The Moth and the Fire

Before We Dive In

Writing and Recording this on September 10th — the day of the new moon, in the dark. I have absolutely no get-up-and-go. The aspects this week are going to pick that up. But right now: very on-brand for the dark moon that I am recording in it.

A few important things before we get to a week that is genuinely significant.

Venus Retrograde: Heroine’s Journey — I need to say something I’ve been sitting with. This is the seventh time I’ve run this class since 2017. Seven Saturn squares, seven chakras. It feels like a completion cycle, and there’s a real possibility this is the last time I run it in this form. I feel immense shifts happening within me and within my work. If you have been thinking about joining, please do not wait. This one is particularly potent. I am working on the slides right now. The last time we had a Retrograde in Scorpio was 2028. That was my second class and I remember it as life changing for me and attendees. louiseedington.com/VenusRetrograde2026

What you get: seven weeks, eight calls (all recorded), a course portal with pre-work videos, slides in color and black-and-white, materials you can keep. And the class itself is not just astrology — it’s a heroine’s journey, guided meditations that retrieve lost parts of yourself, a regeneration journey, healing tools. We follow the myth of Persephone, Demeter, and Hades, alongside Inanna, through the Venus cycle. This is the last Scorpio Venus Star Point in our lifetimes. We start October 1st.

Dragon Rider tier adds a year’s membership in my Spiral Codex community (beginning after the class), a 30-minute one-on-one session with me, and a personalized gift from Otter Spirit chosen based on your chart energy.

Price stays at $397. I had been considering raising it — I’m not.

For other presentations please see the end of the email.

The Overall Energy

We are in the week following the Virgo New Moon, the Venus sign change, the Mercury sign change, and Uranus stationing retrograde — all of which happened on September 10th. The nodes are still parked at 29° Leo/Aquarius until October 9th. The entire Aries stellium remains retrograde: Neptune, Manwë, Saturn, Pallas Athena, Eris, and Vesta. And Chiron — who has been visiting Taurus — returns to Aries on Thursday.

Venus has passed the Star Point degree of 0° Scorpio that she will return to at the Cazimi on October 23rd. She is heading into the underworld, and this week’s occultation — the last Moon-Venus gate before she goes retrograde — is the pivotal moment.

The Cards — A First Glance

From the Red Seeds Tarot by Linda Hill (Etsy, UK) and the Witch Oracle by Angie Sullins: Death (I Am Transition), Three of Torches, Seer of Torches reversed, and Lady of Perpetual Rebirth.

The Death card and the Lady of Perpetual Rebirth bookending the week, with the Three of Torches (enthusiasm picking up) and the Seer reversed (not yet feeling your inner divinity, but the reminder to look) in between. Perfect for a week whose centrepiece is a Venus occultation at 2° Scorpio conjunct Haumea. More at the end.

Day by Day

Sunday, September 13 — Moon in Libra. Air Grand Trine. Pallas Athena and Asteroid Lilith Square Off.

We open the week with the Moon in Libra — balance, justice, how we relate, the scales.

The Moon sextiles Jupiter in Leo. Jupiter was occulted by the Moon just last week at 15° Leo — the king hidden behind closed doors for transformation. Now the Moon, having moved all the way to Libra, reaches back with this fire-and-air sextile. A few more leaders with overblown egos will fall. It’s time to rule from the heart. Jupiter will go retrograde in Leo and pass back over that territory. The transformation of what Jupiter represents is ongoing.

The Moon squares Asteroid Lilith — who is being overtaken by Mars (in Cancer, moving forward) but is not finished. She is saying clearly: we are not going back. We are starting to move into the new paradigm. Things are starting to change.

The Moon opposes Pallas Athena — the pattern-seer, the wise strategist, whose grey eyes see everything and nothing escapes them. We are starting to see the patterns more clearly now. And then Pallas Athena squares Asteroid Lilith directly — these two warriors in conversation. Pallas Athena with her strategy, Asteroid Lilith with her original equality: I was created from the same dirt. Equal. And it’s time we worked from that. Restore balance.

The Moon squares Mars in Cancer (more things falling or collapsing, the Libra Moon pressing for action and balance through cardinal signs) and then Ceres is opposed by Black Moon Lilith — the Great Mother and the shamed, hidden, elemental feminine in tension. Ceres is saying: move within. Take care of all your needs, met and unmet. Find what genuinely feeds you. Restore wholeness. And from that wholeness, you are more able to help create the new paradigm we’re moving into.

