This week, as you go out to vote if you are in the U.S., double and triple check your ballot. Mercury was in pre-retrograde shadow for early voting, and many people were reporting and sharing videos of their ballot boxes changing their votes to force a Republican vote. While this may not be a mistake, it represents something going wrong related to communication, which is so Mercury retrograde.
Now, Mercury is fully retrograde, along with Venus, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Pluto is out of bounds, as well, which can contribute to the normal extremes that we’re used to becoming even more unpredictable and extreme. Double check, triple check.
I encourage people to vote both because I care about the outcomes for our local, state, national, and international communities, and also because your voice is important. By voting we honor that our voices matter in our communities. A lot of people will tell you that your voice did not matter if the outcome you wanted did not happen in a particular election. I would argue that is a sneaky and even devious way to silence people. Your voice matters even if you don’t like the options you have and even if you don’t like the outcomes you get.
This week is also Samhain, which is the witches’ new year, and a time when the veil between matter and spirit is thin. This is a time when we can connect with our spiritual and biological ancestors who fought for civil rights, including the right to vote, during times when dominant culture assumed that only a few voices mattered. Connect as it feels safe to you.
Thanks for using your voice in a way that is aligned for you this week!
Transits
For horoscope principles this week, I am primarily looking at the following celestial events:
Monday, October 26, 2026:
The Sun in Scorpio squares Pluto in Aquarius at 5:11am Pacific. This is the closing square in a cycle between the Sun and Pluto, which will fully close with the conjunction of the Sun and Pluto in January 2027, beginning another similar cycle next year. The opening conjunction in the first cycle of the Sun and Pluto, after Pluto’s transit into Aquarius, happened on January 21, 2025, the day after inauguration day in the U.S. This square is an intense aspect and provides an opportunity for each of us personally to look at how we handle oppression, power, and threats around new technology. The Sun in Scorpio is at home in the intensity of deep truths and the cycle of life and death. In tension with the god of the underworld’s journey through the sign associated with technology, subverting hierarchy, and social reform, this can lure us toward conspiracy theories. Under this transit, if you feel drawn to secret truths that might heal humanity, remember to check in with your body and make sure what you are doing feels safe and healthy.
Wednesday, October 28, 2026:
Venus retrograding in Libra opposes Chiron retrograding in Aries at 12:34am Pacific. Consider how you have complied with imbalances in your relationships rather than being authentic with what you truly need. When a baby cries because they are hungry, it is helpful information, not selfishness. On the other hand, when we, as adults, expect other adults to spend the energy on us that they would on a newborn, it is an indication that we need to care for our own inner child, rather than outsourcing that work. There are many ways to be authentic in our needs, while still understanding that it is our job to meet them before it is anyone else’s.
Friday, October 30, 2026:
Mercury retrograding in Scorpio squares Mars in Leo at 10:20am Pacific. When we can find evidence of our thoughts, we start to believe they are True, to the exclusion of other thoughts. However, most of the time we can find evidence of the thought we think as well as a completely opposite thought. For example, at any given time, most of us can find evidence for the thought, “I did a great job this week” as well as “I didn’t do a great job this week.” In this way, looking for evidence from the past is often is not the most helpful way to decide what you think. Instead, this week, before you want to get into fights with other people about Truths, consider how your thoughts feel in your body and what those feelings motivate you to do or not do. Your job is to show up in alignment with your nature, not to convince everyone else to align with your Truths.
The Sun moves from Human Hesign Gate 28 (finding purpose through accepting the reality of death) to Gate 44 (releasing interference to access and build the hive mind) at 5:57pm Pacific. Understanding that you only live once in this body can be a source of freedom. Rather than trying to get everything right according to the systems and institutions surrounding you, pay attention to what is correct for you. In order to build something new and generative in the outside world, it is most effective in the long term to start internally. Then, meet people where they are to influence change, rather than expecting them to be different now.
Saturday, October 31, 2026, is Samhain! Happy New Year, witches!
Sunday, November 1, 2026, daylight savings time ends, so we gain an hour. Yay!
The Moon travels through Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, and into Leo this week; Jupiter continues in Leo; Saturn and Neptune continue in Aries; Uranus continues in Gemini.
To follow the Moon transits and track how they impact your energy, subscribe at the paid level! These come out as the Moon transits through the tropical zodiac as part of the Moon Cycles Lab.
Horoscopes
These are the principles to consider for the week of October 26, 2026. It is worth taking a look at both your rising and sun sign horoscopes (visit astro.com to find your rising sign):
Aries: It is common for people to hesitate to influence the world because we worry we might be wrong or cause harm. Meanwhile, billionaire narcissists are out creating schemes to influence people’s behavior with no qualms about whether it is right or wrong, so there is definitely more room for most of us to take risks. This week, you may alternate between having a lot to say and completely withdrawing out of fear of getting it wrong. The trick is to check in with yourself and make sure what you are saying is aligned to who you authentically, courageously are. Be brave with your words, but cautious when they tend toward controlling other people.
