October Is Calm & Courageous.

After last month's emotional whirlwind, which I hope for you was less drama and more transformation, we're all looking forward to a calmer future. October is bringing just that as some of the most "energetic" planets move into less volatile positions. Saturn is moving to quiet, thoughtful Pisces and Neptune is heading towards Aries at the end of the month.

So what does that mean for you? It means that October is a month of reflection on the changes that September ignited and is a chance to re-evaluate whatever relationship was brought under scrutiny last month. Remember when I said relationships would be the focus of September? I hope they were, in the most positive way.

Now that you've done some clean up and reorganizing on your relationship(s) it's time to do a little peacekeeping and inner focus work. As the sun transitions into Scorpio from the fair-minded Libra we're going to encounter some bumps. That's why, in these last few weeks of Libra we're going to need all the balance and calm we can get!

For now, reevaluate your inner motivations and hidden desires, even the needs you don't feel you deserve but still have. These are all valuable parts of YOU that need to be brought to the surface and encompassed to ensure you are a whole and healthy person. Obviously, the main goal is to square these points with the relationship that most recently got all your attention.

With these factors in mind I pulled a single random card: The Knight of Swords. This card feels so at odds with the calmness we're talking about. The knight's weapon is raised valiantly as he charges into battle, clearly rushing towards his opponent. How is this peaceful and inward looking? How can it possibly relate?

Well, the Knight of Swords represents a lot of traits of strength- tenacity, stubbornness, daring, skill, bravery, and courage. It can also represent wrath, anger, war, and conflict. People *need* an almost supernatural strength when heading into conflict. I'm talking about the strength to stay calm in stressful times, the strength to fight for what you know is right, and the strength to face things that scare you.

Knight Of Swords

Touching on the first topic, that of inspecting your hidden motivations and desires, you can see how helpful the Knight of Swords will be to you. It's difficult to confront the parts of ourselves we keep hidden. We keep them hidden for a reason! We consider them ugly, undesirable, embarrassing, or abnormal. We want to be perceived in the best possible way and being as bland and inoffensive as we can is often a great way to avoid making waves or drawing attention to ourselves.

You deserve to have your whole self recognized and actualized. If you keep these parts of yourself hidden, even from your own consciousness, you'll never be fulfilled. Your relationships, which you worked so hard on last month, will never be quite the rewarding relationship you want or deserve. How can it be when your partner (romantic, platonic, business or otherwise) only sees a fraction of yourself? They are making all their decisions based on that small amount of information.

The truth is when it comes to confronting some of these touchier aspects of our personalities we need courage to face them head on, strength to accept them for what they are, and stubbornness to insist that all of ourselves are worthy of honor and love.

The Knight of Swords is ideal to help strengthen your backbone and your resolve. He is almost heedless as he rushes towards the things that he's combating. In many ways you'll need to be just as driven in order to make progress. You will face resistance, mostly from yourself. Be strong and courageous. You will face judgment. mostly from yourself. Be stubborn and insistent. You will face big conflicts, mostly from yourself. Be brave and focused.

October is about facing the war within your psyche. The war that has you doing what you've always done and getting what you've always gotten on one side and on the other side your desire to have better relationships even if it's painful to get there.

Ultimately, October is inviting you to go on an internal journey to find what YOU really want and need out of your relationships. Libra is giving you space to become familiar with those parts of yourself and prepare to address them. Scorpio is coming at the end of the month and that is when passions ignite. Use this time to prepare and let the Knight of Swords be your guide.

I wish you great insight and validation!