The Moon then makes a beautiful air grand trine to Hekate and Chariklo in Aquarius — the torchbearer and the cosmic doula, the way-shower and the grace-spinner, both in the sign of the future, the collective, the innovative. Ideas, new patterns, communication, social interaction — all of these weaving the new story. The path forward is through integration, through the Aquarian future, through humanitarianism and genuine care for each other.

The Moon squares Juno (about to station direct — more on that Wednesday) and opposes Eris and Vesta — table-flipping and inner flame in tension with the scales of balance. Flip the inner tables first. And finally: Mars in Cancer trines Nessus — a water trine, leaching out the ancestral poisons, the old toxic patterns. Like bloodletting: get rid of them. They are holding us back.

Mercury in Libra trines Uranus — an air trine at degrees very close to the first basket peak in July. Innovative new ideas. New thought, new inventions, aha moments. We are having collective awakenings in multiple ways simultaneously.

I’ve been reading Nietzsche — Thus Spoke Zarathustra. His “God is dead” was not triumphalism; he meant that we, collectively, have killed the concept. And I find I’m glad we’re moving away from the monotheistic, external, patriarchal God toward finding divinity within — moving away from intercessories. Which connects directly to the Hierophant reversed we had last week. The contracting is happening at every level.

Monday, September 14 — The Venus Occultation. The Last Gate. The House-Raising Party.

This is the day I most want to give space to.

The Moon enters Scorpio and first opposes Chiron in Taurus before Chiron returns to Aries on Thursday. Scorpio digs deep; Chiron shows where the light gets in — the wounds around greed, materialism, our severed relationship with the senses and the earth. What does it mean to restore that balance? This is an ongoing excavation.

The Sun in Virgo sextiles Mars in Cancer — Earth and water together, an opportunity for the guardian energy, the protective energy, the slow-and-meaningful energy to align with the Sun’s call to purposeful, humble, stewardship-oriented action.

And then: the Moon occults Venus.

An occultation is like an eclipse — the Moon passes directly across the face of a planet, hiding it from view. We had the Jupiter occultation last week. Now Venus. And this is the last Moon-Venus conjunction (gate) before Venus goes retrograde — the last gate of this descent cycle.

It happens at 2° Scorpio. Two is the number of the divine feminine: grace, cooperation, the receptive, the relational, the most powerful intuitive energy.

Venus is conjunct Haumea — the Hawaiian creatrix goddess, the handle of Barbault’s Basket, pure regeneration and rebirth. The Death card arrived in the cards this week. This is why.

Venus is also square Pluto — death and rebirth energy, the shadow excavated for the buried treasure — and quincunx Neptune retrograde in Aries, making an aspect of adjustment: how have we lost connection with something essential in this long Martian-dominated era?

That last point matters. The last Venus Star Point was at 2° Aries. This one is at 0° Scorpio. These are both Mars signs. And after this Scorpio Star Point — the last in our lifetimes — the Venus Star Point moves into Libra for over a hundred years, and then Pisces. Both Venusian signs. We are genuinely leaving a Martian era and entering a Venusian one. This occultation is a massive reset right at that threshold.

The occultation runs from approximately 9:26am to 1:42pm Universal Time — check your local time equivalent, or simply look for when Moon and Venus are conjunct in your app.

The Sabian symbol for 3° Scorpio (rounding up from 2°):

A house-raising party in a small village. The village gathers not for entertainment but for the practical work of creating shelter. Many hands apply themselves to a single essential task, and the structure rises through coordinated effort. The image is purposeful and warm — a portrait of community focused on something that genuinely matters.

The theme of this degree is collaborative intensity. The capacity to mobilize shared energy around a genuine need. The recognition that some structures require more than one person to build. There is a maturity here — in accepting support, and in offering it — so that what gets made is sturdy enough to last.

Think of that in collective terms. Think of the Venus class. Think of community and what we’re building together.

The Omega symbol (Sandbach): A mysterious food, a small piece of which will satisfy hunger for days. Governed by the angel Rochel — lost and found, restitution. This degree possesses innate knowledge of what is needed to sustain life, versus what may be desired based on fantasies or addictive needs. There is something highly concentrated about this energy, so that what it may seem to be at first may be quite different from how it’s experienced as it unfolds over time. It’s hard to get to know, hard to assimilate, but any attempts to do so are well worth the effort.

