PATIENT ZERO AT 0˚ SCORPIO

Before We Dive In

I’m writing and recording this on September 23rd, because I’m heading to Seattle tomorrow to visit my two daughters — both of whom got engaged last month. Two engagements in August. Very Cancer season. I am very much the Great Mother right now.

Which means I will not be doing a political video this week. Back Sunday. Normal service resumed next week.

But this is the week I have been building toward all year — and the cards (which I’ll read at the end) are, I am not even joking, telling you to join the Venus class. So let me say it plainly before we get into what is a genuinely extraordinary week:

The Venus Retrograde: Heroine’s Journey class starts October 1st at 10am Mountain Time. The morning of October 1st is the absolute last chance to register — I won’t accept late joiners, because this is a group journey into the underworld, and the group needs to begin together.

Two tiers:

The Journey — $397. Seven weeks, eight calls, all recordings, full course portal with pre-work videos, slides in colour and black-and-white, and materials you keep. We go really deep.

Dragon Rider — $897 total. Everything above, plus: a private 30-minute one-on-one with me (starts after the class), a full year’s membership in the Spiral Codex private community ($600 value, weekly calls and great discounts), and a personalized gift — I’ll be asking Dragon Riders for their addresses to mail those out. The one-on-one and membership both begin after the class finishes.

I have to mention: the first call starts at 10am Mountain Time on October 1st, and Venus is right on the Ascendant at that exact moment. I did not plan that. It is just the way my life seems to work.

louiseedington.com/VenusRetrograde2026

The Evolving Astrologer — my Venus retrograde article has been published in OPA’s free online magazine. I’m on page 21. If you missed the OPA Live panel last weekend, it’s available at opaastrology.org — Merridith Cassels also did a wonderful piece on asteroids you’ll want to catch.

And yes — I made t-shirts from one of the Venus class slides. You truly cannot make this stuff up.

Also: Taylor Swift is releasing new music from her Life of the Showgirl albums this Friday, including a single called Patient Zero. I’ll just leave that there, alongside everything that’s happening at 0° Scorpio this week. She knows astrology. I happen to know she’s consulted someone. I’ll say no more.

The Week at a Glance

This is arguably one of the most significant week of 2026 for the inner life.

The sky patterns:

* A Cardinal Grand Cross pressing hard for change throughout

* A Fixed Grand Cross building as Mars enters Leo and Mercury enters Scorpio

* An Air Grand Trine forming a kite — ideas, information, big awakenings

* Mars moves into Leo at the end of Sunday

* Mercury enters Scorpio on Wednesday September 30th — the 10th Pluto-Haumea exact square happens the same day at 3:15pm Eastern

* October 1st: the Venus class begins

* October 3rd, 3:15am Eastern: Venus stations retrograde at 8°29’ Scorpio

* Last Quarter Moon also on October 3rd — a cardinal Grand Cross with Saturn, Moon, Sun, Pholus

Waning moon all week. Going within. These cards are about recalibration, not momentum.

The nodes are still at 29°. Still holding eclipse charge until October 9th.

The Cards — A First Glance

From the Red Seeds Tarot (Linda Hill, Etsy UK) and the Witch Oracle by Angie Sullins: The Hermit reversed, Three of Torches reversed, Five of Seeds reversed, and The Selkie.

Three reversals and a Selkie. The first three say: withdraw, feel the stall, then begin to see a way through. And the Selkie says: shed the good girl pelt and dive into the soul home. Keep reading. These cards are saying something specific.

Day by Day

Sunday, September 27 — Cardinal Grand Cross. Mars at the Threshold. Last Day of the Waning Aries Moon.

We open the week post-Aries Full Moon, waning. The Moon is still in Aries and still carrying the full moon’s illumination — but it’s releasing now, not building.

Mercury in Libra squares Asteroid Lilith to open the day — talking and fighting for justice, for the marginalized, for everyone who has been othered by the power-over paradigm. Asteroid Lilith says: nobody puts baby back in the corner. The Mercury square is a push. More people speaking out. Particularly, in my reading, those who have been most excluded.

At the same time, Mercury opposes Eris — completing the formation of a Cardinal Grand Cross with Juno (sacred contracts; none of this is working) — which forces things to change. Initiating. Cardinal energy doesn’t wait.

