Lin Chen
Meet your astrologer
StephKoyfmanis awriterand astrologer best known for her work as Lady Cazimi. She writes the monthly horoscope for Condé Nast Traveler's Women Who Travel.
It's time: Your September horoscope is here.
If August tested and stretched your limits, September offers a chance to quickly catch your breath before life starts to accelerate again. That said, the nature of the whiplash is different this time. Last month brought us the scattered chaos of herding cats and trying to manage more than you can realistically take on. This month, the energy is much less disorganized and much less unpleasant. But movement can look like flux with no clear direction, or movement can look like powerful, decisive change. As we move into the second half of September (and this fall’s eclipse season), last month’s frenetic attempts to go with the flow coalesce into big decisions and new openings in the field of possibility.
Here’s another way to think about it: when you fail, the next step is usually to try again. When a situation becomes untenable, some course correction is needed. And then there are also times when big endings and transitions are simply messier than we bargained for.
In many ways, September’s astrology brings us across a threshold, one of leaving the mess behind and embracing the uncertainty of what comes next. Pluto reenters Capricorn on September 1, where it remains only until mid-November, wrapping up a storyline that’s been active since 2008. Mars also enters Cancer on September 4, introducing us to the battleground of this upcoming fall and winter, where Mars will retrograde later. And a lunar eclipse in Pisces on September 17 initiates us into a new season of change, perhaps by showing us where to cut our losses first.
Travel, at least, should be less bumpy than it was in August, and probably a good deal more enjoyable. The first week of September may still feel a little unsteady, and September 17 and 18 feature an eclipse and a Mercury-Saturn opposition, which could present as a transit headache. However, Venus will be in Libra forming a harmonious trine with Jupiter: the urge to connect, celebrate, and share our enthusiasm will be stronger, at least during the first three weeks of the month. The transition from Virgo to Libra Season is an excellent time to go on more stimulating adventures that involve both natural science and art history museums, hands-on learning and social mixers. Even if you’re a seasoned solo traveler, this might be the month to seek out meetups, group activities, and conferences. You never know what kinds of pathways will open up as a result.
Astrologer's note: Below we refer to your signs as “rising” signs, also known as your ascendant sign. Horoscopes are more accurate when read this way—using your birth time and location, you can quickly find your rising sign online (it takes less than 30 seconds).
Aries Rising
Going home isn't always easy, and you’re about to learn what it means to be cast in the role of stranger once more. Your ruling planet, Mars, enters Cancer on September 4, turning your attention toward home base for the next couple months. Mars is fallen here, though, and it will return later this winter during its retrograde, so think “turning your attention in the direction of a harsh sound…and now you just need to put up with it for a bit.” There might be a rude awakening, disruption to your peace, or otherwise confrontational spirit haunting you at home or in your relationship to your family. And though this grain of sand might be irritating enough that you’ll form a pearl out of it eventually, right now, it’s probably just going to make you wish you could move.
Decisions will likely be made this month, especially as Mars approaches a square to the lunar nodes on September 15 and pitches the dilemma toward a critical inflection point. This also happens alongside the lunar eclipse in Pisces on the 17th, which might push you in the direction of exile—or maybe just greater independence. You’ve been learning to trust yourself with the utmost conviction and courage, and you know as well as anybody else that answering the call of your own instinctual wisdom can be an isolating and alienating experience. You might be experiencing a sort of final straw that redirects you toward a healing journey around your childhood, or perhaps a much more literal journey of “being between permanent addresses.” Perhaps this is the right time to make a pit stop at some of your personal or ancestral nostalgic haunts to confront the ghosts contributing to this restlessness?
Though this might be the beginning of an introspective journey for you, your romantic and professional partnerships will also figure into this. As various planets in Libra pass through the South Node this month in anticipation of October’s eclipse, you, too, may decide to dissolve some of the contracts and agreements upholding those relationships. If you’re journeying to this new place together, you might have to let go of what you thought it was going to look like first.
