September Astrology 2026 and the Neptune-Pluto Sextile: Something's Happening!

September's stars bring Chiron back in Aries, Neptune sextile Pluto, a fabulous Virgo New Moon and an enchanting Aries Full Moon - plus the Libra Equinox with Venus in her retro-shadow... It's all systems go this month! Before we step into the twilight zone...

Image by Susan Wilkinson from Unsplash

September Astrology

This is a revolutionary time. 

September enters with Pluto out of bounds. This is a long term influence, intensifying every autumn all the way until 2035. 

Pluto out of bounds signifies a unique time of change and grass roots revolutions returning “power to the people.”

We also have the rare ongoing beautiful harmony (a "mini grand trine") between Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

This mini grand trine presents us with a pristine bow, waiting to be drawn and birth a brand new human consciousness. 

And we have a wonderful shorter term influence too, that of Jupiter trine Saturn, activated 31st August 2026, which will take us all the way to April and July 2027.

Jupiter trine Saturn is the most solid aspect in astrology for positive long term initiatives!

So September enters strong!

This month is a dynamic new beginning. With two powerful eclipses behind us, new energy has already started building up to take us to brand new shores. We are now given some time in which to work to release the past. Nine months to be precise.

The next nine months will be crucial. We have multiple back-to-back retrogrades of Venus, Mercury and Mars helping us rework and release the past. We have an ongoing triple conjunction in Leo ripening old karma and changing the leadership landscape. And we have the Jupiter-Saturn trine maturing into Spring-Summer 2027 opening a fabulous window for gain and progress.

The next nine months will be doing their utmost to see us leave the past behind and forge a new path. 

But first things first. Let’s take a quick look at the September Astrology of 2026. This month brings us the Libra Equinox (Autumn in the Northern hemisphere) on September 22nd-23rd (midnight UT). And we have two absolutely majestic lunations: a gorgeous Virgo New Moon on the 11th and a transcendent Aries Full Moon on the 26th. Meanwhile, Venus enters her retrograde shadow, preparing to take us on a journey through our hearts in October. And let's not forget two crucial events: Chiron backtracks into Aries for one last foray into what it takes for us to step into our authentic warrior spirit. And we have the Pluto-Neptune sextile: out of bounds Pluto, who is currently reshaping our world with the help of Neptune and Uranus, makes its first precise sextile to Neptune in forty years , striking a deep rebirth chord within our soul. There is lots of commotion closer to home as well with Mercury, Venus and Mars all changing signs: Venus into Scorpio, Mercury into Libra, and 20 days later Mercury into Scorpio, and finally Mars into Leo, where he will stay a good long time...

September is brimming with positive potential! So let's take a look.

WEEK ONE August 31 - September 6: Venus' Shadow

September enters on a high with Jupiter trine Saturn hot on the heels of August 31st. It is a productive Virgo season. Venus enters her retrograde shadow as soon as September 1st, as we prepare to go on a trip into the twilight shadows of our hearts in October to retrieve hidden parts of our soul.

September 1st: Venus enters her Retrograde Shadow

Venus is already in her retrograde shadow since September 1st, gradually setting closer to sunset, and reaching her brightest moment on September 22nd. Venus will go retrograde on October 3rd and all the way until mid-November.

And so it is time to prepare for a major reassessment of our choices, relationships and investment of money, time and energy.

We may even be about to jump into a time warp to retrieve old parts, or even enter a weird relationship cocoon - either alone or with someone else - to discover a different side to ourselves.

But all that is still to come. Right now, you can feel that period coming, that need to reassess… It's an eery feeling of an inner journey looming. For it is.

September 1st: Mercury square Saturn sextile Mars

September enters on a serious note with Mercury square Saturn (09:58 UT) and sextile Mars (13:21 UT). This moment calls for some serious thinking, but also the courage to take action. This combo is quick to anger and easy to depress, but fabulous for rigorous thinking and swift targeted action. Mercury is at its furthest from the earth right now and travelling fast.

September 4th: Last Quarter Gemini Moon, Venus opposite Eris

By the 4th there is great excitement, exuberance and commotion. The Moon hits its waning quarter in Gemini (07:51 UT), side by side with Uranus and approaching a sextile to Jupiter - good times!

Venus opposes Eris (09:24 UT), giving licence to our affections to express themselves freely. An outspoken, exuberant, fast paced day!

