Your September 2022 Horoscope Brings Drama & Closure

Once it has begun, nothing can stop it. Of course, we’re referring to the fall edition of Mercury retrograde, beginning on September 10 in Libra before progressing into Virgo on the 23rd, finally ending its backward lurch on October 2. Those with cardinal (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn) and mutable (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces) rising signs will feel the brunt of this retrograde most profoundly. Much has been said about 2022 as the karmic crucible for the fixed sign girlies (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius). It’s not to say that they’ll have it particularly easy in September, but at least the other signs, for once, can experience the feeling of waking up in anesthesia. Enjoy!

On a broader level, Virgo rules your back-to-school shopping trip at the end of summer, when you decorate your binders and make declarations about the new you that’s supposedly going to change everything. Libra, of course, rules the social complexities — and savageries — at play as you try to fit in. As the retrograde begins in Libra, its effects will likely be social, with missed connections, delayed arrivals, and halted debuts. In Virgo, Mercury will f*ck with your personal sense of stability, revealing the flaws in your plans for perfect living.

Besides the retrograde, Virgo and the mutables have plenty cooking in September. Venus hits Virgo September 5 through the 29th, where she’ll help you refine your presentation to face the masses come Libra season. Employ gender expression and sexuality as tools, or algorithms, to be deployed. Just as Venus departs from Virgo, the asteroid Ceres, known also as Demeter, goddess of the harvest, enters the virgin’s domain through December. Weigh what you have to give, and what you want to receive, so that all is in balance going into the new season. For closure on another chaotic summer, mark the Pisces full moon, on September 10, for a psychedelic culmination.

Most of the cardinal action goes down in Libra in the latter half of the month. Despite the stalled communications of Mercury retrograde, hunting season is still on, with Libra season launching on September 22, followed by a Libra new moon on the 25th, and Venus arriving in her ruling sign on the 29th. Meanwhile, the asteroid Pallas, a.k.a. Athena, goddess of military strategy, sets up camp in Cancer from September 6 through May 2023. Every relationship is a bridge to the future. Some call Librans social climbers, and Cancers cling-ons, but these signs know that you can’t go anywhere in life without others. Take the retrograde to clarify how you relate, and make the new moon your day of recruitment. The march forward begins here.

As for the fixed signs, beware: On October 1, Saturn and Uranus come into a close square. Take all of the primal power August awakened, give it shape through Virgo and Libra’s penchant for definition, and prepare to walk through another gate. What role you have to play in the decade to come — and in its new cultural order — is just now surfacing. But in October, the train is leaving the station. Ready yourself for a long ride.

ARIES & ARIES RISING AUGUST 2022 HOROSCOPE

Since May, Jupiter has been in Aries, helping you embrace your original point of view and start on a hero’s journey for the new decade. But so far, this awakening has been private. This month, as Mercury, the sun, and Venus move through Libra, in your seventh house of public visibility, you may feel yourself being exposed prematurely. These planets excel at the social graces, and in your house of others, they’re looking to widen your team. This is the part in the story when Harry meets Ron at Platform 9 & ¾, when Buffy joins Willow for lunch — when the protagonist meets the people who will have their back for the next decade. You’re still the hero of a brand new saga; that doesn’t mean you can’t welcome a vital supporting cast.

TAURUS & TAURUS RISING AUGUST 2022 HOROSCOPE

August blasted open the doors to destiny. With Uranus, planet of change and chaos, having just lurched into its annual retrograde in your sign, let the dust settle and review the revelations. With Venus moving through Virgo (Sept 5–29) in your fifth house of creative expression, and then into Libra, in your sixth house of self-definition, you’re invited to handle and shape the raw power within. This is a reprieve from the maelstrom, to give form and meaning to the metamorphosis. Like Sidney Prescott walking out of the bloodied house, you get to decide who you are, now that the horror movie is over.

GEMINI & GEMINI RISING AUGUST 2022 HOROSCOPE

Mercury retrograde enters Virgo, in your fourth house of home and mental stability on September 23, where Venus and the sun will have already illuminated the rewards of psychic and physical clarity — and the consequences of vagueness. Venus squares Mars in Gemini, on the 16th, just as the sun opposes Neptune in Pisces, in your career arena. Suffice it to say, you’re in danger of falling into Gemini’s classic pitfall: blindness. Whatever drive Mars affords you in Gemini, and whatever dreams Neptune awakens in Pisces, they’ll fall apart without tangible organization. Do whatever it takes to feel supported and sober. The only threat to victory is unaccountability.

CANCER & CANCER RISING AUGUST 2022 HOROSCOPE

On September 6, the asteroid Pallas, a.k.a. Athena, goddess of military glory, joins Lilith in Cancer. Whatever revenge or reclamation you’ve been desiring, Pallas will help make it happen. (God help your enemies!) Speaking of femmes, Lady Libra lights up your fourth house of home and rootedness all month, often challenging masculine Aries, in your tenth house of career and legacy. You’ve conquered the castle. Before you march into the next battle, why not spruce up the chambers and halls? With Mercury retrograding in Libra starting on September 10, and a new moon in Libra on the 25th, you’re encouraged to unpack your storage boxes, clean out your house, and allow for space, beauty and fortification. This silence will bring forth renewed purpose for the conquest to come.