Taurus Rising
After last month’s less than successful dog and pony show, you might feel gun shy about trying to get everyone on the same page again. But cultivating a shared vision is exactly the sort of thing that’s going to move things forward for you now—you just need to be willing to release the basis on which your former consensus was built to get to the thing everyone can unite around.
The good news is that your ruling planet, Venus, is in better shape this month as it passes through Libra. Normally, this transit finds you connecting easily with colleagues and finding a real sense of pleasure and harmony in your work. Venus must relinquish something as she conjoins the South Node on September 3, though, which might look like “taking one for the team” or letting go of false agreements. Separately, you might need to sacrifice one of your favorite vices (sugar, perhaps?) as you pursue a health goal. It’s funny how these things are not totally unrelated: for things to function smoothly in your life, it’s sometimes necessary to remove a pleasant distraction. Yes, that might include working during your travels from the beach café where you aren't actually getting that much done anyway.
Things might feel like they’re cohering mid-month as Venus trines Jupiter on September 15 and a lunar eclipse in Pisces opens up new pathways for you in your eleventh house of groups on September 17. You might find a way to make what you’re doing more lucrative, get the necessary buy-in from enough people to advance your vision, or find your way into a new community where doors will start to open for you. Joining a co-working space, an online community for other travelers, or a professional association might create a domino effect you can’t totally anticipate now. Saying “yes” to a chance social invitation might introduce you to a new group of friends who will end up playing an important role in your life. Wherever the current is taking you right now, trust that it will put you in touch with whoever’s meant to accompany you on this ride.
Gemini Rising
Last month may have tested you the way the Olympics test an athlete competing for the gold. Whether you managed to succeed against the odds or merely put up a brave fight, things are about to start moving for you—most likely in a professional sense, and almost definitely in an “advancement in your public status” sense.
Here’s the thing: sometimes you play to win, and sometimes you play to get noticed. Sometimes you play to recognize that you don’t care for this boxing ring at all, and then you can make a more clear-headed decision about moving on. Mars will leave Gemini early in the month and enter your second house of resources on September 4, and a lunar eclipse in your tenth house of career and visibility on September 17 catapults you into a new league of opportunities. As you exit the proving ground of late summer, new potential pathways to success may open up, or maybe just a growing sense that you’re reaching the end of your current plateau.
In the meantime, you might have to advocate for yourself more assertively than may feel comfortable if you’re negotiating better pay, asking for what you need, or fighting for what’s rightfully yours. In this Mars weather, it might feel tempting to guard your current assets instead, like a dog protecting his food who doesn’t realize there’s actually much more where that came from. Don’t assume that what you have is all you’re going to get, especially if you’re already feeling disempowered in your interactions with authority figures. The status quo is likely to change soon anyway, so now is not the time to feel preemptively defeated.
There will likely be things to figure out at home this month too, or in your family relations. Mercury enters Virgo on September 9, bringing you back into cleanup/fix-it mode after August’s retrograde threw some curveballs your way. This would be a good time to get everything in order at home base, schedule any necessary repairs, or implement that filing system before you get distracted again by work, travels, or life in general.
Cancer Rising
It’s time to make peace with your past and move bravely into the unknown, because if there’s one thing last month’s disorientation taught you, it’s that the answers won’t reveal themselves to you while you’re waiting in limbo. Figuring it out is always going to be a process of learning as you go, and there’s plenty going on this month to support you cutting your losses and moving on.
Mars enters Cancer on September 4, which might color your world with more unease and agitation for the next couple months, but may also create the impetus for you to make some necessary changes. We don’t always move until we’re sufficiently uncomfortable, and sometimes movement makes us sore even while it’s happening. This may merely be the price of getting from point A to point B.
