element's social concerns and the water element's emotional, instinctive and creative forces.

As mentioned in the intro, we’ll have a bold and cathartic Aries Full Moon at 4:26 am PT. Then, later on in the day, Venus, the ruler of Libra, leaves moody Scorpio for lively and adventurous Sagittarius.

This shift brings an upward movement of fire, zeal and passion to the last days of Libra Season that will carry us into Scorpio Season until November 11. As fall’s mood deepens and its nights lengthen, Venus in Sagittarius is the flame we kindle in the darkness.

Well, that is all for now. May Libra Season help you center yourself around what is essential, life-sustaining, and harmonizing in your world. May your heart guide you and bring clarity to all of your important decisions.

Cosmic blessings,

Debbie ✨

LIBRA SEASON 2024