In September, we explored the Witch’s Garden: tending what was growing, questioning what no longer belonged, reclaiming our agency, and learning to embody the lives we are choosing.

October carries that work deeper.

The garden is entering its autumnal decline. The harvest has been gathered, the leaves are changing, and the things that once flourished are beginning to return to the earth. What remains is the work of examining our roots: the attachments, beliefs, relationships, desires, and old wounds that shape how we move through the world.

This month brings us into the underworld of our own making.

October opens with intensity, secrecy, and the possibility of transformation. Venus begins her retrograde journey through Scorpio, drawing us into the underworld of relationships, money, intimacy, and self-worth. The Libra New Moon asks us to reconsider how we participate in our relationships and examine the agreements that hold them together. As the Sun enters Scorpio and Mercury turns retrograde, we are called to look beneath the surface and listen for what has been left unsaid. The month moves us toward deeper truths, shadow work, and the release of what has outlived its purpose.

The energy of the month closes with Samhain.

At the threshold between autumn and winter, we are invited to honor the dead, commune with our ancestors, reflect on the cycles of life and death, and consider what must be released, reclaimed, or transformed as we move into self-awareness and inner truth.

October reminds us that transformation is not only about what we create. It is also about what we are willing to release.

October 1–7 | Reveal, Confront & Reclaim

October opens with a sharp, intense energy. The first days of the month emphasize communication, confrontation, and the exposure of what has been suppressed.

Mercury square Mars and Mercury square Pluto bring the potential for strong words, difficult conversations, and the revelation of uncomfortable truths. These transits can illuminate conflicts that have been simmering beneath the surface and invite introspection regarding our underlying motivations. What are we fighting for? What are we trying to protect? What truth are we struggling to acknowledge?

Midweek (October 3) Venus begins a retrograde journey that asks us to revisit our relationships with love, intimacy, desire, money, and self-worth. Scorpio’s energy invites us to confront old relationship patterns, unspoken resentments, or desires we have been reluctant to acknowledge. Rather than falling into self-judgement, we are meant to observe, investigate, and understand what our attachments reveal about us. At the same time, we will experience a Waning Quarter Moon in Cancer, which further encourages the release of emotional burdens and supports a return to genuine nourishment. Here we bask in the reality of what is- allowing grief, disappointment, and old feelings to become part of the compost from which something new can eventually bloom.

Use This Energy:

• Shadow journaling and honest self-inquiry.

• Cord-cutting or release rituals for attachments that no longer serve.

• Protection and grounding work before difficult conversations.

• Cleansing spaces and clearing stagnant energy.

• Working with water, ancestors, and the emotional body.

October 8–14 | Rebalance, Renegotiate & Reclaim Reciprocity

As we dip into the second week of the month, the relational work of Venus retrograde is brought into sharper focus. Some of us will be reflecting on the cost of our relationships. What are we getting from our relationships? Is the relationship pattern sustainable? What does the relationship require to maintain? Is the cost worth the benefit?

The Libra New Moon on October 10 becomes the energetic anchor of the week. Libra asks us to consider fairness, partnership, harmony, and the ways we balance our own needs with the needs of others. Here we are being given the opportunity to plant seeds for more intentional relationships.

With Venus retrograde in Scorpio and Venus square Mars on the same day as the New Moon, there is tension between desire and compromise, independence and intimacy, and personal truth and relational harmony. We may ask ourselves, What does reciprocity look like in practice? Where have we been over-giving or under-asserting? What agreements need to change?

This new moon offers us the opportunity to reconsider if we are fulfilled in the ways we participate in our relationships. Libra knows harmony that requires self-abandonment will never offer true balance or stability. We can honor our connections without disappearing inside them/

Use This Energy:

• Relationship intention-setting.

• Rituals for balance, justice, and reciprocity.

• Written agreements or boundary-setting practices.

• Glamour magick focused on self-worth and authentic expression.

• Candle work for restoring equilibrium and strengthening personal agency.

October 15–21 | Power, Freedom & the Patterns We Inherit

Mid-month, the focus expands from individual relationships to the collective systems that shape our lives. Pluto stations direct in Aquarius on October 15, bringing the report’s attention toward power, community, technology, social structures, and the meaning of liberation. This offers an opportunity to reflect on the systems we participate in and the ways power operates within them.

