Go Into the Woods: Astrology Week of August 30–September 5

Before We Dive In

Recording this on August 26th, and I want to say clearly at the start: I am feeling a bit low. The eclipse energy has been personally challenging in a number of ways, and also — Dolly Parton and Tim Curry have both passed, within days of each other. Both around 80 years old. I loved them both, for very different reasons, and I find their passing sitting in me in that particular way that celebrity deaths sometimes do, when someone has been part of the landscape of your whole life.

I’m telling you this because it’s also very much the energy of this week. This is the come-down after eclipse season. If you’re feeling deflated, that’s appropriate. That’s the astrology. The cards are honest about it — but they end in a place of genuine hope. If you’re looking for that hopeful note right now, go and watch the September 10th Virgo New Moon video I just put up. That one has more light in it.

This week: do your inner work. Go into the woods. Slow your roll.

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Venus Retrograde: Heroine’s Journey — I’ll decide on the final pricing when I’m back from Chicago. For now, it’s still open and I’ll let you know. Two tiers: the basic Venus Retrograde course, and Dragon Rider (adds a year of Spiral Codex membership, a 30-minute one-on-one with me, and a personal gift). louiseedington.com/VenusRetrograde2026

One more small thing: if you enjoy astrology AND music, Chris Brennan did an extraordinary interview with Roland Orzabal from Tears for Fears about his astrology memoir. It’s worth your time. I’ve listened twice and bought the hard copy.

The Energy of This Week

We come off the lunar eclipse on August 28th and begin to wane. The week opens with the Moon in Aries and ends with it in Cancer, waning all the while, heading toward the September 10th new moon. We are in the shedding phase.

What makes this week distinctive — and why the message keeps being the same — is the sheer number of retrograde planets in Aries: Neptune, Manwë, Saturn, Pallas Athena, Eris, and Vesta, all moving backwards. When the Aries Moon moves through them, each conjunction or activation is saying: slow down. Go in. Revisit. Review. Do not charge forward. Aries likes action and speed; the retrogrades are applying the brakes.

The overall prescription for this week: radical, extraordinary self-care. More than you normally would. The whole week is a churn of inner processing. Let it do its work.

Three more things to note:

Pluto is out of bounds until December 5th — as it will be for a few months around this time of year until 2035. Going out of bounds to the south, which Rosie Finn’s book Persephone’s Revolution associates with people rising up and more peaceful collective energy. We are in that window.

Sedna stations retrograde this week (Thursday) — her 11,406-year orbit is so slow that her stations are gentler than most, but she’s still asking: dig deeper into your perceptions and adaptations. She was last in Gemini at the end of the Great Ice Ages.

Venus is entering the shadow of her retrograde — she hits 21°50’ Libra at the start of the week, which is the point she’ll return to when she stations direct on November 13th. Start paying attention now to what comes up around your values, your relationships, your sense of justice and beauty, your desires. Everything that surfaces in the next few weeks will have something to say when Venus goes retrograde in October.

Only Venus, Mercury, and the Sun have passed the South Node and Regulus so far. Everyone else is still coming. Gradually, one by one.

The Cards — A First Glance

From the Red Seeds Tarot and the Witch Oracle: Two of Bees, Eight of Seeds reversed, Ten of Bees, and The Witch.

Tension. Disengagement. Then: revelation. And then the Witch herself — the one in total control of herself — to close. More at the end.

Day by Day

Sunday, August 30 — Moon in Aries. Slow Your Horses. Venus Enters Her Shadow.

The Moon is freshly in Aries — and immediately hits all those retrograde planets. A sextile to Sedna (about to station), a sextile to Pluto activating the basket at 4°, then the Moon conjuncts Neptune — stop and smell the coffee. Tune in to your intuition. There is nothing to rush into right now. The Moon then sextiles Uranus — the aha question of this whole period: who am I in this new world we’re building? That’s worth sitting with.

The Moon squares Ceres in Cancer — do your self-care. Take care of yourself first, and then you are able to care for and protect your loved ones. And squares Pholus — the lid is still coming off things.

The Moon is being slowed at every turn. Neptune is particularly potent here: the retrograde Aries cluster, every one of them applying the brakes to the Aries Moon’s natural preference for speed. Slow your horses. We are not at full speed ahead yet.

The Moon conjuncts Pallas Athena (revisiting strategy and pattern recognition), then conjuncts Eris (tables turning, but within — going in to see what you need to overturn in your own life), then squares Juno (renegotiating contracts), sextiles Hekate (the torchbearer is saying: the path forward is through your inner truths), and finally conjuncts Vesta (inner flame — what are you devoted to, really?). Before the day closes, the Moon conjuncts Saturn — a hard stop. Reality check. Put the brakes on.

