Your October 2024 Horoscope: Travel Will Reveal Big Truths About Your Friendships

Lin Chen

Meet your astrologer

Steph Koyfman is a writer and astrologer best known for her work as Lady Cazimi. She writes the monthly horoscope for Condé Nast Traveler's Women Who Travel.

Your October 2024 horoscope reflects astrology that brings us into a more confrontational headspace than is desirable—but it could provide the truth serum you need. Embracing disagreement doesn’t only show us where the fault lines are, but also where we’ve avoided conflict in the past because it didn’t feel safe. Still, it won’t be easy to be direct this month. It will be simpler to make a mess of things because of how we react to triggers, and much more complicated to work through the resulting knots with patience and equanimity. At the very least, walking into the next few weeks with the expectation that you’ll be digging into some uncomfortable spots might help you resist the process less, and also see your own avoidance mechanisms for what they are.

Even if your travel plans are waiting to whisk you away in what appears to be a chariot of sweet escape, there are times when life demands to be looked at. “Wherever you go, there you’ll be” might be an appropriate mantra to keep in your Notes app this month. This could be a powerful time to go on a spiritual retreat or another kind of adventure that’s explicitly for soul-searching, but don’t expect the truth you’re seeking to come in a pretty package. If anything, personality clashes will be the medium the message comes in. Even the things you learn on your walking tour or museum trip could have a bitter aftertaste, especially if you’re eager to get to know the difficult histories of the places you’re visiting.

October begins with a solar eclipse in Libra on the 2nd, which encourages us to let go of superficial social ties and relationships that can’t pass the smell test. September’s Pisces eclipse activated new stories for many of us, and this final Libra eclipse might be about cutting any remaining cords that are keeping you from answering that call. On October 11, Pluto stations direct, digging the last dregs out of a sandbox we’ve been excavating for the last 16 years. What rises to the surface this month will be hard to look at, but it will be a relief to have it all out in the open. And though the eclipses will be over by then, the October 17 Full Moon in Aries doesn’t have a ton of chill either. Conflict can intensify under these skies, but so can facing the hard things with courage. It might be easier to find pockets of levity in the second half of the month if you need a break from the intensity, but try not to come up for air for too long if you can help it. The deep end is where it gets real—and potentially better on the other side.

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

This is a potent month of redirection for you, but it’s worth emphasizing that “potent” is not the closest synonym for “easy” or “gentle.” As you let certain attachments and relationship patterns exhaust their natural life cycle, you will also be sobering up to the full extent of your impact in the world (and how you’re implicated in systems you may not necessarily agree with). Taking responsibility for your role in the ecosystem will ultimately put you in touch with your deepest sense of power. But if you have to upset an apple cart or two on your way to getting there, consider it the price of no longer living in denial.

On October 2, the solar eclipse in Libra flushes away stale connections and outdated ways of relating to others. There may be literal or metaphorical contracts that need to go in the shredder, and maybe some professional or personal relationships that are either ready to run their course or evolve into something new.

Moving forward with less baggage to encumber you (and fewer agreements to be beholden to) will let you go through with whatever needs to happen next. With Pluto stationing direct in your tenth house of career and public roles this month (exact on October 11), you won’t be able to hide from how your service to the world is demanding you show up, or the necessity of owning the good, the bad, and the ugly of your legacy. The Aries Full Moon on October 17 will likely bring this inflection point to a head and ask you to make a choice about how to move forward: whether to stay or go and how to make peace with your own history as you’re sizing up the magnitude of your own potential.

Though your mind may be closer to home this month, you can still benefit from the fresh perspectives and uplifting meet-cutes travel can offer you, especially after Venus enters Sagittarius on October 17. However, early November might be a bit more free-spirited and freewheeling for you in terms of adventure. Venus will be approaching a square to Saturn until October 28, which may inhibit your openness to connection and pleasure in unfamiliar places. Some soft boundaries may be necessary to protect your mind and heart while you’re processing these big considerations.

