On September 23, at 3:50 am, the Sun will enter Libra, and the first Decan of Libra, which Austin Coppock described as a blindfold and sword in his book on the Decans, 36 Faces. He notes in an appendix that the ancient Greeks associated it with the Eyrines or Furies, the deities responsible for avenging familial wrongs (mostly patricide and fratricide). It’s a sign of justice as well as vengeance, though, and it provides a shift in tone from the precision and analytical nature of Virgo, where most of the inner planets have piled up in the last three columns. Now we get to tell a new story, one involving a rebalancing, and one which is more active in the world. As before, I’ll write a bit about planetary placements first, and then provide a delineation for each rising sign’s horoscope for the next ten days. It’s worth noting that this moment also marks the Autumnal Equinox, when the days and nights in the Northern Hemisphere are of roughly equal length, but tending more toward longer nights and shorter days — so some of this chart may hold over in your life for longer than ten days, and may have something to say about your next three months, until the Winter Solstice.

Planetary Placements

The Sun is in Libra, below the horizon and several hours before dawn. Both Venus (the Domicile Ruler) and Mercury share the sign with it. Libra is an active, Cardinal Air Sign, currently holding a cadent position relative to the stakes or angles of the chart. We thus have a highly active and somewhat-energetic sign in a position relative to Earth where it can only apply a portion of its power. Both Mercury and Venus are still under the beams of the Sun, although pulling forward in Zodiacal order; Venus is acting as an evening star in this chart, in a feminine quadrant, bringing joy and pleasantness to entertainments and pleasures. Mercury is also an evening star, but enjoys neither rulership in Libra nor status as an honored guest.

The Moon holds a place conjunct the North Node in Cancer, high in the late night sky — separating from an opposing conjunction with Saturn, and in the Ninth Mansion, “The Glance”: a placement associated with both malefics since Ptolemy, and associated with severity, disempowerment, and frustration. Waning toward the dark of the Moon in a night chart, she revels in bringing misfortune in this placement, through the imposition of limits that make ‘less’ the order of these days. Naturally in the 12th house, she increases isolation, loneliness, and suffering through troubled dreams.

The outer planets bring their own sorts of trouble: Mars is a burning torch or a knife-sharp flashlight in the claustrophobic tomb of the third decan of Virgo, analyzing forensic data and digging up old and troublesome mysteries in the neighborhood. Jupiter paces in the pastures and upland meadows of Sagittarius, sextile to Venus in her power but square to the limitless potentialities of Neptune in Pisces. Saturn treads his slow and deliberate way toward a conjunction with the South Node, promising austerities imposed from outside if you don’t impose them yourself

The transpersonal/generational planets have their own stories to tell: Neptune‘s slow retrograde brings him into a conjunction with the theoretical “Black Moon Lilith” — two indicators of drug addiction problems and challenges with separating fantasy from reality. Uranus, bringer of upheaval, has planned a long campout in the fertile pastures of Taurus, upsetting the most comfortable and least-afflicted parts of anyone’s life. Pluto, who serves up a banquet of wealth with a schmear of poisonous scandal, lingers in the wastelands of Capricorn for an appointment with Saturn in January 2020 — completing business they started in 1982, and starting work they won’t finish until 2053.

Horoscopes by Rising Sign

The Rising Sign is the sign containing your ascendant in the first house. I got the idea of doing rising sign astrology, rather than doing Sun Sign astrology, after reading a text that indicated that for people born during the day, the Sun was the most important figure in an astrological chart; but that the Moon was the most important in the chart of someone born at night. However, the rising sign is sometimes said to be who you are, while the Sun or Moon (depending on night or day births) is how you show yourself to the world. I’ve found this to be true in my own chart and in the charts of most of my clients so far — and so I assume that if you’re reading this column regularly, you’re finding value in this method of interpretation, too. That said, the planets themselves are not in a particularly lovely arrangement at the start of this next ten-day cycle — and so I hope that you find the road through the next window of time to be more easily steered by these driving directions.

