Hello beautiful souls,
I hope you are finding moments to breathe, ground and take care of yourselves as we move into another powerful turning point in this extraordinary year. We have barely stepped out of the recent eclipse portal, and there has been very little time to fully integrate everything that was revealed, disrupted or set into motion before the next wave of cosmic intensity begins to build. Eclipse energy has a way of rearranging the landscape, sometimes before we completely understand what has changed, and many of us may still be processing the shifts that began during that powerful passage.
Now, this Saturday’s Full Moon in Aries on September 26 brings another huge moment of illumination. As always, the Full Moon has a way of bringing into the light what has been developing beneath the surface, but coming this quickly on the heels of the eclipses, I believe we need to pay particular attention to what is showing itself now. Some of what emerges may be directly connected to what was activated during the eclipse portal, giving us another piece of a story that is still very much unfolding.
Aries carries the fire of personal will and independence, the instinct to move forward, take action and claim the right to choose our own path. It is the primal force of I AM, reminding us of our sovereignty, our individual desires and the courage to follow what feels true for us, even when that truth challenges the expectations or desires of others. Across the wheel, the Libra Sun reminds us that we do not live in isolation and we are more powerful together... Our choices affect our relationships, our partnerships and the agreements we have made with others.
So this Full Moon brings us directly into one of the great questions of the Aries-Libra axis: How do I remain true to myself while remaining in relationship with another?
That question is going to become increasingly important in the weeks ahead because this Full Moon is not an isolated event. It is opening the doorway into a much deeper examination of relationships, values, desires, intimacy, power and the agreements we have made with one another.
And this is where I want to give everyone a loving but very clear HEADS UP. We are moving into what I would call a RED FLAG WEEK.
Venus Retrograde in Scorpio | October 3 to November 13
Just one week after this Full Moon, Venus stations retrograde in Scorpio on October 3, beginning a six-week journey that will take us deep into the territory of love, relationship, values, intimacy, self-worth, money and desire.
Venus retrogrades are always important relationship cycles because Venus represents far more than romantic love. She speaks to what we value, what we are attracted to, what we believe we deserve, how we receive love and how we relate to ourselves. From an Evolutionary Astrology perspective, when Venus turns retrograde, this process becomes deeply internalized. We are being asked to reconsider whether the relationships and values we have built our lives around still reflect who we are becoming. And this Venus retrograde begins in Scorpio, which means we are not staying on the surface.
Scorpio takes us into the places where love becomes entangled with fear, attachment, sexuality, trust, betrayal, abandonment, jealousy, control, vulnerability, money and power. It asks us to look beneath what we say about our relationships and examine the deeper emotional and energetic bonds underneath them. Where are we genuinely connected, and where are we attached? Where are we choosing from love, and where are we choosing from fear of loss? Where have we surrendered our power in order to preserve a relationship, and where might we be trying to control another person because we are afraid of what happens if we cannot control the outcome?
This does not mean everyone should suddenly question or dismantle their relationships. In fact, I would caution against making sweeping conclusions simply because difficult emotions begin surfacing. Retrogrades are periods of review, and Scorpio has a remarkable ability to bring buried material into consciousness. What comes up may be uncomfortable, but discomfort is not necessarily an instruction to leave. Sometimes it is an invitation to go deeper.
This is a time for revelation before resolution.
Venus Square Pluto Three Times: A Descent into the Underworld
There is another reason this particular Venus retrograde deserves our attention. Venus is moving through a series of three squares to Pluto, creating a powerful story that began in September and will continue unfolding through December. A square creates friction and evolutionary pressure, and when Venus, the planet of love, relationship, values and attraction, comes into dynamic tension with Pluto, the planet of death, rebirth, power and transformation, we are rarely allowed to remain comfortably on the surface.
There is another layer here that makes this cycle especially potent: Pluto rules Scorpio, the sign in which Venus begins her retrograde. This is a double Dark Mother signature, calling us into the underworld of our own psyches to dredge up whatever has remained hidden or unconscious and may be interfering with our ability to experience deeper, more authentic connection.
Yet the underworld is not simply a place of darkness. It is also the place of alchemy. This descent gives us an opportunity to retrieve what has been buried, transform what no longer belongs and ultimately discover a truer, higher frequency of love, one rooted in greater truth, sovereignty, intimacy and conscious choice.
The three Venus-Pluto squares become important activation points along this journey, each one bringing another layer of the transformation to the surface. Rather than three separate events, they are three chapters of the same unfolding story: the first revealing the material, the second taking us deeper into it during the retrograde, and the third bringing us back through the terrain with the opportunity to integrate and embody what has changed.
