You’re a kid in an adventure book and you’ve got a compass in your hands. The only issue is, the compass will only point your way after you’ve made a sacrifice.

Imagine that you’re one of those adventurous and imaginative children who live in storybooks. You’re very curious and you like to climb things. Imagine that you receive a strange looking device. It’s a compass but it doesn’t point you in any direction.

The compass has a condition. It requires something from you before it will point north. The compass requires a blood sacrifice.

October is a month held under Mars’s reign. There’s the eclipses—both in Venusian signs. The one on the 21st is the more exact one and has Mars at 2º Scorpio when it occurs. Venus is at rest in Virgo. Both Saturn and Jupiter are retreating.

Mars is usually at its strongest when it is close to the Sun. This is because Mars likes to run and Mars tends to move faster when it is chased by the Sun. We have the Sun approaching Mars now and Mars is sprinting.

And Mars is strong. It’s at the height of its power in Scorpio.

Here’s something about Mars—it likes to cut. Some people think that Mars does this when it’s unhappy. That’s not quite it. Mars just likes to cut. It’ll cut things to pieces even when it is happy. Its nature is to cut. Have you ever painted with a knife? Cut up pieces of other things to assemble all together? That’s the energy of Mars.

There’s a hexagram from the yi jing associated with October 2023 and the hexagram is called 萃. 萃 means assembly or pack. In the story of the hexagram, a king visits his ancestral temple and makes a big sacrifice. After that, he finds purpose.

The king in this story is a metaphor and can really be anyone. Let’s say that the king is just a person. Maybe the king, representing the known self, is like a child. The story about a child making an offering is telling us something—it’s telling us that purpose is like a spirit. It often eludes us until we are ready to make some sacrifice for it.

You’re a kid in an adventure book and you’ve got a compass in your hands. The only issue is, the compass will only point your way after you’ve made a sacrifice.

I don’t know about you but I’ve been in this situation quite a bit. There’s personal goals that I’ve only been able to really go for after I’ve quit some other obligation. It’s not really a matter of time because time is like water in a sponge. Time can be squeezed. It’s more of an issue of the heart.

You tend to take things more seriously once you have seen yourself sacrifice for them.

Purepose gains meaning when you sacrifice for its sake. You can force yourself to do many things at once but, if you give up many things to do something, then that something has meaning for you. You’re more focused. You know you really want it now.

This is only sometimes true. It’s not always true. I don’t think this mentality is that great in relationships. If we expect people to sacrifice for us, then we are setting ourselves up to be devastated. Venus likes to build. But Venus is not strong in October and Mars is. Mars likes to cut. Mars, the things that you want to push forward, want to see a sacrifice.

Libra

Do you know what it’s like to be the man from nowhere? I think that for diasporic people, this phrase echoes a lot. The man from nowhere isn’t really mysterious. He’s more so just unread. His mannerisms make no sense in the context that they are delivered in. There are a great deal of things that he would like to say, things that he would like to see done, but he knows that he’s not the right person to say or do those things.

That’s you this month. You’re the man from nowhere, the flower on the wall. You can see things that other people don’t see. You hear things that no one else hears and you stitch things together with other things in a way that no one but you can understand.

In the movie The Man from Nowhere, an ex-soldier is quietly and mysteriously trying to reintegrate himself back into civil society. The only way he can imagine himself doing that with his full machismo intact is by becoming a hero. Heroes are celebrated by the community. I think you have a different imagination than this fictional character, Libra. I think that you know how to make yourself understood, how to desire reflection, without having to resort to heroics. After all, it’s better to be accepted for being yourself.

Questions for Libra for October 2023:
What does quietness allow your to hear?
What does hiding allow you to perceive?
When does mystery become a mask?

Scorpio

Bam! October is kind of your month, Scorpio. I’m not just talking about the Sun entering Scorpio late month. I’m talking about Mars, the ruler of your sign, coming into your sign.

October is about being reminded of who you actually are. It doesn’t always take a lot to remember who we actually are. Sometimes, it’s just a small reminder. “Oh right—I’m the kind of person who says no easily.” “I’m the type who loves armchair psychology the way most people love reality TV.” Very often, the love of who we are comes attached with some laughter. The laughter is important. If you can’t laugh at yourself, then your self love can go sour.

The feeling of remembering who we actually are is what gives us a ton of energy. It’s like this—as soon as you realize you are this or that type of person, you suddenly understand that you have reasons why you want certain things. Maybe that’s motivation. October is about remembering who you are. It’s about motivation. You only find the latter when you stumble upon the former.

Question for Scorpio for October 2023:
Who are you actually?
When do you know who you are for sure?
What does knowing yourself feel like in your gut?

Sagittarius

If I were to give you a keyword for October, Sagittarius, then that keyword would be “negotiation.” Even though there are a few planets entering your twelfth house in October, I don’t think it’s a month of rest for you. I think that there are too many things to do when Jupiter transits your sixth house.