Heading into the midterms, the voices are getting louder: we can’t keep doing this. The tools exist. We just have to use them.

The Aries Moon conjuncts Saturn — reality check, brakes applied, feeling held back. You might feel stalled. That is appropriate. The waning cycle is the releasing cycle.

The Moon trines Black Moon Lilith — the wild, elemental feminine speaking clearly. There is real female rage alive this week, in the best sense. Female Rage: The Musical would be right at home.

Mars at the anaretic 29° Cancer squares Chiron in Aries — the guardian energy looking at the wound of the toxic masculine. All of us carry this, regardless of gender, because we were raised in this culture. Mars in Cancer has been learning: I am a protector, not an attacker. I am a firefighter in the IFS sense — I want to put out fires, but that doesn’t mean I have to attack everything. And now Mars is about to move into Leo.

The Moon squares Ceres in Cancer — how are we mothering ourselves? How are we nurturing each other, in a genuinely healthy way?

The Moon meets Pallas Athena — the wise warrior seeing the patterns. Oh. I see it now. We’ve got to change how we do this. The Moon trines Jupiter — a big fire trine, burning things down and creating differently.

And then, at the very end of the day: Mars enters Leo.

Mars in Leo is fire and heart and creative self-expression. Mars is not just war, and I want to be clear about this. Mars is our will, our drive, our energy. It’s a firefighter in the internal family systems sense — highly protective. And Mars in Leo, heading toward the South Node and Regulus, is going to help take down more of what needs to come down. Because Mars in Leo will square 0° Scorpio — the exact point of the Venus Star Point. You want to be in the class when that happens. Week one slides are already done.

The Moon closes the day conjuncting Vesta — what are you focused and committed to? What lights your inner flame? Here is the invitation this Venus retrograde is about to offer you.

Monday, September 28 — Moon Into Taurus. The Fixed T-Square Begins.

The Aries Moon finishes its journey by sextiling Hekate — the torchbearer at the crossroads, at this big turning point we’re entering. I’m here. I’m lighting the way. We’re going into the depths. This is not dark as in “oh my god.” It’s dark as in depth. Personal and collective transformation happening at a profound level.

The Moon conjuncts Eris (more table-turning within — the outer mirror of inner work), then aspects Asteroid Lilith, Juno, and Mercury — joining that Cardinal Grand Cross and saying collectively: we have to be the change we want to see in the world. Then the Moon meets Chiron — another look at the wounded masculine energy in all of us. Mars is now in Leo; the lesson keeps arriving from different angles.

At 10:40am Eastern, the Moon enters Taurus. And immediately — a Fixed T-Square with 0° Scorpio.

The Moon squares Mars in Leo. Mars in Leo squaring 0° Scorpio. This is gnarly energy, and it will activate on and off right through Venus and Mercury’s retrogrades. What it’s asking: dig into your deepest attachments. Your values. Your power dynamics and manipulation patterns — those you’ve been subjected to and those you’ve participated in. And find your way to acting from the heart. From Leo’s highest.

The Sun in Libra trines Uranus — a beautiful air trine bringing downloads, flashing insights, radical change of perception. Grace. When you know better, you do better. No beating yourself up for what’s happened in the past. Manwë (the Law of Grace) is part of this cluster — the Sun opposes it exactly.

Juno exactly opposes Asteroid Lilith — the Queen of Gods (who represented women, children, and the marginalized) facing the original equal. The fight for genuine equality is being activated at every level.

The Moon opposes Haumea — and here’s what to know: Pluto and Haumea are only 5 minutes apart at this point. They are about to have their next exact square. The Moon activating both of them simultaneously is a preview.

Tuesday, September 29 — Moon Opposes Venus. Okyrhoe the Seer. The Looking Glass.

The Taurus Moon opposes Venus in Scorpio while conjuncting Okyrhoe — the daughter of Chiron and Chariklo, the prophetess, the seer. This conjunction gives the Moon/Venus opposition a oracular quality: you may start to receive foresight around what you need to let go of. What attachments. What values. What old stories about who you are.