Taurus Rising

In the process of finding your people and embracing the bigger goals you share with your allies, it has also been necessary to let the band break up, so to speak. As the solar eclipse in Libra surges through your sixth house of teams, jobs, and health on October 2, an important project or collaboration might run its course in order to put you on a new track with work. Though this might mean you’ll be spending less time with some of your favorite coworkers (or potentially releasing another aspect of your previous work/life balance), you’ll need to remain light on your feet schedule-wise if you’re going to scoop up some of the new opportunities coming your way now.

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Could this finally be your chance to break into a new remote work arrangement that will enable you to do the kind of travel you want to do? Will taking on that assignment involve more business trips or a closer working relationship with people in other time zones? Whatever shape this is taking for you, assume that your level of engagement with the wider world will be demanding something big from you this month: not just the ways you physically move through it, but also how you think about it, politicize it, and learn about it. Pluto stations direct on October 11, but its revealing influence will be felt all month. Think of this as a high-stakes final exam for a school you’ve attended since 2008. How have you become more worldly and knowledgeable since then, perhaps because of the topics you weren’t “supposed” to engage with or the teachers who didn’t want to be challenged?

Your ruling planet, Venus, spends much of October moving through your relationship sector, and a lot of this month’s events might fundamentally be bids for connection that are disguised as other things (ambition, obligation, business as usual). It might be less straightforward to name this if you’re feeling more self-protective than usual, or unable to trust others without some skepticism. Around October 14 and 15, surprise yourself by saying “yes” to an invitation or letting yourself relate to someone you didn’t initially think you had much in common with.

Gemini Rising

It’s been a big summer for your personal and professional growth, and right now, you can feel yourself getting ready to pivot. Jupiter is slowing down to station retrograde in your rising sign on October 9, but this turning point is likely one you’ve been approaching for weeks now. Whether you’re changing direction or merely slowing to reassess your progress, remind yourself that pauses are not empty, and that life does not happen on an unbroken upward trajectory. Learning from recent failures is actually one of the best uses of your energy right now. As storms come and go and trade winds start blowing in from new directions, you’ll need to adjust your sails to align yourself with the current. There’s a good chance this won’t feel like a setback at all—more like a left or right turn to catch an opportunity that September’s eclipse dropped in your lap.

There’s another eclipse this month on October 2, which will redirect you around your creative direction, how you fill your free time, and possibly matters concerning children. This is the final twist in a story that’s taken you about a year to fully figure out, and at the end of the day, you can’t pour your heart into things that aren’t contributing to a genuine sense of fulfillment for you (or connecting you to folks you don’t feel aligned with). Maybe you’ve stepped away from a beloved pastime because you’re just not feeling it anymore, maybe your social life looks different now, maybe you don’t have much of a social life at all at the moment because you’re a new parent. Maybe you’ve gained a bit of a following lately, and maybe your art has evolved in leaps and bounds as it reached new audiences. The Aries full moon on October 17 may drag in some controversy related to a community you’re part of, or how your work is received. Staying true to yourself could cost you some fairweather friends, but that’s probably not a bad thing.

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Mercury’s trine to Jupiter on October 8 affirms your new direction and helps you move forward in a way you can feel good about. The first week of the month is also generally a good time to “plan your fun,” though you might have to account for some financial stress along the way and possibly go for a more budget-conscious itinerary. Use this time to plan future travel, research attractions and activities, and dream up your ideal long weekend escape.

Cancer Rising

The thing about answering the call to adventure is that it usually means leaving the known behind. Last month’s Pisces eclipse may have opened the door to more travel, more learning, and more spiritual growth, but before Odysessus set sail, he had to make peace with the possibility that he wouldn’t see home again for some time. You’ve already been in a process of exiting for the last year, and possibly dropping a ton of baggage you’ve been carrying on behalf of your family. As the final Libra eclipse purges the remaining basement clutter from your fourth house of roots on October 2, you, too, might be hanging up the “for sale” sign and letting the pieces fall where they may. If there are familial roles and versions of “home” you’ve been holding on to out of a misplaced sense of loyalty or guilt, this eclipse can help put an end to the people-pleasing that’s leaving you with a feeling of running on empty.

