The wheel turns again and we find ourselves in Samhain season. 

Looking back at Mabon - and the Venus retrograde that characterised a lot of the vibe for that season - it feels like this new spoke of the wheel is picking up where we left off (Venus is still retrograde) but there is a very noticeable shift in the astrology through the season, forming what looks like a three act drama. 

We end in a very different place from where we started. (Which I am excited for because Mabon has felt a lot like spiralling, even while I am grateful for the lessons). 

A note about the transits:

You'll notice I don't include a full list of transits here. I used to in the monthly forecasts, but I feel like a list of dates and aspects is a bit too granular and not that helpful in this more thematic forecast.

I am focusing on the energetics of what the sky is showing us, and that's what you'll find here.

If you want the granular weekly detail - I get it, I like that too - I offer that in Moonday Magic Mail. A weekly email which includes the transits for the week, with interpretation and suggestions for using the energy. You can find out more and sign up here.

Act I: Descent & Reclaiming Truth (Oct 31 – Nov 14)

We are still in the underworld as this season begins. Venus has retreated back to her home sign of Libra. Mercury is retrograde in Scorpio. We are bone deep in a season of revisioning, being invited into the dark places to confront hidden motives, renegotiate boundaries, and let old versions of our self-worth (Leo South Node) die back.

Starting the season with both Mercury in Scorpio (retrograde) and Venus in Libra (retrograde) puts the first act focus on unpaid emotional debts, old relational contracts, and unspoken truths. And it offers us two different ways of looking back:

• Venus retrograde: revisiting what we value, what we desire, how we relate to other people, and the compromises we've made to maintain connection. With Venus in Libra initially, questions of fairness, reciprocity, belonging and relational balance are especially prominent.
• Mercury retrograde in Scorpio: returning to the things beneath the surface. The unspoken, the unresolved, the stories we tell ourselves about what happened, and the truths we might not have been ready to acknowledge at the time.

Mercury also backs up to meet the Sun on November 4, just before the Scorpio New Moon on November 9, giving this opening act a sense of something deep/ unconscious emerging into into consciousness.

We also have Mars and Jupiter uniting with the South Node in Leo, and Sun/ Jupiter squares.  Leo South Node transit can be about releasing performance, inflated ego defense mechanisms, and old stories of needing validation or having to perform in order to belong. 

The New Moon in Scorpio (Nov 9th) arrives while both Mercury and Venus are still in that review process. This moon serves as an alchemical cauldron, square Mars and Saturn in Leo. There is friction between what is coming to light and the ways we have learned to defend ourselves, assert ourselves, or preserve a particular sense of who we are. It's tempting to cling on to the familiar patterns even when we know that they are not working. This new moon offers the opportunity to break the cycle, if we are brave enough to take it. 

Between Nov 13–14, both Mercury and Venus station direct almost simultaneously. This marks the pivotal threshold where the retrospection of Act I yields to more active clearing and integration in Act II.

A useful seasonal question might be: What do I understand differently now that I am willing to take a deeper, and perhaps more honest, look?

This feels very Samhain to me. Willingly going back to revisit the past. Seeing things as they are, rather than how we swish they were. And responding to what we see. 

Act II: The Pivot (Nov 15 – Nov 30)

As Mercury and Venus station direct, the energy shifts dramatically.

We also have a concentration of activity in Leo. Mars and Jupiter meet in Leo on November 16, shortly before the Sun squares Jupiter and then Mars on November 18–19. (The New Moon in Scorpio has already squared Mars and Saturn). Jupiter and the South Node meet on November 12, followed by Mars meeting the South Node on November 14.

That's a lot of heat around questions of identity, will, visibility, pride, courage and the stories we have built about who we are. I see a possible tension here between the self we have learned to be and the self we are becoming.

Leo can speak to creative life, the desire to be seen, and the courage to take up space. But it can also describe the identities we defend, the recognition we crave, and the ways we make ourselves into someone who will be loved, admired or accepted. (So, yes, exactly the kinds of things we were working on excavating in Act I). Mars and Jupiter together can magnify action, confidence and conviction. Their conjunction, followed by the Sun's squares, could describe a period when we discover just how much energy we have invested in an old identity or a familiar struggle. Sometimes we don't know how tightly we are holding something until life gives us a reason to defend it.

The South Node conjunctions invite us to consider those things which we have been holding tightly and offer a release valve. This isn't about needing to extinguish our Leo fire/ sense of self (unless that has tipped over into self-centredness or narcissism - as we see in more than one world leader in current times). It's more about distinguishing the fire that genuinely animates us from the fire we have been using to prove ourselves. The energy we lose to keeping up appearances or masks. 

Then there's the Aquarius/ Leo polarity activation, with Pluto in Aquarius. The individual self and the collective, the desire to belong and the need to be distinct, the person we are when we're witnessed and the person we are when nobody is looking. We are invited to acknowledge the versions of ourselves we had to become in order to survive, belong or be understood, without insisting that we must continue to be those people.

As the Sun enters Sagittarius (Nov 22) and Mars enters Virgo (Nov 25), the density begins to dissipate. The energy shifts from deep emotional processing to purposeful movement, practical integration, and philosophical realignment.