Leo: If you have stage time in the next ten days, you’ll advance your cause best by speaking your truth and then ending both gracefully and on time. There’s a financial issue that requires you to cut a communications channel with precision; identifying and defending against an offending neighbor or sibling may be a worthy goal on its own. Creative and communicative gifts are best used by chaining your spiritual values to the real-world concerns of your neighborhood. If there’s any money to be made this season, consider how best to work from home, away from the political distractions at work. There’s a wealth of entertainments and pleasures to choose from at the moment, but steer yourself toward one or two with deliberate choice; your daily life is rigorously scheduled and limited already, and it’s best to rein in your own enjoyment a little while. Your world is right-side up, so to speak — your relationship to your partner is appropriately balanced, maybe a bit more toward you and less toward your partner. You may be feeling your age, particularly in matters of sexual health and well-being, and you should be especially alert for any inheritable health conditions rearing their ugly heads; an inheritance or legacy may suffer from some lack of boundaries and some overly sharp communication. Career matters are subject to a surprise review of old work.

Virgo: You’re operating under the radar these days, but a haircut, and a few fierce messages, may be needed to make your presence felt. Money issues should be rebalanced after some time under your bright eye; some creativity is needed, along with clear communication with those who depend on your property for their well-being. A neighbor or a sibling comes forward with a get-rich-quick scheme that matches your dreams; trines with a difficult Moon and a Neptune of boundless enthusiasm and little sense, and sextile to the Capricornian malice-sandwich, suggest that a hard “no” is in order. Your ideas about house, home and family are expansive and rich, but harnessing some of that energy toward specific goals would be wise, especially since your personal pleasures are under some ongoing constraints and limits — will you finally heed some cautions about your preferred poisons? A through-line connects the need for some genuine downtime and solitude and reflection, with a need for greater structure and process in your work life. Your partner may be swimming in dangerous waters these days, which could bring both public upheavals and poison your already-narrow enjoyments. Does an unexpected trip linger in your future? Maybe — but possibly a chance to take a class you’ve always wanted to take. A friendship has been in trouble for a while, and may finally come undone, if you but open your eyes to see it.

Libra: You’re in your strength right now, but not necessarily in your power: it’s easy to exercise your communicative and creative gifts, to dress well, to shine when you’re right in front of others — but projecting that same confidence at a distance is harder. Concentrate on wowing your immediate neighbors rather than the whole world. Financial matters could bring in a new income stream, but remember to direct that newfound prosperity toward achievable dreams. Also, since you may not be able to get your vision “playing in theaters everywhere”, it’s a good time to widen your neighborhood — try a new restaurant, go to a new café, find a back road to work — get out of the house! Is the problem a bad roommate, mould in the attic, a dirty old stalker or peeping tom, a rent increase, a sinkhole in the yard? It’s weighing you down, and squaring off of the problem may solve it, but it requires opening your eyes to the real trouble, which is partly about dissolving your feelings about the mess, and partly about going public with a review of lingering “legacy troubles” in what should be a comfortable place. A health complaint may be called “old age” but if it involves skin conditions or rashes in weird places, a closer look may be warranted. An audit of your finances may reveal limitations that bite hard. If there’s someone at work whose plans feel too big to be believed, take care: that could be a career ender. Mars in the 12th house indicates that you should cut some time out of your schedule just for you.

Scorpio: You’re likely feeling out of sorts from some big changes in your life in the past month or so, that have mostly involved other people getting what they wanted. Now it’s time for you to take the next few steps toward your dreams. The first challenge is to spend some “me time” shining some light on the balance between your creative life and your business life, and deciding on some surgical strikes to excise some inconstant allies from your life — your new neighborhood is limited and bounded, and some people are beyond the pale — in the old sense of the word, out beyond the boundaries where you can control or manage affairs. Accept a smaller neighborhood for now, and learn to work within the practical wealth it generates. Fortune smiles on you here, provided that you harness your resources and put them to work — home is in need of some structural changes, and your old unbounded options for swimming in your personal enjoyments may feel like too-deep waters; finding some relatively shallow shores and sticking close to comfortable coves may prove rewarding. Your romantic partner is unexpectedly in the spotlight; but business partners may need some some harsh medicine, and you should manage any conflict between either group with de-escalation rather than choosing sides. Plans for a trip or for a class may fall apart at the last minute; confirm and reconfirm details regularly. You may get a lift in your career goals these days, but there may be an increase of work alongside any promotion. You had some burning problem to communicate to a colleague or ally, but it’s likely a dead issue if you don’t resolve it soon.

