September 2018 Queer Horoscopes: You Already Know How to Clean Up Your Retrograde Messes


Alright cuties, take a collective breath in with me… and now let it out. You survived the chaotic summer with all the retrograde planets and eclipses it could hurl at you. We’re in Virgo season now, Mercury and Mars are both humming merrily forward, and we won’t see another eclipse till January. This means you have some time, now, to sort through the major transitions and transformations of the last few months. Has your world turned upside down? Have you felt every high peak and low dip of the rollercoaster of the heart? Where have you landed? What’s the scenery like where you are now? Virgo season is a beautiful time to start dealing with the reality of the here-and-now. Don’t worry so much about where you’re trying to end up; you’ll get there through the choices you’re making in your daily life. Think of the huge effects small changes can make. Get cozy with the part of you that knows how to sort out at least some of these messes, if you give yourself the time and space to really think clearly. Just resist the shadow side of Virgo, which can manifest as a frantic urgency to fix EVERYTHING, with no particular plan of where to begin. Focus on small tasks; let your larger vision rest up a bit.

This month also brings us the last of the year’s supportive encounters between Jupiter and Pluto. You may find yourself revisiting themes from January and April of this year, or at least deepening into the journey you’ve been on to have faith during this year of tumult and upheaval. In April, I reminded y’all to trust your capacity to change and to have a changed life. As Jupiter — planet of hope, faith, and abundance — touches Pluto, planet of deep transformation and seeing what’s hidden, we begin to see the light that’s there even on the darkest night. We begin to feel our way home — toward a different home than we’ve ever known, but one we recognize nonetheless. In all your relationships, this means making peace with a certain level of uncertainty. In so doing, you’ll begin to see the larger patterns — what has ended, what is being born — that will keep you from getting too stuck in old ways that don’t serve you anymore. Let this process be slow, gentle, and loving. Let yourself be curious and brave. Believe that there are better experiences of love available than you have yet explored. Have faith that you will be fine waiting for what you deserve, that you don’t have to settle for anything less. If you like, you can review how far you’ve come since January of this year. What patterns have you ended? What new relationships have blossomed? What draining relationships have you set boundaries in? This isn’t a month to do more of this hard work, more a time to sink into that feeling of support that is always there when you reach out for it — whether that comes from friends, from family, or even from your connection to the Earth and gravity.

Find me for readings this month if you want some personalized insights about all that is the unique and beautiful about your course in life, with some extra focus on how this last Jupiter-Pluto encounter is playing out in your chart. As always, for these horoscopes read your Venus and Moon signs first, followed by your Sun and rising. Use these for what they can give you, and discard anything you don’t need. Enjoy some sweetness and slowness this month, and rest your brave hearts a little!

Aries

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Here’s the thing about heartbreak—when you move through the pain of it, you also find yourself moving back into integrity. Some part of you that got bent or stretched a little farther than it should go—for the sake of connection, with the best of intentions—gets to spring back. This month, you are finding the right shape again (which may be an entirely different one than you’ve ever had). Whether your most recent heartbreak was in the distant past or just yesterday, this month calls on your powers to pull back all those twisted and bruised tendrils to let them heal.

Relax into: Letting transformation be your friend and best ally. Letting your emotional vulnerability teach you and others. Giving whatever demons you’ve slayed this year proper burials.


Taurus

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All in all, this is a beautiful month for celebrating the really strong love you’ve got in your life. Whoever you find this with—romantic or platonic, human or animal or plant—is someone you’ve invested a large part of yourself into, as they have into you. There is a mutuality in love that you’re learning to trust right now, that can help reassure any fears you may have about abandonment and change. If you’re in any newer relationships, this is an especially helpful time to stabilize into them. Express your gratitude; enjoy your intimacies. Let your worries wait for another day.

Relax into: Knowing you’ve chosen wisely. Trusting your intimacies with those who may be newer or more unlike you. Trusting that commitments are intentions, not traps.


