Venus spends an unusually long time in its own sign because it stations retrograde at 14° Libra on October 3. It will briefly return to Virgo, where it’s debilitated, in November, before it stations direct on November 13–14.

October and November are likely to be the most complex period of the year because of this and other transits. During this period, Mars joins Jupiter and Ketu in Leo, after Mars and Jupiter cross the sensitive juncture from Cancer.

There are mitigating factors, including Mercury in Libra exchanging signs with Venus in Virgo. Overall, however, this is likely to be a testing period, particularly for peace and diplomacy.

Much depends on where this transit falls in your birth chart and what Venus represents for you. Whatever begins in September should be considered carefully, as Venus will later retrace its steps and prompt a review.

On a broader level, this suggests a major reassessment of the economy, financial markets and international diplomacy. With wars continuing around the world, Venus in Libra may bring renewed attempts at peace agreements. However, any agreements reached are likely to be tested throughout October and November. As economic confidence and the general mood decline, cooperation may become more difficult.

Before then, September offers plenty to appreciate. Venus performs well in its own sign, encouraging harmony, enjoyment and compromise. Initial peace agreements may be reached, even if they are reconsidered later.

By the end of September, Mars enters Cancer and aspects Venus from a place of insecurity. When we feel uncertain or vulnerable, we are more likely to lash out and create conflict. This may be especially problematic for world peace as Venus disappears from the evening sky, later returning as the morning star in a more war-like guise.

Although Libra is associated with peace and harmony, it cannot tolerate injustice. Sometimes the boat must be rocked before balance can be restored.

Mercury in Virgo Sep 7 – 26

Mercury also enters its own sign in September, where it is both at home and exalted. Mercury in Virgo is not merely comfortable; it is in its home office, ready to do its best work. Mercury can function even more effectively in Virgo than in Gemini because Virgo offers greater focus and discrimination. Gemini’s distractions are filtered out, allowing Mercury to solve problems and produce tangible results.

With Venus, Mercury and the Sun in their own signs, alongside exalted Jupiter in Cancer, September supports cooperation and shared achievement. Relationships and collaborations may help you accomplish more than you could alone.

The Sun in Leo brings greater confidence as it moves beyond Ketu’s uncertainty. Venus in Libra encourages compromise, while Mercury in Virgo helps organise the details.

Exalted Mercury in Virgo and Jupiter in Cancer form a particularly helpful combination. If you have an idea or project to develop, September is the time to organise it and use your energy productively.

Think of Mercury in Virgo as carrying out a stocktake before the boss arrives. The Sun’s subsequent entry into Virgo brings oversight, recognition and confidence in a job well done.

A stocktake involves identifying what matters, removing what is unnecessary and acquiring more of what is genuinely needed. With Venus in Libra and Mercury in Virgo, this is an excellent time to begin a practical course of action or study that improves your life while creating greater balance in your daily routine. You may find it easier to maintain an effective schedule for both personal and professional commitments.

Determining what truly matters is an essential part of the stocktake, especially as Mercury and Venus prepare for their retrogrades in October and November.

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September offers a welcome reprieve, with Venus in Libra, Mercury in Virgo, the Sun in Leo and Jupiter exalted in Cancer. This makes it one of the most productive and potentially harmonious periods of 2026. It’s ideal for creative work, study, organisation and collaboration.

The mood begins to shift when Mars enters Cancer on September 18. Jupiter offers support and inspired action, but Mars may still bring insecurity, impulsive reactions and fluctuating energy. Actions taken from late September onwards could have far-reaching consequences, especially as several planets prepare to retrograde.

The Full Moon in Aquarius is a partial lunar eclipse, reaching its maximum at 05.12 am BST/ 00.12 EDT on August 28. This is (almost) the last eclipse in this sign until 2035. There will be another lunar eclipse on the cusp of the sign in August 2027. Rāhu continues to transform this area of your life.

Collectively, Aquarius represents AI technology and its impact on society. Personally, whatever Aquarius represents in your chart is undergoing a similar upgrade. This can bring growth, but may prove too much, too soon, unless approached consciously. There can be an ‘all-or-nothing’ approach. You may obsess about it and then dissociate.