Sagittarius: Watch that waistline in the next ten days, friend, if you want to make progress toward your dreams of a better body. Sunrise is a long way away, and you haven’t even kept the vigil until midnight yet. It’s a good idea to hold an expansive and merciful attitude toward your goals, even as you try to harness an often-unruly beast. There’s all sorts of pressure on your financial life at the moment — income and expenses that feel unethical or immoral; higher costs than you’d like; unexpected limits. Home feels awash in unfulfilled desires and your family’s challenges seem oceanic in their vastness. Try to find some unexpected pleasure in stretching and exercise; it’s a good time to take up yoga, for example, both for health reasons and just work out some of that old stiffness that creeps in. Some ancient ancestral issues are breaking up, but there’s also a potential run-in with misfortune here. A lead-up to a trip, or a new field of study, is in the offing. Someone is likely to need your particular communication skills in a hot minute; make them pay for your skills, though — especially since your creative and magical abilities are currently focused in a more amicable realm than your career. Some financial largesse comes from your current isolation… but you should dream big about what the future has in store during this calm before the storm.

Capricorn: You’re probably feeling a need to dress in either blacks, or glow-in-the-dark green these days, and there are large parts of your world turned upside-down. Control over your finances is in decline, and there are unexpected difficulties in your neighborhood and community, possibly involving some bad or dangerous drugs. There’s upheaval affecting some of your more comfortable and personal pleasures, and an intense romance is in the process of coming unglued, I suspect. Support from family and ancestral relationships are waving a banner, inviting you to join up; but there’s a looming cut-off on assistance related to college or foreign travel. Your career is demanding more creative efforts, but there’s communication about what’s expected of you, or clarity about what you’ll be paid for this extra work. Try to get clarity about how your new efforts will be compensated. A friend comes through in a pinch with resources for wish fulfillment… but maybe what you’re really needing right now is a spiritual retreat from the cares of the world.

Aquarius: Your world is definitely upside-down, and what ought to be public and clear is hidden; while what is usually private and internal is in plain, painful view. You’re likely feeling a need to retreat, to put up walls, and scratch anyone and anything that gets near. Everyone seems to want a piece of your financial pie these days — the bills seem endless and unexpected. Home and family provide unexpected relief, if you let them. An important relationship at work is dissolving, and your efforts in that area appear wasted; but the sun will rise here again… eventually: give it time. There may be a relationship with a relative, especially a well-off one who provides financial assistance, that carries sharp or vicious overtones; be ready to cut the connection if need be. There’s a trip in the offing with some real creative potential, but figuring out what to do and when will be the real trick: spend extra time on planning. Your efforts at work have to be channeled a bit more effectively if you’re wishing for a bonus or a raise this year; focus the stream on some immediate objectives, rather than broader or vacuous goals. There’s space in your circle of friends for some new allies; consider attending a networking event or widening the reach of your embrace in religious circles.

Pisces: Quite a bit of toxicity and collapsed boundaries in your circle of friends these days, huh? And you’re feeling like this is bringing all kinds of turbulence into your life, at least in part due to some frantic urges in your groin which you barely have a name for. Unexpected doings in your neighborhood or among your siblings, which are clearly reaching for unusual heights in their personal ambitions; this gentrification of your cozy home-ground is going to be hard to bear once the current reversals are over. An old source of pleasure is just not bringing much bang for the buck; give it two weeks before trying again — or recognize that it’s a bad habit, and break away from it entirely. Your daily life has got a busy time ahead, but you’ll get it done; a subordinate or new hire may be trying to outshine you; it may be worthwhile to let them, if only to show that they have creative chops, but no ability to communicate the message. You may be feeling burned in love, or cut off from a beloved in some fashion, or overanalyzed with too many precise and cutting remarks. Try to let it wash past you for two weeks, but then re-evaluate if this is really serving you well. An inheritance may come in, but be sure you consider aesthetic as well as monetary gifts — the legacy may be as much (or more) intellectual and heart-centered intangibles, as actual cash-in-hand. A project at work is ready to increase its scope, but this means putting some money down on a research program or some travel; getting away from those sorta-poisonous friends of yours for a little while might be just the ticket.