WEEK TWO September 7th-13th: Virgo New Moon

This week offers a strong, exciting and dynamic fresh start! That’s down to a wonderful Virgo New Moon. That's because Mercury, ruler of Virgo, finds itself in a lovely little spot, connecting with the beautiful triangle in the skies that’s calling us all to higher dimensions.

September 10th: Uranus Retrograde, Venus trine North Node, Venus enters Scorpio and opposes Chiron, Mercury enters Libra

Barely a day before the New Moon, we have Uranus station retrograde (18:27 UT) at 6° Gemini.

Expect the 10th of September to electrify the atmosphere with great excitement, as well as nervous anticipation of things as yet unknown.

Tension is running high and you can’t tell if you’re excited or anxious not knowing what’s next. Uranus has made its way through the first few degrees of Gemini by this point and the change over the past four months is palpable!

Uranus has been marching full speed ahead since the start of February, clearing Taurus and entering Gemini at the end of April.

Now, with Uranus retrograde until 8 February 2027, it's time to begin processing and internalising all the crazy changes that took place since early February.

On the very same day, Venus harmonises with the Lunar Nodes (01:45 UT), opening great big highways for bridge building. Venus leaves Libra and enters Scorpio a few hours later (07:06 UT), an area it will backtrack over on October 25th and then again December 4th. Watch this space!

Venus is well-mannered and suave in Libra, her own sign; whereas she is naked and raw in Scorpio, Mars’ sign.

Let’s what all this to and fro will bring over the next few months in how we understand human relationships. With Venus opposite Chiron too (17:15 UT), we can expect some raw and vulnerable emotions coming to the surface.

Mercury also changes signs on the same day, leaving its own sign of rulership, Virgo, and entering Libra (16:20 UT). While Mercury prefers more neutral, computational and clinical ground, Libra is still a good place for Mercury.

Mercury in Libra is excellent when it comes to culture, diplomacy and negotiations, seeing both sides of a coin and weighing pros and cons. 

Also, Libra allows Mercury to plug into that wonderful triangle in the sky over the upcoming Virgo New Moon. Things are getting interesting!

September 11th Virgo New Moon

September brings a really positive Virgo New Moon at 18°25' Virgo (03:27 UT) in near-perfect sextile to Mars.

This lunation has legs: it's all systems go!This is an opportunity to make a start with improvements you want to materialise over the next six months.

This is the first non-eclipse New Moon in Virgo since 2024. Some space at last to take our own initiatives where it concerns the detail and functionality of our lives and not be put upon by external events.

Virgo loves to work and be productive. It loves perfect efficiency and functionality, with nothing going to waste. It loves the kind of health that allows peak performance and wellbeing - with all the little physical pieces being so seamlessly in place that they melt into the background and allow our divinity to shine. All this Virgo loves.

And this New Moon is about making things work!

And it is also about work. Keeping at it. And about all those tweaks and improvements that make a vast difference.

A good time to focus on work, health, diet, exercise, and other daily rituals that form the bedrock of any kind of mastery.

The Sabian Symbol for this Virgo New Moon is “a Swimming Race”

Is this mankind operating in a brand new and more fluid element? Operating with greater buoyancy and perfecting new skills? Or…is it a race of spermatozoa?

Something new is being born. Something new is emerging.

September 12th Mercury trine Pluto, opposite Neptune

This is the first part of Mercury’s lovely concert in the skies as Mercury trines Pluto (15:59 UT)and opposes Neptune (16:37 UT).

This day lends itself to deep penetrative thought and inspirational concepts. Let something bigger flow through you to aid you in this new beginning.

Mercury will be in a happy, exciting space now, and more or less until September 21st (with a reality check on the 18th), leading up to the Aries Full Moon on the 26th.

WEEK THREE September 14th-20th: The Neptune-Pluto Sextile is Back - so is Chiron in Aries!

Chiron goes back into Aries this week to stay until mid-April 2027. Time for one last pass on the wound of I AM. Neptune sextiles Pluto too plucking some deep hypnotic chords in the universe.

Something deep within our souls is awakening. The solar system is humming a barely audible tune of bio-spiritual evolution.

September 14th Mercury trine Uranus, Sun sextile Mars

This is an exciting start to the week. Mercury in Libra trines Uranus in Gemini (02:39 UT), opening up the space for electrifying conversations.