Early in the week (October 15th/ 16th) The Sun sextile Jupiter and Mars trine Saturn offer a counterpoint to the month’s intensity. These transits provide an opportunity to consider how we can turn insight into grounded action. Rather than trying to change everything at once, we can focus on the choices and commitments that support the future we want to build.

Meanwhile, in the later part of the week (October 20th & 21st), Venus squares Pluto and the Sun opposite Chiron. This transit brings the month’s deeper relational themes back into view; returning to the focus to themes of attachment, power, and old wounds. These transits invite reflection on jealousy, control, vulnerability, fear of abandonment, and the wounds that shape how we seek connection.

We may be asked to distinguish between genuine intimacy and the desire to possess, manage, or control what we fear losing. This is also a moment to explore how personal wounds intersect with the larger structures of power and belonging. We may find that Liberation begins when we can recognize the patterns that have been shaping us and actively choose how we will participate in them.

Use This Energy:

• Ancestral and collective shadow work.

• Rituals for reclaiming personal power.

• Reflection on inherited beliefs about love, money, authority, and belonging.

• Community care and acts of solidarity.

• Practices that help distinguish personal responsibility from burdens that were never ours to carry.

October 22–28 | Speak the Truth, Tend the Body, Release What Is Finished

The Sun enters Scorpio on October 23, shifting the month’s energy toward depth, intimacy, transformation, and the mysteries of life and death. The following day Mercury stations retrograde in Scorpio, beginning a period of revisiting conversations, reconsidering assumptions, and looking beneath the surface of what has been said.

October 24th offers an invitation to slow down and listen more carefully. What has been left unsaid? What assumptions have shaped our understanding? What conversations need to be revisited? The goal is to understand what has been hidden, clarify what has been misunderstood, and make room for more honest communication.

Venus retrograde returns to Libra on October 25, bringing the relational work of the month back to questions of fairness, partnership, and mutuality. After the intensity of Scorpio, Venus’s return to Libra shifts attention toward the agreements and dynamics that hold relationships together. After weeks of soul searching, we may ask ourselves what feels fair in our relationships. This week may find us renegotiating relational expectations and our contributions within our relationship dynamics.

The end of the week brings the Full Moon in Taurus on October 26. After weeks of examining desire, attachment, power, and vulnerability, Taurus brings us back to the body and the tangible foundations of our lives.

What do we truly value? What makes us feel secure? What nourishes us? What have we been holding onto out of fear? What must be released so that we can build a more sustainable relationship with ourselves and the world around us?

The Taurus/Scorpio axis invites us to examine the tension between holding on and letting go, stability and transformation, personal resources and shared resources. This is an important time to notice that we do not have to carry everything forward. Some lessons are now complete.

Use This Energy:

• Grounding and body-centered practices.

• Ancestral offerings and remembrance.

• Protection work around home, finances, and personal boundaries.

• Rituals for releasing outdated attachments and reclaiming self-worth.

• Working with earth, stones, food, and tangible offerings.

• Full Moon release rituals.

October 29–31 | Honor, Remember & Cross the Threshold

The final days of October bring the month’s work to its spiritual culmination.

By now, we have examined our attachments, questioned our relationships, confronted uncomfortable truths, and considered what makes our lives meaningful.

Samhain invites us to honor the cycles of life and death and acknowledge the thresholds we are crossing. What are we ready to lay to rest? Are there ancestral patterns we can leave behind? Knowing all we know now, how do we choose to move forward?

This is a time to remember those who came before us, honor the dead, reflect on the year that has passed, and make space for the quiet season ahead.

Samhain reminds us, The garden cannot grow indefinitely. It must also be allowed to rest.

Some things must be harvested. Some must be pruned. Some must be returned to the earth.

Samhain gives us a moment to honor that process. We can acknowledge what has ended without dismissing its importance. We can grieve what we have lost while recognizing what those experiences have taught us. We honor the dead not only by remembering them, but also by consciously considering what patterns we choose to carry forward

Use This Energy:

• Ancestor altars and offerings.

• Dumb suppers or other remembrance traditions.

• Honoring beloved dead, elders, and those whose lives shaped our own.

• Divination and reflective journaling.

• Rituals for endings, release, and protection through the darker months.

• Fire and candle rituals to honor memory, continuity, and the returning light.

October brings us to the threshold of Samhain, where we are invited to honor what has ended and make peace with the cycles that shape our lives.