Reveal. Revisit. Transform.
Pluto does not tend to be interested in cosmetic change. Pluto takes us underneath our attachments and into the unconscious fears and desires that can keep us repeating experiences until we become conscious of what is actually driving them. When Venus encounters Pluto three times, relationships can become powerful mirrors through which we encounter our own attachments, fears, needs and desires.
The question therefore becomes less about “What is this person doing to me?” and more about “What is this experience revealing within me?”
Mars Opposite Pluto | October 3
And now we come to the aspect that really raises the temperature.
On October 3, the same day Venus stations retrograde in Scorpio, Mars opposes Pluto.
Mars represents our instinctual desire to move, act, pursue and assert ourselves, while Pluto takes us into the deeper desires operating beneath the surface. When Mars stands opposite Pluto, those levels of desire can collide, creating tremendous pressure for something that has been buried or suppressed to finally come into consciousness.
Feelings that have been held down can suddenly become much harder to contain. Anger, frustration, sexual energy, resentment, power struggles and the desire to break free can intensify, particularly where something has been building beneath the surface for some time. We may feel an enormous need to resolve something immediately, force an answer, confront another person or finally say what we have been holding inside.
This is precisely why I am calling this a RED FLAG WEEK. Not because we need to be afraid of the astrology, but because we need to be conscious of it.
With Venus stationing retrograde in Scorpio while Mars simultaneously opposes Pluto, there is tremendous potential for emotional intensity. Something may indeed be revealing itself, and it may be extremely important, but that does not necessarily mean we understand the entire story yet.
Watch the impulse to force an outcome, and be particularly conscious of power struggles, ultimatums and the desire to demand clarity before clarity has actually arrived. Pay attention when a situation suddenly feels as though it must be resolved right now, because urgency can sometimes be the voice of an activated wound rather than the voice of our deeper knowing.
Something very real may be revealing itself, but revelation does not always require immediate action.
Aries Full Moon Contemplations
And this brings us full circle to Saturday’s Full Moon.
Aries asks a beautifully simple question: What do I want?
But under these skies, I believe the deeper question is: What do I truly want now?
Not what did I want five years ago, or even one year ago. Not what did I agree to when I was operating from an older version of myself. Not what does my partner want, what does my family expect, or what choice will keep everyone around me comfortable. What does the person I am becoming actually desire?
Sometimes evolution creates friction precisely because the agreements created by an older version of ourselves can no longer comfortably contain who we are becoming. That does not automatically mean those agreements or relationships need to end. It means they may need to evolve with us.
This is the deeper invitation of the Aries-Libra axis. We are learning that sovereignty and relationship do not have to be enemies. We are learning how to remain connected without abandoning ourselves, and how to honor our own truth without demanding that another person surrender theirs.
Libra is also the Sacred Mirror, and this becomes especially important as we continue ascending into higher levels of 5D consciousness. At this level, relationship is no longer simply about projecting our wounds, needs and expectations onto another person and making them responsible for what we are feeling. We are being asked to become the conscious observer of what we are attracting into our relational field and to recognize that our relationships can reveal something profound about our own inner landscape.
Instead of immediately asking, “What is this person doing to me?” we can begin asking, “What is this mirror revealing to me about myself?” What is being reflected back that wants to be seen, healed, reclaimed or transformed? This does not mean excusing unhealthy behavior or abandoning boundaries. It means becoming conscious enough to recognize that even our most challenging relational experiences can become sacred mirrors, showing us where we are still being invited into greater sovereignty, self-awareness and a higher expression of love.
The Full Moon may illuminate the truth. Venus Retrograde will ask us to sit with it. Pluto will show us what lies underneath it, and Mars may make us want to act on it immediately. But don’t rush the process.
We are entering a story that does not complete itself this weekend, or even in October. With Venus making her final square to Pluto in December, there is a larger process unfolding through the remainder of this year. Give yourself permission to observe what is changing without demanding that you immediately know where it is taking you.
Some relationships may transform or end through this passage, while others may deepen because truths that have been avoided can finally be spoken. Some may require new boundaries, new agreements or greater honesty. And for many of us, the most profound transformation may ultimately be happening within our relationship with ourselves.
We have just come through an eclipse portal that has already moved a tremendous amount of energy. Now the Aries Full Moon turns on another light. Invites to shed another layer…
Pay attention to what you can suddenly see though may be painful…
But remember, we are still in the middle of the story and we are co-creating the ending so be awake!
So much love,
Shannon