The Chandra symbol: Pigs being fed. Scorpio is the sign of desire. Overeating is often an attempt to fill what has been denied in other areas. At its best, this degree revels in what is taken in — love, a beautiful painting, a sunset, a bowl of mac and cheese. If not in deep and sincere touch with its true soul desires, it may binge chronically in an attempt to get something it never quite gets.

This is the invitation of this occultation: what do you truly desire? What genuinely feeds your deepest needs? Not the addictive filling, not the binge seeking what it never quite gets — but the mysterious food, a small piece of which satisfies for days.

I’ve been speaking with a friend about integrating Internal Family Systems work with astrology. The 8 C’s of the Self: compassion, creativity, curiosity, confidence, courage, calm, connectedness, and clarity. And 5 P’s: presence, persistence, perspective, playfulness, and patience. All of these are about coming into the Self — understanding yourself, accepting yourself, loving yourself — and from that place, bringing a completely different energy into the world. Rather than filling the hole. Rather than seeking from the outside what can only be found inside.

After the occultation: the Moon conjuncts Haumea and squares Pluto. Then Venus conjuncts Haumea directly — the goddess of love meeting the goddess of regeneration at this threshold degree, in the deep water sign.

We are being reborn.

Tuesday, September 15 — Moon Gaining Light. Water Grand Trine. Neptune-Pluto Sextile.

The Moon in Scorpio is gaining light now — we are past the new moon and entering the action phase. The Moon makes a water trine to Ceres — feeling our deepest needs, going very deep into our emotional world. Intense, but real.

Venus at 3° Scorpio squares Pluto — she is moving into the underworld journey now. This is exactly what we’ll track together in the class: Venus descending, confronting the shadow, finding the inner gold.

A water grand trine forms: Moon in Scorpio, Asteroid Lilith in Cancer, Mars in Cancer, and Nessus in Pisces all in flowing conversation. Step into the interconnectedness. Wash away the old toxic patterns. These inherited poisons have been holding us back, and the water is dissolving them.

Neptune and Pluto perfect another exact sextile — this ongoing aspect of collective transformation toward something more spiritual and interconnected. The building of something genuinely different is happening at the largest possible timescale, whether or not it’s visible from inside the noise.

The Moon squares Chariklo (helping write the new story) and sextiles the Sun — the first major Moon-Sun aspect since the new moon on the 10th. Earth and water. Creative energy coming from the depths.

Wednesday, September 16 — Juno Stations Direct. Moon into Sagittarius. Hekate at the Crossroads.

Venus is sextiled by Black Moon Lilith — the goddess of love and desire receiving support from the energy of the shamed and hidden wild feminine. Do the shame-and-vulnerability work. Brené Brown territory. What has been hidden in you? What has been shamed? That’s what we’re starting to surface as Venus approaches her retrograde.

The Moon in Scorpio squares Hekate — so much retrograde energy in Aries, Hekate saying: we’re not quite ready yet. The path forward involves the retrogrades. Venus and Mercury are both about to go retrograde through the same territory. After that, things will start to change in a big way — next year. But this is quite the process.

The Moon reaches the anaretic 29° Scorpio and squares the Nodes at 11:48am Eastern — activating both eclipse points simultaneously. Purging more of the old attachments: to rules, to people, places, things, to the way things were. We cannot create the new until we’ve let go of a lot of the old.

And then: the Moon enters Sagittarius. You may start to feel the shift — a little more get-up-and-go, a little more vision, a little more optimism. About time. The Sagittarius Moon shoots its arrows toward the future.

Right after the ingress: Mercury in Libra squares Pholus — more things being revealed, the Pandora’s box of our institutions still open. All the infighting globally, all the extremes — I genuinely believe we had to see all of this before we could create the new. The new is coming up underneath. It’s just not visible from inside the chaos.

The Sagittarius Moon opposes Sedna in Gemini (adapt or transform; communities renegotiating how they survive), trines Neptune, sextiles Pluto — the big agents of change, activated again.

Juno stations direct. Her retrograde back into Capricorn has been reviewing our contracts with man-made laws, institutions, and structures — looking at what’s out of balance, what needs to change. Now she starts moving back into Aquarius. New contracts. More meaningful ones. This is actually a significant shift.

Thursday, September 17 — Chiron Returns to Aries. Moon Gains Light. Few Aspects.

A quieter day in terms of number of aspects — but not in weight.

