Autumn is in full swing. The life and magic of the natural world puts on its final flourish of ambers, auburns, and other fiery hues before the cold completely settles in. The attuned amongst us can feel the gaze and presence of the ancestors and fae strengthening around you as we creep ever closer towards Samhain and the thinning of the veil.

Welcome to Scorpio Season, when the Sun makes passage from the airy, Venusian house of Libra into Mars’ deep, watery home of Scorpio. This passage will occur this year on October 22nd at 6:54pm eastern time.

Traditionally, the movement of the Sun from Libra into Scorpio indicates that the final harvest is over, the reckoning of our food supply has come, and we must brace for the cold and dark time of the year that we have been preparing for since late summer. Food becomes scarcer, the warmth of the day weakens, and a pervading sense of death, loss, and the fading away of life hum steadily in the background of our perception. To put things in very embodied, visceral terms - as the ancients living hand-to-mouth would have understood them - there is no longer a threat of food becoming scarce, now food has begun to diminish.

Astrologically speaking, the transition from Libra into Scorpio indicates a transition from Venus to Mars. Venus is a benefic planet - the queen of harmony, beauty, love, and peace. In Venus’ season of Libra, we see the community come together to celebrate the harvest moon during and attend to everyone’s needs within the network of relationships and community.

But Mars becomes activated during Scorpio season - the lord of pain, strife, hunger, and war. The cold and dark have fully settled in, and the fae and ancestors have come to collect their own harvest. In this moment of bracing for the cold and dark, we see the God of war take up a defensive position, preparing for the long winter and doing whatever they can to stave off the passing of time.

Because of this, Scorpio is astrologically associated with death and loss, as well as strategy and fortification against potential troubles and trials. In Scorpionic natives, we see Mars’ bravery and militaristic mindset: there is a willingness to stand strong in the face of shadows, traumas, and uncomfortable experiences, and a perceptive viligance that gives their insight into other people’s motives. It also bestows Scorpio natives with their alertness to the potential for things to go wrong, alongside a tacit a fear of loss.

We all share collectively in Scorpio’s proness towards vigilance and its fear at the possibility of worst-case scenarios actualizing in our lives. The onslaught of cold and the ensuing death of life around stirs up deep-seated anxiety within all of us. Our communal dread rises to this surface.

While most of us no longer need to worry about losing food or going hungry, you will find other triggers arising for you to deal with related to scarcity, fear, and loss. Our minds have evolved to register the changing of the seasons, the darkening of the days, and the coming of cold as indicators that there will be less food - and that death is a live option. As this happens, we all are given the opportunity to confront internal triggers and shadows. Because our minds are undergoing a fear response, other things are more likely to trigger that response and bring issues up to the surface.

In this confontation of our triggers, we will all have the opportunity during this season to cultivate Scorpionic virtues such as a bravery, perseverance, and perceptive skill. We use this season to illumimate our inner darkness. Like Orpheus plunging into Hades to rescue his beloved Eurydice, we can rescue lost aspects of our own fragmented cycle and bring them back to the light of our consciousness.

What topics activate you and dislodge you from your center? What themes would you do anything to avoid talking about? What traumas from your past would you do anything to avoid thinking about? What scares you the most?

Of course, Scorpio excels at all kinds of emotional alchemy and transmutation, not just ones related to fear, death, and loss. You will find that the triggers that arise open doorways and opportunities for other kinds of emotions, traumas, and memories to enter your sphere. When they enter, you can integrate them and heal them. You can become a more whole person by confronting those challenging emotions and situations that you would rather not look at.

Whatever comes up for you, channel the power of Mars to confront and face it. Again, Scorpio is a sign of bravery, of plumbing the depths of fear and destabilizing inner processes and staying with them no matter how difficult. Be patient with yourself and whatever arises. You are always safe, and you can use whatever comes up to become more integrated and even more magically powerful.

The most surefire way to understand what will be most activated in your life during this season is to examine your chart - especially the house that the Sun is transiting. If you are Pisces rising, the Sun transits your 9th house of travel and higher study. It would be a good time to either begin or deepen spiritual practice. If you are Taurus rising, the Sun transits your 7th house of relationships. Be sure to give proper care and attention to your spouse, partner, or any close friends.

The Sun forms a trine with Saturn in Pisces this year. Saturn brings obstacles, roadblocks, hindrances, and circumstances that obstruct your personal agenda and goals. Saturn delays success and brings more shadows and challenges to the surface for you to manage. As a trine, the obstacles saturn brings will be easier to manage, and more likely to bring growth and good fortune in the long run. Check the house that Saturn is currently transiting in your chart for a better sense of what to expect with this square.

A good physical practice for the release of fear and anxiety is inversions. Shoulder-stand in yoga drains excess lymph that accumulates in the legs and recirculates it through the rest of the body, which can create a feeling of peace and euphoria and combat the ennui and dysthymia that can develop during Scorpio season.

Lepidolite and Rhodonite both release anxiety and stress hormone buildup by grounding you and opening up your heart. They can both be placed over your heart, but lepidolite can also be placed on the back of the neck to relieve an overstimulated nervous system.

When it comes to working with spirits, both Libra and Scorpio periods are strongly associated with the dead and ancestors. Scorpio seasons are excellent periods for using the power of the dead to manifest the kind of world you would like to see for yourself, or, perhaps more accurately, stave off and defend yourself from the outcomes and material circumstances that you fear.

However you wish to work, you will find spirits coming to you more quickly with which you have some kind of bloodline connection. The spirits of the land are also more present during this period, especially around Samhain, and are more inclined to answer your requests.

Don’t resist the transformative power of the dark. Don’t fear the reaper. The less you fight and fear the natural process of shadowy, scorpionic alchemy, the more enjoyable the transformation will be for you.