Taurus: We fight with other people for a spectrum of reasons, but they all involve some kind of common interest. We don’t fight with people if we don’t care about something they also care about. This week, notice any inclination to fight with the people closest to you in order to be understood or prove something about yourself. If people close to you misunderstand you, their outside perspective may contain something interesting or useful for you. It’s okay to fight, of course, and sometimes that can even mean you care, and also consider whether the perspective that misunderstands you offers a gift.
Gemini: The media we routinely consume is like the food we eat. Some of it feels good in the moment and impedes our long term health; some of it feels bad the whole time; some of it feels good and contributes to health. It’s a spectrum. This week re-evaluate your routines around the media you consume (including news, books, TV, social media, or other forms). If the media you consume activates you in a good way, now is a powerful time to make a difference in your local community. If it activates you in a defeating way, consider whether that serves you.
Cancer: Every person’s definition of “overshare” is different, and so each of us has to develop our own parameters for what we share publicly. Being authentic does not mean sharing everything about ourselves, but also some withholding some information can influence people’s decisions in a way that is deceptive. Each topic carries its own metric for this, too. This week, when you are sharing creative projects or talking about your children, reconsider how much you share to make sure it is safe for you and everyone involved. If you feel pressure to overshare, stop and take time to consider what is respectful of everyone’s privacy.
Leo: When we see ourselves as not having power, it can feel good because it absolves us of responsibility but it can also feel incredibly defeating. This week, catch any spaces where you tend to go into all-or-nothing thinking, like seeing yourself as powerless or helpless. If it starts to feel like nothing is going your way, stop and reconsider whether that is the narrative you want to tell yourself. You may be facing more challenges than normal, and that is an opportunity to strength train how you talk to yourself and about yourself.
Virgo: We have to subscribe to someone in order to cancel them. In that way, online bullying is a different thing than online “cancel culture,” but they often get conflated. The important difference is power. When we unsubscribe from routine media we are consuming that is no longer aligned with our inner belief system, we are withdrawing support from a system that has power. When we bully other people or ourselves, we are asserting power over others or parts of ourselves. This week, especially consider areas where the routing media you consume normalizes bullying self-talk. Re-write your self-talk script to make it kinder to you, even if you also allow it to be angrier overall.
Libra: When we feel vulnerable, we often distract ourselves from that feeling, or even cover over that feeling, with something we think is more acceptable to our family or friends (for example, anger, sadness, self-deprecation, or even just dissociation). This week, revisit how you handle money, especially the stories you tell about who you are related to money. When that feels vulnerable, notice any tendency to create or participate in drama with friends or children to distract from it. Allow any drama that comes up to help you sit in this vulnerable place, rather than distract you from it.
Scorpio: Engaging in blame is like doing a project with glitter: it gets on everything. When we blame other people for misunderstandings, problems, and even disasters in our lives, we usually start to cast blame on ourselves at some point, too. This week, as you notice the Mercury Retrograde problems coming up, consider whether part of you wants to engage in blame. Although it might feel good in the moment, it likely will not help you be understood better or accomplish more. Instead, consider the need you have behind the blame and how you can make sure you meet that need yourself when other people fail to meet it.
Sagittarius: What we hear people say and what they think they said is often quite different. This week, notice any inclination you have to argue with people about what they said and how it landed with you. Also notice any inclination you have to ruminate on what you think people said. Rather than trying to investigate what “really” happened, consider what your rumination says about your needs and how you talk to yourself. It is possible to speak to yourself kindly as well as truthfully.
Capricorn: Keeping secrets from friends is not inherently bad, but it does create impacts. Especially if the secrets you keep from friends impact the choices they can make around their money and values, this can lead to mistrust and resentment. At the same time, if you are failing to honor your sense of privacy, that can impact your values. This week, get clear with yourself about what healthy privacy means to you and where this can cross over to manipulation. Acknowledging your fears that if you are too authentic, people might not like you, make sure you care for yourself around any decisions you make.
Aquarius: Selfishness happens when we harm other people in pursuit of our needs, but this is tricky because no matter what we do in life, we impact other people and they may perceive that as harm. If one person wants to get married, but the other one does not, is it selfish to say no? Maybe, but that is healthy selfishness. This week, you have the potential to recognize and communicate great truths, especially in your work. If your wounding and worries around being selfish get in the way, define more thoughtfully what healthy selfishness looks like to you.
Pisces: In order to make our communities healthier physically, we need to shift value judgments we make about bodies, specifically our fear of bodies that look differently than what TV shows us. This week, notice any all-or-nothing judgments you make about how you, personally, spend your time related to your health. If you have a fixed ideal about how your body is supposed to look or how you are supposed to spend your time related to health, that may run into problems this week. When those problems come up, rather than defending your ideals and judging yourself, get curious about what would serve you and your thriving health right now better.
To find out specifically how these transits apply to your chart, get your natal chart reading here. We go through your human design and astrological natal charts as well as the impacts of any major transits happening. It’s the best!