Astrology with Alice: October is not a month for pushing

Every so often, we get a month during which the cosmos just wants us to sit down. And October is one of those months. There's a ton of retrograde energy happening this month that's going to compel us to slow down, pace ourselves, and go inward rather than project outward. We don't just have one retrograde this month, but two, and both of them are happening in the sign Scorpio—a sign whose energy is already pretty moody, intense, and contractive.

Consider the gentle alternative of reflecting instead, because retrogrades are all about the three Rs: reflect, reconsider, reevaluate.

Venus starts it off by going retrograde on Saturday, while Mercury goes retrograde on Oct. 24, and both of them turn back around on the same day. So if you've been planning to launch a project, propose an idea, sign something, or reinvent yourself this month, I'd like you to consider the gentle alternative of reflecting instead, because retrogrades are all about the three Rs: reflect, reconsider, reevaluate.

Yeah, I know. Womp, womp. None of those feel like we’re actually doing anything, especially in a capitalist world that values output and advertises time as some linear progression, rather than a spiralic experience. However, retrogrades are the universe's built-in review period, and reflection and review are vital to the success of any endeavor. And when two personal planets* rewind in the same sign at the same time, taking a beat to reconsider things is basically the entire assignment. Scorpio is the sign of everything we keep beneath the surface, so this October, we're going to dig deep.

(*The personal planets that are capable of going retrograde in astrology are Mercury, Venus, and Mars, and they don’t retrograde as often as the personal planets. I sort of don’t care as much about the other planets retrograding because they spend, like, half the year in retrograde. I’m not exaggerating.)

So let's talk about the actual retrograde dates:

Venus will retrograde from Saturday to Nov. 13, starting in Scorpio and finishing in Libra. Venus's shadow started back on Aug. 31 and won't fully clear until Dec. 15. Mercury, on the other hand, will retrograde from Oct. 24 through Nov. 13 entirely in the sign of Scorpio, and Mercury's shadow begins Sunday and clears around Nov. 29. And then both planets stop retrograding on Nov. 13.

(Think of shadow periods as the warm-up and cool-down periods of a retrograde, when we’re not in the full throes of retrograde-y weirdness, but some wonkiness is already or still there.)

For me, both planets coming out of retrograde together on the same day isn't a coincidence. It tells me that the two assignments are actually one review, and the teacher is the sign that the retrogrades are happening in—Scorpio.

What Scorpio wants from us

Named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty, Venus rules love, money, beauty, pleasure, and our sense of self-worth. When she retrogrades, all of those things go into audit mode. Exes reappear—in your inbox, in your dreams, in the produce section. Money matters resurface. New hairstyles don't deliver on their promises. In astrology, we say that Venus is "in detriment" in Scorpio, which basically just means that she's in unfamiliar territory. Venus likes pretty things and for people to behave elegantly and beautifully. She likes pretty gardens and ballrooms, but Scorpio is more like a dark basement that she cannot decorate her way out of. She has to face the uncomfortable things we don’t speak of in daylight and actually say the truth, even if it’s ugly.

Mercury, meanwhile, rules communication, technology, travel, and information, which is why Mercury retrograde comes with the standard warnings: to back up your data, to reread your emails before you send them, to leave early for the airport, and, for the love of all, to make sure you’re not replying to all. (Awkward.) I’ve shared my Mercury retrograde survival guides before.

But people forget that Mercury is also the planet of omens. In Chinese, Mercury is literally called the "water star," and all three of this year's Mercury retrogrades have happened in water signs (Pisces, Cancer, and now Scorpio). Water is the element of intuition, and water sign retrogrades ask us to read the signs with our inner knowing. In mythology, Hermes, Mercury's Greek counterpart, guided souls into the underworld, and he was the only god who could freely travel in and out of it. That's his job this month. Venus is going down into the dark while Mercury walks beside her and translates for her.

Scorpio is a sign of depth, so it doesn't just ask, "Do I still want this?" Instead, Scorpio probes deeper and asks, "What am I actually getting from this? What is it costing me, and who actually holds the power here?" October's double retrogrades in Scorpio may highlight the resentments we haven’t resolved, or they might bring our attention to the shared accounts that were never quite fair splits. We’re being invited to have the uncomfortable conversations we've been avoiding in order to stay pleasant.

Scorpio is a sign of depth, so it doesn't just ask, "Do I still want this?" Instead, Scorpio probes deeper and asks, "What am I actually getting from this? What is it costing me, and who actually holds the power here?"

Whenever I think of Venus retrogrades, I think of the Sumerian myth of Inanna, the Queen of Heaven, who takes off her crown and her jewels and descends into the underworld. There, she dies, is resurrected, then returns to the heavens. Inanna goes into the underworld to find out what she is when everything superficial is stripped away. Her nakedness represents vulnerability, and that's what we're doing this October—taking the journey into our own underworld to reveal our tender spots.

So what’s the point of Mercury and Venus digging up vulnerable things like Scorpionic rat terriers? It’s because we can’t heal if we keep pretending we’re okay when we’re not. The point isn’t to punish ourselves or to make ourselves miserable, but, rather, it’s to see what’s not doing so great with our relationships, finances, how we value our work, and our sense of self-worth so that we know where to even begin the healing process.

Hence, chill. Don't push. Reflect. And most importantly, don't rush the process.

When Inanna was resurrected, everything she removed was given back to her during her ascent to her throne. However, she left some of her things and people behind in the underworld. She didn’t put everything back on—and neither should you.

Sign by sign

Here's where the Scorpio review will land for each sign. (Read for both your sun sign and your rising sign. If you don’t know your rising sign, you can use this free calculator.)