SEPTEMBER FORECAST
have some fun while the empire collapses
Presence is the only cure for uncertainty.
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You don’t need an astrologer to tell you that we’re in the midst of a major timeline shift. When I look at the astrology of September 2024, I see the end of an empire.
The soundtrack for the end of the empire goes like this: The original “Enter Sandman” by Metallica fades into a 2021 cover by Mac DeMarco and then to a different 2021 cover of “Enter Sandman” by Rina Sawayama. Somewhere in the mix comes the acoustic guitar intro of Radiohead’s “Exit Music (For A Film)” and that eventually releases into a synth heavy instrumental cover of “Pure Imagination” live at your favorite bar.
Structures are collapsing.
Dominator culture is dying.
We’ve reached a tipping point.
How did we get here? and where do we go from here?
These questions form the pulse of September.
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Of course 2020 is where the story begins. Thinking back to four years ago, to that grim sourdough fueled spring, I must say: the vision was there. As the world came to a halt and Canadian geese took over strip mall parking lots, the answer was simple. Some put it, perhaps problematically, as: “Nature is healing. We are the virus.” It’s a crass statement, but it’s not not an omen. After the volcanic eruption, there’s peace in the rubble.
We have exited an age of earth and entered an age of air.
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Saturn entered Aquarius in March 2020 and the world wide web began its Saturn Return. Over the last four years we’ve seen the internet transition from a pop up rave at a Berlin squat house to a major music festival with all the right permits. As my fave spiritual “influencer” @sighswoon put it in a story post, “The internet is a place now.” Far is close and close is far. We’re now comfortable with this kind of precarity. So comfortable that we’ve dug our fists in resistance. September is when we come to terms with this tipping point. The past has dissolved. There’s nothing left to hold onto.
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2020 was the ending of many major astrological cycles. Saturn and Pluto came together to end a cycle of restrictions that began in 1981. Jupiter and Pluto came together to end a cycle of wealth and power that began in 2007. Saturn and Jupiter came together to end one cycle of culture that began in 1980 and another that began in 1802 (!!). That’s a lot of loss at once. Four years later and we’re shifting into a new tributary of grief. A finer line. We’re no longer living in What Once Was.
2020 also initiated major astrological cycles. One cycle of mutating restrictions (Saturn-Pluto) and another of mutating reach and power (Jupiter-Pluto), and another still of societal affirmations (Jupiter-Saturn). That’s a lot to begin at once. Four years later and those seeds are becoming sprouts. It’s vulnerable here. Accepting this tipping point means finding a new balance.
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Uranus stations retrograde and Pluto enters Capricorn for the final time
September begins with two profound shifts from the outer planets that stir revelations on both a personal and collective level. Uranus, planet of originality and sudden change, goes retrograde in Taurus on September 1. As experiments slow down, we consider results. On the same day, Pluto, planet of deep transformation, moves back into Capricorn. Pluto, which takes 250 years to go around the zodiac, has been in Aquarius since January 20, but now through November 19 will sit at 29º Capricorn to finish up an epic story that began in 2008.
Past and future timelines are alive and playing off of each other.
What was received in January?
What was obvious in July?
What can be done now?
29º of Capricorn is where we had a Full Moon on July 21. The Full Moon that expelled Joe Biden from the United States’ Presidential race. The Full Moon that initiated the race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump who were both born on near exact Full Moons. Since 2008, the United States has been going through its own Pluto return and this fall is the series finale. It’s also the series finale for a struggle that’s been playing out in each of our individual lives.
Whether you’re feeling nostalgic or future tripping, It’s easy to get pulled in one direction or another. If you want my professional opinion, the best thing to do is be present.
New Moon in Virgo, Mercury enters Virgo, Mars enters Cancer
If staying present and figuring out what must be done in this moment feels overwhelming, the New Moon in Virgo on September 2 provides the energy to breathe and get back to center.
This New Moon is for taking something that has become way too complicated and breaking it up into manageable (but moving!) parts. Mercury—no longer retrograde thank GODDESS—re-enters Virgo on September 9, allowing us to get our affairs in order and get back to a project we started in late July and early August. For real this time.
