October Update

Hello Magical Humans!

How are we halfway through October already? I feel like I’ve been moving through jello, and at the same time, I have no idea where the time has gone.

Last month, we dropped off our oldest at college, and that has been a big adjustment in our home. I try to remember how excited I was to spread my wings when I left for college (ummm, it was a 45-minute drive from home, so not quite the same. You’re welcome, Mom!).

Due to a bit of a mix-up, we ended up needing to make the 13-hour drive to Seattle for the drop off. My husband drove up with our son, and I drove the car back solo.

I was determined to make the return trip special for myself, especially since I don’t particularly enjoy driving. I stopped for a night in Cannon Beach, on the Oregon Coast, and soaked up some precious time by the ocean.

Along the way, I created little rituals that became a rite of passage for myself, allowing me to step from one role into a new one. I stopped to discover places I had never been before, as well as places that feel like coming home.

I experienced the quiet, potent, void of Crater Lake and the open arms of Mount Shasta. In a crisp stream of Shasta waters, I released what I no longer wanted to carry into this new iteration of myself, watching it all wash away.

My feet lasted approximately 75 seconds in that water before I decided any more cleansing might cost me a few frozen toes!

Looking back, I can see how that time in nature, slowing down and allowing myself to be fully present, was preparing me for the Venus retrograde journey we've all been on since October 3rd.

We hear so much about Mercury retrograde (Guess what? We've got another one around the corner, starting October 24th), but Venus retrograde happens much less frequently. While Mercury goes retrograde every 3–4 months, Venus does so only once every 18–19 months.

Venus is associated with peace, love, relationships, beauty, our values, and our sense of self-worth. In our birth charts, she speaks to how we love and want to be loved, what we desire, and how we magnetize those desires into our lives. She shows us where and how we can find balance and harmony in our lives and within ourselves. Your Venus placement can also help you clearly see your patterns around love and money.

While the Moon shows us what we need to feel safe and emotionally nourished, Venus reveals what brings us pleasure, what we find beautiful, and what feels sensual and delicious to us.

When Venus stations retrograde, we're invited to revisit these parts of ourselves and explore what still feels aligned with who we're becoming.

This Venus retrograde is bringing us back to nearly the same part of the zodiac she traveled through in October and November of 2018, in Scorpio and Libra, marking another turn in her eight-year cycle.

What was happening in your world back then? Are you noticing any echoes of that time, or perhaps a sense of completion around something that began eight years ago?

Of course, Venus does everything with style! Check out the beautiful pattern she creates in the sky over the course of eight years:

This is a time to revisit and take stock of our values and desires. We can do this intentionally, through our own reflection, but often the outer world has a way of “helping” us.

You might get a text from an ex. Perhaps a financial situation from the past comes back into focus. Maybe you run into an old friend you parted ways with, but something about that ending never felt complete. Or perhaps a legal matter resurfaces.

With this retrograde moving through Scorpio and Libra, there's an invitation to go beneath the surface, particularly when it comes to our relationships, attachments, and the things we value. Full disclosure: Venus isn't particularly comfortable in the depths of Scorpio. She loves beauty, pleasure, and harmony, while Scorpio asks her to explore the messier parts of being human, including vulnerability, intimacy, and the things we'd rather keep hidden.

If you have planets in early Scorpio or late Libra, you may be feeling this more personally.

Scorpio reminds us that what unfolds in our outer world can often mirror what is stirring beneath the surface within us. And sometimes, it's through those uncomfortable encounters that we discover what is ready to be transformed.

If you're a Taurus or Libra Rising, Venus is your lady boss! As the ruler of your chart, her movements are likely to feel especially personal. And if your Sun or Moon is in Taurus or Libra, you'll also have a special connection to Venus and may find her retrograde stirring things up in your world. If you were born during Venus retrograde, you might even feel right at home!

A few things you might want to hold off on during Venus retrograde include making big cosmetic changes to yourself or your home, getting back together with that ex who just texted you (really, any major changes in your relationship status are worth reconsidering), or making impulsive financial investments.

Why? Well, have you ever bought an outfit on a whim, or been talked into buying something, only to get it home and realize it just doesn't look the same? And then it sits in your closet because you no longer love it?

Yeah, that. We’ve all been there.

You didn't have all the information you were eventually going to have. Maybe the lighting was different. Maybe you were trying to feel a certain way in that moment, but later you cracked the code and realized you were no longer yearning for that feeling.

That's a little like Venus retrograde. What we desire today might look or feel quite different once we've had time to see things from another perspective.

On October 24th, Mercury joins the retrograde party, and both planets will station direct on the same day, November 13th. Now we have a mental element to the journey, with Mercury also moving through Scorpio, doubling down on the depth and intensity.

I'm going to save more on that for the November update because I've already given you plenty to chew on!

But for now, remember that retrogrades invite us to revisit something we may have missed the first time around. Something that might help us shift a sticky spot in our reality if we're willing to slow down and see it through a new lens. Sometimes a whole new path opens up when the fog of the retrograde clears.

Panther Meadows. Mount Shasta, California.

Happy Trails!

Warmly,

Jenny

September Update

Jenny Reilly