Oct 2019
A Respectful Funeral
Now is the time to get on Pluto’s good side.
The Sun doesn’t enter Scorpio (Pluto’s sign) until Oct 23rd , but the month opens with a Pluto station and a Venus-Pluto square. The day after that, Mercury goes into Scorpio, as does Venus the following week.
These introduce a time of invisible fertility, like the kind that takes place below the surface of a garden.
We can enhance the process by carefully putting to rest whatever is dying.
Drama
Be on the lookout for stirrings between the lines in relationships, whether personal (e.g. erotic tension) or impersonal (e.g. quiet manipulations in the workplace).
Emotional, political or intellectual drama is possible at the square on Oct 1st and the station on the 2nd, setting the tone for the month. A general psychological intensity will be in the background throughout Venus’ tenure in Scorpio (10/8-11/1).
Dominance-submission dynamics may be involved, even in situations that would seem to have no reason for them. (For a detailed discussion of Pluto’s function, see this webinar. This one looks at how to deal with important Pluto transits).
Between the lines
Mercury’s tenure in Scorpio is especially long this year, extended until Dec 9th by a retrograde station on Halloween.
Communications of all kinds are complicated with subtext. What we think we’re saying is probably not the same as what our vibes are saying.
Power plays are not the optimal use of this energy, but we may default into them if we stonewall Pluto’s true motive: to break down situations that have decay in them.
It does this so that a makeover of some kind can take place. Even relationships need to be deconstructed every once in a while.
Elimination
The decay in question could be physical – as when we strip ugly linoleum off a floor, in order to reveal the lovely old wood underneath. Or it could be psychic, as when family secrets are unburied.
Something wants to see the light of day, in order to make your life more alive. In order for this to happen, obsolete patterns have to die.
Look at the houses these transits are happening in, and consider what needs to be eliminated. When you find it, give it a respectful funeral.
Purposeful delay
As the month is ending, Mars in Libra squares Saturn in Capricorn. If you have natal planets in the middle degrees of a cardinal sign (Aries, Cancer, Libra or Cap), you’ll feel the square especially intensely.
But all of us are likely to feel its pinch. Two very different energies are colliding here.
Mars in Libra wants to strike a balance between extremes. This impulse often plays out in relationships, not necessarily personal ones. The urge is to accommodate antagonistic forces through moderation or negotiation.
Meanwhile, Saturn in Capricorn wants to restrain forward movement. External circumstances may arise that halt the action. Or somebody might purposefully put on the brakes.
This transit is notorious for frustration, because Mars’s desire for immediate gratification clashes with Saturn’s 
commitment to the long haul. But their square enhances the productivity of whatever you’re working on, once you figure out what needs postponement or constraint.
Use the stoppage to work out a better plan.