So, negotiate your time, your energy, and your desire. There’s probably some things that you want to do all at once that you would be better off taking your time with. There’s probably some other things that you don’t want to do at all that you must do. There’s maybe things that you would like to do if only you had more time.

That’s negotiation. It’s not simply a matter of deciding what is most important to you and doing those things first. I wish time management were that simple but I don’t think it is. Sometimes, there’s things that aren’t important to you at all that need to be done but just don’t take that much time. Maybe you do those things first. I trust that you can figure this one out for yourself—this game of life where we figure out how to run things well that we play infinitely for all of time.

Questions for Sagittarius for October 2023:
What do you need to do first?
What do you need to do after that?
What do you need to do before you’re done?

Capricorn

There’s a saying—you should keep your goodness private and focus on revealing only your flaws on the outside. Shout your flaws loud and clear! Make them known to everyone! Why? Because what you keep on the outside is like the clothes you wear. You change them often (or you should if you want to be hygienic). If you keep your flaws exposed, then you’ll go through a ton of growth.

The worst way to live, according to this saying, is a lifestyle where you brag about all of your best qualities but keep your bad habits to yourself. This lifestyle would encourage you to change your innate goodness to accommodate other people’s opinions. And people have a lot of different opinions. This lifestyle would also make your toxic habits more fixed since they would be kept so close to the chest.

I think about this saying when I do something totally embarrassing. It just calms me. There’s an eclipse in your tenth house in October so maybe you’ll find this saying useful in some way this month. Maybe you’re thinking about outer presentation a bit this month, thinking about that persona that allows you to be somewhat extroverted. Use your persona to store your embarrassing side. Have fun with that!

Questions for Capricorn for October 2023:
What did you find embarrassing as a teen?
Do you still find that thing embarrassing now?
What was the value of that embarrassment?

Aquarius

In October, I want you to think about your money boundaries. Your money boundaries might be inherited. They might look really different depending on where you live and what your cultural expectations look like.

Here’s an example of a money boundary: your boss might pay your salary but you wouldn’t expect them to tell you how you have to spend your money. I think that most of us expect this kind of boundary. Here’s another example of a money boundary that’s a little harder: you split living costs with another person and, because of that, you fear judgment from them about how you make or spend money. Now the two of you have to figure out if they’re really judging you, if you fear it regardless of whether they are, and if you’re alright with a little judgment.

Here’s another one—maybe you’re a writer and you don’t want money to affect at least one part of your creativity and, so, you write all of your fiction for free. Maybe you need to make an income from other types of writing and you charge for your essays.

So, think about your money boundaries. They don’t have to be super fucking crystal clear. They just have to start a conversation. Or, maybe some of your boundaries are very clear. Maybe you don’t want your cousin constantly comparing your income with hers. That’s cool too. Knowing your boundaries usually makes it easier to share, to give, and to receive. Sharing, giving, and receiving can be unbearable if you don’t know that you are allowed to have boundaries.

Questions for Aquarius for October 2023:
What boundaries around money are clear for you?
What boundaries around money are unclear for you?
What questions might you ask about the unclear part of your boundaries with money?

Pisces

Intelligence isn’t measured by how many neural pathways your brain cells have to other brain cells. It’s measured by how many other brains you have connections to.

There are so many brains in this world. There’s brains that other beings in the animal kingdom have. Fungi have their own brains underneath the earth. Plants also think through their root systems. Water is a brain and fire is a brain too. If you like to read (you don’t have to like to read) then you can even connect to brains that lived before your time.

Isn’t that just so cool? It’s kind of gross too in a body horror way. There’s just so many brains on planet Earth. Haha. Every single one of those brains have their own strategies, have their own memories, and are constantly reconstructing those memories. Every single one of those brains is a mirror image of the world, this world that contains so many other brains.

October is about loving your own brain. At the end of the day, the brain is just the marrow inside of the skull bone. But it can also be more.

Questions for Pisces for October 2023:
What tickles your brain?
What blows your mind?
What kind of brain do you live inside of and what kind of brain lives inside of you?

Aries

Okay, so you’re one of those cardinal signs who get an angular eclipse this October. Don’t worry about it. An eclipse is really just a feeling of tiredness. Tiredness is a very important feeling. Without it, we would just keep doing things until we collapse without even knowing why.

Is there anything that you’re simply tired of socially? Any social patterns or repetitive dynamics that you’re just plain sick of? You don’t even need a good reason to be sick of a certain kind of dynamic. It’s tempting to try to justify our needs according to our morals but you actually don’t have to be right to just want some kind of change.

Maybe you’re tired of people always showing up really late when you’ve planned to meet somewhere. Maybe you’re that late friend and you’re tired of people judging you just because you’re a bit tardy. Maybe you’re tired of people who constantly talk shit! You just want to talk about things that are more interesting to you.