Gemini

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There’s something about the way we adorn ourselves for each other that I want to talk to you about—the haircuts we get to signal to each other, the clothes, the genderfucking makeup and accessorizing—all these careful details we compile to present ourselves to one another as desirable, mysterious, familiar, dangerous, comforting. There is a way you’re being invited to play in this terrain right now, but less to flag for others and more for the purposes of your own inner transformation. What would it be like to dress yourself for the person you will be when you step into your full power, your absolute beauty, your purest heart? How would you want to be adorned for that transformation? This is a month of cherishing and celebrating what is beautiful and powerful in your desire nature, however that best works for you.

Relax into: The healing and restorative power of your own erotic nature. Your complexity, your contradictory impulses, your unique desires. How beautiful it is to get to want something, or someone, deeply.


Cancer

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The constant changes of the last few months have you a little more wound up than you’d like to be, but this is a time to release those clenched muscles and let out whatever feelings have been hovering around, wanting to spill out. Remember that change itself is not a crisis, but that changes can cue our nervous system to go into high alert. Even positive stress (like weddings, graduations, buying a home) is stress! This month, let yourself slow down and deeply release that stress so that you can reconnect with what is beautiful in these moments. Consciously choose to focus on pleasure whenever you can. And when you can’t? Forgive yourself and come back to it later.

Relax into: Pleasure, joy, and playfulness. Choosing the lightness rather than the heaviness. Clear-eyed appreciation for the small beauties that keep you happy to be in a body.


Leo

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Though this month may require some minor adjustments from you, this energy is primarily one of stabilizing and slowing down. You’ve been burning brightly for some time now, and while that’s one of your favorite things to do, it’s also time to shift from the brightest flames to the warm red glow of embers — the kind of fire that can give warmth all night. You require some tending right now, and it’s okay to ask for it. Let yourself relax into the relationships that hold you when you’re done doing something big.

Relax into: What feeds you on a profound level. The friends and lovers who tend to you when you’re too stressed or sad to care for yourself. The deep love you feel for yourself when you let yourself be cared for.


Virgo

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There is some kind of truth bubbling up out of you that demands to be heard right now. Don’t settle down, don’t simmer down, and don’t deny what you now understand as true. This month brings a bright spotlight onto parts of your life that have been in the dark, and you’ll really relish the calm that comes from having this much clarity of vision. Don’t feel you need to take on new responsibilities, but do trust that what you’re learning right now is ready to be spoken and shared. In choosing to see and speak these truths, you get to honor all that is still complex, unformed, and contradictory in them. This isn’t about being pedantic or self-righteous, it’s about joy in discovery. Let yourself claim all of your parts, let yourself share all of your wisdom.

Relax into: All the creative visions and voices that come through you. Being center stage. Being a work-in-progress who is also absolutely perfect in this moment. Choosing this life, this body, this identity in all its complexity.


Libra

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There’s a lot in your life that’s still unknown and and unseen, and this summer may have felt like trying to build a sand castle during a windstorm. So much you’ve been trying to hold has been shifting, slipping, and morphing into different shapes. The past is still very close to you, but this month offers some healing for any family wounds you’re still carrying close to your heart. Better yet, as the winds of change die down a little, you’re finally able to start building the kind of security you’ve been looking for. It may not look settled or secure yet, but trust that the foundations are strong.

Relax into: The healing that’s already occurred in your relationship to home and family. The sweetness you’ve gathered close to you. The routines and rituals of your daily life and your seasonal life. Rooting down.


Scorpio

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This month has the potential to be one of the sweetest of your whole year. You’re more likely to come out of your shell and show the world some of your sparkly, magical allure — and the world will definitely respond. Trust that when the spirit moves you, you’ll be able to find those sweet connections that make the risk of rejection (or boredom, or drama, or heartbreak) worth it. You know yourself better than you ever have — treat yourself to what’s really good for you.

Relax into: What brings you the clearest happiness. The kinds of relationships that inspire trust, and give you resilience. The self-knowledge you’ve earned over this past year.


