Happy Thanksgiving in Canada. Happy Mattress Sale Day in the United States.

We’re still dealing with a dead Moon, waiting for the New Moon to begin at 8:06PM ET. Lucky you if you’ve got the day off…or are planning a covert operation. We can expect a jolt or other disruption of the status quo around 6:20PM ET, when the Moon is opposed by rebel Uranus. Perhaps it’s related to a power play or emotional catharsis that occurred earlier around 7AM ET, courtesy of  Pluto.

Once the New Moon does kick in, it it will immediately go void until 5:38PM ET on TUESDAY. This suggests twists favoring the underdog, a lack of focus and/or other challenges to efforts made in a straight line. This does not suggest you stay home under the covers all day. It suggests you use your awareness of the Moon void potential in how you choose to react to the day’s events. If a crisis erupts, the conventional wisdom suggests it’s likely much ado about nothing, so chill and just go with the flow. Got that? Be advised that on Wednesday the Moon will go void at 8:58PM ET…not to enter the next sign until FRIDAY at 5:18AM ET.  So most of Tuesday and all of Thursday ET are likely to be a bust in terms of moving things decisively forward.

This doesn’t mean there won’t be plenty of diplomatic, practical thinking and physical and/or assertive drive at your disposal, as well as dreamy/artsy inspiration that may or may not be hopelessly tinged with rose. The only exact aspect on Tuesday is the third in a series of easy aspects between sobering Saturn and mental Mercury at 5:55AM ET. Whatever practical solution you reached on the second of the series may be up for a rethink. That was last Tuesday 10/6.

If power and control are your aim, planetary patterns on Tuesday night and all day Wednesday offer more support, for better or for worse. The only exact aspect on Thursday is an easy alignment between action hero Mars (in perfection-seeking Virgo) and Pluto (in big business/government Capricorn) at 11:31PM ET. We should see plenty of headlines along those lines between now and then. If you’re a Virgo, Taurus or Capricorn born in the first half of those signs…or if you have a planet or angle between 4-14 degrees of those signs, this is probably not the time to rest on your laurels.  Consult your local astrologer for details.

Friday and Saturday look primed for high-flying exuberant spin or vision, again for the sake of perfection — perhaps on a “big picture” principle. Friday begins with the gravitas of a Moon-Saturn meet-up in Sagittarius (right on Rep. Paul Ryan’s Ascendant — hmmm). The evening is dominated by a dreamy face-off between Venus (money, women, aesthetics, social expression) in Virgo and visionary/delusional Neptune at 10:54PM ET. Saturday’s big news is a meet-up between expansive Jupiter and assertive Mars in Virgo at 6:40PM ET.

And now, today’s New Moon.

The New Moon is the monthly meet-up of the Sun and Moon.  It offers us an opportunity to re-set  intentions and goals for the next lunar cycle.  Sometime today or tomorrow, light a candle and make a list.  Around October 20th, on the First Quarter Moon, we can expect a challenge to those goals, with appropriate adjustments made. At the time of the Full Moon on the 27th, we can expect illumination on the success or failure of our goals for the cycle. If we succeeded, we can consciously release our success into our reality; if we failed, we let go of whatever did not work. After the Third Quarter Moon on November 3rd, we can review our achievements, tie up loose ends and get ready to begin another New Moon on the 11th.

Libra is the sign of partnerships. Marriage is an obvious partnership; some business relationships are partnerships, including adversarial ones. Since March, we’ve gone through the first half of the zodiac with New Moons focusing on the Self: Aries = my identity; Taurus = my values/possessions; Gemini = my mind/communication; Cancer = my emotions/family; Leo = my creative self-expression/love to give; Virgo = my service/work/body.

Starting with Libra, we’re ready to go public. Take a look at your relationships: how are We doing? What is the State of Our Unions?  How do they reflect the Libran needs of justice, fairness, diplomacy, peace, beauty and sweetness? Is there resentment or a lack of appreciation? Are there issues hanging in the balance (Libra is the sign of the Scales)?

Use a bit of creative visualization in your New Moon meditation  — and if you’re not a meditating type, grab a pen and paper and make a list of partnership objectives for the next few months.  If there’s anything/anyone on that list that you already have, make time for social graces and express your appreciation. Libra NEEDS appreciation for being valuable in relationship; by extension, our relationships need grace and appreciation, too.