We tend to rush forward wherever Rāhu transits, and a lunar eclipse can accelerate this. Change is necessary, but greed inevitably creates losses later.

Both lunar nodes are transiting lunar mansions associated with them in Indian astrology: Rāhu in Śatabhiṣāj and Ketu in Maghā. Rāhu is stronger in Aquarius, encouraging experimentation and innovation. Meanwhile, Ketu in Leo can diminish confidence or prompt us to reject what Leo represents as we pursue something in Aquarius. We can see this play out in mob mentality.

The eclipse occurs in Śatabhiṣāj, meaning “one hundred healers”, symbolised by an empty circle. Healing is possible, but unexpected developments must also be considered. It may feel like taking medicine that cures one condition while creating another. Whatever Aquarius represents for you, this is where you are evolving, consciously or otherwise.

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Uranus turns retrograde in Taurus, pointing to further adjustments in resources. Saturn’s transit through Pisces continues to keep matters in Taurus in check for now, but this influence will not last indefinitely. With Saturn leaving Pisces by 2027/28, we must adapt to a rapidly changing landscape, literally and figuratively. We must say our goodbyes to the way things used to be, and prepare to make the most of what is possible in the new world that is forming.

With Saturn continuing its retrograde, we must reroute our long-term objectives to find our way back to them eventually. By doing so, we open up more possibilities to achieve something greater than we initially mapped out.

The month of September sees three planets in their own signs and two planets exalted. Venus is in Libra (own sign); Mercury, in Virgo (own sign and exalted); Sun, in Leo (own sign); and Jupiter in Cancer (exalted). This is potentially the most productive period of 2026, as planets in their own signs are especially useful.

There is, however, a snag by September 18: Mars enters Cancer, where it is in its weakest place. There is also, thankfully, a major mitigating factor: Jupiter exalted in Cancer, propping up Mars. While this also means Jupiter itself is ‘dragged down’, as it helps out Mars, at least we’re feeling fired up and making the most of the productive time available. The issue with Mars in Cancer is not always having the energy, and then overcompensating by pushing harder than is necessary.

Though Jupiter offers support through more discernment, challenges involving conflict, both inner and outer, are still likely, which can deflate Jupiter’s optimism. When we’re feeling defensive, we’re less likely to connect deeply to the truth.

Mars opposes Pluto as it transits Cancer. It will return to Cancer in early 2027, after meeting Jupiter and Ketu in Leo in November. The coming months offer a strong potential for major conflicts, in our lives and in the world, which require more patience than this transit has access to. This may coincide with an escalation in wars and conflict around the world, preceded by a major attack.

In September, Mars in Cancer begins a set of actions that potentially fuel bigger conflicts later, so watch for being overly reactive and impulsive from the end of the month and into October. While the pitfall is over-eagerness to progress, despite fluctuating energy levels with Mars in Cancer, actions are also fuelled by more optimism and pragmatism, as Jupiter aspects Saturn in Pisces.

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Look to the sign Leo by house position in your birth chart, from your ascendant and Moon, to see what identity you’re having to give up or change in some way.

It would be far too easy to project this drama onto the world stage and all the drama that is likely to ensue. Try to keep some of that attention on yourself, moving your awareness within, so you can see something important that has to change.

Whatever or whoever it is, you’re more likely to release what needs releasing if you first acknowledge that you must let it go.

Otherwise, the Sun’s conjunction with Ketu is likely felt as an unwanted loss. And although it may seem unwanted, no matter how much you have renounced the thing, it’s probably easier to let go of something outwardly when you have already prepared to surrender it.

While the Sun is powerful in Leo, it’s said to be “scared of Ketu”, just as our sense of Self is scared of oblivion. The eclipse is like a black hole, and we’re all moving through time differently in August, as a result.

Interestingly, an actual ‘black hole star’ was discovered recently, when we experienced the solar eclipse, a new type of astrophysical object.

Expect unusual occurrences, more dramatic world events, and even major seismic activity, as the Sun conjoins Ketu around August 22.

Mercury then meets with Ketu by August 25, having transited the eclipse degree on August 20.

Mercury is the more immediate trigger for events of the total solar eclipse. Mars will transit the eclipse degree later by November 2-3, just in time for the US mid-term elections, triggering more dramatic events, which are likely to be explosive.