Mid-month looks like a pivotal transitional time for you as Mars squares the nodes on September 15 and a lunar eclipse in Pisces lights up your ninth house of education and foreign places on the 17th. Given that September’s lineup also features various planets transiting the South Node in your fourth house of home, could it be that you’re finally pulling the trigger on a long-distance move, starting a new educational journey, or both? Regardless of what’s literally happening, it seems like there will be a critical decision you’ll have to make that will likely take you away from your current career path and/or living situation. If it’s not about moving up and moving on, standing up for yourself around these dates may feel like crossing a subtle threshold, one where your relationship to your parents or your bosses might feel forever changed on the other side.
This first eclipse in Pisces also kick-starts a longer journey for you, one that will potentially escalate things for you in the realm of travel, learning, and spirituality over the next year and a half. Your interactions with unfamiliar places and concepts will be the through-lines of significant life changes and leaps in your awareness during this time, so embrace this initial call to adventure as the first stop among all the places you’ll go.
Leo Rising
There are some familiar-by-now stories returning this month regarding your ambitions, your personal development, and how bold you’re willing to be in the pursuit of success. On that note, though, “success” is something you may have had to redefine for yourself over the last few weeks, so it would make sense if you’re getting ready to strike again with a new game plan in mind.
The first couple days of September come with a bit of a professional reset for you, one that may involve unveiling a new approach, service, or even job title. If a rebrand is what you’re feeling, then you may as well put all that hard-earned self-knowledge to work. You’re no newbie when it comes to surviving in this kind of economy, and you may have had to reinvent yourself more than once over the last few years. Think of this as your chance to really be about it, to wake up and choose to face the next adventure.
That last part may grow to make more sense as the fall and winter roll out, eventually bringing a Mars Retrograde to your doorstep. When Mars enters Cancer on September 4, it begins laying down some of the plot points that will temporarily stall, challenge, and attempt to thwart you in a couple months’ time. There may be real enemies lying in wait, and then there are the unseen forces that occasionally try to drag you down. Usually the latter exists mainly in your own mind, and that then becomes the ultimate battlefield. Try not to succumb too easily to real or imagined sensations of victimhood or powerlessness, because so much of these next few months is going to be about summoning courage.
Other than that, September may find you in an especially social mood, and there may be lots of outings, group getaways, and block parties to attend, especially as Venus approaches a trine to Jupiter on September 15. You might be traveling to visit friends and family, or maybe finding yourself in the midst of a local festival somewhere new. Some of those relationships may be ripe for pruning though, or maybe just clarification around expectations. That will become even more important if the Pisces eclipse on September 17 pulls you into a new collaboration, investment, or pooling together of resources. There are new communal endeavors and potential crowdfunding avenues to explore as you reposition yourself this month, but getting clear on who’s with you (and for what reasons) will be equally important.
Virgo Rising
You’re feeling ready to reemerge again after a little bit of soul-searching, but what comes next isn’t entirely up to you. Moving into the future with slightly less of your old baggage to encumber you also frees you to take a chance on someone new, accept some of the invitations being extended your way, and lean into the momentum that a key partnership is offering to you now.
The New Moon in Virgo on September 2 is a chance to catch your breath, come back to center, and cross a subtle tipping point into this next wave of becoming. There are probably things that are no longer true for you, and this is as good a time as any to acknowledge where you’re at right now and plant some new seeds you’d like to water over the coming months. You might feel a bit challenged, judged, or discouraged when the Sun opposes Saturn on September 8, but sometimes seeing a harsh reflection of yourself is clarifying in all the necessary ways, whether or not it’s “true” in an objective sense.
The pace of change quickens as you approach the Pisces eclipse on September 17, which kick starts a new relational journey for you that will probably involve a partnership taking on greater importance in your life, or an existing one going through an important growth process. More than anything, this is going to be about learning to trust the hand that’s reaching for yours. Partnerships can be romantic, platonic, or professional in scope, but one thing that’s true across the board is that you’ve been learning to stay with the discomfort that’s involved in creating enduring bonds. If it’s time to take a leap of faith now, remind yourself that there’s no such thing as feeling ready enough.