Aries: Feeling unusually grounded lately? A little more pulled together, a little more precise in your intentionality? Not surprising — and it may last a little longer, if you can keep your daily schedule together. The real difficulty is that all the real light and heat, these days, appears to be on your partner; and it going to take a lot of your smarts and sophistication to keep them balanced. You do want to keep them balanced, right? Then it’s not about you, right now. Money matters are one of the things you can keep in hand: review old expenses, balance that checkbook, make sure you’ve got what you think you’ve got. Check your home, too: is it still serving you? Anything broken? Is it time to move someplace bigger? Dissolving your current relationship with a landlord would be difficult right now, but it’s worth putting some plans in motion if now is the right time. An injury is possible at work; be cautious around sharp or hot precision instrumentation and equipment. Is someone in the family dying? Don’t spend the inheritance without the money in hand; it may not be what you think it is. Travel plans unexpectedly expand, or some wider vistas in your personal learning project open wider — no bad thing, considering how terribly your career appears to be limited right now. Some old friends have gone away, or are at least no longer available — You’re on your own for some forms of entertainment, at least, and there’s a high level of frustration to be found there; a bath or a hot tub or some time in a float tank would be no bad thing.

Taurus: A necessary review of personal intentions and self-inquiry is warranted at this time; you might make some revolutionary discoveries! Siblings are confronting some unpleasant truths in their lives, and will come running for more advice; be prepared to offer more than platitudes. You’ve been really precise and deliberate in the way you direct your focus to get what you want. But there’s a spotlight shining on the imbalance here, which is that you’re getting creative about your pleasures, but not equally cunning about keeping up your end of the workload. A partner is providing all the fortune necessary for your dreams, while your own legacy expands. A range of constraints and limits press upon upcoming plans for travel, but you’re likely to get less than you want out of the experience. Your career is at a real low point right now; you’ll have to impose some discipline and set some ground rules to get it going again. Your relationships to your friends and allies these days probably resemble one of those maps covered with pins and string that schizophrenic police detective use to track serial killers — find the pins representing your three most important allies, and focus on building the web that connects you to them most regularly.

Gemini: No energy? Feeling off balance? All your cleverness landing wrong? It will get better in time, but chances are pretty good that you’re badly balanced between significant expenses and a lot of pressures on your sources of income. You may be at risk of losing your home, so some surgery to cut off inessential expenses is a worthwhile aim. At the same time, eliminating all pleasures is probably not a good idea — maintain some enjoyments, although preferably the aesthetic and free ones and not the costly or risky forms of pleasure. You want money to fulfill your dreams? Great: you have work to do, and not just of the imaginary “visualization exercises” but actual channeled effort that results in completed projects that clients will buy. Your partner is growing too — both in imagination and waistline. Helping them rein in their appetites would likely help you manage your more expensive tastes, as well. If you have clients, you may want to spend some time considering their economic status: what pressures are eating at their substance, and what might make them drop you as a supplier? How can you anticipate their needs? And how can you find new clients in the face of the old clients’ challenges? Those kinds of career questions are all-expansive and all embracing, and they should rise and fall tidally, in response to economic issues; but right now, that should be one of your darker obsessions — and the results of your considerations might be surprising, but be cautious where and with whom you share those insights.

Cancer: The Moon, waning in her own sign, brings the perfect opportunity to break and dissolve bad habits. You may get signals that a raise or financial breakthrough is due — but don’t spend the money until it’s actually delivered. A break in your neighborhood routines is a worthwhile project, especially if you’ve been burned at a favorite watering hole. You’re likely feeling like a light is shining on all the flaws in your current house and your broader family experience, but don’t try to fix everything right now — focus on noticing the challenges, and communicate clearly about them later. You’re keeping your dreams and deep desires close to your chest right now, burying them deep — yet some itches need scratching before they can dissolve. A work project is expanding, eating into your personal health-maintenance program, but you have to keep that time for yourself, no matter how nobly your work sacrifices are framed by bosses. A romantic partner is subject to substantial constraints and faces a toxic environment; some darker desires may need release — and a trip overseas or some higher emotional learning may be needed. If your career seems to be in the grave right now, that travel may be what you need. One heightened priority should be some time with old friends, particularly those whose revolutionary attitudes can help you review some past actions and come to a new solution to current challenges.