Your whole life might feel like it’s getting rearranged this month. Though the literal changes are likely to revolve around home and family, Pluto also spends the month stationing direct in your seventh house of partnerships, and the tense-looking Aries full moon on October 17 pops off in the public-facing part of your chart. There’s a chance your family’s dirty laundry could be hung out to dry, so to speak, but the more realistic scenario is that you’re making big moves that will spill over into virtually every area of your life. Even if that doesn’t involve literally starting your life over in a new place, you’ll have to rouse some sleeping dogs in your significant relationships and be willing to make some bold choices professionally. There are probably people in your life who won’t be happy with you, but authenticity might be a bigger priority right now than false harmony.

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Fun can still be on the menu this month, and romanticizing your life a good outlet for some of the intensity you’ll be feeling. Have you thought about turning some of this material into songs or poems? Venus will be in a bit of a mood during the first half of October, but you get to harness this spirit creatively. Be open to trying unexpected flavors and taking the scenic route around October 14 and 15. If you’re far from home, you might as well experiment with being someone else for a day or two.

Leo Rising

This month, it really is about who you know and who you choose to surround yourself with. “Choose” might be the operative word here, because your social universe has probably expanded since summer began. And even if the influx of new energy has been exciting and vitalizing, the solar eclipse on October 2 and Jupiter’s station retrograde on October 9 are landing in the parts of your chart concerned with friendship, and these influences are both about weeding out, or perhaps temporarily closing the doors to new members so you can make sense of who’s already at your party.

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The Libra South Node eclipses have been pinging your third house of close friends and siblings for a year now, and you may have had to honor the clock running out on some old kinships. It hurts to realize that some relationships are only being held together by your one-sided bids for connection, but at this stage in your life, reciprocity is more important. Luckily, some new friendships have come along to rekindle your faith in community since May. But now is not the time to let your discernment slip—if anything, the lessons of the last year have made you more socially savvy about the kinds of connections you’d like to water.

To some extent, this eclipse series has also been about undoing your attachment to the familiar and stimulating your appetite for adventure and knowledge. Maybe you’ve taken more chances on traveling off the beaten path, pursuing that degree that felt too risky when you were younger, or developing your own sovereign point of view. There are still some ties left to be severed related to your old stomping ground, the consensus views you shared with the people you grew up with, and some of the concepts you learned in your earlier school years. But the Aries full moon on October 17 could also bring home to you how daunting it can be to step out on your own. Being a stranger in an unfamiliar land can feel vulnerable at times, and holding an unconventional point of view brings its own ideological challenges. They don’t call it “defending your thesis” for nothing. Still, if you’re on the road mid-month, try to avoid getting swept up in political unrest or other forms of chaos potential. If possible, try to lay low and brew in stormy contemplation instead.

Virgo Rising

You’ve been on a bit of a professional growth kick these past few months, but progress isn’t always straightforward. New opportunities can open the door to fresh versions of impostor syndrome, and being a fast learner doesn’t magically change you into someone who doesn’t prefer to feel prepared. If things have been moving too quickly for your liking, you might finally get a chance to catch your breath this month as Jupiter begins its retrograde through your tenth house of career, visibility, and public roles. Meanwhile, on October 2, the solar eclipse in Libra marks the culmination of a process you’ve been in over the last year around releasing sources of income and security, unburdening yourself of possessions, and transforming your relationship to money (up to and including the way you earn it).

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Put those two things together, and this could easily become a month of professional transitions. Maybe this means being between jobs, or making a so-called “lateral” move, or even taking a pay cut in order to pursue a new path you’ll ultimately find more fulfilling (one step backward, two steps ahead). Maybe you’re moving away from being on someone’s payroll and toward your own client practice, or rethinking your objectives and success metrics after the results from your initial attempt came in. Even if you’re not quite there yet when it comes to your earning potential, Mercury’s trine to Jupiter on October 8 can help you cook up new business schemes that might be more lucrative in the future.

