September may have left you feeling a bit spoiled by life, or at least satiated and content—but your October 2023 horoscope signals a change in the tides. The winds kick up in the month ahead with the drama and whiplash of eclipse season, alongside a newly energized Mars that will rouse the sleeping dogs and motivate you to go after your goals following its Scorpio ingress on October 12.
For what that means, think back to May of this year: What were the rapid changes, sudden upsets, and radical endings and beginnings taking form in your life then? October’s eclipses are a call and response to that time, except this pair answers to Venus in Virgo. After a summer of uncovering the heart’s most authentic desires (and a lot of disrupted relationships along the way), we get a one-two punch of eclipses that are guided by dissatisfaction. What still needs to change for you to live your best life, but also restore balance to your relationships? These shake-ups also deliver a more pronounced sense of things ending and beginning. The first Libra eclipse disrupts the status quo in our relationships on October 14, and on October 28, the final Taurus eclipse of the series that’s ending might send us scrambling to seize the last of the desserts before someone else can get to them. You might be realizing that trying to make everyone happy has gotten you nowhere, or at best, holding the short end of the stick. Getting what you feel you’re owed, or deserve, can have a profound rebalancing effect on your life.
For jet-setters, this could take the form of revenge travel (especially if you’ve been putting off that dream Maldives vacation to go along with everyone else’s plans). At the very least, it might be time to renegotiate with travel companions, especially if you have a tendency to say “yes” to things you don’t really want to do.
Eclipse days themselves can be very chaotic for travel, so try to steel yourself, or keep your favorite tools at hand for regulating your nervous system, if you have to go somewhere around the 14th or 28th. However, if you must travel this month, the change of routine and environment might just be the subtle tipping point that lets all the big realizations come flooding in. Let’s hope it’s that, and not a sudden, disappointing downgrade on your hotel reservation.
Below, a complete October 2023 horoscope for every sign.
Astrologer's note: Below we refer to your signs as “rising” signs, also known as your ascendant sign. Horoscopes are more accurate when read this way—using your birth time and location, you can quickly find your rising sign online (it takes less than 30 seconds).
Aries rising
September was a fun month, but you may have also been suffering from a case of vaguely depleted mojo. Your ruling planet, Mars, has been hedging its way through Libra since the end of August and that’s likely made you less decisive in your footing, or more beholden to the needs of others. On the 4th, Mars conjoins the South Node and surrenders its weapons and anger more completely. You, too, might be extra depleted at the start of the month, or feeling very “over it”… it being everything. Mars gains lots of energy again after it enters Scorpio on the 12th, so plan your meditation retreat for the first half of October, and maybe save the epic hike for the second half.
With the eclipses coming, the weak links in your relationship fence will probably have larger implications for the Libra eclipse on the 14th. One of your significant others may have less to offer you right now if they’re unwell or preoccupied with work. Issues of reciprocity will become flashpoints mid-month, and some rebalancing may be necessary for you to support them better.
The Taurus eclipse on the 28th could be an opportunity to seize a lucrative opportunity, but one that comes with competition. If your contributions have been undervalued as of late, becoming your own loudest salesperson may move the needle in your material circumstances, and almost certainly will change the way you carry yourself.
Taurus rising
Sure, girls just wanna have fun, but how’s your current lifestyle working out for you? October’s major theme is waking up to whatever’s cramping your style, or realizing that your style is cramping you. This could involve resentment or frustration around things or people that are blocking your fun, but it could also involve some sort of wakeup call if you’re not spending your free time in the healthiest way. Your ruling planet, Venus, enters Virgo on October 8, and this sets the tone for the month’s eclipses: You will be more preoccupied around seeking pleasure, and more distracted by the flies that land in your minestrone soup when you’re trying to execute your flawless vision of the perfect Italian getaway. Your discontent peaks around the 10th, when Venus opposes wet-blanket Saturn in your 11th house of groups. You might not always love the company you keep, but you’ll probably understand something important about what it means to reject or to be rejected, and how both of these can mutually reinforce each other. Then again, maybe letting some connections go will allow quality to triumph over quantity.
The Libra eclipse on the 14th sends an initial distress signal around your health, or potentially around a toxic work situation. The Taurus eclipse on the 28th opens the door for you to reclaim a part of yourself you sacrificed to keep the peace, or to take back something that should have been yours to begin with. Maybe when you do, you won’t need to overcompensate in ways that deplete you.
Gemini rising
October is a month of reorienting yourself in your relationship to home. Home may have been a thing that was up in the air during last month’s Mercury Retrograde in Virgo, and now, whatever you spent August and September troubleshooting becomes the impetus for the swift and sudden changes of eclipse season.
This isn’t just about where you live, or how you feel about your roots or past. It’s also about the future you’re creating, and the extent to which your current setup supports your thriving, your pleasure, and your creative self-expression. On the 14th, the solar eclipse in Libra highlights precisely how you’ve compromised your own happiness by trying to live up to the expectations of your family (and yet, no matter what you do, it’s still somehow never enough). This might just be the final straw that breaks the camel’s back.