If you’re tired of something, be honest about it. It’s alright. Tiredness is a change in energy level. It’s pretty darn hard to hide anyway.

Questions for Aries for October 2023:
What are you tired of socially?
How is that tiredness already showing up in your life?
What does realizing your tiredness make you want to do?

Taurus

There’s something really cute that happens when a panda has a baby. For the first three years of that panda cub’s life, it lives with its mother in a two person universe.

You see, pandas are actually apex predators. They are built to hunt and to eat meat. However, they have totally given up on predation. They have chosen to eat the most abundant resource in the forest instead—bamboo. A panda is naturally very listless. It has all these sharp teeth and claws but it just eats bamboo.

Nothing in the forest hunts pandas. They are totally assured of their continued survival. They just eat bamboo and then they sleep. They don’t even really listen for danger. That’s why the panda cub and the panda parent live in a two person universe for three years. There’s nothing the cub really needs to learn. They just hang out. That’s it. They only separate when the cub reaches sexual maturity.

In October, live like a panda. The ruler of your sign, Venus, is resting in your fifth house. Be chill and just relax. Meet up with friends and flow with them like a pair of pandas. Be a little listless.

Questions for Taurus for October 2023:
Watch a video of pandas—what do you notice about them?
What parts of you are the most panda-like?
What kinds of music do the panda-like parts of you like?

Gemini

Both your silliness and your seriousness have plenty of room in October. You’re not the clown who performs for the king. You’ve got a king in there somewhere too. The king takes things seriously. It’s got this stoic face and it’s very diligent about its moral responsibilities. The clown is trying to get the king to laugh.

Sometimes, we think of the clown as a truthsayer. This is sometimes true but it’s not always the case. Humor can tell truths but sometimes humor is just about making fun of people and that doesn’t feel great for anyone. We tend to think of the king, that regal ego, as flimsy and mockable but the king is alright too. Sometimes, the king is telling the truth.

Your job isn’t to choose between silliness and seriousness. You can be both. The king and the clown can live together. In fact, they may be most interesting when they are paired. Enjoy their dynamic. The dynamic is what makes you funny.

Questions for Gemini for October 2023:
What does your ego take seriously?
What does your inner clown want to mock?
How does a king and a clown play together?

Cancer

Do you ever get tired of being at home?

I think that this is something unique to Cancers—Cancers like to burrow. It’s a sign that likes to stay at home. Sometimes, when a Cancer finds that they are sick of staying at home, they think that they have to move furniture around or make the home feel new. But what if there was something else you could do when you get sick of being at home? What if you went outside?

I’m just fucking with you a little. Even Cancers go outside. October has an eclipse coming for you in your fourth house. This eclipse is about changing some of the habits that root you most stubbornly. I think that with a lot of Cancers, the deepest habits have to do with spending a lot of time at home.

Break a habit. Expand your world. Do something a bit unexpected. If you’re tired of something, try doing it a new way. You can go slow or you can try a bunch of things all at once. Just have fun.

Questions for Cancer for October 2023:
What are some of your deepest rooted habits?
What do these habits make you assume?
What’s something new that you want to try?

Leo

Find a good spot for contemplation and sit down. The best places for sitting look like this: you have something good to see right in front of your face and something solid and unchanging at your back. The worst places to sit look like this: you’re facing a wall and you have a door to your back. Sitting in that kind of place is just creepy. Anyone can jump out and freak you out so you’re a little on edge.

Sit in a place where you can actually see what is going on and think. Most animals spend a good chunk of their time just sitting and watching. Before people had the internet on our mobile phones, we actually spent several hours a day just staring into space. Some of us exchanged that art for doomscrolling in the last decade.

Find the gravity in your life and sit down. Let your mind wander. You’ll notice patterns in terms of what your mind likes to wander to. You’ll notice familiar pathways and then start questioning the necessity for taking the same path to a thought over and over again. You’ll do the most from a position of sitting in October so sit down.

Questions for Leo for October 2023:
Where can you sit down?
When can you sit down?
What happens when you sit down?

Virgo

I wonder what you have too much of. Sometimes, we have too much of something not out of greed but out of circumstance. I remember once a house I lived in had three brooms. It’s not like we needed three brooms. We just ended up with too many because all of us brought one when we moved in together.

Look around and see if you have too much of something. Maybe you have too many candies in your snack drawer and you should give me some. Haha. Maybe you have too much work! Maybe you have too much information about someone that you really don’t need to know. Maybe you’re in too much therapy and need more time for other things.

I don’t know what you have too much of. Only you can make that judgment for yourself. Chances are, your intuition will tell you what you have too much of. In October, you will notice what you have too much of. It will spill out of you like a boiling pot filled with too much soup. Let it spill out. You can’t hold onto excess anyway. After it does, you’ll have just enough.

Questions for Virgo for October 2023:
What do you have too much of?
What does excess do?
Is there anything you want to let go of?