On October 13, your ruling planet, Mercury, enters Scorpio. The second half of the month will be full of scavenger hunts, internet research rabbit holes, and deep conversations with your favorite people—the kind that aim to get past the subtext and actually “go there.” You might also be doing more commuting than usual these next couple of weeks, or taking more short trips out of town. If you’re low on inspiration or stimulation, boarding a bus or train can be your ticket out of Doldrum City. Mercury’s opposition to Uranus on October 30 could spin out into some interesting detours and maybe some stories you’ll love to tell later, but this can also create potential for transit mishaps, so it may not be the day to cut it close if you’ve got somewhere to be.

Libra Rising

Where there’s dead weight left for you to drop, this month’s solar eclipse in Libra can assist you. This past year has been a transformative one for you, and you’re no stranger at this point to letting your life be rearranged around your growing willingness to be disliked. Your desire to do right by others may be authentic, but you’ve probably realized by now that not everyone is as conscientious as you, and not everyone deserves an equal slice of your equanimity. Besides: your agreeableness is a load bearing column, and you’re not necessarily holding all that weight up for the best reasons. Increasing your capacity to tolerate being disapproved of will ultimately guide you to make better choices, and right now, you’re kind of due for a fresh start as it is.

Though the October 2 eclipse in Libra is a bit of a page-turner for you, this fall’s eclipses are also promoting powerful new beginnings around your health and wellbeing. Yes, prioritizing your own needs and emotional sovereignty will probably bring you back to life in unexpected ways. But don’t discount the importance of some of the tangible steps you’re taking right now to heal and feel your best. Jupiter spends the month stationing retrograde in your ninth house of travel and education, which could look like slowing your roll after a busy summer of learning and exploring in order to rest and recover. You might also seek a second opinion about a health matter, or potentially consider traveling to receive treatment you can’t get at home. If medical tourism isn’t exactly in your budget, learning about healing modalities from other cultures or medicine traditions can potentially open the way forward for you, or at the very least, lead you to some interesting rabbit holes.

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You may also be reconsidering the way you want to travel going forward, reframing an important thesis you’ve been working on, or reorienting yourself philosophically (as in: how do I determine what’s true, and what I believe?). This is one of those times in life where reminding yourself to “keep it simple” can really serve you.

And you might benefit from thinking this way right now, because life is only getting more complicated this October: Pluto’s station direct dredges up old ghosts from your past, Mars continues stirring the pot for you professionally, and the full moon on October 17 puts you on the defensive as a confrontation reaches its boiling point. You might as well put the lessons of the last year into practice and lead with your truth.

Scorpio Rising

If September was a month of choosing your battles and lying in wait, October is for seeing the things you couldn’t see before, sweeping that debris away, and taking back some of your agency. The solar eclipse on October 2 will likely be clarifying in the best and the worst ways, revealing who’s really on your side at the end of the day. But if you can’t even be your number one ally, why concern yourself with what others are thinking when there are patterns of self-sabotage that are actually in your power to fix? Fight or flight are not your only two modes when you’re triggered—there’s also the part of you that fawns when your confidence is needed most. At the very least, you might find it easier to remove negative influences from your life right now, whether they’re coming from within or without you.

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Travel has either been the source of some of your woes since last month, or the means by which you diffuse your anxiety. Although you might run up against some roadblocks and frustrations now or in the coming months when it comes to actualizing your itinerary, you probably have some excess steam to blow off right now, and exercising your wanderlust could help with that. If you must leave on a jet plane this month, try to plan things in a way that minimizes friction and annoyances, and head for destinations that soothe your nervous system (versus activate you further). Given that you’re in such an introspective mood, this could also be the right time to head out on a retreat, or at least carve out a space where you can hear yourself think.