And Mars sextiles the Sun across Virgo and Cancer (19:52 UT), allowing for effective, emotionally fulfilling and dynamic initiatives.

A day of action and commotion.

September 15th Venus square Pluto

Venus square Pluto (18:34 UT) makes for a day of super intense affections, sexuality, secrets and even power struggles. Money could create power imbalances. A good day to bond and get closer, even if the terrain is not always smooth.

September 16th Neptune sextile Pluto

As the 15th gives way to the 16th, Neptune sextiles Pluto (02:08 UT).

Here we have the long low chords in the cosmic background that are shaping our world.

This is a slow moving cycle and these planets only come together every 500 years or so, moving barely a few degrees down the zodiac each time.

The most recent conjunction of Neptune and Pluto was in 1891-92. It was this conjunction that signalled the birth of the modern era.

This, now, is Neptune and Pluto's opening sextile. And it’s been going on for a while…

It started in the 1950s, marking the post-war era. (Notice how the interplay of those planets seems to define entire eras!) 

The sextile became exact multiple times between 1950-56, then again between 1976-86 and finally now, forty years later, for a final run, starting in 2026 and lasting all the way until 2032.

So right now, we are in the third and final phase of a process of awakening that was seeded in the late 19th century and began pushing through the ground to reach the light ever since the 1950s!

Can we finally move into an era that is truly post-war?

Are we finally in a position (well over a century later!), to begin to make the most of the wonderful leaps in consciousness, technology, and evolution that sprang up at the turn of the previous century? 

This cycle won’t even culminate until the early to mid 2100s (2137-41!).

Right now, we are living in a time equivalent to the waxing crescent moon of a new cycle of consciousness, seeded at the turn of the 20th century and striving to come into being.

At this stage, we’re still trying to break away from the past and grow in light, in a process that is larger than us. All we can do is do our bit.   

September 18th Chiron back in Aries, Mercury opposite Saturn, First Quarter Sagittarius Moon

On the 18th, Chiron moves back into Aries (02:52 UT) to don his warrior armour one last time, right before moving into Taurus for good on April 14th 2027.

Chiron in Taurus will begin a new curriculum, teaching us all about the wisdom of the body and the earth to take us all the way to 2033-34.

For now, it’s time to grab our hero’s cape for one last fight for our right to be masters of our fate. The mantra is “I AM”. 

Uncompromising, rebellious warrior spirits are hotting up again!

Chiron almost trines the South Node from the final and so called “anaretic” Aries degree upon re-entry. This tends to bring crisis and an urgency to action!  A waxing quarter Sagittarius Moon trines Chiron and the Node (20:43 UT) bringing added pressure on the day. 

There is a real sense of revisiting the past to make sense of it now.

Chiron stays in that crisis degree until mid-October so this whole period could bring an urgency to fight and to claim back any lost sense of power and sovereignty.

Mercury opposes Saturn (10:00 UT) on the same day and our thoughts take on a sober timber. Obstacles may appear in all things travel and communications, urging us to slow down.

News ask for a deeper strategy. Words incur commitments. Take a moment to think it through.  

September 20th Mars square Eris

By Sunday, Mars squares off with Eris (20:18 UT) - the female version of himself! - we get a gloves-off, raucous day with considerable free-floating and rebellious energy!

WEEK FOUR: September 21st-27th: Aries Full Moon!

This is the week of the Autumn Equinox and Aries Full Moon, which arrives right right atop enchanting Neptune. There is a magic in the air! And madness...

Something important culminates now filling the world with longing.

September 21st Mercury sextile Jupiter

Here we have good vibes, tolerance and easy conversations. With Mercury sextile Jupiter (22:50 UT) a generous intellectual spirit abounds.

Mercury now completes his ‘in good spirits’ conversation with all the various players in the sky, the one that started with the Virgo New Moon. Good job!

September 23rd Autumn Equinox, i.e. Sun in Libra

The Autumn Equinox (in the northern hemisphere) arrives as the 22nd gives way to the 23rd of September (at 00:05 UT).

It’s Libra time! Harvest.

Time to level the fields, reduce excess, weigh things up, come together in equal partnership to exchange goods and pleasantries, use the scales to find balance, and generally initiate the kind of civilisation, culture and social exchange that will see us through the winter.

Not a time to go it alone. Find your counterpoint.

Happy Birthday Libra!