Asteroid Lilith activates the water grand trine that has been building through the week — still washing out, still leaching the poisons, still saying we are not going back.

The Moon in Sagittarius sextiles Mercury — opportunity for new ideas, new ways of thinking and communicating. The Moon is gaining light fast now.

The Moon trines Saturn retrograde in Aries — what more old structures and self-limiting beliefs need to be released?

And then, at 9:52pm Eastern: Chiron goes back into Aries. He’ll be there until early 2027, revisiting territory he needs to complete before returning to Taurus for the longer stay.

What does Chiron in Aries re-excavate? Wounds around the individual self, around identity, around who we are in ourselves. The message we received from the culture about what strength and individuality mean — rugged, power-over, domination — and the medicine of finding what genuine individual power actually looks like: coming from within, not over. We’ve been starting to find it. Chiron is going back to gather whatever bits need to be dug out before Taurus calls him back.

Friday, September 18 — Venus Day. Ceres Squares Saturn. First Quarter Moon. Venus at the Basket Degree.

Venus Day. And it delivers.

Black Moon Lilith oscillates back into Sagittarius — freedom-restriction-freedom. The oscillating tension between the institutions’ grip on us and the wild elemental self.

Mercury in Libra squares Ceres in Cancer — what genuinely feeds us? What are our needs, and how do we take responsibility for meeting them? Not waiting for others to do it. This is the thesis of my Ceres book.

Vesta and Eris meet again — devotion and focus meeting the original table-flipper. The most important place to flip the tables first is within. Those attachments to old rules, to needing someone else to tell you what to do or what to believe. You can have support. But being told what to think is different from being helped to understand.

Mercury opposes Saturn — words and thoughts facing the structures and rules. The mythology of rugged individualism, manifest destiny, the hero’s journey as the only journey. Write something new. Something more harmonious for everyone.

Ceres squares Saturn at 13° Aries/Cancer — and this is an echo worth noting. When Ceres was discovered on January 1st, 1801, she was square Saturn in Leo — the sign of kings. I have always felt that her discovery chart encoded the eventual fall of kings and dominant leaders: Ceres, the Great Mother, at odds with the rules of the king. Now they square each other again, in cardinal signs. Ceres in Cancer: family, home, ancestors, the needs of the people. Saturn in Aries: rugged individualism, the old rules. Cardinals square: initiating something new. You may see another fall from grace around this day. The echo aspects are potent.

The Sun in Virgo trines Juno at her station point — the Virgo Sun, wanting to do the right thing, in flowing conversation with our sacred contracts. More meaningful contracts are possible. This is the energy of building something sturdy.

And: Venus is at 4° Scorpio — the first peak degree of Barbault’s Basket. She is exactly at the degree where all four outer planets gathered in July. Venus leading the way, as always, into what’s next.

The day closes with the First Quarter Moon at 25° Sagittarius, squaring the Sun in Virgo. The action phase beginning in earnest. The crossroads.

The Sabian symbol (26° Sagittarius): A flag-bearer in battle. This degree represents courageous dedication to principles bigger than yourself. The flag is not a tool of devastation — it’s a symbol of shared values. Immutable signs with the Sun in Virgo: what is more meaningful? What is more useful? How do we create the future together around these bigger principles? Courage under pressure. Commitment to values. And the oxygen-mask wisdom: put yours on first, then put some personal wants aside for the greater good.

The Omega symbol: A candle mysteriously undisturbed by wind. Sandbach titles this degree Beyond Mind. Thoughts are like wind — they push against everything and create turbulence. When you gain the power to detach from busy mind, there is an increasing steadiness that brings you closer to spiritual clarity. This degree carries a creative vision that is impervious to the agitations of inner voices.

The Chandra symbol: Climbing the steps of the Pyramid of the Sun. To ascend — not by flying, but in a more substantial way, with something solid under your feet. This is about finding meaning and purpose and following the highest and clearest vision of it. Getting beyond what is shallow, superficial, and trivial can be arduous — but this meets the challenge with steadiness and purpose.

Steadiness. Solid ground. A vision impervious to wind. A commitment to something bigger than yourself.

That is your First Quarter Moon.

Saturday, September 19 — Moon into Capricorn. Venus Receives the Moon’s Grace. The Week Closes.

The Moon moves into Capricorn overnight and closes the week with its early morning aspects.

After the First Quarter, the Moon makes a fire trine to Chiron in Aries — just returned. Visionary, purposeful, the Sagittarius spirit meeting the medicine. What medicine do you need to create this vision? What healing is required for the steadfast purpose beginning to form?

