Fall Equinox 2023

Fall Equinox, September 23, 2023 2:50 AM EDT

From Barbara Hand Clow

As this Fall Equinox approaches, I’ve never felt a greater need to achieve balance in a very deep way…

Summer media was characterized by a rollout of indictments to investigate various crimes apparently committed by ex-President Donald Trump. By giving Zelensky billions to fight the US proxy war against Russia in the Ukraine, the USA Treasury was depleted, and the American fictional narrative about the war in the Ukraine confused the public. The party line on the war didn’t describe what was actually going on. The same story—“Zelensky is winning!”—hammered out over and over again by the narrow-eyed media was absurd! People felt like they were living their lives out in a never-ending Walt Disney cartoon. The USA, afflicted with hypnotic hubris, was caught up in the escalating catastrophes of the End Times. Well, with the Lunar Nodes advancing through Aries/Libra, people feel pressure to balance personal priorities and beliefs. Let’s use astrology to decode the pressure.

Examining the chart for the Fall Equinox, normally autumn is when we are deeply reflective and seek balance. The 2023 chart suggests the world will be desperate for balance as natural disasters kill people and collapse societies. When such a tipping point occurs, often the pendulum just swings back into balance. The outer planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Chiron, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto—are all retrograde, and this will pull us back through all the dilemmas that got us all so far out of balance in the first place. For example and most importantly, Venus in Leo closely squares the midpoint between Jupiter conjunct Uranus in Taurus. This suggests inner feminine stress over the constant wars.

Mars in Libra quincunxes the midpoint of Jupiter/Uranus, which will force us to see we are stuck in fantasyland.

Chiron in Aries, exact opposite Mars in Libra, hints healing is coming when more people see that the proxy war is futile. Desiring to be the empire, the US perpetrated a series of wars after WWII, but that illusion is melting by never winning. This megalomania is being exposed as Saturn pulls back to 0 Pisces to go direct November 4, while Neptune completes its long transit in Pisces since 2011.

Meanwhile, Pluto will be the ultimate revealer in late Capricorn when he goes direct October 10th right on the USA 1776 Pluto. This is the last of the Pluto Returns to the USA Founding chart (2021-2023), which most astrologers predicted would unmask American megalomania! In January 2024, Pluto returns to Aquarius (with a brief dip back into Capricorn in fall,2024) to transform the world to 2043.

These cosmic forces are stubborn like a donkey pulling back on its tether, yet we are the donkeys! Stubbornness never got anybody very far, so the time has come to face up to mistakes that backed us into a corner—time to “man up.” In the latest issue of New Dawn Magazine, Alastair Crooke comments, “a new multi-polar order led by Putin and Xi is sweeping the globe that will tear down the myth of Western civilization.” This painful truth will have to be faced as the archetypal outer planet retrogrades reshape our reality. Did you or anybody else actually want to be part of an empire? As usual with empires, the money is gone, the people are disheartened, and nature strikes back. For example, top scientists see signs the Atlantic Ocean current system (AMOC) is near collapse, maybe in little more than a year. If that occurs, catastrophes will be constant and felt globally with obsession for survival dominating politics as power mongers fight each other to be the next Ghengis Khan. Real leaders will be focusing on food and housing plus wise use of resources.

The Libra Solar Eclipse on October 14, 2023, forecasts a huge change in perspective with Pluto going direct just before on October 10, and then Pluto races into Aquarius in January 2024. Pluto squares the eclipse and Uranus closely quincunxes it, suggesting extreme revolutionary change is coming soon! During the eclipse, Eris the planet of feminine retribution, is conjunct the Lunar North Node in hot Aries and opposes the eclipse, and Eris is close conjunct the North Node all the way through the fall. This configuration describes great chaos and confusion.

I strongly suspect we’ll see American hubris (Deep State) discussed openly in the US House of Representatives. And, there may be shocking changes of direction in the whole world if North Korea sends massive arms to Russia because the US has already been sending arms to the Ukraine. If ever there was a time to attend to personal needs, it’s now, because the asteroid Juno, great goddess of domestic strength, is quincunx newly direct Pluto in Capricorn. Get ready for great change and forget about fear because the times call for courage. With Juno quincunx Pluto and Eris on the North Node, disconnected violence will be examined in every home.

The Taurus Lunar Eclipse, October 28, follows the Solar Eclipse, offering insight on the shifts during the Libra Solar Eclipse. Most people will know instinctually that it is time to buckle down, concentrate on really basic needs, and forget emotional dramas. For many, emotions will have been so intense that it’s impossible to wallow in feelings.

We will be called to stand our ground and simplify whenever possible, to seek support and allies, and to remember the ways our grandparents and parents handled things during great crisis. Jupiter in Taurus closely opposes Mercury/Mars in Scorpio, giving our brains strength to clarify intentions and seek well-being. The true love we’ve nurtured in our families will enable us to dwell deep in our hearts. Eris the harbinger—exact on the Lunar North Node in Aries—will call for the adoption of long untapped survival skills as strange new scenarios unfold. The many planets clustered near to each of the lunar nodes will exert great pressure on heroes who are anxious to emerge as guides during troubled times.

Please tune in again around December 20, just before the Winter Solstice, because Pluto will go back into Aquarius a month after the Winter Solstice. We should be able to see where Pluto intends to take us at that time.