IN THIS ISSUE:

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MERCURY RETROGRADE WITHOUT TEARS!

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MIDLIFE METAMORPHOSIS WORKSHOP

It comes much earlier than menopause, and it happens to men as well as women. It can start as early as age 36 and last until 45. It is intense, painful, bewildering. Some call it midlife crisis, but I like to think of it as the Midlife Metamorphosis, because of its unique potential for breathtaking transformations of spirit.

Whether you are in this phase of your life, or looking backward to make sense of it, this workshop is for you! Informed by insights from astrology, literature and your own experiences, and prepared with exercises that open your senses and heighten your awareness, you can embark on a vision quest in search of the power within you.

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SCORPIO QUOTES

SPECIAL ISSUE:
LASER FOCUS
ON SCORPIO

With half the planets in Scorpio for the coming month, it's a little hard to think about much else. Therefore, in typical Scorpio fashion, this issue maintains a single focus on the sign of Scorpio and the effects of the multiple planets moving through it. Enjoy!

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OCTOBER ALMANAC
All times Eastern Daylight Time

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WHAT'S GOING AROUND
Stellium in Scorpio

Heads up, Scorpio: your sign just became a high-traffic neighborhood. Jupiter, of course, has been ambling through for the past year. Mercury moved in for the long haul (long for Mercury, anyway; see below) several weeks ago. The Sun, Moon, Venus and Mars rolled in over the past few days. The Moon just rolled out again, of course, but she'll be back before this big block party is all over.

While those of us with significant placements in Scorpio (and the other Fixed signs, Taurus, Leo, and Aquarius) will bear the brunt of this intense concentration of energy, each of us has Scorpio somewhere in our birthchart -- so somewhere in our lives we will all experience the earmarks of a high-traffic area:

The noise will wake you early and keep you up late. (You'll have an unusually high volume of things to do, think and feel.)

There'll be a lot of extra dust and exhaust in the air. (You'll need to pay extra attention to maintenance and self-care.)

Entrepreneurs and organizations of all stripes benefit from the presence of so many people. (Opportunities abound to bring new experiences -- and possibly even some permanent fixtures -- into your life.)

You'll meet new people and run into old friends you don't normally see. (You'll meet new people and run into old friends you don't normally see.)

Since this is Scorpio traffic, you can expect drama, intensity, powerful emotions, the stripping away of security blankets, exaltation, degradation, and ultimately transformation. Chances are you're already used to this sort of thing happening in the Scorpio area of your chart, but this is an even more intense concentration of energies than usual. Scorpio's mission in your life is to get you to reach for the heights and penetrate the depths of human experience, pushing past the barriers to transcendence and transformation. Wherever you have Scorpio (or Pluto, Scorpio's ruler), you are being asked do what it takes to achieve that transformation, without regard to convention or convenience. You have a need to know, deeply, intimately, completely, in your mind, heart, body and spirit. This is where Scorpio gets its reputation for ruthlessness and obsession. You just don't have time or patience for the niceties of social interaction in this part of your world.

If you're not pushing some sort of envelope in this particular area of your life, you're avoiding your chance to deepen your understanding and strengthen your spirit. And after all, it's human nature to avoid anything that might represent a danger to our physical selves or challenge our self-concept or our cozy expectations of the world around us. All our alarms go off when we stretch the "safe" boundaries we've placed around our comfort zones. Even if Scorpio is prominent in your chart, you can't sustain this level of intensity all the time. We dance with it, advancing and retreating and advancing again. But if you're avoiding it altogether, the Universe will provide some sort of crisis to spur you on, when your Scorpio house and planets are activated by transits and progressions.

It just so happens that, between October 23 and December 8 this year, six planets are making their way through this sign, activating whatever's there. (Some them were actually there earlier, and the Moon only makes two brief visits, but the above period is the most active.) So if there's going to be a crisis, now is a likely time for it.

To get a better sense of the nature of the stretching exercises you're being asked to do (or the crisis that will stretch you anyway), look to the Scorpio houses and planets in your natal chart. For example, if your Moon is in Scorpio, especially toward the end, you grow exponentially now by gazing unflinchingly into the mirror of your emotions. Or if Scorpio is on your first-house cusp, perhaps you're obsessing about your image and style right now; an apparently superficial pursuit, but nothing is superficial with Scorpio; in actuality, you're digging your way to the heart of who you are and the inner meaning of your self-expression.