Venus at 21°50’ Libra directly opposes Pallas Athena retrograde — the strategist, the pattern-recognizer, looking keenly back at Venus. Slow down. Think through your relationships, your values, your sense of justice. See the patterns before you charge on. Venus is covering ground she will cover again during the retrograde. Pay attention to what surfaces.

Black Moon Lilith makes a fire trine to Eris and Vesta, and sextiles Hekate — that inner feminine rage at injustice, in flowing conversation with the table-turners and the inner flame, with the way-shower lighting the path. And Mercury in Virgo trines Pholus — more information coming to light. More things being seen.

Monday, August 31 — Saturn Squares Asteroid Lilith. Black Moon Lilith Enters Capricorn. Earth Grand Trine.

Saturn at 13° Aries squares Asteroid Lilith in Cancer. Thirteen — the number of the goddess, the witch. Saturn in Aries retrograde is revisiting the rules, the structures, the identities we’ve been building. Asteroid Lilith — the talk-to-the-hand, we-were-created-equal, original divine feminine — is in the Moon’s sign, looking around and asking: how are all our needs being met? How are outsiders’ needs being met? It’s a hard look, again, before we do anything more. Saturn can bring the “shoulds” — and this week: don’t. It will still be there later.

Black Moon Lilith reaches the end of Sagittarius and enters Capricorn — the sign of our institutions, structures, and the man-made rules we live under. And the moment she crosses into Capricorn, she trines Regulus at 0° Virgo and Chiron at 0° Taurus — an Earth Grand Trine. The exiled feminine energy, in flowing conversation with the Royal Star that now speaks of future stewards, and with the medicine man shining his light on wounds and healing.

The way forward is this world. This experience. Being on this Earth, which is our home.

Jupiter at 13° Leo trines Saturn at 13° Aries. Thirteen — the goddess number, the witch number, also a number of creation (Fibonacci, phi). This is the opening trine of the cycle that began at the Great Conjunction in December 2020 — Jupiter and Saturn at 0° Aquarius, the beginning of the Age of Air. Now Jupiter has moved into Leo and this is the first flowering of that seed. We have to change these man-made rules that are not in alignment with the natural laws of the universe. That’s what this aspect is saying. In the number of the goddess, no less.

The Moon in Aries moves through Pallas Athena (revisiting strategy), opposes Venus (emotions stirred around what Venus is covering in her pre-retrograde territory — feel it, don’t push it away), conjuncts Eris (more inner table-turning), squares Juno, sextiles Hekate, conjuncts Vesta.

Tuesday, September 1 — Moon Into Taurus. Mars Squares Saturn. Mercury Meets Circe. The Brakes.

The Moon finishes its Aries passage by aspecting the Nodes (still at 29° until October 9th — eclipse energy still reverberating) before moving into Taurus at 4:01am Eastern. Immediately, the Moon conjuncts Chiron — the shaman, the medicine man, hands-on healing. Earth. Body. Values. The wound and the medicine.

Venus at 23° Libra makes a lovely unbroken flow aspect to Chariklo in Aquarius — the cosmic doula, Chiron’s consort, the grace-spinner, holding space for the new story we’re weaving. I am here with you. I am helping you weave it.

Then the aspect that defines the day: Mars in Cancer squares Saturn in Aries. Mars in Cancer is already uncomfortable — fire in water, drive dampened by sensitivity. And Saturn in Aries is retrograde, in Mars’s own sign. One foot on the accelerator, one foot on the brake. Except this week: it is far more brake than accelerator.

If you feel the shoulds pressing in — I should be doing this, I should be doing that — this week is not the time. What needs to be done will still be there after you’ve rested and gone in. The brakes are on for a reason.

Mercury in Virgo meets Circe the Sorceress — Circe is also conjunct the upcoming Virgo New Moon, which feels intentional. Mercury saying: get into the details, go in and do some inner sorcery and magic. The craftsmanship here is interior. Mercury then sextiles Asteroid Lilith — she’s in there too, having a very good look at what she’s going to say no to. Not performing the no yet. Looking clearly.

The Taurus Moon Earth-trines the Virgo Sun and Pholus at around 9-10° — a pull to earth, to the somatic, to the body, to roots. Get your bare feet on the ground. Do grounding meditations. Go into the woods. That’s why I chose the Red Riding Hood image for this week — the feminine going into the woods, into the inner world, is the heroine’s journey. Read those old fairy tales from a different lens.

Wednesday, September 2 — Moon in Taurus. Everything Is Within.

The Taurus Moon squares Jupiter at 13° Leo — the natural laws of the universe, in the sign of the heart, at the goddess number again. The pattern of all of these 13° aspects this week is unmistakable.

Everything is pointing inward. Everything is saying: come into balance and harmony within your nervous system. These eclipses have been nerve-jangling. If you feel your nervous system a bit fried, that’s both appropriate and fixable. You have the tools. Use them.

