Mercury Meets Regulus. The Third Planet Crosses the Drain.

A pivotal astrological week centered on the Lunar Eclipse on August 28 and a rare sequence of personal planets (Sun, Mercury, Venus) crossing the South Node and Regulus at 0° Virgo — a pattern Louise frames as accelerating the "fall of kings" and a long-term paradigm shift toward humility, stewardship, and inner work. The overarching theme is surrender, self-care, and transformation amid heightened emotional intensity.

Venus Retrograde Heroine's Journey 2026 https://www.louiseedington.com/VenusRetrograde2026

Features and Press Releases

USA Today! https://www.usatoday.com/press-release/story/39476/louise-edington-launches-landmark-venus-retrograde-program-as-she-approaches-15-years-in-business/

https://www.womansworld.com/contributors/louise-edington-fear-astrology

https://feedvoice.com/louise-edington-on-why-midlife-women-are-turning-to-astrology-for-self-trust-instead-of-self-improvement/

International Business Times https://www.ibtimes.com/louise-edington-reclaiming-language-stars-through-intuition-embodiment-matrifocal-wisdom-3803596

Wellness Voice https://wellnessvoice.com/louise-edington-on-reclaiming-the-language-of-the-stars-through-intuition-embodiment-and-matrifocal-wisdom/

Red Seeds Tarot https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TheRedSeeds
W.I.T.C.H. Oracle Deck https://a.co/d/0bOgiJsr

A few things before we get into what is — still — an extraordinary week.

AstroTheoros has been adding features since I last mentioned them on the lunar eclipse video: chart import (from nearly any source) and export (to CSV), chart folders, chart notes with a timeline, and lovely PDF print options. More is in the works. If you’re looking for affordable, cloud-based astrology software that works on any device, go and check it out. Code COSMICOWL at astrotheoros.com — one free month on the monthly plan, or one extra month off the yearly plan.

Venus Retrograde: Heroine’s Journey — we now have 50 people enrolled. First call is October 1st. The price is holding through the end of August, so this week is your last chance at the current rate. And — this matters, so I’m saying it clearly — I offer partial scholarships. If you genuinely cannot afford the class, please email me at louise@louiseedington.com with a “pay what you can” offer. I do believe in some form of exchange, but I believe even more in this work reaching the people who need it. Please be in integrity — you don’t need to give me your life story. Just be honest. louiseedington.com/VenusRetrograde2026

My article — “Can We Let Evolutionary Astrology Evolve?” — is on Substack now. I’m not calling for anyone to cancel evolutionary astrology as a whole. I’m calling for patience, grace, and recognition that the practice itself is already evolving — which is rather fitting. I’ve had people come out of the woodwork in response to it, in good ways, and there will be follow-ups. Subscribe free on Substack to get it in your inbox.

Spiral Weave / Spiral Codex membership — $10/month or $90/year — is where we go deeper together. Live calls, community, and the monthly Ask Me Almost Anything. Link below. Membership is OFF Substack going forward.

Before we move into the week, I want to give you the context that has been building for months — because it reaches a significant milestone this week.

Regulus — the Royal Star, one of the four great fixed stars of the ancient sky — moved from Leo into Virgo from our perspective in late 2011. Before Virgo, it spent approximately 2,160 years in Leo. Before that, 2,160 years in Cancer. And before that, Gemini.

The astrologer Michael Lutin — rest in peace, a truly lovely man — apparently wrote about Regulus’s ingress into Virgo in practically every post after it happened. His words, which I keep coming back to: “Long after this foolish war is over, Regulus in Virgo will produce beings — the future stewards of the Earth and planets. The goddesses.” And he also said: kings in rags.

Now here is where we are this week: the three most personal solar system bodies — Venus, the Sun, and Mercury — are all crossing the South Node and then Regulus, one after another, for the first time since the South Node met Regulus at 0° Virgo.

Venus crossed first. The Sun crossed last week. And this Tuesday: Mercury crosses the South Node and then meets Regulus.

These are the three bodies closest to the Sun — the inner solar system, our most personal planetary energies. In order from Sun outward: Mercury, Venus, Earth. All three crossing that symbolic drain and meeting Regulus in its new sign. Not kings. Something different. Something more humble, more curious, more meaningful, more Virgo.

I also want to mention the larger wheel. I believe the turning of the ages began in 1781, when Uranus was discovered — that moment of collective breakthrough also marked the start of the Industrial Revolution. It takes a very long time to turn the great wheel. We are roughly three ages back from when the descent began — Gemini to Cancer to Leo — and now, with Regulus in Virgo, we are at the point between the descent and the return. Beginning to push back up. That is where we are.

This week, the Moon, Mars, and Pluto are all out of bounds simultaneously. That is not nothing.