Mind your p’s and q’s as you express something from the depths of your being, as Mercury conjoins Ketu. Be aware that what’s said now can trigger something in a way you cannot predict. Words always have a strong impact. A few choice words can make all the difference. They can either exacerbate an already tense situation or calm things down, depending.

That’s why Mercury is so important. It may be seen as a trivial planet, but when words fall short or rise to the occasion, it makes all the difference. Whatever is said, take note of it and use it to gain a deeper insight into the situation, as opposed to just reacting strongly without thinking about what was said.

Mercury-Ketu conjunctions tend to increase more extreme views, but they can also bring out some deeper insights. Those insights themselves may appear extreme to others, so it’s always good to get a more objective opinion about what you’re stating to be ‘fact’.

Facts are likely to be challenged in August because of the eclipses and Mercury’s involvement. After it has triggered the solar eclipse by August 20, it then moves into Leo and triggers the lunar eclipse by August 27.

This means that Mercury is once again conjoined to the Sun’s degree, as the Sun eclipses the Moon, which means that there are some insights up for grabs if you can be still enough during such a frenetic period.

Mercury’s insights in Leo are plentiful, so there’s time to gather more before it heads into Virgo for a stocktake in September.

In August, it’s time to know the deepest core of your being and how to express this more effectively by the time Mercury makes it to Virgo in September.

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This edition makes the book more accessible and affordable for readers throughout India. If you have been waiting to purchase it locally, you can now find it on Amazon India.

I’m very pleased to see Daśā Vidyā reach a wider community of Jyotiṣa students and practitioners.

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The New Moon on August 12 is a total solar eclipse. In areas of totality, including parts of Iceland and Spain, the Sun will be eclipsed as it sets, creating a striking spectacle. Traditionally, we are advised not to watch eclipses but to turn inward. I believe we can do both. Observing the outer world while remaining aware of the one who is observing can be deeply illuminating. This is an essential lesson of the lunar nodes: witness what is happening without becoming consumed by it.

Insights are more likely when the Sun, Moon, Earth and lunar nodes align. Ketu and the eclipsed Sun occupy different divisions of the sidereal zodiac, bringing both Cancer and Leo into focus. Eclipses reveal and conceal, so bear in mind that the full picture may not be immediately apparent.

We would usually look to Jupiter for guidance, but Jupiter is also involved in this eclipse, as it is hidden by an eclipsed Sun. Although it emerges from combustion by the end of the month, whatever insights arise, keep them close to your chest until matters become clearer. At the same time, this eclipse is asking you to let go of something you may have a hard time letting go of.

The eclipse occurs in Āśleṣā, a complex lunar mansion at the end of Cancer. Symbolised by a coiled serpent and ruled by the serpent deities, the Sarpas, it represents attachment, instinct, and entanglement. It may also reflect kuṇḍalinī śakti—the coiled energy at the base of the spine—and the spiral of DNA, connecting it with healing.

This eclipse represents a shedding of skin, a deep process of emotionally letting go. With Ketu’s help, we are asked to loosen our attachments and transform basic survival instincts into something more conscious and evolved.

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Over the past two thousand years, astrologers have accumulated, repeated and refined an extensive body of sign delineations. Yet during that same period, precession has gradually displaced the tropical signs from the sidereal constellations and stars with which they once broadly coincided. Could astrologers still be sensing the accumulated meanings of those original signs, while attributing them to zodiacal positions that have since moved away from them?

Like a phantom limb, a tropical sign may continue to be felt as a real and meaningful presence—not necessarily because it remains where it was, but because its image has been preserved within the inherited body of astrological practice.

Tropical delineations may therefore persist through accumulated observation, cultural memory, symbolic association and continued reinforcement.

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Limits are not a bad thing. They are necessary and helpful. Astrologers are not healthcare professionals. They are not psychologists, therapists, or medical practitioners. Nor are they financial advisors. These distinctions may seem obvious, yet they are often blurred in practice.

A common issue arises when astrologers offer disclaimers, such as “this is not financial advice” or “this is not medical advice”, and then proceed to give exactly that. If an astrologer suggests that a particular transit indicates a good time to invest, they are, in effect, offering financial advice.

