Passion and Purity
Mars can be a tricky sword to wield effectively. When we fail, the self-serving forces of dominance and brute force overtake us. But for every threatening, scary attribute of Mars, there’s a courageous and valiant one. A wild animal threatening a child is displaying Mars – but so is the courageous mother who places herself between them. An angry, abusive boss is showing us Mars, but so is the brave worker who demands better treatment.
As Mars moves into Scorpio (Sep. 22, 2025, 12:55 am PDT, through November 4), one of its strongest signs, it certainly may embolden the world’s corrupt, violent, and abusive forces. But it also encourages the brave ones, and those with a purity of purpose. This is a time to stand up for what we passionately love, lest it be overtaken by equally passionate enemies.
What are you passionate about? Clues lie in the Scorpio house of your birth chart. That’s where you’re ever-watchful against enemies and attacks, and where you are a passionate defender of truth, and of the truly defenseless.
The Light Rests Warmly
This week brings one of the year’s seasonal turning points as the Sun enters Libra (Sep. 22, 2025, 11:19 am PDT, through Oct. 22), marking the equinox that initiates autumn in the Northern Hemisphere (spring in the Southern Hemisphere). Traditionally, the Sun is considered weak – in its “fall” – in Libra. This only means that the Sun’s work, the realization of one’s individual genius and soul power, can be difficult to manage in a sign that’s specifically designed for partnership.
On the other hand, we learn things about ourselves in relationships that can’t be learned any other way. Whether it’s a romantic partner, a creative collaborator, or a dear friend, we’ll feel most alive sharing the shortening days with a companion. If we’re alone, it’s a time to make a conscious effort to reach out to others in whatever way we can. In Libra’s season, our personal Sun shines brightest in the company of others.
There is a soothing, romantic quality to Libra’s season; it’s a relief to lay down the burden of the Sun’s zealous self-discovery. Even the world itself seems lovelier. When the Sun is in this sign in Northern Hemisphere’s autumn, its light rests warmly, gently, on the fall trees changing color, the straw bales in the field, the newly-picked apples in bushel baskets. It’s a time of magic, when the softness of the light makes strangers more attractive, and the crispness of the air makes us long for the warmth of another’s arms.
The Abyss
As the Sun engages in an opposition with Neptune (Sep. 23, 2025, 5:53 am PDT), longing is the emotion that springs to mind. What are you longing for these days?
Neptune also represents an emotional undertow that can suck us under if we’re not careful. This aspect reminds me of the Nietzsche quote: “He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.”
Neptune represents those fathomless depths in us, sadness that never really goes away, nostalgia (a word whose root means something like homesickness), an aching to return to the old ways, and the haunting awareness that we don’t really know what happens after we’re gone. On one hand, we have to be willing to look at all these things and to understand about our own hidden fathoms. But on the other side of this aspect is the Sun – and the Sun is the way out of the abyss, through love, fun, creative expression, and sharing our stories.
Including Moderation
Libran author and wit Oscar Wilde famously advocated for “Everything in moderation – including moderation.” Libra seeks balanced scales, the equinox that equally divides night and day, the cleaving unto one’s complementary spouse.
But now and again, the cat jumps on the kitchen counter, knocking the carefully balanced scales askew. A striking piece of art, a well-meant gift, disturbs your carefully balanced décor. A visit from friends disrupts your home’s carefully regulated routine. For an uneasy moment, your world lists uneasily to one side, then to the other, desperately grasping toward balance.
But then, the cat cuddles up on your lap. You notice how that jarring bit of art enlivens a dull corner of the living room. Your house guests take control of dinner one night, preparing a strong, pungent dish that’s intense but exciting.
The Sun in Libra trines disruptive Uranus (Sep. 23, 7:55 pm PDT) and Pluto (Sep. 23, 11:05 pm PDT) within hours of each other this week. Hard-won grace and balance abhor disruption, until we realize that life is not a museum, and that even the most beloved routines, the carefully curated décor – the best sense of “all things in moderation” – are enlivened by the lack of moderation, like unexpected art and strong, extravagant spices. Meet excitement with more excitement, and you’ll soon find that your balance has returned.
Building from Bricks
This week’s Mars/Pluto square (Sep. 24, 2025, 4:51 am PDT, 1º27’ Scorpio-Aquarius) features a Mars strong in Scorpio, ferocious and unyielding. It’s the big, bad wolf from the Three Little Pigs fairy tale, determined to have what it wants – and that’s pork barbeque for dinner. The pigs build houses to protect themselves from the wolf. The first pig builds his from straw; the wolf huffs and puffs and blows it down. The second builds a house of sticks, and the wolf makes short work of that one, too. But the third pig builds a house made solidly of bricks, and the wolf is out of luck.
Pluto is a pig that builds from bricks. There is no penetrating its house. The harder Mars pushes and the stronger it blows, the less impressed is Pluto.
We forget sometimes that we own the Pluto in our charts. It’s the fortress, the power place made solidly of bricks, where nothing from the outside can take us down.
Writing and images © 2012-2025 by April Elliott Kent
