Put Yourself in the Way of Magic

Written version below.Venus Retrograde: Heroine’s Journey — I’m keeping the price as it is. I was going to raise it, and then I listened to my intuition, which said no. Start date is October 1st, and Venus stations retrograde on October 3rd — there was a timezone error on my sales page that said the 2nd; the 3rd is correct.

I’ve already started uploading new content to the portal — video guides, aspect breakdowns for the lead-in to the retrograde. And I want to say something I’ve been sitting with: I called this possibly my last run, and I don’t know that’s true. It’s my favourite thing I do. Things are changing in my life and work, and I don’t know exactly what form future iterations will take. But this one — this one — is ready, and I’m genuinely excited about it.

Two tiers: the basic Journey at $397 (seven weeks, eight calls, all recorded, full course portal, pre-work videos, slides in colour and black-and-white), and the Dragon Rider add-on (an extra $500) which includes a private 30-minute one-on-one ($175 value), a year’s membership in the Spiral Codex community ($600 value, beginning after the class), and a personalized gift I’ll mail to you.

louiseedington.com/VenusRetrograde2026

Before We Dive In

Coming up: Cathy and I are recording on Friday, likely looking at the Aries Full Moon chart alongside the US Sibley chart — the DC chart for the full moon has exactly the same angles as the Sibley. We’ll see what that means.

Subscribe free on Substack for weekly posts and everything else. Spiral Weave on my website louiseedington.com — $10/month or $90/year.

The Week at a Glance

This is a week of building intensity, heading toward the Aries Full Moon on Saturday September 26th at 12:49pm Eastern. I’ve done a full separate video on that — go watch it for the depth. The week is the lead-in.

The cards open at the end of your tether and build to fire. The astrology opens with a grinding cardinal T-square and builds to a kite configuration pointing at justice and transformation. By Saturday, the pieces come together.

Key events:

* Equinox — Sun enters 0° Libra — September 22nd

* Pholus stations direct at 9° Capricorn — Friday September 25th

* Aries Full Moon at 3° — Saturday September 26th at 12:49pm Eastern

One note to carry all week: only Venus, the Sun, and Mercury have crossed the South Node and Regulus at 0° Virgo. The rest are still coming. Mars, Jupiter, Juno, Hygieia — all heading there eventually. For now, the direction is set, but the journey is ongoing.

The Cards — A First Glance

From the Red Seeds Tarot (Linda Hill, Etsy UK) and the Witch Oracle by Angie Sullins: Seven of Torches reversed, King of Torches, Ace of Torches reversed, She of the Invisible Ally.

Three fire cards and one water card — and all of them, in their different ways, saying the same thing: the answer is within. The fire is within. The magic is within. The allies you’ve forgotten about are within.

More at the end. But hold that thread.

Day by Day

Sunday, September 20 — Moon in Capricorn. Cardinal T-Square. The Goddess Archetypes Are Screaming.

We open the week with the Moon out of bounds in Capricorn — and Pluto also out of bounds, as it will be until early December each year through 2035. More erratic, more beyond the pale, more heightened. The usual advice: more self-care than you think you need, more boundaries, more kindness to yourself.

The Moon squares Saturn retrograde (the guide for Capricorn, going back over the structures and rules) and opposes Ceres in Cancer — forming a cardinal T-square at 12°–13°. Cardinals push for action. This T-square is asking, again, loudly: how are our needs being met? How are the people’s needs being met? How are the needs of the most vulnerable people being met?

The outer expression of this energy keeps showing up in the news. Congress being sent home until November 9th — after the midterms, before Venus and Mercury station direct — while essential legislation is pending. A building in Gaza that had been bombed collapsed further, killing twenty people and trapping nearly a hundred. These are the literal expressions of the Moon opposing Ceres: needs not being met, structures not holding, the people saying enough.

Mars in Cancer squares Vesta and Eris — both in Aries, both retrograde. Mars and Eris are siblings in the mythology, and this square is in some ways the two of them working together despite the friction. Mars (assertive drive, protective instincts, cooling its jets in Cancer) squares Eris (the truth-teller for the outsiders, sharply aware of exclusion and hierarchy). Together: there’s a push to assert and claim space. And there’s a deep fear of being controlled or sidelined. But the square is a cardinal square — initiating. Things have to change, and Mars is moving forward toward them.