This raises an important question: what are the proper parameters of astrology?

Why do people seek out astrologers in the first place?

Often, it is not for answers that can be found in a medical diagnosis, a therapy session, or a financial consultation. People turn to astrology when something feels unclear, intangible, or difficult to define; when there is a sense that something is unfolding that cannot be fully grasped through conventional frameworks.

Astrology speaks to this space. It addresses the symbolic, the experiential, and the spiritual dimensions of life. These aspects of being do not appear in blood tests or balance sheets, yet they are deeply felt just the same.

The subtler something is, the more powerful it becomes. If you are unaware of a subtle, cosmic impression and influence, there’s little you can do about it.

You do not go to a medical doctor with a spiritual longing, even if you get such relief from a caring and professional healer.

You do not go to a financial advisor with an existential crisis, even if losing all your money could indeed lead to such an outcome.

You do go to an astrologer when something in your life resists clear definition, whether everything appears to be going well or seems to be falling apart.

Yet in that moment, the astrologer is often entrusted with a level of responsibility that can exceed their role. It can be tempting to be the therapist to an astrology client.

Years ago, when I took a counselling course, my tutor told me, as I was leaving to set up my astrology practice, that “it couldn’t do any harm.” Hmm, I thought to myself—if only you knew!

Herein lies a dilemma. Astrology has a profound impact on people’s lives, offering support that other professionals cannot. Yet astrology is not regulated like other professions. We astrologers find ourselves in a tricky situation as a result.

So what’s the solution?

In practice, many astrologers like myself discover their boundaries through experience, often by crossing them. There is a natural tendency to explore the edges of one’s field, to test what astrology can and cannot do. These moments can be instructive.

Where dual expertise exists, the clear parameters of an astrologer are all the more important. A financial advisor who uses astrology cannot present astrological reasoning as financial advice within a professional organisation. Yet an astrologer who is not a financial adviser could offer public advice, as long as they include a disclaimer: “For entertainment purposes only.”

Likewise, a therapist trained in astrology cannot conduct a session that is both therapy and astrology simultaneously. These are distinct disciplines, each with its own framework, responsibilities, and ethical boundaries.

It is possible to be both an astrologer and a therapist, but not within the same session. One must be clear about which role is being held.

Skills may transfer. Training in counselling, for example, may enhance an astrologer’s ability to listen and to communicate with care. But an astrology reading is not a therapy session, even if it’s therapeutic.

To keep astrology in its lane is not to diminish it; it is to define it more clearly.

Astrology offers perspective, meaning, and something I focus a lot on in readings: timing. While astrology is enormously helpful as a mirror, to help you understand yourself better, it’s also, more practically, a map.

It’s a map and a mirror, reflecting patterns of being that reveal themselves in the unfolding of your life. It helps you orient yourself at a point in time.

Astrologers must stay in their lane as much as possible when offering advice and timeframes, directing individuals to the appropriate people who can provide further assistance. And that is the best thing about astrology as a practice, offering something other practices cannot: it gives you guidance about when to act.

When astrologers respect these boundaries, their work becomes stronger, more focused, and more trustworthy. And perhaps more importantly, it ensures that those seeking guidance are supported in ways that are appropriate, responsible, and genuinely helpful.

Would you like to explore what your chart reveals about the timing and direction of your life?

I offer personalised astrology readings, either live via Zoom or as a pre-recorded consultation that you can watch in your own time.

Find out more and book your reading here:
https://www.timelineastrology.com/consultations.html

The central lesson is to remain calm, avoid unnecessary conflict and hold firmly to what provides meaning while allowing outdated attachments and identities to fall away.

Join me for the paid subscribers discussion later today at 6 pm BST/ 1 pm EDT, where we’ll explore how these transits and eclipses relate to your own birth chart and life. By identifying the houses and planets being activated, you’ll gain a clearer understanding of the themes emerging for you personally—and how best to work with them.

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August is a complicated and transformative month, dominated by eclipses, heightened emotions, strained relationships and consequential communications. The central lesson is to remain realistic, avoid unnecessary conflict and hold firmly to what provides meaning while allowing outdated attachments and identities to fall away.