However these developments unfold for you, it seems like there might be professional growth opportunities involved, especially in the realm of getting to work with new people, onboard new clients, and enter into new contracts. That said, this could be a sort of pay to play scenario, or might require you to release an existing income stream in order to catch this new one. There are planets dancing with the South Node in your second house of income all month, and on the 15th, Venus forms an abundant trine with Jupiter in your professional sectors. This could also look like paring down your spending to the essentials for the time being, or making do with less in order to prioritize what’s actually valuable to you. If you’ve been weighing whether or not to take that trip you’ve been on the fence about, you might decide to save your coins for the more essential journey that you see down the line.
Libra Rising
You’ve been in an extended molting process for the past year and change, and right now, you’re getting ready to shed what’s left of the skin you’re no longer in. On the other side of all the pretense, there’s the version of you that’s no longer wasting so much energy trying to be agreeable, and you may no longer have anyone’s full approval but your own. There’s a point at which too much compromise compromises you back, and that’s part of the medicine you’ve been learning to swallow.
This last part might be kind of literal if you’ve been feeling more exhausted or under the weather lately. September is a month that may warrant taking extra measures to conserve your energy or protect your health, and actually, the lunar eclipse in Pisces on September 17 could catalyze some sort of health issue, or show you where potential lifestyle changes are needed. If you’ve been putting off that anti-inflammatory diet you know you should start, or starting a workout routine that can travel with you easily, eclipses have a way of speeding you to the “now or never” point.
You’ll probably also be making important work-related choices in September, and these could very well be connected to prioritizing the needs of your body. Mars enters your tenth house of career on September 4 and squares the lunar nodes on September 15, just days before the eclipse in your sixth house of work. Not to say you’re going to quit your job necessarily, but some form of severance could be in the cards: leaving the office to go fully remote, stepping down from a particular set of responsibilities, or disagreeing with your boss in a way that brings you past the point of no return. Don’t discount the possibility that you might simply choose to lean into your newfound willingness to be controversial in a way that brings you closer to the kind of work you really want to do.
In the swirl of all this transition, you’ll be feeling more like yourself, and more vitalized the more dead weight you manage to drop. Venus spends most of the month in Libra, empowering you to act as arbiter and justice-bringer in the decisions you’ll be making. Venus also trines Jupiter on September 15, so you’ll probably be in a fun-seeking or celebratory mood as you’re on your way out the door, or finding lots of enjoyment in connecting with people from other cultures, talking politics or philosophy into the wee hours of the night.
Scorpio Rising
You’re probably not going to feel like you’re on top of the world this September, but it could be a month that clarifies the principles worth defending and the people worth trusting in your life. A big part of this is going to involve seeing who really has your back at the end of the day, up to and including the ways you abandon and sabotage yourself out of an unacknowledged need to feel accepted. And another part is going to involve the new battlegrounds you’re entering, the new quests you’re taking on, and how you’re going to handle situations where you don’t have your sharpest sword in your arsenal (read: don’t feel completely in control).
Your ruling planet, Mars, enters your ninth house of travel, education, and beliefs on September 4. It will stay here for two months and eventually return in the winter when Mars is retrograde, so in some ways, this is a time of scene-setting for a later dilemma. You might be racking up more frequent flier miles than usual or in a process of strategizing for future travel, but those plans might be thwarted or rendered obsolete for reasons you can’t totally foresee now. You might be entering into a legal battle that will drag on for longer than you think, or perhaps fighting a different principled fight that may cause you to rethink some of your professional ambitions. What these scenarios may share in common is a sense that you’re somehow at a disadvantage, or not fighting a fair fight. Everyone knows the visiting team has a steeper path to victory, and you might be feeling the discouragement that occasionally comes with being a stranger in a foreign land.