The Full Moon in Gemini on November 24, conjunct retrograde Uranus and trine Pluto in Aquarius, and sextile Neptune in Aries speaks to all of this and also offers a lighting flash of insight. The Barbault Basket activations and the Gemini/ Sagittarius activation bring themes of information, meaning, beliefs, learning and perspective. Uranus can unsettle what we thought we knew. Pluto adds depth and the possibility of more fundamental change, while Neptune brings imagination, longing and uncertainty about what lies beyond our current understanding. Perhaps we receive new information. Perhaps we finally hear what someone was trying to tell us. Perhaps we recognise a pattern we've repeated for years, or discover that something we regarded as an immutable truth was actually an interpretation. It's a full moon for sudden breakthroughs, visionary clarity, and a rapid acceleration forward into new mental and social paradigms.

What am I ready to stop proving or performing simply because it is a known pattern?

Act III: The Emergence from the Underworld (Dec 1 – Dec 21)

And we arrive at Act III with new information and hopefully a lightness that comes from having let go of things that were dragging us down.

The story concludes with monumental direct stations from Saturn and Neptune in Aries. Especially with Neptune so close to that 0 degree conjunction point from the beginning of the year. All of those spiritual directives and structural lessons that have surfaced all those months ago come together into actionable purpose now.

This is a huge thematic milestone of 2026. Saturn and Neptune both stationing direct in Aries represents a massive wake-up call for our personal sovereignty, spiritual bravery, and building the physical scaffolding for a brand-new cycle that began earlier in the year but we were not quite ready to take action on. Since then we have been on an underworld journey, but we are living beings and we do not belong in the underworld forever. It is time to return. To come back up, changed. 

By mid-December, Saturn, Neptune, Venus, and Mercury are all direct and clear of their shadows. We are on the home stretch now. Although as Jupiter stations retrograde in Leo (Dec 13), the external world starts moving forward rapidly, while our internal compass tunes into questions about truth and spiritual connection. And in Leo we are also thinking about heart-led leadership. This ensures that our return is not just for us, but for the good of all around us too. 

Mars has entered its pre-retrograde shadow, too, so there is a suggestion that some of the action we take now will need further consideration. But that is ok. We will be ready when the time comes. 

The main shift is in the direction of our attention.

At the beginning of the season, we are looking backwards. By the end, we are looking ahead, and doing so with the knowledge we've gained from that experience.

As the Sun enters Capricorn for the Solstice, we step across the threshold fully equipped, clear-eyed, and anchored in our personal power.

THIS SEASON'S MICROPRACTICE: Shed and Soften

You can do this whenever you wash your hands, step into the shower, or brush your hair.

As you perform this everyday magic ritual, bring your awareness to your shoulders, jaw, and chest.

Pause for three slow breaths. As you exhale, consciously drop your shoulders and unclench your jaw. Imagine you are setting down an old piece of armour. Something heavy that used to be protective but is no longer needed. (And yes, I am talking metaphorical armour here - a story, a need to perform, a defence mechanism etc).

You don't need to name exactly what you are releasing. Just feel the physical sensation of shedding weight and letting your body soften and lighten.

As you exhale, you might say (out loud or in your head):

“I thank you and release you.”

In a season dominated by deep retrogrades and South Node purges, we don't have to force transformation. Transformation happens naturally when we stop holding on so tightly to the things that have served their purpose.

THIS SEASON'S RITUAL: A Fire Cleanse 

In the ancient Wheel of the Year, Samhain marks the veil thinning. A time when the fire is brought indoors, the harvest is pretty much all cleared, and we sit face-to-face with what remains in the dark. This is the space where the old year burns down to ash, making room for the new light.

You can do this cleanse physically with a burn ritual, or imaginally with music.

The Physical Version:

Gather a slip of paper, a pen, a fire-safe bowl, and something aromatic to burn.

Write down a phrase or word representing the old contract, or emotional weight you are ready to stop performing. The armour you are shedding now. 

Hold the paper between your fingers. Acknowledge what it did for you in the past. Then, safely, set it alight over your fire-safe bowl.

Watch it turn from heavy paper to flickering light, and finally to light ash.

As the smoke rises watch it weave and dissipate into the air. Smoke carries virtually no weight; it moves freely through thresholds and cracks.

Say to yourself:

“What was heavy is now smoke. What was bound is now clear and free space.”

The Imaginal Version:

Put on a piece of ambient, wordless music or drumming. Close your eyes and imagine standing at a stone hearth on a chilly autumn night.

In front of you is a great fire. Around your shoulders is a cloak made of heavy iron, chainmail, or thick stone, representing every defence mechanism, story, or barrier you've used to protect your heart.

In the quiet of the underworld fire, unclasp the cloak. Let it slide off your shoulders and fall to the ground with a heavy thud.

Step forward toward the fire, feeling the direct, unshielded warmth on your bare skin.

Stay here for as long as you like, letting the fire warm you from the inside out. Notice what it feels like to stand in the light free and unburdened. 

You may like to follow up this ritual with another inviting into your space something that is nourishing and supportive for this current version of yourself. You can even choose to create a new "armour" that represents the protection that you feel you need now. If you want some ideas for this the Circle of Kindreds Community is a good space to bounce ideas.