Dear Readers,
In February of 1865, Leo Tolstoy published the first part of what later became the novel War and Peace in the periodical Russkiy Vestnik (The Russian Messenger)[1]. It was then published serially until 1867. Between April of 1865 and December of 1866, the North and South Nodes of the Moon were in Aries and Libra, where we find them today.
The novel is set during the era of the Napoleonic wars, with the story covering the period between 1805 and 1812 in which Napoleon’s army is marching across Europe, threatening the balance of power that includes Russia. Ultimately, Russia declares war against France and much ensues from this decision. Historically speaking, we know that Napoleon’s decision to invade Russia resulted in the devastation of the Grande Armée in Moscow and led to his abdication and eventual exile.
In May of 1913, within days of the North Node moving into Aries and South Node into Libra, a treaty was signed to end the First Balkan War in which Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Greece took control of land still held by the 600-year-old Ottoman Empire. These countries then declared war on Turkey, driving out the Ottoman army and destabilizing Europe. At its height, the Ottoman Empire included Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Egypt, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Some of Arabia, and a considerable amount of the North African coastal strip.[2] Many scholars consider this to be the true beginning of WWI.
Where the events of the past week and a half will lead is not mine to speculate upon, but the overarching situation involving threats to the balance of power worldwide, particularly in the Mediterranean feels resonant.[3]
I read War and Peace about 40 years ago, but for the past week and a half, the title and snippets from the story keep breaking through my troubled thoughts about the state of the world. When I think about the Aries-Libra axis, I think about war and peace. Simplistically, Aries is ruled by Mars, the god of war, and Libra is ruled by Venus, the goddess of love, harmony, and balance. People with strong Aries placements are theoretically good at ruthlessly going after and getting what they want. People with strong Venus placements are theoretically good at making peace. But this kind of black and white thinking leads us to an Aries: bad guy, Libra: good guy trap. The Aries-Libra polarity does speak to war and peace, but if we acknowledge the shadow of each of these polarities, we can see how both can either lead to peace or war, and this is the journey we’re on with the Nodes traveling through Aries and Libra.
The South Node is moving through Libra between now and January 2025. Our mission during this time is to let go of the shadow expressions of Libra and invite in more of the light side expressions of Aries. This means becoming more self-aware and self-referential, learning to trust our intuition and instincts, and becoming more independent and internally balanced. It means letting go of the need to explain or defend ourselves, the need for external approval and respect, excessively attending to the needs of others, people pleasing, and regarding life through the lens of others.
Put in these terms, we can see how the shadow of Libra does nothing to contribute to peace. We must be able to stand solidly in our own center in order to trust ourselves and offer our gifts to the world in such a way that we don’t deplete or betray ourselves, thus falling into the role of victim, becoming resentful and needy.
Perhaps this is why many ancient cultures considered Venus (or the local goddess associated with the planet Venus) to be both a war and peace goddess. As an evening star, she seems to always have been associated with love, beauty, and harmony, but as a morning star, her more aggressive side seems to have held sway, acknowledging both the dark and light sides of love. In today’s sky, Venus is a morning star. We can see her sparkling brightly above the Eastern horizon before sunrise. To note, our internal Venus might be armored up and looking for a fight.
Time gets weird during eclipse season. It might seem to be suspended, to move forward or backward, in a spiral, interdimensionally, or all the above. It has a similar feeling to times when the veil between worlds is thin. To me, the eclipses act as portals to the void. Strange things can come in and others can leave. Currently we’re between two powerful eclipses. This tends to be a turbulent period, with things coming into our awareness that need to be addressed.
Ordinarily, I’d try to keep my focus on a couple elements of the current astrology but there’s so much happening this month that it feels a little like a firehose with one aspect leading into the next in an ongoing torrent, so I thought I’d try to make some sense of it for us. If you’re feeling it, it’s not you or me, it’s all of us. The astrology is telling a story of a lot of intensity now.
On October 4 Mars crossed over the South Node in Libra. On October 14, it was the Moon’s turn. Today (October 18) the Sun and Mercury did the same. All these planets are thus signaling release and letting go in the area of our lives and charts where we find Libra. Old patterns might be coming to a head or cycles from the past might be resolving. With the Sun here, it might be about stories woven into our sense of self, our ideals, mission in life or where we thought we were going. We might be exhausted or dealing with old symptoms (the Sun represents our vitality). We can look to the season for hints about how the natural world teaches this skill. The trees are expert at it. Gardeners cut back perennials and prune dead branches to encourage healthy new growth in the spring. Note that new growth is not for tomorrow. We may have to go through a time of feeling off, uncertain or shaky, of paring down and getting back to basics.
Tomorrow, October 19, Mercury will meet up with the Sun in Libra. It’s a Cazimi moment. At Cazimis, I always envision Mercury closeted in the throne room with the Sun, a summit meeting of sorts. If Mercury represents our mind and thinking process, I imagine the Sun burning away the accumulated dross, leaving us free to learn new things, think differently, communicate more authentically, and listen more generously; mentally refreshed and restored.
The Cazimi comes at an opportune moment because immediately afterwards, on October 20, Mercury will square Pluto—which is still essentially standing still, meaning his impact is stronger than usual. We will need all that new spaciousness not to fall into the trap of taking things personally and becoming defensive. With Pluto, we always want to keep our eye on issues around power and control and unconscious or subconscious material. Secrets might be revealed. Deep and cathartic conversations might happen, or intense discussions and arguments might erupt as a way of dealing with whatever comes to the surface. This could be disruptive, but if we choose to respond mindfully instead of reacting emotionally, we stand a better chance of catharsis over aggravation.
On October 21, the Sun will take his turn squaring Pluto, and thankfully, Venus and Jupiter will be working together to lighten things up. The Sun squaring Pluto is a heavy energy, likely bringing up primal fears, perhaps around mortality, or those things we feel to be “life or death”. It can come with destructiveness, so leaning into sensory pleasure and beauty could be important. Jupiter wants to grow and expand things, so moderation matters—and expanding our enjoyment of the natural world, a delicious meal, or the feeling of physical touch could go a long way toward mitigating fear and heaviness if we find ourselves caught in it.
On October 22, Mercury leads the charge into Scorpio where he can be decisive, intuitive, and deeply insightful. He’s followed by the Sun on the 23rd. Welcome to Scorpio season. It will be a month to go deep into the mysteries of life, death, and rebirth. The idea is to courageously face the fire and develop resilience, emerging stronger and more vital by the time the Sun enters Sagittarius.
I intended to include the October 28 eclipse in this missive, but this is already long so I’ll be back in a few days with a brief download about the last week of October.
Until then, I wish you peace.
If you’d like some help understanding how the current astrology relates to you personally, you’d like to better understand your own story or how you might be better able to navigate the tides of change, I love doing private consultations. If interested, please email me: camelliablossoms@gmail.com
Thank you for reading,
Cami
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_and_Peace
[2] https://www.history.com/topics/middle-east/ottoman-empire
[3] Important to note that there have been many many conflicts around the globe in which the Aries-Libra axis is not a part of the story. I just happened to wonder about these two bits of history and looked up where the nodes were at that time.
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