Mars then opposes Juno — now direct and heading back into Aquarius. The sacred contracts of our collective life are being confronted: none of this is working. We’re seeing it everywhere.

The Moon opposes Asteroid Lilith — and every goddess archetype in the chart this week seems to be screaming: we need to be heard. The Divine Feminine — not just women, but that whole energy of care, reciprocity, interconnection — needs to be heard.

Black Moon Lilith at 25° Sagittarius makes a fire trine to the whole Aries retrograde cluster and to Hygieia and the South Node. The answer is to burn off the old, rise up, create the new. Tune into the spirit of fire — which I experience as the fire of inspiration. That whooshing feeling when something unlocks.

The Moon closes the day by trining the Sun (last major Ptolemaic aspect before the full moon, Earth-to-Earth saying we are going to build a more meaningful world) while simultaneously squaring Chiron back in Aries. There is still work to finish. Every one of us is playing a part in building what comes next — in tight community, in broader collectives, in the most private inner work. All of it matters.

Jupiter in Leo trines Pallas Athena — the expander meeting the wise strategist and pattern-seer. Strategies to rise up like phoenixes. To lead from the heart rather than from the throne.

Monday, September 21 — Moon Into Aquarius. Mercury Opposes Pallas Athena. Hygieia and Hekate.

The Moon finishes its Capricorn passage still carrying all those T-square themes, then enters Aquarius at 1:14pm Eastern — the sign of the people, the future, the collective. Things shift slightly: from the weight of structures collapsing to the vision of what we want to build instead.

Mercury in Libra opposes Pallas Athena in Aries — big new ideas for justice. New strategies being assembled. In what feels like a surreal indicator of the astrology: Steve Bannon and Bernie Sanders were reported on the same stage (not at the same time) making the same argument: the future of AI must be decided by the people, not the oligarchs. I had to read that twice. Mercury opposing Pallas Athena in the sign of justice, pulling pieces together from unexpected places, finding new strategies to challenge concentrated power.

AI is part of this week’s conversation. The founders are fighting amongst themselves. Companies are finding that replacing workers with AI is not delivering what was promised. The data centre heat problem remains unsolved. And amid all of it, the argument about who gets to decide the future of this technology — whether it’s the few or the many — is getting louder. Hekate has her torch. The way forward is being shown.

Hygieia opposes Hekate in this same cluster — holistic, preventative health in all its forms (not just physical; the health of our collective mind and leadership) facing the torchbearer at the crossroads. Which way do we go? Hekate knows. The answers are within.

Mercury forms a sextile to Jupiter in Leo — big new ideas, big new plans, a real expansiveness in how we speak and think about what’s possible.

Tuesday, September 22 — Equinox. Sun Enters 0° Libra. The People Are Rising.

The Autumn Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, Spring in the Southern — the Sun enters 0° Libra, a world point, beginning a new season and seeding new things.

I took a quick look at the equinox chart set for Washington DC, and a few things caught my eye. Venus retrograde is in the 7th house of others and open enemies. The Aries retrograde cluster is in the 12th house of hidden enemies. Uranus is in the 2nd house of values, waking people up to what isn’t feeding them. Ceres sits at the base of the chart — the IC, the foundation — and she is saying: this system is not working for the people’s needs. Jupiter is moving into the 5th house of joy, creativity, self-expression, and the inner child — people beginning to find that.

And the Aquarius Moon is on the cusp of the 11th house — the house of causes, politics, humanitarian concerns, and the collective voice. The Moon is the people. And the people are rising.

Happy equinox.

The Aquarius Moon meanwhile squares Haumea (regeneration at 2° Scorpio, the exact degree where Venus and the Moon met in their occultation gate), then sextiles Neptune (let go of who you thought you were; step into interconnection), then trines Uranus — ahas, pattern-shifts, those head-explodey moments of seeing things differently. We’re going to have quite a few of those this week as we build toward the full moon.

The Moon squares Venus in Scorpio — digging into the shared values and power relationships that Venus is about to take us through in her retrograde. Who has power over us? Who have we given our power away to? These are not rhetorical questions this week.

Hygieia trines Vesta and Eris — the holistic health of the collective in flowing conversation with the inner flame and the truth-teller. The answers are within. Tune in.

