October 2026 is a big month astrologically.
The most important event is Venus going retrograde on October 3rd. Venus is the planet that spends the least time in retrograde (just 7%), so when she does, we all feel it.
And if Venus’s 40 days of retrograde weren’t enough introspection and rumination, Mercury also goes retrograde this month.
Mercury conjuncts Venus just days after she turns retrograde, seeding the questions we’ll be living with about our relationships, our values, and what we really want.
And we’ll keep coming back to it: Mercury later turns retrograde in Scorpio too, and both planets will spend an unusually long time in Scorpio over the coming months.
Needless to say, the Scorpio house of your chart will come into focus.
But regardless of houses, one theme seems to dominate October: relationships. With Venus, Mars, and Pluto forming one tense aspect after another as we move through Libra season and into Scorpio season, if October doesn’t stir something up in your relationships, I’d be very surprised.
October is a challenging month, filled with tense aspects that push all our buttons. I’ve been writing monthly forecasts since 2016, and I can’t remember the last time I saw a month this intense.
Instead of the usual “things will get better” or “but there’s hope” – perhaps what the universe wants us to do this month is really sit with the discomfort, and do.that.thing.that.needs.doing.
There’s no more beating around the bush. Change is hard. The thing we most need to do is often the thing we’ve been working hardest to avoid.
But the message is clear: whatever you’ve been resisting, delaying, or hoping outside circumstances will solve for you needs to be addressed. This month.
Now let’s take a look at the most important transits of the month:
October 3rd, 2026 – Venus Goes Retrograde
On October 3rd, 2026, Venus goes retrograde at 8° Scorpio.
Venus will retrograde until November 14th, when she goes direct at 22° Libra. Venus will be out of shadow – clearing the 8th degree of Scorpio – on December 15th.
This is an incredibly relevant Venus retrograde because it’s the last Venus retrograde where a new Venus cycle starts in the sign of Scorpio.
If you missed the “Venus Retrograde – 40 Days in the Desert” write-up, you can find it here. You will receive a few more reports about this important transit in the following days.
October 3rd, 2026 – Mars Opposite Pluto
On the same day Venus goes retrograde, Mars (at 3° Leo) opposes Pluto in Aquarius, with Venus T-squaring both.
This is an incredibly tense configuration where all the boiling tension between Mars and Pluto will get expressed through Venus: a high-stakes decision, an emotional outburst, a change of heart…
… whatever shape it takes, expect that whatever is tense in our life, wherever we feel out of control, will eventually push us into taking a stand. We’ll cut the Gordian knot once and for all.
But it will be interesting to see what happens next. Venus changes direction on the same day, so whatever we decide may turn out to be only the beginning of the story.
October 4th, 2026 – Sun Opposite Saturn
…and the decisions ahead of us are not made any easier by the fact that the Sun (at 11° Libra) is also opposing Saturn in Aries. When the sky is giving it to us, it’s giving it to us all at once.
The only way through is through – and sometimes we need this kind of pressure to actually do the hard work.
Because no matter how good our life is, there’s always something we haven’t quite worked out, that we haven’t quite addressed to the best of our potential – and then we need something of this intensity to shake it loose.
October 10th, 2026 – New Moon In Libra
On October 10th, 2026, we have a New Moon at 17° Libra.
The New Moon applies a sextile to Jupiter so there’s a first sign of hope – support is still there, the universe wants to remind us that in the midst of transformation, there’s still something holding us.
But this shouldn’t detract from the hard work ahead of us.
The New Moon’s ruler, Venus, is exactly square Mars – a reminder that whatever this New Moon is inviting us to begin, we still have to fight for it.
October 15th, 2026 – Pluto Goes Direct
On October 15th, 2026, Pluto stations direct at 3° Aquarius.
This is as intense as it gets, especially since Venus retrograde is applying a square to this Pluto on steroids – exact on October 20th.
This is hit #2 of the Venus-Pluto saga: old stories around trust, betrayal, fear, and vulnerability come under the magnifying glass again, and something in us breaks open to the surface.
October 23rd-24th, 2026 – Sun Conjunct Venus
On October 23rd-24th, depending on where you live, the Sun and Venus retrograde meet at 0° Scorpio, and a new Venus cycle begins.
This is a new beginning – it is a new Venus cycle, after all – but also the last Venus cycle in Scorpio we’ll have for many hundreds of years.
In a way, it carries the essence of Scorpio – the essence of this whole 100-year journey and everything it’s taught us.
There’s something about us, about our relationship with who we are deep inside, with the way we stand for our truth, that will be forever changed after this conjunction.
Everything this month has been building toward – the stand we were pushed to take, the hard work, the old stories surfacing – all of it was leading here.
October 24th, 2026 – Mercury Goes Retrograde
On October 24th, 2026, Mercury goes retrograde at 20° Scorpio.
The timing seems almost comically aligned: Mercury goes retrograde on the same day Venus starts a new cycle, and then goes direct on the same day Venus goes direct (on November 14th).
Now we begin to see that the Venus-Mercury conjunction we had at the beginning of the month has a much deeper purpose – we are really in a Venus-and-Mercury story – not just a Venus story.
The way we feel about ourselves, the way we feel in our relationships, is tied to the kind of stories and mental models we’ve built or we’ve been brought into.
Because feelings aren’t just something that happens to us – they’re directly shaped by the thoughts and stories we tell ourselves.
Once we see the link, once we understand how one leads to the other, we can never relate to our own heart the same way again.
October 26th, 2026 – Full Moon In Taurus
On October 26th, 2026, we have a Full Moon at 2° Taurus.
The Full Moon is conjunct Chiron, opposite Sun-Venus, and square Pluto. That’s yet another T-square configuration, now with Pluto at the apex.
The Moon in Taurus shows us the other side of the Scorpio story – where we’ve been losing ourselves, sacrificing our own needs for the sake of staying close to someone else. Moon conjunct Chiron exposes the wound underneath: “please take care of me.”
And Pluto, at the apex, keeps the pressure on until that old conditioning finally breaks. The story has outlived its purpose. What remains, once it does, is the pure, unfiltered truth of what really matters.
October 26th, 2026 – Venus Opposite Chiron
On October 26th, 2026, Venus – a fresh morning star – is getting her heart tested one more time, now opposite Chiron.
Just days after the raw truth of our heart was exposed at the Venus cazimi, Venus now has to face what’s still left to be reconciled.
What still needs healing, attention, and integration? How do we build a new way of relating – one that’s more balanced – while still honoring ourselves?
Rebirth Of The Heart
Rebirth Of The Heart is Astro Butterfly’s 40-day Challenge for this Venus retrograde. In this held container, we’ll be sharing stories, going through the transits, and healing together.
Rebirth Of The Heart is designed after the 4 phases Venus goes through during her retrograde, and consists of 4 live calls (recordings provided) and 14 activities that are timed with the real-time transits.
For example, when Venus conjuncts Mercury, we will be reflecting on past Venus retrograde stories. When Venus squares Pluto, we will identify hidden fears holding us back. And so on.
You can join Rebirth Of The Heart 40-Day Challenge here:
–> Rebirth Of The Heart 40-Day Challenge
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