Your ruling planet, Mercury, must then relinquish something when it conjoins the South Node on the 19th, only to then deliver a searing exposé as it conjoins the Sun and squares Pluto on the 20th. It might ruffle a few feathers that you’d rather live nomadically in an Airstream trailer than buy a sensible house, but you might as well be forthright about your intentions.
Cancer rising
Is it all good in the neighborhood, or are you feeling less than satisfied with your current stomping grounds? A central theme of October’s eclipses is home, but more specifically, that a house is not a home without the right people (or a couple cute coffee shops nearby). Whether you live in a place most of your friends have already left or you haven’t yet managed to find community in a new locale, there’s a strong chance your social dissatisfaction might inspire you to start seeking greener pastures.
Your sense of “all alone, with no good farmer’s markets to visit or great day trip destinations nearby” peaks on October 10th, when Venus opposes Saturn. Saturn has been transiting your 9th house of long journeys since March, and this may have put a damper on how much international travel you’re able to enjoy. But if your local area isn’t inspiring you either, is that enough of a dealbreaker that you’d consider a move?
On the 14th, the first of a series of Libra eclipses lights up your 4th house of home and ancestry. You might physically move at some point over the next year, but even if you don’t, something about your relationship to your family, or to your past, will almost certainly need to be surrendered.
Leo rising
Since June, you’ve been undergoing a personal revolution—one that may have brought you back in touch with your body, soul, and reason for being. You’ve journeyed through the graveyard of your former loves and desires to reemerge into a renewed form of self-love. October is for moving on, but also for carrying these lessons into the next big test of staying true to your values, and knowing your worth.
On October 8th, Venus ends its four-month stint in Leo and enters Virgo. During this next month, you’re going to have a harder time appreciating what you have, because the lack is going to feel heavier. Maybe this is a direct result of all that personal expansion you just did. Instead of trying to emotionally bypass your way into gratitude, how can you take notes from your discontent? Maybe you have deserved a raise for who-knows-how-long, or maybe you’re under-compensating because you’re always opting for 3-star hotels when you know you could afford a 4-star experience. Treat yourself.
October’s eclipses are going to shake up these patterns. Though you might need to lend someone money in a bind or spend more than you’d like on a less-than-enjoyable trip out of town around the 14th, the next eclipse, on the 28th, might open the doors to a much-deserved professional boost.
Virgo rising
‘Tis the season to shake up the basis of your self-worth. Though your knowledge and your helpfulness might be a form of currency for you, October’s eclipses are about to blow down the house of cards you’ve created out of sourcing your self-esteem from your own usefulness.
Venus enters Virgo on the 8th, and this both ends your summer-long hibernation and/or travel hiatus, and it also sets you up for a great deal of change that ultimately rests on how you feel about yourself. You might be feeling extra-sensitive to rejection, too, around the 10th.
Around the 14th, the solar eclipse in Libra might require some sort of personal sacrifice, but it’s about time you started taking stock of the things you no longer need. A source of income? A job? A service you offer? Your old backpacking gear you haven’t used in 15 years? If it’s holding you back, it might need to go. Further clarity, especially around next steps, arrives on the 20th.
The Taurus eclipse on the 28th might bring you some sort of opportunity to travel, relocate, or work with people from other countries. You’ve been following this particular thread since the fall of 2021, and this is more or less the grand finale. Where will you go next?
Libra rising
Can you feel the deadweight you’re about to drop, like a tree shedding its leaves for the fall?
This month, the first of a series of Libra eclipses brings you through a gateway around October 14th. And honestly? It might not feel very magical—it might just feel like being too tired to keep certain things up anymore. With your ruling planet, Venus, transiting the desert expanse of your 12th house as of the 8th, these inflection points are going to have something to do with you feeling depleted, even trapped, by some of the circumstances in your life. Perhaps being all things to all people doesn’t leave much left over for you at the end of the day. Fortunately, your awareness of where you are leaking energy tells you exactly what needs to change.
Generally speaking, this wouldn’t be a bad month to take a solo retreat somewhere quiet, or maybe commit to a couple days of silent meditation in nature. This is a month of laying down your sword, surrendering your baggage, and shedding the skin you’ve outgrown.
Scorpio rising
It’s been a sleepy fall so far, but that all changes for you this month. Your ruling planet, Mars, comes home to Scorpio on the 12th, and then on the 23rd you get an additional boost as the Sun follows suit. October is for waking up, smelling the coffee, and becoming reenergized around your personal goals.
All of that likely won’t come without some sort of sacrifice. Around the 4th, when Mars conjoins the South Node in Libra, you might feel especially depleted or discouraged as you let go of an effort that hasn’t gotten you very far. Let yourself drop that weight gracefully, because it’s only going to free you to pursue what’s coming next.