The Moon sextiles Mars (still cooling its jets, heading toward Asteroid Lilith), and the Sun trines Black Moon Lilith — with Okyrhoe the seer joining that aspect. This is about uncovering your inner seer. Going to the depth within that knows things before the mind catches up. The inner oracle.

Thursday, September 3 — Sedna Stations Retrograde. Moon Into Gemini. Basket Activated.

The Taurus Moon makes an Earth trine to Juno — our sacred contracts with each other, held in the flowing earth energy that’s been the backbone of this week. This Earth trine has been holding the whole week: pulling inward, pulling down to ground, pulling roots deeper.

Sedna stations retrograde in Gemini. Her 11,406-year orbit means she was last in Gemini at the end of the Great Ice Ages. Her stations are slower-burning than closer-in planets, but this is still a turning point: dig deeper into your perceptions, your ideas, your words, your thinking. How do you need to shift? How do you need to adapt?

Black Moon Lilith squares Saturn — now in his own sign Capricorn, pressing against the rules and structures of our institutions. More things being seen. More reality checks arriving. This is not the moment to rail at every little thing. It’s the moment to take it in, to see clearly, to know what you’re looking at before you act.

The Taurus Moon reaches 27-29° — the Pleiades degrees. This may feel like a tender, even sad day. The Pleiades carry the grief of endings and the beauty of the in-between. With Dolly and Tim Curry’s passing this week, and with so much being released in the collective, let yourself feel what’s there. The Moon then squares Hekate, squares the Nodes, and begins moving toward the drain of the South Node.

At 7:47am Eastern, the Moon enters Gemini and immediately meets Sedna — who just stationed retrograde, all that adapt-or-transform energy newly concentrated. The Moon then trines Pluto, sextiles Neptune, conjuncts Uranus — the basket, again. The cradle activated. The aha moment: something about letting go. Something about death and rebirth. Something about what’s trying to move through.

Mars is opposed by Black Moon Lilith at 2:44pm Eastern — a question not about action but about wisdom. Is the action we’re taking coming from a wise place? Or are we just acting? Black Moon Lilith is a lunar point, not a physical body — she’s the inner voice, the interior knowing. Are we using her wisdom to shape what we do?

Friday, September 4 — Last Quarter Moon. Venus Opposes Eris. Inner Tables Turning.

The Gemini Moon (out of bounds since late Wednesday or Thursday) squares the Sun — Last Quarter Moon at approximately 11:48am Eastern. Eleven: the master number, the gateway. What are we letting go of before we step through this doorway? Not one big doorway — a series of doorways. That’s what this whole period is. Each week, another door. What are we releasing at this one?

The Last Quarter Moon is always a crisis in consciousness — the moment of maximum tension before the letting go. In this context, coming off eclipse season, it’s the inner churn before the new moon plant.

Venus at 25° Libra opposes Eris — more inner tables to turn. Not out there, not yet. Going within, looking at strategy and patterns, recognizing what needs to be overturned within your own relating and your own values before you bring a new version of yourself to the world.

The Moon sextiles Saturn (opportunity to let go of self-limiting beliefs, old rules we were taught to live by) and sextiles Jupiter (the curious Gemini Moon trying to make sense of it all through the lens of the natural laws).

Mars meets Asteroid Lilith at 15° Cancer — the midpoint of the degree, the middle of Cancer. Mars will move ahead of her after this. But she is right there with him, saying: you are more of a protector and a guardian than you have been portrayed. Right now, at this moment — using the language of internal family systems — you are my inner protector. You are here to help me move within, do more self-care, love myself more. You are the guardian of my interior, not just the warrior taking on the external world.

If your inner Mars is feeling frustrated and angry (Mars doesn’t love Cancer), you can actually talk to that part of yourself: I know you’re here to help me. Right now your job is to protect my inner work, not to attack everything out there.

The Moon squares Mercury — information, details, adjustments, what you think. All of it inside.

Venus squares Juno — we are rewriting the contracts. With each other, and with ourselves.

Saturday, September 5 — Moon Into Cancer. Venus and Hekate. One Last Look at the Toxins.

The Gemini Moon finishes its journey — way out of bounds — making last aspects to the retrograde planets in Aries: Pallas Athena, Eris, Vesta. Fire and air. What do I need to burn off? What ideas need to be released? What does the inner flame actually want? Intense, but passing.

At 10:30am Eastern, the Moon enters Cancer — her own sign — and sextiles Chiron. The wound and the medicine. The shaman. What’s the medicine I’ve become because of what I’ve been through?

Venus makes a lovely unbroken flow aspect to Hekate — the way-shower, the torchbearer, the triple moon goddess at the crossroads. Venus and Hekate work together beautifully during Venus retrogrades (you’ll experience this directly in the class), and this pre-retrograde aspect is a preview: pay attention to your inner voice about which paths to choose. Which direction through the woods of your inner self is being illuminated?