You’ll start to feel yourself coming slowly back online throughout the month. Venus spends the first half of October transiting Scorpio, and it reaches an opposition to Uranus on the 14th. Investing in your appearance and trying on a new look might not solve all your problems, but it definitely counts as therapy—not to mention guides you into the embodiment of your ideal self. Mercury also enters Scorpio on October 13, followed by the Sun on October 22. The return of your vital life force will sharpen your thinking, help you say what you need to say, and make choices from a place of empowerment. When it comes to some of the battles you’re currently fighting, you’re really just getting started. Clarifying your stance now will help you hold on to the principles most worth defending as we head into the winter.

Sagittarius Rising

Your significant others have been your biggest teachers lately, but right now, you might need to pause the conversation to internalize things more deeply. Your ruling planet, Jupiter, stations retrograde in your seventh house of others on October 9, which makes this a month of slowing your roll generally and contemplating your relationships more deeply. While you may have shared a sense of progress and excitement over these last few months, it hasn’t exactly been fast, frictionless momentum. If anything, “progress” has looked a lot like “working on the relationship” and having a lot of conversations: what went wrong before, what your shared plan for the future looks like, what your mutual foundations and values look like. If you’ve hit a snag in developing that shared dream, there’s no rush to get to the solution. These next few months are an incubation period.

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This doesn’t have to be about a romantic partner either. Professional collaborators, clients, and travel partners are all very possibly a big part of your story right now. And with the solar eclipse in Libra prompting some social housekeeping for you around October 2, it seems like you’re going to be in the headspace of “quality over quantity” when it comes to friendships and acquaintances as it is. Everyone is not for you, and that’s okay. Better to be specific about who your people are, and who your work is actually meant to reach, than to cast a wide net and wind up with a bunch of prospects who aren’t a good fit for you.

If you’re part of a travel community but have long felt that you don’t really belong, this month’s eclipse might offer you the kick in the pants you needed to find people you’re more aligned with. In general, the first week of the month is an excellent time to network, join a new club, seek out new connections, and stumble into new social arrangements that will enrich your life. If you’ve been thinking about signing up for a group trip to a place that’s too daunting to visit alone, try to do it in the days leading up to October 8.

Though this month might throw you into a somber or moody funk, you’ll feel your glow return in the second half of October. Venus enters Sagittarius on October 17, bringing out the best of your radiant, charming, and playful spirit for the next couple weeks. Still, the real party might not start until November, as Venus will need to clear a square to Saturn on October 28 before she’s ready to dance. Wherever you’re feeling rejected or disapproved of is precisely where the social misalignment is coming from. If you’re not in a room where people are willing to match your energy, find a party that’s more on your level.

Capricorn Rising

Is it now or never? Is it down to the wire? Life feels pretty high stakes for you this month, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that you’re going to need to make some potentially life-altering decisions without giving away the power you’ve worked so hard to amass. And then there’s also the part where others might try to challenge you, both directly and indirectly. Pluto spends the month stationing direct in Capricorn, and as of November, it’ll depart from your rising sign for good after reshaping you over the last 16 years. What does the most self-actualized version of your inner badass look like? Knowing that this is your chance to assume your final form, what would it mean to choose your future on purpose—not from a place of fear, but from a place of knowing yourself completely?

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With the Libra solar eclipse and Jupiter’s station retrograde both affecting your work houses during the first week of October, it seems like these decisions will be centered around what you do for a living (or how you serve the world otherwise). You’ve spent the last year bowing out of certain roles, disagreeing with how management is running things, and releasing past ambitions that no longer match the path you’re on. There might be obvious career transitions occurring for you right now, or maybe more internal shifts around the way you see your place in the world (and how you go about fulfilling those goals day to day). A team or a project you’ve been working on might be disbanded or reorganized, or maybe you’ll suddenly find yourself with more space in your schedule to take on a new assignment. If you’ve been waiting for a window of opportunity to switch into a more flexible remote work arrangement, reality is capable of being shifted right now, so maybe now’s your chance to start planning for your year of working abroad.

On top of that, the full moon on October 17 also touches a foundational part of your life, and there might be tense confrontations to deal with at home, or within your family. If moving has been on the table for you, this lunation might intensify your feelings of wanting to leave. Even if there’s pressure coming at you from multiple directions this month to conform to someone else’s agenda, how can you remain steadfast in your determination to not cop out? The right thing will not be the easy thing, and you owe it to yourself to stay the course.