September 26th Aries Full Moon, Sun opposes Neptune, trines Pluto

This month’s Full Moon is in fiery Aries at 3°37' (16:49 UT) bang on top of Neptune in Aries. It is also trine an urgent Mars at a critical degree, and sextile Uranus and Pluto. The Sun is at the other side, in Libra, opposite the Moon and Neptune (01:36 UT), and trine Pluto (05:34 UT).

Here, the Neptune-Pluto sextile that gently ushers our world forward comes into it's own. And it's part of that wider Neptune-Uranus-Pluto combo. That's that wonderful energy that characterises our times: a promise for the future, even amid all the difficulties, a potential that is there if only we tap into it.

This is a glorifying, romantic, transcendent lunation, right at the pinnacle of that arrow that points toward the greatest human potential.

It is pure magic.

It can be inspirational, allowing us to reach higher states of consciousness. Or it can be maddening, inebriated and feral, letting the irrational mind run wild.

A maddening streak is a distinct possibility with Mars, ruler of this Full Moon, at the final and critical degree of Cancer, trine the Moon and in mutual reception with it (i.e. Moon and Mars are in each others’ signs).

This is a passionate emotional extravaganza of a Full Moon!

Either way, the Moon is in Aries. Time to step forth bravely and experience some sort of flow state.

Good old Saturn is also nearby, widely conjunct this Full Moon to keep her steady... We may require some rest the next morning!

The Sabian Symbol for this Full Moon is “Two Lovers Strolling on a Secluded Walk”

Here we have the power of polarity: the magnetic energy generated by the free interplay of perfect opposites!

We also have romance...

...emphasised twice!

September 27th Mercury opposite Eris, Mars square Chiron

This is a bit of a raw day. With Mercury opposite Eris (06:43 UT), words are spoken readily, without fear of offence. But actions may still hurt, thanks to Mars square Chiron (11:58 UT). Take it easy.

WEEK FIVE: September 28th-October 4th: Mars in Leo...

The key event this week is Mars’ entry into Leo.  Leo will be the host of Jupiter and Mars retrograde, plus the South Node and eclipses in the coming months…

Expect bold dramatics over a long period of time.

September 28th Mars enters Leo, Sun trine Uranus

Mars enters Leo (02:48 UT) and the Sun trines Uranus (16:21 UT). Exciting times! A good day for daring initiatives.

Mars in Leo can be proud, bold and chivalrous. He can also a big kid that throws its toys out of the pram.

We are entering dramatic times.

Mars will stay in Leo for a prolonged period, as this will be the sign of most of the upcoming Mars retrograde (Mars goes retrograde January 10th-April 1st across Virgo and Leo).

In particular, Mars will stay in Leo until November 25th in the first instance, then revisit Leo 21 February - 14 May 2027, where he will station direct on April 1st. Watch this space!

Also watch out for Mars opposite Pluto, trine Neptune and sextile Uranus coming up on October 2nd-3rd, a potentially explosive moment.  The game is afoot!

September 29th Mercury trine North Node

Mercury harmonises with the Lunar Nodes or eclipse points today (22:06 UT). This is an important day for news and communications. If you want to reach audiences this is the day to announce things! Something key is being said.

September 30th Mercury opposite Chiron, Mercury enters Scorpio

September ends with Mercury’s entry into Scorpio (11:44 UT), where he will enter his own retrograde phase on October 23rd. 

Mercury opposes Chiron just before leaving Libra (03:15 UT), when polite words and white lies will no longer cut the mustard. Scorpio is next in any case and Scorpio likes to get straight down to business.

And Into October...

We are now fully out of eclipse territory (takes about a month) and entering into a strange kind of retrograde territory.

The August eclipses have delivered their message. It’s now down to us to work through anything in our past that’s still holding us back and reforge our path.

The next many months may contain much waiting and delays.

But they will also give us the time to clear space, sort through things and decide what’s important, as well as put in the groundwork required to create something new.

All this will take time and persistence. Mercury in Scorpio has both, plus the penetrating gaze to match. 

Bear in mind that the start to October is rather intense: Mars opposes Pluto both square Mercury, Venus stations retrograde, Mercury enters its retrograde shadow, and Sun opposes Saturn - and all that only by October 4th!

September is a great chance to get into a good headspace so we can tackle October head on.

Article by YourAstroGenes