Generally speaking, eclipse season often comes with high chaos and high drama, but you’ll probably be well-resourced to stay above the fray. Pay attention to the subtle, and not-so-subtle, beginnings and endings taking shape in your social life. You might be less than happy with a friend or a larger group you’re part of, but the importance of one of your closer relationships might also accelerate around the Taurus eclipse on the 28th.
Though eclipse season isn’t necessarily the easiest time to travel, you might feel up for the adventure, and you’ll have excess drive at your disposal anyway. Maybe this is the month to visit, or at least start to plan for, a trip to one of your bucket list destinations?
Sagittarius rising
This summer’s Venus Retrograde took you on a winding journey—one that may have ultimately reminded you why travel is such important medicine for your heart. Work was also probably part of this story, especially to the extent that your job allows you to get away, and also in the ways that it reflects your values—you may question whether you even like the people you work with.
When Venus enters your 10th house of career on October 8, the post-vacation blues might land like a thud. Though you might receive some extra adoration for your work or your influence in the world this month, it also comes coupled with a little bit of resentment that you’re stuck in this role at all.
Notice where your dissatisfaction is coming from early into this transit, because October’s eclipses are guided by this influence. Around the 14th, the solar eclipse in Libra triggers the part of this equation that involves people and groups—specifically groups you may or may not feel a sense of belonging to. Whether it’s a friend circle you’re starting to outgrow or a professional organization, you’re probably not happy about where you stand, or your current level of responsibility within it. The Taurus eclipse on the 28th might just give you the jolt you need to seize a new work opportunity, though, or negotiate a better setup for yourself.
Capricorn rising
Work is never just work to you—it amounts to a creative act, a labor of love. And in October, something about your professional path and your creative output is being redirected, perhaps away from situations that may have been compromising your ethics, or away from frequent work travel you weren’t enjoying all that much to begin with.
On the 8th, Venus enters Virgo and immediately begins applying to an opposition with Saturn on the 10th, the same day Pluto stations direct in Capricorn. Your unhappiness with your current setup announces itself early in the month, but it’s important that you bring any repressed feelings to the surface. Saying the quiet part out loud helps you step into your power more fully.
The Libra eclipse on the 14th is the first in a series that will shake up the trajectory of your professional life over the next year or so. Maybe your favorite boss will leave, which puts your future at the company into question. Maybe you’ll heed the call to surrender your current role in order to make space for the next thing, or unburden yourself of having to attend all those conferences.
Around the Taurus eclipse on the 28th, you might be celebrating the arrival of a creative project you’ve been gestating, or taking a distinctive stance with your work that gets people talking. Clearly you’re not low on inspiration—just the will to keep up appearances.
Aquarius rising
You might not know it yet, but your relationship to travel is about to transform dramatically over the next year and change. As the eclipses in Aries and Libra ping back and forth across the sectors of your chart that involve short- and long-distance journeys, you, too, will be rerouted by your internal GPS.
This plotline advances in October through a series of checkpoints where you’ll have to remove heavy items from your baggage. The first eclipse in Libra on the 14th, plus a series of planets all conjoining the South Node one after the other this month, suggests that October is a month of surrendering some of your bigger plans and confronting all the ways that travel is depleting you.
With Venus in Virgo ruling both of these eclipses, X marks the spot of your growing credit card balances. This doesn’t mean your wild adventure days are over—just that you might have to sacrifice a bit in the short-term to pay off some debt and get on sturdier financial footing. Besides, you probably have a number of places you’ve been meaning to visit that are only a car or train ride away.
On the 28th, the Taurus eclipse wraps up an evolving narrative you’ve been weaving around home for the last two years. What conversations, or next steps, have you been hesitating to take? Finding your way home can mean a lot of things, but it will probably require some bold steps on your part.
Pisces rising
One of the big stories for you this month is “needing a little help from your friends”—or maybe your friends needing way more help from you than they give back. Either way, pay attention to the story of reciprocity, however it’s unfolding in your life this October.
On the 8th, Venus enters Virgo, your 7th house of primary relationships. This sets the stage for the month’s eclipses, both of which might hinge on the theme of someone getting the short end of the stick. When Venus opposes Saturn in Pisces on the 10th, you’ll be extra painfully aware of where you fall short in this equation. As the eclipses light up your houses of debt and close friendships and siblings on the 14th and 28th, you might be changing your mind about who you’ll prioritize going forward, and who you’re willing to overextend yourself for in the future.
Take heart, though, because you might be leaving on a jet plane soon to clear your head. On the 12th, Mars enters Scorpio and refuels your tanks with lots of energy and ambition to pursue an adventure. Eclipse season can be a messy time for travel, but this is bigger than whatever’s going on in October. By next month, you’ll be refocusing your bullseye on some of the bigger travel plans you hope to pursue over the next two years.