Autumnal Equinox 2025
Lady Justice giving Libra vibes
The Autumnal Equinox 2025 occurs on Monday, September 22, 2025, at 1:19 pm CST. In Western Tropical Astrology, Libra season begins at the Autumnal Equinox, when the Sun has seemingly descended back to the equator from its northernmost position at the Tropic of Cancer at the time of the Summer Solstice. Spoiler alert! It’s actually the Earth’s tilting motion that causes the Sun to appear to move north and south and back north and then south again in the sky throughout the seasons. At both the Vernal Equinox (which ushers in Aries season) and the Autumnal Equinox (which ushers in Libra season) we have a period of time of roughly equal day and night due to the Earth’s positioning on its axis. Pretty cool, hunh? At the Autumnal Equinox we’re also heading into the darker half of the year, where the daylight hours will grow shorter than the nighttime hours until the return of the light at Capricorn season on the Winter Solstice, when the daylight slowly starts to increase, until they are roughly equal again at the Vernal Equinox. The Autumnal Equinox is also the time that Persephone leaves her mother Demeter and returns to her husband Hades and her role as Queen of the Underworld in Greek mythology, marking the end of the growing season on Earth. Persephone returns to her mother Demeter again at the Vernal Equinox, at which time Demeter allows the Earth to become fertile once again. To honor our Earth’s balance of day and night at the Autumnal Equinox and the entrance into the more fallow time of the year, we can use the quality of time to attempt to slow down and bring balance into our own lives during this season. It seems it’s always a good time for that, though. Or is that just me?
The astrology of this year’s Autumnal Equinox is very like the energy we just experienced at the Virgo new Moon/Solar Eclipse since they occur less than 24 hours apart, so I won’t repeat what I’ve just covered in that post. Some key differences stand out once we focus in on the faster moving planetary rulers. Virgo-ruler Mercury has continued on, separating from the kite formation, and in their place is the Sun at 00°00” Libra, forming another Air Grand Trine, and a larger kite formation with Pluto in Aquarius at 01°28’, Neptune in Aries at 00°46’ and Uranus in Gemini at 01°20’. This means that now it is the Sun in Libra activating that same small talent triangle, and the Sun is now opposite Neptune in Aries. What does that mean for us? How can we take any insights we may have acquired from trickstery Mercury during the eclipse and use those to purposely create a more balanced and harmonious life for ourselves and those around us? With the energy of Libra, we have Cardinal Air - an initiatory energy, a proactive impulse toward bringing beauty and harmony into the world. If we conjure up the image of Lady Justice (provided above), we see that she is blindfolded and carrying a scales, but more importantly, she also carries the sword of discernment/enforcement. This image I liken to Libra - it’s not only the impartial weighing of options, it is also enforcing the changes that need to be made to bring harmony and beauty into the world. This enforcement may be done in a way that is maneuvering and charming, so that we may not even notice the possible ouchy swordiness of the enforcement. How can we purposely and creatively use our own figurative swords of enforcement to create more balance and harmony in our lives?
Other energies present in this Autumnal Equinox chart are not one, not two, but THREE yod formations, all three involving Neptune. One yod has Neptune at 00°46’ Aries as the apex planet and Mars at 00°17’ Scorpio and Venus at 03°57’ Virgo as the base. One yod has Venus in Virgo as the apex planet, and Pluto in Aquarius and Neptune in Aries as the base, and the third yod has Mars in Scorpio as the apex planet and Neptune in Aries and Uranus in Gemini as the base. Phew!
As Karen Hamaker-Zondag teaches us, the energy of the yod is restless - the planets influence each other in irritating ways, as they are all in different elements (Fire, Earth, Air or Water) and modalities (Cardinal, Fixed or Mutable), and they don’t fully comprehend one another’s expression of the planetary energies. However, if we as humans learn to handle the discrepant energies, accept the inevitable unrest in ourselves and in the world, remain flexible (even when things go wrong, as things going wrong can sometimes be a blessing in disguise), and be courageous enough to live our own lives while keeping our minds open, there is tremendous creative potential in the energy of the yod. With Neptune so prevalent in all three yods, as well as in the kite formation, let’s allow our sixth sense to guide us in our endeavors, leaning in to Neptunian endeavors such as art, music, dreams, myth, symbols, and all non-ordinary states of consciousness. How about a hot bath and André 3000’s album New Blue Sun? 100% highly recommend. As always with the Neptunian energies, I feel the need to present the familiar warning related to the striving that is directed toward the spiritual realm, but is often confused with intoxicants - don’t take the lazy way via intoxicants into that oceanic realm of divine consciousness, where our individual selves are but momentarily separate drops. It’s not the same, even though it seems the same. It’s not. Sorry.
Venus rules Libra, and she is currently in the early degrees of Virgo, and is also present in two of the three yods, so why not lean into those Venusian energies as well? Connection, giving and receiving pleasure and comfort, beauty-making, artistic endeavors, adornment, and what we value are all in Venus’s wheelhouse. What about slowing down one weekend to organize and rearrange your living space to make it more balanced and beautiful, for yourself and for those who live with you? I’ve always thought that Fall Cleaning made more sense than Spring Cleaning - getting our spaces clean and cozy for the upcoming indoorsy Winter Season just feels more appropriate.
Venus in Virgo is sextile to Mars, who is newly in Scorpio (hence forming the base of one of the aforementioned yods), and is also square to Uranus in Gemini. With the sextile to Mars there may be an opportunity to somehow take some type of action relating to those things that we value, or perhaps start a new project to create something of beauty or comfort. The image I like best for Scorpio is associated with the Greek myth of the Labors of Heracles, the one about cleaning out the Augean stables, where he redirected the river’s flow to flush out the muck from the stables. Scorpio’s water energy is like that - the water that irrigates the wound to prevent infection - nothing else can clean so thoroughly or efficiently, but it’s likely gonna take some work and it’s definitely gonna sting a bit in the process. If we translate that idea to these current energies, maybe some deep cleaning of something in our lives is in order?
With the square to Uranus, there may be a sudden creative breakthrough, a liberating event, or a flash of insight. Maybe we will finally see the best way to arrange our living space, or we will unexpectedly come across that perfect piece that ties the room together. Or perhaps deep cleaning our windows will bring a new and unexpected light into our space, allowing us to see things literally in a new light. So many possibilities and ways to engage these energies during this time of the Autumnal Equinox.
Slowing down and bringing balance to our lives seems to be a worthwhile pursuit most days, but it’s worth utilizing this quality of time of equal light and dark at the beginning of the darker half of the year to lean into that attempt, knowing that we are supported by Mother Earth herself as our role model in this endeavor.
Happy Equinox! May your Autumn be a cozy one, full of beauty and connection.