The Cancer Moon trines Haumea — pure regeneration, the Hawaiian creatrix, the handle of the basket. She hasn’t been aspected much this week, and here at the close she shows up to say: something new is being birthed from all of this. Something is regenerating. And the Moon squares Neptune — Haumea moving forward, Neptune moving back, an aspect of adjustment between the two Mars signs (Aries and Scorpio). We are moving into a more Venusian era. We cannot stay where we were.

The last aspect of the week: one more look at the toxins, at what needs to be released, at what we’ve been carrying that belongs to the past. What more can I let go of to be a better ancestor? (If you want to go deeper on Nessus, there’s a beautiful blog post from the Amalthea website — search “Amalthea Nessus” — and the author contributed to Sideways from Saturn, the book on the centaurs that I wrote the foreword for.)

The Cards in Detail

Two of Bees (Swords) — I Am Tension:

Proverbs: “Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”

This week suggests difficult choices and decisions. Your ideas and opinions may be questioned — by others and, perhaps more intensely, by yourself. You may feel mentally paralyzed as you try to navigate stress, uncertainty, and inner conflict.

How do we move forward? Balance the tension of the opposites. Hold the tension of not knowing the outcome for a while. Clarity and a balanced view will make itself known. Positive choices and insightful decisions will arise from the centre of your being, once you’ve taken time to contemplate and listen to yourself before you act.

And remember that quote when you speak to yourself this week: gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Including when you are talking inside your own head.

Eight of Seeds (Pentacles), reversed — I Am Disengaged:

Upright, the Eight of Seeds is productive, diligent, sowing and harvesting. Reversed this week: I feel disengaged. I feel like I’ve never done enough, like I’m not good enough. The inner perfectionist shows up.

This is an Earth card, and its very reversal is the prescription: self-development and inner work. Not productive outer work. The shadow of Virgo — the perfectionism, the not-enoughness — can come through here. Let it be acknowledged and then gently set aside. You don’t have to perform productivity right now.

Ten of Bees (Swords) — I Am Revelation:

Khalil Gibran: “For the bee, the flower is the fountain of life. For the flower, the bee is the messenger of love.”

This is the card I was genuinely glad to see at the end of this challenging set. Here it is:

We have tripped up and plummeted along the way, and now know what rock bottom feels like. It has challenged us. Self-pity, at times, has heightened our suffering.

However, in reality, the rocks actually grounded us, and a relief and an understanding is starting to rise up within us. It is clear that we have been stung into waking up to some hard truths. Our ego may have been battered, and we may feel sore, vulnerable, as we reflect on what appear to be failures and endings that lie behind us.

The good news is: the worst is over, for this week. The weight we have carried is finally lifting. We have survived, and our stings will heal. Our wings gently unfurl, and we start to ascend, breathing in the clear air, and dancing into a new beginning.

By the end of the week, you will start to feel the call of the new moon. Not quite there yet. But coming.

The Witch (Witch Oracle) — I Am Coordinating, Not Dominating:

“Control. No woman alive today needs a dictionary to know what control means within a toxic patriarchy. She’s experienced it a thousand different ways. It is domination and restraint.

But in a balanced psyche and in a balanced culture, control can mean something else entirely.

A witch experiences control through cooperation rather than competition. She is engaged with all the parts of her psyche in an attempt to coordinate rather than dominate.

You are being asked right now to embrace all the inhabitants of your inner realm, because each deserves respect and a place at the table. Even the unruly, the inconvenient, the ugly. Making space for all under the banner of wild inclusion — giving voice to the shame, malice, and anger, as well as every other outlawed part of the psyche — is the way we create integrity.

When your intent is to create rather than compete, you don’t have to dominate. Your influence is enough. This is power with, rather than power over.

Invite whatever is bothering you today into the realm of inclusion. Assert your inner authority.”

Coordinate, don’t dominate. Including inside yourself. This is the whole week. This is the whole work.

Summing Up

Post-eclipse. Waning. Brakes firmly on. The Aries retrogrades slowing everything down, saying not yet, not yet. The Earth Grand Trine pulling us down to roots and soil and body. The 13s showing up everywhere — the goddess number, the witch number — at Saturn and Jupiter and the Moon’s aspects. Venus entering her pre-retrograde territory and asking us to start paying attention. Sedna stationing to dig deeper into how we adapt. The Last Quarter Moon at the gateway number, releasing before the new moon.

The rocks grounded us. The wings are beginning to unfurl.

Go into the woods. Slow your roll. Do the radical self-care. Talk to your inner Mars. Embrace all the inhabitants of your inner realm. And coordinate, don’t dominate — inside and out.

The new moon is coming on September 10th. We’ll get there.

— Louise

Venus Retrograde: Heroine’s Journey — louiseedington.com/VenusRetrograde2026

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