Sagittarius

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This month brings you good surprises — less like major upheaval and more like presents left under your pillow or love notes from secret admirers. Part of what’s being offered is a chance to really trust that you’ll have the resources you need to grow into your next phase of life — whether what you’re worrying about is lack of money or community or romance, trust that there are forces behind the scenes right now that are conspiring to help you get where you need to go.

Relax into: Your secret sources of strength. Trusting the future will provide. Hidden sources of help and sudden opportunities for connection. Not needing to know what’s coming next.


Capricorn

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I’m going to say this a few times because you might not believe it the first time: You are not alone. You are not alone. There are times it has felt like you’re the only one carrying an incredible weight, or the only one tracking the longterm consequences of everyone’s actions, or the only one with the maturity to make hard choices in your relationships. This month, part of the healing available to you is a reconnection to your own tender, younger heart—that part of you that has never needed to be strong and reliable. Having compassion for this part of yourself will help you feel how connected you are to your entire world. Trust that you’re not in this alone.

Relax into: Innocence and sincerity. Compassion. Our capacity to work together for a better world—knowing you’re not the only one, you’re not alone in the struggle.


Aquarius

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You’re coming up from the depths of some difficult internal times, but you’re not quite out of them yet. Take a breather! There’s no need to rush when you’re still unsure of the way forward. Have a picnic, survey the terrain, and let your imagination (rather than your anxieties) guide you. This is a quiet month for you; honor your need to turn inward, to be slow and intentional, and to only invite in those friends and well-wishers who won’t try to distract you from your own processes of learning and discovery.

Relax into: Not needing to impress anyone right now, least of all yourself. The natural ebbs and flows of your energy and inspiration. Letting mystery, imagination, and curiosity lead you where they will.


Pisces

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It can be hard sometimes to see the bigger picture and how you fit into it. This is a month for tending to the edges of your world, though, for calling in all the straying and lost sheep wandering around the edge of the flock and making sure everyone’s got a home to go to. It may help to remember yourself as one of many nodes of love, bumping against each other and increasing each other’s capacity to feel alive, held, and joyous. This can be as easy as smiling at someone. This can be as complex an act as forgiving an ex-partner or difficult parent. Find the level that works for you right now, and shine your light where you see the need for it.

Relax into: A sense of love as abundant and immediate. Feeling deeply connected to a network of love. Love as a slow, subtle, but constant healing force in our fractured communities.

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Corina Dross

Corina Dross is an astrologer, artist, and writer who spends as much time as possible in libraries or under trees. They offer astrological consultations, intuitive guidance, and creative coaching to clients worldwide. Corina is also one-half of a sibling art collaboration, Abacus Corvus. You can learn about their current work and offerings at www.flaxandgold.com.

Corina has written 102 articles for us.

10 Comments

  1. I just read Stacy’s horoscope to her (Aries) and she said, “Hmm, I haven’t had a heartbreak since — oh my god, is Hillary going to be president for real?!”

  2. You really write the kindest most affirmative horoscopes, Corina.

    This summer was so tumultuously transformative, and oh my goodness I can’t even begin to say how very touching and true your entire intro felt.

    I am relaxing into creating my new home and yes, it is so very much a process of learning to build myself, both my boundaries and my expressiveness.

    “Let yourself be curious and brave. Believe that there are better experiences of love available than you have yet explored. Have faith that you will be fine waiting for what you deserve, that you don’t have to settle for anything less.”

    This brought tears to my eyes ~ and those better experiences of love begin with that love for my own self.

    Thank you ~

  3. I loved my horoscope this month! It really gives me a newfound persepective on my life right now.

  4. It’s good to know Pluto is still getting some planet love here.

    There are still nine planets in my queer heart.

  5. These are all particularly apt and helpful this month! V excited to keep getting deeper and learning more.

  6. I love these, they help me so much every month and this one especially did thank you so much!! (Like I’ve been worried about money and just got some good news!!)

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