Juno has moved exactly one minute forward from her station — barely, but she’s moving. New contracts are beginning.

The Moon squares Eris and Vesta early — the tables are being flipped again, the inner flame is being tended. We are creating new structures. More revelations may surface today, including possibly the Epstein files re-emerging.

In Capricorn, the Moon squares Neptune (retrograde in Aries) early in the morning — Neptune saying let go of the me-first attitude, the power-over energy. Create something genuinely new from here. And then the Moon makes a lovely unbroken flow trine to Venus — the Moon and Venus in earth and water, in gentle supportive conversation. All of this moving toward the retrograde. All of it connected.

The Cards in Detail

Death — I Am Transition:

A time of endings. Old lives, shared and beloved, are changing or gone. There may be some loss and pain this week — personally, culturally, collectively. Death and mourning is a process. Acceptance builds slowly as we lament and grieve for what was. But transformation beckons.

Soon, you will start to feel the blood in your veins, and know that you are alive and have this big life journey to complete. In these extraordinary times that we are in.

The Death card arrived at the same time as the Venus occultation conjunct Haumea. Regeneration, rebirth, the creatrix goddess. One cannot be separated from the other.

Three of Torches (Wands) — I Am Enthusiasm:

The Sagittarius energy is coming. You can feel it building from Wednesday onward — the arrow being drawn back, the vision beginning to form. The Three of Torches is that moment: enthusiasm. Grabbing it by the horns. You may feel less like lying on the mat in a quiet room — the life force returning.

Seer of Torches, reversed — Reminder of Inner Radiance:

Upright, the Seer of Torches is I Am Divine — the knowing that you are a divine being having a human experience, the natural inner radiance that doesn’t need external validation. Reversed this week: you’re probably not quite feeling this inner selfhood yet. You’re not quite there yet with that inner divinity. That’s okay. This is just a reminder: it’s there. Look within. Notice your inner radiance, even just briefly. It hasn’t gone anywhere.

Lady of Perpetual Rebirth (Witch Oracle by Angie Sullins):

Death comes for all of us — but this isn’t a death card. It’s a rebirth card.

It’s an invitation to clean and clear what needs to end, in order to welcome the new. What ideas or beliefs have become weighty, overwhelming, outdated? What thoughts no longer fit you? What convictions cause exhaustion or even illness when you embody them?

Our Lady of Perpetual Rebirth is here to usher out the old and midwife the new.

Pay special attention to your dreams. There are signs and symbols showing themselves to you right now that will indicate what wants to be loosened and released. The new vision, new awareness, new life that is circling you will also send out strong signals. Pay attention. Listen. Watch. Observe.

This is the time to let go of what no longer serves.

A witch can welcome death with the same enthusiasm a moth displays when flying into fire. She hurls herself towards her own endings, knowing her next beginnings live inside the fire of her passion — the heat of longing, calling her forward.

Summing Up

The last Venus Gate before the retrograde — an occultation at 2° Scorpio, the divine feminine number, conjunct Haumea the regeneratrix, square Pluto, adjustment to Neptune. A house-raising party. A mysterious food that satisfies for days. Pigs being fed, or not, depending on whether they’re in touch with their true soul desires.

Juno stations direct. Chiron returns to Aries. Ceres and Saturn square at the echo of her discovery chart. The First Quarter Moon at the flag-bearer degree, the candle undisturbed by wind, the climbing of the pyramid with solid ground underfoot.

And four cards that say: something is ending. The enthusiasm is coming back. Your inner radiance is there, even if you can’t feel it yet. And the witch hurls herself toward her own endings, because she knows her next beginnings are already inside the fire.

See you at the retrograde. Join me in the Heroine’s Journey. You will not regret it. https://www.louiseedington.com/VenusRetrograde2026

— Louise

Atlanta Astrology Association (MAAS) — September 17th: I’m presenting on Ceres and my book. First-time attendees can come free. Email me at louise@louiseedington.com if you’d like to attend.

OPA Live — September 20th: A panel of three astrologers on the Venus retrograde. A wonderful preview if you’re deciding whether to join the class.

London School of Astrology Chiron Weekend — October 17th–18th: On Zoom, $99 (mostly to charity), recommended by Melanie Reinhart and Brian Clarke. I’ll be covering Chariklo as part of my Chiron presentation.

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