Illustration by Sevy Perez.

I hate to sound like every astrologist out there, but seriously — a past love might just find their way back to you this month! Welcome to flirty, playful, and cerebral Libra season! It is time to do some free-writing on those moonlight-charged blank papers to make the most of this very surreal time.

Uranus, the planet of sudden change; Neptune, the planet of ideals, fantasies, dreams, and other-worlds; and Venus, the planet of love are all in retrograde positions. This means that the lessons these planetary energies send our way are going to be repeated from our past! Privacy, secrecy, and feelings of possessiveness towards our partners will be key themes around romance this month. When Venusian energies combine with the mysterious ways of the sign of Scorpio, we tend to be surrounded with secrets in our love lives. Take a new flame or an old date to Sumakshi Singh’s Visiting Artist Lecture on October 8. The artist will be speaking about her ethereal work around reality, metaphor, and illusion. This is right in line with the currents of Venus in Scorpio! But make sure you come back home and spend some time by yourself, because the planet of thought and communication, Mercury, enters Scorpio in that period. This means a lot of our mental processes will be provoked by work that’s intense.  We will be urged to find pleasure in the depth of meaning rather than the slightly superficial energy of an average Libra season. And that is then going to affect how we approach our love/ sex lives.

If you’re single, this will be a perfect time to journal or make art about the following questions:

• What do I want in a prospective partner?
• How intense/how not intense am I emotionally?
• What was my last relationship like? Do I want something similar? If not, what do I want to be different this time?
• Have I filled my life with work? Do I have space for love? (If you are one of those super busy artists, Venus Retrograde is that time when you tend to meet someone completely out of the blue that sweeps the focus of your work away. Whether they’re good for you/not is an entirely different matter altogether)

If you’re coupled, ask:

• Am I getting what I want out this relationship? Is my partner getting what they want out of this relationship?

• Do we need to get couples therapy? If yes, this is an opportune time for deep psychoanalytical work!
• Can we revisit some of those past issues that we said we will review?

There’s a delightful way to facilitate catharsis for yourself through this insight-oriented moon meditation. It’s a type of journaling that allows us to discover the hidden processes of our minds. This process can make subconscious emotions less intense and help identify some of our core needs. Take a couple of pieces of blank paper and allow them to rest by the window, basking in the moon’s full glory in the last week of September where the Full Moon in Aries is shining in her glory, seeping into the night sky. As October 2 nears, put these blank pages into a folder. On October 9 — the night of the new moon in Libra (a time to set new intentions) — bring out those pages and write whatever your inner voice asks you without any self-criticism. Once you’re done free writing, you should have begun to release some of that buried tension that builds up every full moon cycle. Take a final blank page and write/draw your vision for the month of October. Focus on romance, work, or money. Be specific and write in large handwriting what it is you want.

Allow yourself to construct this vision and keep the final page safely until the next full moon on October 24, when you get to revel in your successes. You are free to destroy the pages of previous writing if you wish to. This is during a very practical and earthy full moon in Taurus, which will lead you to some very concrete thoughts and ideas about your artwork, love life and your own self.

Whatever it is—make sure you meet tons of people this month. Have you thought of attending Gene Siskel’s Conversations at the Edge? This series of public conversations showcasing experimental film, animation and new media might be the perfect recipe for the themes of October discussed above.  When November comes, it brings to us crisis-ridden Scorpio-energy that will urge us to spend time alone in hibernation, away from too much social interaction. Get your social time in before that!