LEO & LEO RISING AUGUST 2022 HOROSCOPE

On September 10, Mercury retrograde begins in Libra, in your third house of daily life, lurching back into Virgo, in your second house of self worth (and finances!) on the 23rd. August likely awakened premonitions of who you could be and what gifts you could offer the world — were you to step into your light. This retrograde offers practical opportunities for daily integration. Take the Libra chapter, along with the Libra new moon on the 25th, to initiate daily routines built around concrete goals. The retrograde in Virgo gives you a chance to rehash how you style and represent yourself as you’re making your dreams come true. This is an opportunity to make the big changes feel real on a daily basis. Take your time.

VIRGO & VIRGO RISING AUGUST 2022 HOROSCOPE

Your identity is up for renovation this month. On September 5, Venus joins the sun in Virgo, where the two will announce the terms of the new you. With every expansion in Virgo comes some check from Pisces, in your seventh house of others, namely a full moon on the 10th and oppositions to Pisces on the 16th and 24th. You know the drill by now: declare your independence, then face the demons of your codepency; clarify your needs, then concede that you can’t meet them alone. You’ll have time to make sense of this intense relational redefinition during Mercury’s Virgo retrograde from September 23 through October 2. Consider this the workshop phase of your active metamorphosis. You don’t have to go public yet with all the changes you’re experiencing. Just pay attention to what matters when all else falls apart.

LIBRA & LIBRA RISING AUGUST 2022 HOROSCOPE

With Venus and Mercury touring your twelfth house of the underworld, you’re invited to cultivate their shadow avatars: with Venus, embrace the dark majesty of Hecate, all-mother of hell; and with Mercury, Hermes guides you through the lower realms. With Mercury retrograding through your home sign from September 10-23 — then back into your twelfth house through October, and with Venus in the dark domain from September 5-29 — the call is coming from within, and from below. Explore those unseen desires, dreams, tempests, and traumas which must be given voice. Find ways for your dark parts to join you on your journey back to the surface, so that you’ll feel integrated and fearless for the Libra new moon on the 25th.

SCORPIO & SCORPIO RISING AUGUST 2022 HOROSCOPE

August’s Götterdämmerung is over; now you get to apply the tectonic shifts to the surface. On September 10, the full moon in Pisces, in your fifth house of creative expression, helps open a portal of intentional catharsis. Once the gates are open, you’ll need to set up levees for empathic and somatic release. Over the back half of the month, oppositions from the sun and Mercury in Libra, in your 12th house of mental health, to Jupiter in Aries, in your sixth house of physical health, help you understand where you need care, stability, and sobriety as the inner demons awaken.

SAGITTARIUS & SAGITTARIUS AUGUST 2022 RISING HOROSCOPE

The month ends with the asteroid Ceres — also known as Demeter, goddess of the harvest — entering Virgo, in your tenth house of career and public roles. Ceres dominates themes of balance, seasons and proper cultivation. Pay attention. September is full of clashes between Virgo and Pisces, in your fourth house of home and emotional rootedness, which call for a sense of harmony between your vulnerable, creative inner children and your world-conquering outer monarch. With Mercury retrograde raging through the public domain of your chart, the antidote will always be interior play. When your career feels like it’s in freefall, stay in, collage, and water your planets. The payoff will be worth it.

CAPRICORN & CAPRICORN AUGUST 2022 RISING HOROSCOPE

In The Odyssey, the military goddess Athena takes on Odysseus as her pet champion: a clever, cunning warrior who could enact her grand plans. On September 6, Athena’s asteroid enters Cancer, in your seventh house of intimate partnerships, where she’ll reign through May 2023. Consider who you’d like to take on as an ally, advisor, strategist, or emissary. Not every relationship has to be about codependency, especially when the benefits are mutually assured. Questions of recruitment loom over Mercury’s retrograde in Libra (September 5–23) and the advent of Libra season, all in your tenth house of capital “C” career. Note all limits and blocks around your plan for individual assent and how you can weaponize the social graces to your benefit.

AQUARIUS & AQUARIUS AUGUST 2022 RISING HOROSCOPE

Libra season illuminates your ninth house of travel and expanding horizons. Yet as the sun and Mercury open the runways to the future, they oppose Jupiter in Aries, in your third house of daily life and ritual. You’re finally ready to peek forward into the future, but only so long as you’re doubling down on routines of embodiment in the present. Start browsing flights, but don’t board the plane just yet. Virgo season, and its Mercury retrograde, go down in your eighth house of transformation: keep the focus on the physical, so that you can ready yourself for the conceptual later on.

PISCES & PISCES RISING AUGUST 2022 HOROSCOPE

In 2020, the legendary Pisces Grimes created a digital avatar who could handle her PR obligations while she was pregnant. With Venus in Virgo, in your seventh house of public visibility, from September 5 through the 29th, and Mercury retrograding in the same arena from the 23rd to October 2, you’re well-served through strategicdeployment. More eyes are on you than ever. Build an armor, or persona, full of social protections, so that you can engage with the outer world and not feel totally violated.