Astrology: The Ripple Effect
By Hilary Harley
October 2025
October might be the calm after September’s cosmic storm. The double eclipses rocked our world and hard. In the wake of the storm, we seek to bring our lives into balance. October is Libra season, a time of choices that shape our future.
Libra does not relish choosing between one or more options. It is not the act of choosing Libra shrinks from; rather, it is the consequences of choosing. Once a selection is made, there is very likely no going back. So the ripple effect of Libra’s decisions looms in front of her.
With both Sun and Messenger Mercury in lovely Libra as October begins, we find ourselves walking through a torrent of choices. Spicing up our decision making process, Valuable Venus is cycling through Virgo, where she shrinks from making any mistakes.
The combination of how our decisions will affect others and worrying about putting a foot wrong can halt us in our tracks. Do the options you face seem like choosing between two (or more) evils? In such moments we can freeze, petrified of taking a stand or taking a step forward.
However, we do have help in this pivotal moment.
Generous Jupiter aligns to Saturn in Pisces. Self-care, nurturing and soul nourishment opportunities are abundant. Take an afternoon off and dive into its warmth.
The outer planets also prompt us to change our environment and the people we surround ourselves with. Step off of the treadmill, what you know does not work and step out of your comfort zone and try something or someone new.
Go for it under the Full Moon on October 6th. Leap and the net will appear. Only hours earlier Messenger Mercury turned into Scorpio transforming our thinking. Change your thoughts, change your life. What you think, you become.
Mercury and Mars in Scorpio search for treasure, purging leftover habits and practices so we may fully access our power. The duo is drawing our focus toward life’s heavy hitting subjects: inheritances, joint finances, shared resources, gender, sexuality, death and power.
Mercury-Mars asks: how do you use your power? Make sure to use it wisely now, especially as Powerful Pluto turns direct motion October 13th. This is one potent stretch. We hold the power in our mind and in our hands. Where you point your intentions, you will manifest your desires.
Off-setting the weight of this steep energy, Valuable Venus enters Libra on October 12th. Here, Venus comfortably creates life by choosing aligned relationships. Ideas, thoughts, words, groups and technology flow smoothly at mid-month.
Enter the New Moon on October 21st. In Libra, this New Moon invites us to design our lives as we desire. It is particularly potent. What you plant now will yield results. Can you say power? Carefully craft language, handwriting 3-5 intentions that you seek to manifest over the next month or season. Plant in the earth or set safely alight.
The Sun turns into Scorpio on October 23rd, challenging Pluto. The more things change, the more we are required to change. You may find that things, once so important to you, are shifting. Let them!
Remember: Insistence is resistance.
The light dawns with new ideas, connections and solutions when Messenger Mercury shifts into Sagittarius on Wednesday, October 29th. Our minds turn toward learning, education, travel and wandering, seeking simply out of curiosity. October unearthed only more questions for us to answer. Follow the questions as they arise and see where they lead. For it is only through the quest, the journey to learn and our willingness to be taught, that we may begin to understand.
Otis resident Hilary Harley is a counseling astrologer and hosts Mystical Messages podcast. She is an art aficionado, a community volunteer, and the mother of two daughters.