Mars squares the lunar nodes on September 15, and a lunar eclipse in Pisces follows closely after on the 17th. Mid-month brings you across a threshold of decision-making and choosing your battles, perhaps as the result of a new passion project or creative endeavor you’re taking on, or maybe in response to something going on with one of your children. This is an area of your life that will likely become a bigger priority over the next year, and you’ll want to give it plenty of space to flourish. What choices will you have to make now in order to follow that lead?
In the background of all this commotion, you’ll probably be reckoning with some of your own blind spots and the hidden traps you’ve created for yourself, and yes, potentially seeing who is actually a detractor in your life. At the very least, it will be an effective time to process things and release what isn’t serving you.
Sagittarius Rising
The tension between “who you’ve been” and “who you’re going to become” is loud right now, but don’t assume there’s no buried treasure to be found in your past. In the midst of some light professional redirection and a feeling of being under greater scrutiny than usual, reclaiming parts of your history and family lore might bring you closer to your most authentic mission statement.
Mercury spends the month retracing its steps from August’s retrograde, which might find you quite literally rerouting a trip you’re on or course-correcting in your educational or spiritual path. Mercury’s square to Uranus on September 7 could make for an interesting and unexpected detour, whether that means adding an extra pitstop along the way or going on a philosophical tangent. However, your mood may feel somewhat somber as the Sun approaches an opposition to Saturn on September 8, or more self-critical. Feelings of impostor syndrome could sneak up on you, or questions around how you measure up against the standards and expectations of your family.
You will have a chance to fix or tweak the parts of your resume that are bothering you after Mercury reenters Virgo on September 9, but the big event this month is the lunar eclipse in Pisces on the 17th. Big new initiations are taking you on a new journey around home and family, perhaps inspiring you to move to a city you feel destined to live in or answer the call to be “closer to home” in some way. You might be uncovering stories from your past that were previously hidden, or getting a more complete picture of your family tree. If you’re partnered, matters surrounding your in-laws could take on greater importance, or maybe questions of establishing a home together.
These events might also play into the more career-related adjustments you’re making this month—if you’re low on inspiration or feeling adrift at sea, what sorts of untapped reservoirs can your ancestry provide you? Incorporating traditions from your heritage into your work might be the missing ingredient you need to feel more connected to what you’re bringing into the world.
Capricorn Rising
Now entering: the final boss round of “becoming the final boss” in your own simulation. Since 2008, Pluto’s long transit through Capricorn changed you into someone who is not to be messed with (or underestimated). But you probably only became more comfortable with your power after life forced you to take back control. Well, Pluto reenters Capricorn on September 1, and this is its short farewell tour before it moves on for good in November. These next couple of months might feel like a final exam, or an opportunity to meet a high-stakes challenge with all your amassed wisdom in tow.
With Mars entering your seventh house of significant others and adversaries on September 4, this is shaping up to be quite the literal and figurative final battleground. Other people might test you, whether they’re intentionally stirring for a fight or getting snippy and defensive instead of communicating with you directly. This is actually just the prelude to this winter’s Mars Retrograde—the last time Mars was retrograde here was in late 2007, before your Plutonian initiation began. Think of this as a sort of redo, an opportunity to engage in a similar type of conflict without prematurely collapsing or giving your power away.
You may also be taking additional steps this month in the direction of “becoming more comfortable with disappointing others who are depending on you to play a role.” You may have stepped back from certain career responsibilities and ambitions over the last year or so, and now, as various planets in Libra pass through the South Node once more, you’ll be undoing more knots you twisted yourself into trying to live up to other people’s expectations. There are potentially new opportunities coming your way mid-month that you’ll want to free up space to grab as Venus trines Jupiter in your work houses on September 15 and a lunar eclipse in Pisces hands you new writing assignments, content ideas, and opportunities for short-distance travel around September 17.
If last month’s chaos messed with some of your existing travel plans, you’ll also be in better shape to get your house back in order as Mercury retraces its steps in Virgo between September 9 and 26. This is a mostly more efficient time to handle travel logistics, book reservations, and be in transit if that’s what you’ve got planned this month.