The Venus class guides you through exactly this. And I will guide you through shamanic journeys that work precisely in this territory — going through the looking glass, seeing things in non-ordinary reality, pulling the pieces and patterns together. Pallas Athena (retrograde) squares Ceres today — the wise strategist looking at what feeds us and what doesn’t, with that Alice-in-Wonderland capacity to see through the distortion to the pattern underneath.

The Moon trines Pholus — Pandora’s box is open. We can’t look away anymore. Whatever has been sealed behind those lids: it’s out. The Moon squares Jupiter — big emotions about what we’re seeing. Jupiter in Leo can be the overblown king energy, the my way or the highway energy — and we’re starting to see it clearly.

The Moon aspects Nessus — the toxins, the poisons. But look: alongside that, heart-led expansion is available. The antidote to what we’ve been seeing is leading from the heart.

Mercury opposes Chiron — the voice meeting the wounded masculine. Speak out. Do this differently. Language has power here.

Mercury also makes its final aspects to the North Node — the strongest pull is toward where we’re going: the Aquarian future. More humanitarian. More egalitarian. The question being asked everywhere from politics to tech: why are we letting four people — the owners of the AI companies — dictate what our collective future looks like? Why are we allowing it? Go and listen to the Politics Girl podcast this week; the author Ahmi Fields Meyer makes this case compellingly. We need to come together across our differences and use the tools we have.

Wednesday, September 30 — Mercury Enters Scorpio. Pluto-Haumea Square Exact. The 10th.

The Taurus Moon squares Chariklo and Hekate in Aquarius — both retrograde, both quiet, both holding the torch and spinning the new story from the wreckage. We’re here. We’re still holding space. Come with us.

The Moon finishes its Taurus journey by squaring the Nodes at 29° — one more push. Change has got to come.

At 7:44am Eastern, Mercury enters Scorpio — joining Venus in the deep waters. The voice, the mind, the communication descends. Mercury is, by the way, non-binary — and deeply at home in Scorpio’s investigative, truth-seeking, depths-penetrating energy. More hearing and speaking about manipulation and power games. More going into the deep interior. Like the last Venus retrograde when Venus went through Aries and Mercury followed — now they’re both in Scorpio, and they’ll station direct on the same day: November 13th.

At 1:26pm Eastern, the Moon enters Gemini.

And then, at 3:15pm Eastern: Pluto exactly squares Haumea at 3° Aquarius/Scorpio. This is the 10th of 13 exact squares between these two, running from 2022 to spring 2028. Three more to go.

I wrote an article on the Pluto-Haumea square — here

The number 3° is worth sitting with. From The Numerology and the Divine Triangle (a wonderful book): 3 combines the qualities of 1 and 2. It carries the qualities of manifestation and self-expression. The ion which sprang into existence from zero sought to assert its individuality, then felt the attraction of others, and now awakens to its need for social interaction. 3 is the need to communicate and become involved in the pure joy of living. Keywords: expansive, dramatic, communicative, diversified, creative. Lovely number.

Haumea is the great mother goddess of the Hawaiian pantheon — pure regeneration and rebirth. Pluto pressing on her at the number of creative manifestation, with Venus 3 days from stationing retrograde. This adds extraordinary potency to what we’re entering.

The Gemini Moon conjuncts Uranus at end of day — the whole air grand trine kite is activated. Big ideas. Speaking out. Court cases. Revelations. And all of it happening within, too.

Thursday, October 1 — The First Call. Venus on the Ascendant. Last Chance to Join.

The Venus Retrograde: Heroine’s Journey begins at 10am Mountain Time.

And at 10am Mountain Time, Venus is right on the Ascendant. I did not plan this. I never do. It just works for me.

The morning of October 1st is the absolute last chance to register. I will not accept late joiners — this is a group journey into the underworld, and the container needs to hold everyone together from the beginning. If you’ve been saying I’m not sure, I don’t know — this is the moment. louiseedington.com/VenusRetrograde2026

Astrologically, the Gemini Moon trines the Sun — the first major Moon-Sun aspect after the Aries Full Moon. Activates the air grand trine. Speaking out, new ideas, diving deeper. A beautiful day to begin.