Mars enters Cancer on September 4 where the action planet makes moves based on his feelings. Mars in Cancer is an expert of emotional labor which is why of course the fighter planet struggles here. Action isn’t straight-forward when feelings are involved. Compassion and tenderness get in the way of cut and dry decisions. Mars usually spends only six weeks in a sign, but because Mars stations retrograde later this year, he will be in Cancer for all of September and October, as well as in January through April 2025. Whatever’s on your to do list now won’t be completed until next spring. It’s the start of a long healing process. We have a whole academic year to write the thesis and edit it and then finally hand it in. There will be a lot of tears along the way.
The sweetest days of the month: September 14 & 15
The best days of the month (despite being right at the razor’s edge of eclipse season) are September 14 & 15 when the Moon in Aquarius will form a grand air trine with Venus in Libra and Jupiter in Gemini. It’s giving: rage against the tech oligarchs at the eco-conscious cyborg think tank. Inspiring compromises will occur. Galaxy brain theories will get their wings. Why wait to write the manifesto?
Lunar Eclipse in Pisces
Of course though once the stage is set and the plans are in place, everything falls apart again. It’s eclipse season. Virgo bullet journals and Libra style guides unfortunately cannot outsmart fate.
The Lunar Eclipse in Pisces on September 17 is one of great mystical depth. It’s CHAOS. It’s a PORTAL. It’s the combination CHAOS PORTAL. This Lunar Eclipse is the culmination of what was seeded at the New Moon in Pisces on March 10. How has your world cracked open since then? Are you still an egg? What old ways of being have fully dissolved? There’s great power here in taking risks from a place of magical thinking. Even if the material hows aren’t yet clear. In fact not knowing the material answer of it is something to get used to. It’s a theme that sustains and peaks in polyphonic climax during the first week of April 2025.
Everything is swirling and spinning. But we’re just on one of those Gravitron carnival rides. Trying too hard to ground will leave you with a headache and skinned knees. You’re not in danger. You’re just dizzy. Just remember to breathe. We’re making memories, ok? What I’m saying is: Get used to not knowing exactly what’s going on. This is an experimentation zone.
Sun enters Libra, Venus enters Scorpio, Mercury enters Libra
What pulls us out of the Pisces eclipse spiral is the Sun entering Libra. Libra season begins on September 22. Pisces and Libra are both known for putting everyone else before themselves. But while Pisces leads with a kaleidoscopic heart, Libra leads with kaleidoscopic style. If there’s one thing Libras are great at, it’s making order out of chaos. Libras love nonsense of course, but they want the nonsense to look good. (Think Gwyneth Paltrow at her ski trial.). Venus moves into Scorpio on the same day making it so we’re not just playing nice. There’s real hunger and depth here.
What comes at the very end of September is a process of distillation. Something is being stripped away. Communication planet Mercury moves into Libra on September 26, and meets the Sun on September 30 (what astrologers call cazimi or going into the heart of the Sun). With another eclipse coming on October 2, things still feeling quite turbulent. For a moment though, our thoughts are clear. If we’re willing to let go of what truly doesn’t matter, there’s peace in what remains.
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Tarot spread/journaling prompt for September:
Past timelines that must be integrated:
Future timelines that must be accepted:
The key to my presence is:
What guides me in hope and inspiration:
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Updates:
These monthly forecasts have so far been for paid subscribers only, but as my grand entrance back from my (somewhat unplanned) summer hiatus, everyone is getting the full shebang. Paid subscribers will be getting more updates soon :)
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 4, 7 pm on Zoom, I’m doing an ECLIPSE SEASON DOWNLOAD with Earth Body School. Join us!
I have a few spots left for September readings before my new offerings drop later this month — great time for Virgo Solar Returns or to get some support through these wobbly eclipse times.
GOOD FORTUNE (everyone’s favorite weekly forecast podcast) is on a break. Subscribe on Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen to get updates on Season 2 :) Also, if you’re a longtime listener, I’d love if you left a rating or review !
What I’m watching: things have been weird in therapy for me lately, so I think it’s about time to rewatch What About Bob? (1991) starring Virgo icon Bill Murray
What I’m reading: Cue The Sun - Emily Nussbaum’s sprawling history of reality TV and how it all led to the rise (and fall?) of Donald Trump — working on an essay about the astrology of Survivor and American decay!
Also, the big feature from this month’s WIRED: The Hole in the Map of the World - terrifying but contains so much of the poetry of this current moment. Required reading before the coming Lunar Eclipse in Pisces
What I’m listening to: September’s playlist is the soundtrack to the empire’s collapse
Thank you Jamie 🙏