We have spent this month examining our attachments, confronting hidden truths, reconsidering our relationships, and asking what is truly worth holding onto.

Now, as the veil thins and the Wheel of the Year turns toward winter, we are invited to remember those who came before us and acknowledge the parts of ourselves that are ready to rest.

What have you harvested? What are you ready to lay down? What wisdom will you carry into the dark?

The garden is returning to the earth. The work now is to honor what has been, release what is finished, and trust that even in the darkness, transformation continues.

Come Celebrate Samhain with Asheville Raven & Crone

As we cross the threshold into the dark half of the year, let your rituals be rooted in intention and care. Whether you’re crafting a quiet moment of remembrance at home or joining the circle in community, we’ve gathered everything you need to honor this sacred time.

Check out our curated collection of Samhain products here: tinyurl.com/4fhfpjwh

And if you’re in the Asheville area, we warmly invite you to join us on October 31st for our Samhain Ritual and Vigil Service- a powerful gathering of remembrance, release, and renewal. Together we’ll honor the ancestors, share our grief for the dead, celebrate the turning of the wheel, and welcome the deep magic of transformation as the world turns toward winter.

We will begin assembling at 11:30. Service begins at high noon!
📍 640 Merrimon Ave #207, Asheville, NC

Let the veil’s thinning guide you home; to yourself, your lineage, and the sacred stillness of the season.

Blessed Be.

The Autumn Equinox ushers us into Libra season, the season of equilibrium and balance. Here, light and dark meet in the middle. The Autumn Equinox is the sacred tipping point in the wheel of the year where we transition from the warm season to the cold and dark half of the year. In this blog, we discuss a few symbols and archetypes to work with during the Autumn Equinox.

Libra, the Balancing Scales

Of course, we cannot discuss the Autumn Equinox without mentioning Libra and its symbolism. Libra is the only sign in the zodiac represented by an inanimate object: the balancing scales. Scales are an appropriate symbol for Libra, the sign of harmony and compromise. Unlike Aries, the ram of the Spring equinox, starting off the new zodiacal year, Libra is the meeting point of the two halves of the year: light and dark, warm and cold.

While both cardinal signs begin with the equinoxes, Libra has the attribute of balance baked into its archetype in a way that is opposite to Aries’ nature of initiating. Libra’s affinity for mediation makes this time of year perfect for taking spiritual stock, considering all that has happened so far and what may come in the near future. At this time, we weigh our options before moving forward into the rest of the year.

The Looking Glass

A looking glass is a longstanding magical tool with plenty of symbolism and folklore associated with it. Most popularly, looking glasses can be used for scrying, a form of divination. In many cultures throughout history, mirrors have been considered portals that allow us to peer into the otherworld, and sometimes even visit it. A reflection in a mirror, or lack thereof, is thought to represent one’s truest nature. Looking glasses, therefore, make an interesting tool for Autumn equinox magic. What better way to reflect on the year so far than with the help of a mirror, and what makes a better tool for stepping through to the next season than a time-honored portal?

The High Priestess

Another symbol to work with during the autumn equinox would be the High Priestess archetype. We know the High Priestess as a keeper of divine knowledge and the guardian of the veil.

However, she also symbolizes duality as she exists on that threshold between the conscious and subconscious mind.

In the Rider-Waite-Smith illustration, she sits between two pillars: one black, one white. These pillars mark the entrance to that sacred space of the mind, where one can access divine knowledge. The colors of the pillars symbolize the balance of two opposing forces: light and dark, hot and cold, nocturnal and diurnal. Knowledge and acceptance of duality are required to pass between the pillars and access divinity. Is this not also the lesson of the autumn equinox?

As we move into the second half of the zodiacal year and the colder months of the year, let us take these symbols and archetypes with us so that we may move forward with confidence. What other symbols do you consider integral to this time of year?

 

*This post was Written by Lily Wieland.

Lily is an astrologer and writer based in London. She started “The Astrology Type” with a simple goal: to help other astrologers, readers, and mystics grow their businesses through magical content.

Lily has been a student of all things esoteric since 2018, studying subjects like tarot, palmistry, and of course, astrology. Around the same time, she was finishing her degree in Theatre & English Literature. Before she decided to turn her love of astrology and all things metaphysical into a business, she was working as a freelancer in the theatre industry, telling stories from all over the world.

Reach out to her here: https://www.theastrologytype.com/contact