This Astrology Special Edition

September 21st, 2026

The Fall Equinox arrives Tuesday evening, and the chart has no Earth.

None. Zero.

All the reminders about grounding ourselves, staying in our centre and not allowing every passing emotion or piece of information to pull us off course have been leading up to this. If you've actively worked this, you're ready, if not - it's not to late to start.

This season brings a lot of mental activity, emotional sensitivity and nervous energy, without giving us much natural access to the practical, steadying influence of Earth.

That can look like overthinking, overstimulation, emotional exhaustion and frustration. We may have plenty of thoughts and feelings about what’s happening, but struggle to decide what to do with any of them.

Grounding will need to be intentional.

Eat regularly. Sleep. Go outside. Feel your feet on the floor/ground. Move your body. Step away from the noise. Breathe and feel the air fill right to the bottom of your lungs. Give yourself time to process before responding or making decisions.

Not every feeling requires immediate action, and not every thought deserves to become a five-part internal documentary.

The Astrology Behind the Season

I looked at two Equinox charts this year: one set for Edmonton and one for Ottawa.

I’ll be appearing on the Where is Canada Heading? panel next Sunday, so I wanted to compare the provincial and national charts and see how the season might unfold differently at each level.

The Edmonton chart has fixed and mutable signs on the angles. Fixed signs hold their position, while mutable signs shift, adjust and change direction. Together, they suggest that things on a provincial level may end in a stalemate, with everyone spinning in place without creating meaningful movement.

The Ottawa chart has fixed and cardinal angles. Cardinal signs initiate movement, while fixed signs give that movement staying power. Nationally, we may see decisions or changes that create more lasting forward movement.

But the elemental story remains the same.

The Sun enters Libra while the Gibbous Moon is in Aquarius, putting both luminaries in Air. Uranus is in Gemini, its ruler Mercury is in Libra, and Pluto is in Aquarius.

That is an enormous amount of mental energy - buzzing in the brain.

The Gibbous phase wants to refine, adjust and figure out what still needs to change before the Full Moon. Gibbous energy feels unsettled and active. In Air, that process happens largely through thinking, talking, questioning and analyzing.

Then Venus in Scorpio begins dragging old fears and buried feelings to the surface, while Mars in Cancer adds emotional sensitivity, defensiveness and reactivity.

So, we have a lot of emotions, and then we overthink all the emotions.

Because Mars is in Cancer in the Equinox chart, we’re also stuck with that tone for longer than we would be during an ordinary Mars transit. Its sensitivity, protectiveness and tendency to react from emotion become part of the larger story of the season.

The Pressure Builds Toward the Full Moon

The aspects that perfect toward the end of the week are already building in the Equinox chart. Because they’re embedded in the seasonal astrology, their themes continue unfolding throughout the fall, and have more staying power.

The Weekend: The Sun opposed Neptune while trine Pluto, & Mars at 29 degrees Cancer.

The Sun-Neptune opposition can make it difficult to separate truth from projection, fear from intuition, or compassion from sacrifice. We may want to escape what feels uncomfortable, blame someone else for what we don’t want to face, or allow fear to make decisions for us.

The trine to Pluto brings power and control into the story, but it can also help us see what's been operating under the surface. This is a chance to recognize where fear has been influencing our choices without handing it any more authority.

Mars at 29 degrees of Cancer adds urgency to already heightened emotions. Tempers may be shorter. Frustration can build quickly. People may react first and figure out why later.

All of this leads into the Full Moon at 3°37′ Aries on Saturday morning.... It's a Doozy

The Full Moon perfects at 3°37′ Aries on Saturday morning - and this chart is a doozy... on its own, and more importantly, because it's crystalizing what the equinox themes were. Reinforcing them even deeper.

The Moon is conjunct Neptune, so feelings, intuition, fear, projection and exhaustion can become difficult to separate. Aries usually reacts quickly and decisively, but Neptune makes it much harder to know exactly what we’re reacting to.

Venus in Scorpio is tightly conjunct the Ascendant, bringing our relationships, values, loyalties, fears and trust issues right to the surface. Because Venus is already travelling through its retrograde shadow, whatever emerges around this Full Moon may become part of the larger story we revisit during the retrograde.

But Mars is really running this chart.

Mars rules the Aries Moon, the Scorpio Ascendant and Venus in Scorpio. It sits at 29° Cancer, applying to square Chiron at 29° Aries. And...The Moon in Aries is ruling Mars. So this entire chart is being run by the closed emotional loop between the Moon and Mars...this is not objective... this is not practical - and with Neptune sitting on the Moon's face - this is not necessarily reality.

Mars in Cancer is already sensitive, protective and potentially reactive. At the final degree of the sign, that emotional pressure has reached a breaking point. Its square to Chiron suggests something happening now may touch a much older wound - and our first instinct may be to defend ourselves before we’ve figured out what we’re defending ourselves from.

Jupiter conjunct the Midheaven makes everything bigger, louder and more visible. It can bring courage and perspective, but it can also produce exaggeration, self-righteousness and enormous confidence in something that may not be entirely true.

Before reacting, ask yourself whether you’re responding to what is happening now - or defending yourself against something that happened a long time ago.

This Full Moon may reveal something important, but we’ll need to move through the emotional noise before we can see it clearly.

Use the air energy to connect with people you love and trust. Play board games, call people you miss.

Sending out grounding and some positive juju.

xo Tracy