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Aquarius Rising

This past year has taken the shape of a winding pilgrimage for you, one that has put you on flights you didn’t originally plan to take and enrolled you in schools you couldn’t have fully anticipated. On October 2, the final Libra eclipse of this series advances the plot further in your ninth house of education and long journeys, providing closure around the adventures you’ve had to sacrifice in order to start out on the path you’re now firmly on. Maybe you’ve done more local travel at the expense of international trips, maybe you’re chasing a new degree that will limit your freedom of movement for a couple years, or maybe you’ve surrendered part of your global citizen identity in order to root more deeply into your own backyard.

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In the background of this story, there’s been a bigger process of unlearning things and maturing into your spirituality, of questioning the beliefs that your sense of social belonging was conditioned on. In order to carry this through to its natural conclusion, there might be another layer of disagreement for you to embrace this month, or culture shock that can aid you in your de-conditioning process.

Beyond these bigger existential demands, October is a month where you might be able to mix business with pleasure. There is some pressure on you to perform right now, but who said you needed to deliver the same old same old? Innovating on your existing material will be easier (and more pleasurable) if you follow the thread of your natural curiosity. Get creative with a new technique you’re learning, or maybe incorporate something you learned about on your recent travels.

Better yet, make it a party. Especially in the second half of the month, after Venus enters your eleventh house of friends and groups on October 17, your social circles will be buzzing with life and invitations to mingle. If you sense an opportunity to network while you’re at it, the universe will have to respect your hustle. However, there might be a bit of social awkwardness to overcome initially, at least until Venus completes her square to Saturn on October 28. People might be reluctant to share, and you might find that not everyone’s in the mood to talk business. While early November promises smoother social sailing, you can still use this time to read the room and adjust.

Pisces Rising

You might be in the midst of your personal peak season for travel this month, but if you’re not already reading this from a different time zone, you can still get a lot of satisfaction out of learning pursuits in October—especially when it comes to engaging with the culinary, artistic, and academic traditions of other cultures.

If there’s a particular research rabbit hole you’re tempted to go down, Mercury’s transit through Scorpio begins on October 13 and will facilitate your foray into the unknown. Venus’ presence in the same part of the sky during the first half of the month can also sweeten your journeys and help you connect with others more easily while you’re on the move, but you’ll probably still have your guard up to some extent. Around October 14 and 15, you might surprise yourself with how willing you are to take a chance on someone who’s not your usual type, or on a palette-expanding cultural immersion. Taking the unexpected detour can lead you to a dreamy and memorable view you wouldn’t have gotten to otherwise.

Your ruling planet, Jupiter, stations retrograde on October 9, bringing you into the next chapter of your quest to love where you live and deepen your understanding of where you came from. You may have had some tangible upgrades to your living situation since May, and maybe you’ve even taken up an ancestral trade or craft. All that forward momentum must eventually pendulum back, however, and that can look like doubt at first before you integrate it fully. It’s normal for the honeymoon phase to wear off when you’re living in a new place, and who knows—maybe your October travels will make you wish you moved there instead of here. Some feelings can’t be managed away, only sat with until they transform. If you feel yourself being pulled in a different direction, approach it with curiosity and don’t try too hard to make it mean more than it does—you can have it all figured out later.

The solar eclipse on October 2 also closes out a grief process you’ve been in over the last year. Most likely, it will involve some sort of tangible shift in your financial circumstances too. If you’ve been on a journey around debt, taxes, inheritance, or finding new income streams as former sources of support ran dry, this eclipse will advance that plot and potentially bring it to a conclusion. Even if you’ve experienced financial instability, you’re probably relieved to no longer be beholden to the conditions some of that support came with. The clarity and freedom that comes with carving out your independence will make the struggle worth it in the end.

Enjoyed your October 2024 horoscope? Look back on September 2024 to see how things lined up.

Originally Appeared on Condé Nast Traveler