The Moon closes the day by conjuncting Pluto — the shadow to the light, the buried treasure beginning to emerge. Pluto and Haumea are heading toward another of their 13 squares (which run 2022–2028), and the Moon is activating that approach. Three more squares after this one. The transformation is not done.

Wednesday, September 23 — Moon Opposes Jupiter. Moon Meets Hekate and Chariklo. Moon Into Pisces.

The Aquarius Moon opposes Jupiter in Leo — the people looking directly at the expanded king energy and saying: your time is limited. Jupiter is heading toward the South Node in Leo. Leaders, in the astrology world and in the wider world, are being taken down or called to account. Not necessarily the ones we want yet — but the motion is real.

The Moon trines Mercury (air to air: the collective mind, speaking out, ideas flowing) and then makes what I find genuinely beautiful: the Moon meets Hekate and Chariklo, both retrograde in Aquarius, both quietly holding space and weaving the new story from the pieces that are simultaneously falling apart and falling into place.

The Moon opposes Hygieia — everything heading down the South Node drain that is not for our genuine holistic flourishing, individually and collectively. Circling the drain of what’s not working. And the Moon conjuncts the North Node at 29° — still that eclipse charge, still that pull toward the future. Still at the threshold.

Change is coming. 29°. The anaretic degree of the liminal space.

And at the very end of the day, the Moon enters Pisces — things get very emotional as we build toward the full moon. But also: clouds clearing. The feeling quality of the coming days is going to be intense and also somehow clarifying.

Thursday, September 24 — Quiet Build. Lightning Hitting Water.

Not a huge number of aspects — a day to let things settle and integrate as the energy builds.

The Pisces Moon squares Sedna (adapt; change is coming; mutable signs pressing) then trines Haumea (ready to create from our feelings and our right brain; intuition and balance coming together) and then squares Uranus — and Louise described this perfectly: lightning hitting water. Uranus in Gemini, all those electrical awakenings and flashing ideas, square the Pisces Moon’s deep emotionality and flow. Shocking. Potentially beautiful. Possibly a few jarring revelations.

The Moon then trines Venus — seeing clearly about values, self-worth, how power has been given away. This is Venus retrograde territory, and we’re already starting to feel it from the outside in.

Asteroid Lilith squares Vesta — the original equality and the inner flame in friction, both asking the same question from different angles: what are you devoted to at the deepest level of who you are? With Chiron back in Aries, this is about healing the core self — finding the medicine of genuine individuality (not rugged power-over, but power from within) and healing the inner masculine while we’re at it.

Mercury trines Hekate and Chariklo — the messenger in flowing conversation with the torchbearer and the cosmic doula. The mind is starting to catch up with what the soul already knows.

Friday, September 25 — Venus Day. Pholus Stations Direct. The Kite Forms. Sun Enters Libra Season Fully.

Pholus stations direct at 9° Capricorn. Nine — the number of endings. Pholus is the Pandora’s Box centaur — the lid-comes-off energy, the things that get out that can’t be put back in. He has been retrograde in Capricorn for a long time, going back over what has been out of integrity in our institutions and structures. And now he stations direct.

More things are going to come out of the box. More revelations about the structures we’ve been living under. More things that, once seen, cannot be unseen. This station coincides directly with the full moon approaching and the Sun making exact aspects to the basket/cradle planets.

The Sun trines Pluto and Uranus, and opposes Neptune exactly — forming a kite in fire and air, with the Aries retrograde cluster as the focal point and Neptune (dissolving the old, birthing the spiritual warrior) as the tail. Big ideas for justice. New people rising up. New alliances forming in unexpected places.

The Sun at 3°–4° Libra is now past the equinox and building power in the sign of balance, harmony, and — often forgotten — justice. Libra is also traditionally associated with war (as the scales of battle), and the resistance to injustice is very much Libran at its highest.

New lawsuits. New strategies. New coalitions. Some of them surprising.

Mercury in Libra opposes Vesta and Eris — speaking up for the inner flame, speaking up for the outsiders. Mercury past 22° Libra means it’s now in the territory where Venus will station direct on November 13th. The mercury mind is already walking the ground Venus will return to.

Saturday, September 26 — The Aries Full Moon. 12:49pm Eastern.