The Moon sextiles Saturn (opportunity to release more self-limiting beliefs — and there will be many to release in this class), sextiles Pallas Athena (turning that steely, pattern-seeing gaze inward — exactly what we’ll do), and sextiles Jupiter (expansion, big ideas, the heart opening toward what’s possible).

The Moon opposes Black Moon Lilith — I always associate Black Moon Lilith with Scorpio, and she’s pointing directly into where we’re about to descend.

Quiet day, astrologically. Good for beginning something deep.

Friday, October 2 — Mercury-Mars-Pluto. The Fixed Grand Cross Tightens. Cancer Moon Out of Bounds.

The Gemini Moon squares Nessus at 21° — another look at the toxins, the poisons, what’s been coming out. Then Mars aspects Sedna — we know we have to change. We know it. The question is what action we’re going to take.

Mercury in Scorpio squares Mars in Leo — and squares Pluto in Aquarius — completing the Fixed Grand Cross in earnest now. Mercury’s voice and mind in the depths, Mars’s will and drive in the heart, Pluto’s excavation of shadow in the collective — all pressing on each other. Everything speaking truth. Everything connected. Think about what action is required.

The Gemini Moon trines Chariklo and Hekate, sextiles Eris (opportunity to flip the inner tables), aspects Chiron (wound and medicine) — then at 3:54pm Eastern, the Moon enters Cancer — her own sign. And she is way out of bounds.

Mercury in Scorpio squares Pluto and conjuncts Haumea — the total period of deep regeneration from the inside out. Soul detective. Corruption detective. Scorpio investigates what’s hidden.

Mars in Leo trines Neptune in Aries — Mars in Leo, Neptune in Aries, both Mars’s signs in harmonious conversation. The lesson Mars keeps getting, from every angle: you are a protector, not an attacker. You don’t have to stomp on others. You have to find different ways to do this.

The Sun squares Pholus — Pandora’s box, still open. More coming to light. The lid has been off too long to go back on.

The Moon makes a water trine to Mercury and Haumea — deep, feeling, regenerative, creative. The inner detective work is happening.

Saturday, October 3 — Venus Stations Retrograde. Last Quarter Moon. The Descent Begins.

At 3:15am Eastern, Venus stations retrograde at 8°29’ Scorpio.

She will be retrograde through November 13th, when she stations direct alongside Mercury. The descent into the underworld begins.

Where is 8° Scorpio in your chart? What about 22° Libra — the degree where Venus will station direct? The path between those two degrees is the territory of this retrograde. And if you were born under a prenatal Scorpio Venus Star Point, this is your star point cycle, and it will be extraordinarily personal.

Even if you’re not a Scorpio star point: look back 8 years to 2018. And 8 years before that. And 8 years before that. Venus has been going retrograde through Scorpio on this 8-year cycle. Not for exact events — but for feelings, themes, the part of your chart activated. What echoes are you hearing?

The out-of-bounds Cancer Moon (deeply emotional, operating beyond the normal range) makes a water trine to Venus at 6:15am Eastern — this moment feels significant. A deep tide turning. We’re going to feel it.

Then: Mars in Leo opposes Pluto, squares Mercury, and squares Haumea — the Fixed Grand Cross at full force. Take action to dig deep. Go into your own heart and shadows. Transform from the inside out. This is not comfortable. It is the work.

The Moon opposes Pholus (Pandora’s box wide open as we descend).

And then the Last Quarter Moon — the Moon reaches 10° Cancer, squaring the Sun in Libra, with Saturn and Pholus completing another Cardinal Grand Cross. Forcing change from within. Dane Rudhyar called Last Quarter Moons a “crisis in consciousness.” This one, with Venus having just stationed retrograde hours before, with a Fixed Grand Cross also activated, with Mercury in Scorpio and Mars pressing on Pluto — this is not a gentle crisis.

Mars squares Haumea — the divine masculine learning, still, that the rebirth requires depth not domination.

The Moon meets Ceres — and I want to end there, because Ceres is about our needs and our attachments. In my Ceres book, I write about her connection to attachment style: what we’re attached to, who we’re attached to, what ideas and stories we’re clinging to. The Venus retrograde class begins peeling all of this back. And Ceres at the end of this intense day is saying: look at what you’re attached to. You don’t have to carry all of it.

