November 3rd - Venus opposite retrograde Jupiter, Mars enters Leo
Meanwhile, Mars (29♋) opposes Pluto (29♑) right before he enters Leo...a story that has been connected on the world scale to ruthless warfare & excessive deployments of military force. It's the first of 3 Mars-Pluto oppositions we'll get in the upcoming months, but the only one in Cancer-Capricorn. Mars presides over conflicts generally, & Pluto brings in the shadow element--think sneaky power plays, spying, & information warfare. On a personal level, Austin cautions us not to confuse feelings of powerlessness & paranoia with the real thing & be aware that this configuration will make us blow things out of proportion. One piece of advice for working through such a transit is to name or shed light on the metaphorical demon--don't let your worries stay nebulous, oppressive & all-encompassing. Seeing things for what they really are will bring it back to scale.
There will then be a huge tone change as Mars ingresses into Leo (for example, Mars in Gemini & Cancer brought big shift in US politics). Until the 19th, Pluto & Mars are no longer opposing each other by sign. The volume is turned down for a couple weeks...but it'll be back. Mercury will also join Mars in retrograde later this month (enters the shadow period, or the degrees it will revisit, on the 7th), so we're definitely going to be revisiting things. For example, we can expect delays & complications around the US election. Overall the Mars retrograde story doesn't wrap up until April (plus some personal zodiacal releasing stuff for Trump), which means some part of this story isn't gonna be over until the spring. Probably this means events we don't think are important now will come back to haunt us months later.
We're going to have 2 months of Mars in Leo regardless of anything else going on. Mars in Cancer is very emotional & internal and in personal lives can show up as being concerned for the safety of one's home or family, while on a larger level has indicated turf wars & disputes over origins or homeland. Mars in Leo will externalize & move very quickly; think showmanship & exuberance. Mercury is also moving from a water sign (Scorpio) to fire (Sagittarius), moving us from defense to offense & thinking forward. Additionally, as a fixed sign Leo usually has more certainty & staying power, but because of the retrograde it may take awhile to see what will last & what won't.
