There’s nothing quite like elegant, decorous Venus transiting brutally honest Scorpio. In the domain of the highly emotional and deeply passionate sign, her Libran tendencies to people-please and to keep the peace at any price abruptly vanish. Maybe it’s her contact with Scorpio’s ancient ruler Mars or the raw intensity of the fixed water sign. Either way, the truth comes out. Surprising? Yes. Refreshing? Most definitely. For a few weeks each year, Venus gives everyone the power to voice what has been repressed and to ardently reestablish lines that others have crossed. During 2024’s Libra Sun cycle, Venus was part of a grand water trine that involved provocative Mars and a retrograde, boundary-setting Saturn. On October 17th, under an Aries full Moon, Venus departed Scorpio for the optimistic skies of Sagittarius. Nonetheless, the desires, feelings and needs dredged up and brought to the surface under that grand trine are maturing as the Sun joins Mercury in transformative Scorpio.
While the Sun visits Scorpio’s cleansing waters, from October 22nd to November 21st, Mercury will cross the shadow of a forthcoming retrograde in Sagittarius, Mars will venture into Leo, Saturn will station direct and Pluto will finally enter its long, uninterrupted transit of Aquarius. Throughout the Sun cycle, water will continue being a dominant element among the planets. For example, the Sun will trine Saturn on November 4th and Neptune on the 18th, under a Cancer Moon. Mercury will trine Neptune on October 31st, the day before November 1st’s new Moon at 9º Scorpio 35′, and then trine Mars on the 2nd, just before entering Sagittarius. From the final throws of Cancer, Mars will trine Neptune on October 28th, make the trine to Mercury on the 2nd and form an exact opposition to Pluto on November 3rd. And on the 15th, Saturn will station direct at 12° Pisces 42′, under the full Moon. In short, the emotional tides that got rolling in early October will rise under Scorpio skies, as the Mars Pluto opposition builds in the background.
Feelings that have been bubbling up may easily boil over by the time this opposition reaches its zenith, and strongly held convictions will demand redress and resolution. This is the first of three incoming Mars Pluto oppositions, but it is the final one on the Cancer Capricorn axis. It is also coming in at 29º, the extra-caffeinated degree to which Mars will return on January 6, 2025. On November 3rd Mars will head into fiery Leo, and its retrograde will begin on December 6th at 6° Leo 10’ and conclude on February 23, 2025. Pluto will move into Aquarius on November 19th, for a stay that will ultimately last until 2044. Leo-based Mars will oppose Aquarius-based Pluto early on January 3, 2025 at 1º8′ and again on April 26th at 3º48′. Outer planet contacts tend to impact larger, global events. For instance, on October 7, 2023 Mars and Pluto formed a tense square, and geopolitical repercussions from that consequential date are still reverberating. The early degree points of the second and third oppositions of the current series, in addition to the sign changes for both participants, suggest that new perspectives and alignments may be applied to old problems. Leo’s influence can bring new leadership to the table and Aquarius’s a greater emphasis on shared humanitarian values.
On November 7th, Mercury will slip into the shadow zone of its forthcoming retrograde at 6° Sagittarius 24′. On January 2nd, as Mars and Pluto are forming their second opposition, Mercury will exit the shadow zone of its retrograde at 22° Sagittarius 40′. The Rx itself will take place from November 25th to December 15th, a full Moon, and Mercury’s extended Sagittarius stay will last from November 2, 2024 to January 8, 2025. Mercury is known as the Messenger planet and Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter. The combination is more than capable of generating big ideas. Mercury’s retrograde, opposition to Jupiter in Gemini and squares to Saturn and Neptune in Pisces can help filter possibilities. Additionally, the overlap of Mercury’s retrograde with that of Mars, from December 6th through 15th, may provide some useful resistance to unsound, impetuous schemes. Both planets love speed, both will be in energetic fire signs and both will be getting the cosmic yellow light, for a short time anyway. That said, plans tempered in their inspirational fires may emerge fortified and ready for action when the two station direct. Zooming out, the planets transiting water signs in early October began turning up emotional temperatures, the Sun’s visit to Scorpio will dial them up further and soon Mercury and Mars will be bringing the heat. Translation, it’s about to get steamy.