Aquarius Rising
Travel has been an important site of self-discovery for you over the last year, and the long-distance connections you made along the way have likely figured into that in some way. It’s not so much that you’ve been exploring untouched horizons, though—more that you’ve been unlearning a lot of what you thought you knew about the world, and maybe a lot of what you once learned in school. Even if you’ve had to sacrifice some jet-setting in order to honor your budget, you’ve probably had to change the way you relate to others, particularly when there are cultural and political differences involved.
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September brings you through another gateway in this process, one where your outlook on travel and your philosophical orientation toward the world might look slightly different on the other side. With Venus transiting through your ninth house of long journeys for most of the month, it’s possible some of these transitions will happen while you’re enjoying yourself abroad or making friends from other parts of the world. When Venus conjoins the South Node on September 3, you might agree to disagree with someone, or let go of some of your social expectations in order to accept a dance with different rules.
If you can stay present and remain available to the experience you’re actually having (and not the one you thought you’d have), you might be in for a pretty fun time. Venus eventually goes on to form a celebratory trine with Jupiter on September 15, which is an omen of festivities and possibly even romantic getaways.
There are other things stirring behind the scenes this month though: Mars enters your sixth house of work on September 4, and a lunar eclipse in Pisces on September 17 beckons with new financial opportunities. You will probably be in hustle mode this month as you endeavor to secure the bag, or potentially be putting various aspects of your current work on the chopping block. As tempting as it may be to fiercely protect the things you worked so hard to build, it’s likely that cutting ties with an employer or discontinuing some of your current services will be necessary in order to receive the opportunities that are coming your way now.
Pisces Rising
Freeing yourself from various debts and obligations will free you to take a big leap into the next chapter of your life. As you gear up for the first of a series of eclipses in your rising sign this month, you’ll also be working out a few remaining kinks in the realm of “who still owes who,” “how do we unyoke ourselves from a bad deal that’s not mutually beneficial,” and “how are these lingering dregs of grief keeping me from moving on out of a misplaced sense of loyalty.” But if status quo is what you’re sick of, then fear not. The lunar eclipse in Pisces on September 17 gets the most stagnant waters to flow again, and you’ll soon be riding a new wave of opportunity, inspiration, and momentum.
Whether that looks like “feeling pregnant with plans and ideas after a long dry spell” or actually going through with significant new beginnings in September, it’s important to trust your instincts right now, even if you can’t see how all of this is going to unfold yet. Doubt and skepticism can be healthy in small doses, but you’ve probably had more than your fill of that already. Look for people who pop up in your sphere and illuminate the ways you’ve been unnecessarily hard on yourself or self-limiting in your beliefs, especially around the Sun-Saturn opposition on September 8.
Some of the new storylines beginning now might involve a new labor of love, hobby, or project you’ll be taking up in September—but maybe one you’ll need to be sufficiently emotionally invested in to drum up the necessary motivation. Notice where your enthusiasm naturally flows, because you might end up having to quit certain pastimes later this winter if there’s conflict where there should be ease. If you have children (or work closely with young ones), they could also start acting out more than usual this month. Handling their unruly behavior might feel like waging a war that has no rules, and unfortunately one that might drag on for months. Try not to feel discouraged if your current approach isn’t working. There will be opportunities, and maybe even a necessity, to change your tactics later.
Venus also enters Scorpio, your ninth house of travel, on September 22. Late September and October look like nice times for you to visit new places, despite the potential chaos of eclipse season in the second half of September. Sometimes, the call to adventure is the entire point; sometimes, it’s just good to get away for a week. But, as the saying goes, wherever you are, there you’ll be. You will probably be moving through significant changes regardless. Hopefully travel can serve as a clarification, not a distraction.
Enjoyed your September 2024 horoscope? Look back on August to see how things lined up.
Originally Appeared on Condé Nast Traveler
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