The Cards in Detail

The Hermit, reversed:

You may start this week wanting to withdraw from the world. Feeling antisocial. Feeling like you want to hibernate. And you know what? That’s okay. The waning cycle is the releasing cycle, and this is a big week of going inward.

The caution of the reversal: don’t let the going-within become “woe is me” with no movement. The Hermit reversed can be too much navel-gazing without the intentional “okay, and now what do I do with what I’ve found?” The invitation is solitude with purpose — even if that purpose is just let me feel this before I act on it.

Three of Torches (Wands), reversed — Roadblocks and Recalibration:

Venus grinding to a halt. Cardinal and Fixed Grand Crosses. Waning moon. Everything going within.

You may feel delays, roadblocks, a loss of momentum and confidence this week. Your drive is going underground. This is not failure. This is the Three of Torches asking for recalibration — and it is pointing directly at the class. Recalibrate in community. Recalibrate in the underworld, with a guide and a map and seven weeks to find your feet.

Five of Seeds (Pentacles), reversed — I Have My Own Back:

This one lands at the end of the week, as Venus stations retrograde.

You will start to feel that you can overcome hardship. You will start to see that the difficult times could be over.

But here is the core message: you’ve got to have your own back. For better or worse. Through the descent and the return. You matter. And your actions matter.

The Selkie (Witch Oracle by Angie Sullins):

When I read this card, I said out loud: This is what I do in the Venus class. And I wasn’t joking.

“Legend tells of the Selkie — a shape-shifting woman-seal, often seen off the coast of northern Scotland, who can shed her skin by moonlight and dance upon the shores. Fishermen were known to catch the seal maid’s skin in order to keep her pinned to the land, captured as bride, preventing her return to her true skin and soul home.

To reclaim your soul skin in the current legend you’re living, you must let go of the good girl pelt you were raised to wear. This means getting comfortable with letting people have their own ideas about who you are, so that you can develop the freedom to be what is most natural to you.

Toss off all that no longer fits you, and dive deep into the places where your soul feels most at home.

Let go of old demands you put yourself under to be that good girl, good friend, good daughter, good wife, good mother. Shed the pelt of expectation, demand, and approval, including your own.

The woman in total control of herself you are becoming will cost you relationships, spaces, comfort, security, and convenience.

Choose her over everything.”

The Venus class is the place where we do this work — consciously, guided, over seven weeks. Where the shamanic journeys help you find your soul skin. Where the descent into Scorpio’s underworld is not random suffering but initiated transformation.

This is why these cards were telling you to join. The Selkie arrived at the week Venus goes retrograde. She is looking you directly in the eyes.

Choose her over everything.

Summing Up

A Cardinal Grand Cross pressing and pressing for change. A Fixed Grand Cross building as Mars enters Leo and Mercury dives into Scorpio. The 10th Pluto-Haumea exact square at the number of creative manifestation. Mercury in Scorpio. Venus stationing retrograde at 3:15am on Saturday. The Last Quarter Moon adding its cardinal pressure. And Ceres closing the week by asking about our attachments.

The Hermit reversed says: withdraw with intention, not despair. The Three of Torches reversed says: this stalling is a recalibration. The Five of Seeds reversed says: you can overcome the hardship — you have your own back. And the Selkie says: shed the good girl pelt. Dive deep into where your soul feels most at home.

If you’re in the class: welcome. We start October 1st.

If you’re still deciding: this is the last weekend. Enrollment closes the morning of October 1st.

The underworld is waiting. Hekate has her torch.

— Louise

Venus Retrograde: Heroine’s Journey — last chance to register is the morning of October 1st. louiseedington.com/VenusRetrograde2026

My article in The Evolving Astrologer (OPA’s free magazine) — page 21. OPA Live panel: opaastrology.org. https://opaastrology.org/magazine/OPA-TEA-2026-September-Equinox.pdf?mc_cid=98ab9f9e71&mc_eid=d5af1effe0

Pluto-Haumea “Aspect of the Decade” article — here on Substack.

Code COSMICOWL20 (20% off) or COSMICOWL30 (30% off $99+) at Otter Spirit. Spiral Weave / Spiral Codex — $10/month or $90/year.

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