Patterns in this New Moon chart suggest a big push for idealized perfection. These patterns include those that will be exact as the week progresses (noted above). They also include patterns that were exact over the weekend and described in detail in Friday’s forecast: Venus square Saturn, Jupiter trine Pluto and Uranus opposing the Sun. It’s the last one that suggests the potential for upsets to the status quo in relationship. In addition to opposing the Sun, Uranus is opposing the Moon.

You will be more personally impacted by the breakout potential if you have a planet or angle around 20 degrees of Libra or Aries — and to a lesser degree, Cancer or Capricorn.

The Sabian Symbol for 20 Libra is “a Jewish rabbi,” and here’s what Sabian Symbol guru Blain Bovee has to say about it. “…an image of a spiritual head and teacher whose responsibilities lie in interpreting and disseminating matters of the laws of the living….As a leader, his task is to feed his community in order to help others find their right place and time regarding their heritage”.  Fascinating, in light of current headlines about leadership (and lack thereof).

Bovee suggests we apply this symbol with a mind to “creativity generosity to help situations along; compassionate sensibility that transcends rules…sustaining rather than suspending…today’s outsiders being tomorrow’s leaders…nourishing wisdom as opposed to smug intellectualism…generosity of the heart as opposed to free handouts.”

And now, the news — briefly.

Talk about power and resources. Reflecting Sunday’s potent Jupiter-Pluto alignment, consider this NYT article listing the 158 families who have provided $176 million —  “almost half of all seed money raised to support Democratic and Republican presidential candidates.”.

Not since before Watergate have so few people and businesses provided so much early money in a campaign, most of it through channels legalized by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision five years ago…

Whoa.

Did you see this bizarre story about three teenagers who died after a school principal abused his power (Pluto square Sun) and hypnotized (Mars opposing Neptune) his students?  In other news, take the visionary and spacey potential of Mars-Neptune, mix it with the intensely futuristic potential of Sun opposing Uranus and other current energetic patterns, and you might see a NYT homepage piece about a non-profit organization in upstate New York that has recreated sets from the original Star Trek TV series in order to produce a new series, Star Trek: New Voyages, which you can view online. Beam me up.

Mets fans are not happy today. During Saturday’s  all-day Moon void, their team’s shortstop suffered a broken leg after LA Dodger Chase Utley slid into him. A Moon void during sports matches does suggests a higher than average potential for upsets and other freaky occurrences. The slide was ruled illegal; Utley was suspended for two games. Now Utley has appealed, and since the appeal isn’t going to be heard by the start of the game tonight, it appears Utley will be able to play….or so the NYT was reporting earlier today. Perhaps that will change.

Saturn square Venus suggests harsh realities and women. Sun opposing Uranus suggests technology and mavericks. What is it that keeps women out of tech fields, wonders the NYT?  Why did a Democratic congresswoman claim she was disinvited from Tuesday’s Democratic debates? An acclaimed astronomer apologizes for sexual harassment. A 48 million year old fossil is discovered — pregnant at the time of its death. An update on anorexia — a harsh illness impacting mostly women — makes the home page and becomes one of the most widely-viewed items on the NYT homepage. And on and on. Isn’t it interesting how planetary patterns are reflected in the news?

Finally, Rep. Paul Ryan. The Republican congressman from Wisconsin has apparently been begged by his party to run for House Speaker. So far he’s been saying no, though reportedly that isn’t his final answer. Back in 2012, I wrote a lengthy bit on Mr. Ryan — here it is.  His horoscope was quite hot back then, and it’s heating up again now. What will he decide to do with all this potential? That’s up to him. However, the opportunity to run for Speaker coincides with transiting Saturn (heavy responsibility) right on his Ascendant. That’s a challenge to his natal Neptune-Ascendant conjunction:  to get real about his natural projection of pixie-dust and vision, the kind that’s convinced some  that he’s more of a con than a congressman.

It is interesting to note that Mercury, the ruler of Mr. Ryan’s 10th house of public status/career is being supercharged by transiting Pluto, adding an extra dose of persuasiveness in mindset and communication. This will continue into 2016. It is also interesting to see transiting Venus, Mars and Jupiter about to hit his Midheaven — all before November 4th. These transits increase the potential for elevated and expanded public status, especially the Jupiter transit, because it rules his Ascendant and will continue into 2016. Also of note: The last two eclipses hit points in Mr. Ryan’s horoscope: Mars (assertiveness; creative self-expression) and his Midheaven.

Hopefully you can now appreciate why Mr. Ryan is attracting so much attention right about now. And if you understood what was going on in your horoscope, you’d be able to anticipate when opportunities are likely to manifest for you, too.

Thank you for reading this forecast.