Go and watch the full moon video. It’s all there.

What I’ll say here: the Moon in Pisces makes a water trine to Mars in Cancer (finally cooling its jets, the guardian energy settling into water) before entering Aries at 6:23am Eastern — and look at what it steps into. The whole retrograde Aries pileup. Chiron, Eris, Vesta, Pallas Athena, Saturn, Manwë, Neptune. The Moon as the focal point of this kite, as the people meeting all those planets going within, reviewing, reflecting.

The Moon meets Neptune (spiritual warrior; releasing who we thought we were), sextiles Sedna (adapt), sextiles Pluto (transformation), sextiles Uranus (radical awakening) — the mini grand trine activated right at the full moon.

Full Moon exact at 12:49pm Eastern at 3° Aries. Fulfillment. Illumination. Something completing.

Right after the full moon, the Moon conjuncts Manwë — the Law of Grace. Spontaneous resolution through internal alignment and correct action. Without external intervention. This is what the class does: guide you to take that self-directed, inner journey.

Then the Moon squares Pholus — facing what we see as the lid comes off, some people extending more grace to each other than before.

And one date to hold: Venus and Mercury station direct on November 13th. Congress is due back on November 9th — four days before. Mars crosses the South Node the day after that, on November 14th, alongside Jupiter. Watch this space.

The Cards in Detail

Seven of Torches (Wands), reversed — Lacking Courage:

You may start the week feeling this. A lack of faith in yourself. Like it’s all too much. Like quitting would be easier. The upright Seven of Torches is I Am Courage — and the reversal doesn’t remove the courage. It asks you to look within for it rather than expecting it to come from outside. The fire is in there. It always was.

King of Torches — I Am Dynamic:

The more you go within — even if you begin the week feeling defeated — the more this dynamism starts to build as the full moon approaches. Things are being ignited. The King of Torches doesn’t wait for permission. He knows he carries his fire within him. The full moon is the ignition point.

Ace of Torches, reversed — I Am Inspired (from within):

The Ace reversed is still the Ace — pure creative fire, the beginning of something. Reversed, the invitation is to find the inspiration within, not to look for the external spark. This is where the three fire cards are pointing together: defeat, then dynamism, then inspiration — all sourced from the interior. This is the Red Seeds Tarot, the deck of the Eleusinian Mysteries and the descent and return. Perfectly placed for the week Venus is about to take us underground.

She of the Invisible Ally (Witch Oracle):

“There are unseen forces guiding you right now. They rarely let themselves be seen, but that doesn’t mean they’re not there. While it’s true that you often name and number your resources, you forget about the unseen ones. The invisibles are available to you always, but they tend to dwell in the higher places — energies of wonder, curiosity, and hope.

Petition them. A witch will reach into these energies and swim with them through the cosmos. This is a good time for dreaming and journeying. Take a walk in nature. Seek out a credible plant shaman who can help you access the gifts of the green world. Spend time in the liminal realm with active imagination. Put yourself in the way of magic. Helpful spirits are ready to guide you, and now is the time to summon them to show themselves.”

We do exactly this in the Venus Retrograde class — the active imagination, the guided journeys, the liminal realm work. Not coincidentally.

And: find your inner dragon.

The planets don’t make anything happen. Everything is happening within you. Stuff happens, challenges happen — but how you respond to them, and how you work with them, is what matters.

You are the cosmos. The invisible ally is you.

Summing Up

A cardinal T-square pressing on the structures that aren’t working. Mars and Eris, siblings, asserting and claiming space. The equinox — a new season, a world point, a chart that says the people are rising. Pholus stationing direct with more things coming out of the box. The fire and air kite forming as the Aries Full Moon approaches. Manwë, the Law of Grace, right after the full moon. And four cards — three of them fire — that move from defeat, through dynamism, to inner inspiration, held by the unseen allies that have never left.

Start the week however you need to start it. Look within. Find the fire.

It was always there.

— Louise

Venus Retrograde: Heroine’s Journey — starts October 1st, Venus retrogrades October 3rd. $397 basic Journey; Dragon Rider add-on $500 extra. louiseedington.com/VenusRetrograde2026

Cathy and I are recording on Friday — check the channel.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cosmicowlastrology.substack.com/subscribe