The Moon out of bounds means our emotions are running beyond the normal range — heightened, eccentric, more extreme in some direction.

Mars out of bounds (since August 3rd) means protective instincts and defensive reactions have been especially reactive. Mars in Cancer is already sensitive and protective; out of bounds, it’s been operating well beyond convention. The good news: Mars comes back in bounds on Friday the 28th, the eclipse day.

Pluto out of bounds happens for about three months around this time of year, and will continue until 2035 — after which Pluto never goes out of bounds again in any of our lifetimes. Rosie Finn’s book Persephone’s Revolution documents the pattern: Pluto out of bounds to the south has historically coincided with people rising up, more peaceful collective energy. Pluto out of bounds to the north coincided with the Second World War. We are in the south-running period. That is, in Rosie’s words, the revolution.

The prescription for all of this: radical self-care. Not the usual amount. More than you’d normally think necessary. Out-of-bounds planets go beyond the norm — so your self-care needs to go beyond your norm too. Keep your boundaries. Retreat when you need to. Do what genuinely restores you.

From the Red Seeds Tarot and the Witch Oracle: The Hanged Goddess (upright!), Two of Bees reversed, Queen of Seeds reversed, and The Companion.

Pause. Inner turmoil. Inner pillars. And your body as the cauldron. Every single card is pointing in the same direction: inward. More at the end.

The Moon in Capricorn, out of bounds, opens the week by opposing Ceres — the Great Mother, the one I wrote my book on. Self-care first. What are your needs right now, really? Then the Moon squares Neptune — forming a mutable T-square that forces change and says: surrender. Let go. Trust the flow.

At 3:12am Eastern, the Sun meets Regulus exactly at 0°11’ Virgo. Venus is already past this point, heading ahead. Now the Sun has joined her. Two personal planets past the drain, past Regulus, heading toward what comes next — including the Venus Star Point, the Cazimi in Scorpio, on October 23rd. (That Star Point, incidentally, squares 20° Aquarius — a potent point I’ll speak to more in the Venus class.)

Venus is now falling in the sky — every morning in the east she rises closer and closer to the rising Sun, descending back toward conjunction. We are in the falling phase of her cycle. The invitation: more humility, more curiosity, more meaning, more Virgo. Less performance, less pedestal energy. Let it go.

Happy birthday, Virgo humans. Your season is carrying something remarkable.

Mercury in Leo trines Eris — the messenger meeting the original table-turner. Eris does not like artifice. She does not like the glitz and vanity and pedestal energy of shadow Leo. She is the one who says I was created equal and I will not submit — and she says it again now through Mercury. Expect more news of people falling from pedestals. More truth being spoken. More of the old guard losing its grip.

The Moon opposes Mars (both out of bounds — very heightened), then conjuncts Asteroid Lilith (talk to the hand, enough) and Pholus (Pandora’s box wide open). We’ve had enough. The lid is coming off more things. There is grief in all of this. There is loss. People are going to be feeling it this week — whether it’s playing out in their personal lives or in the collective. Both are real.

The Sun in Virgo trines Chiron — an Earth trine. Healing the wounds around being human. Around how we’ve treated each other. Around our severed relationship with the Earth itself. This is an ongoing theme for the Chiron-in-Taurus years, and the Sun newly in Virgo is making it tangible.

The out-of-bounds Moon squares Saturn retrograde — initiating, letting go of old institutions, old rules, old self-limiting beliefs. The structures that are stagnant. They are going.

The Moon is still out of bounds in Capricorn all day — and Capricorn Moons can feel a bit cold, emotionally blunt. With everything going on right now, you or people around you may seem more shut down than usual. That’s self-protection, not coldness. Give yourself and others some latitude.

The prescription is clear: more self-care than you normally think you need. Out-of-bounds planets go beyond the norm. Match that.

The Moon squares Venus — both out of bounds, both in their own way asking: what do we value? What are we creating? What relationships, contracts, and connections need new boundaries? Where are we letting go of the old and building something genuinely different?

Mercury trines Vesta — the messenger in conversation with the inner flame. This isn’t coming from outside. The flame is within. The article I wrote on evolutionary astrology (link below) speaks to this — the turning of astrology toward helping people explore their interior landscape, rather than telling them what it means.

The Moon sextiles Nessus — seeing the toxins within and without. Bloodletting the inherited poisons, the patterns that have been running. Then the Moon squares Pallas Athena — wise strategy, wise justice. How are we going to fight for this? And how do we find the strategy within ourselves first?

Mercury opposes Hecate at 28°57’ Aquarius. Hecate — the torchbearer at the crossroads, the triple moon goddess — is in the sign of the future, the collective, the Aquarian North Node. Mercury opposing her says: the crossroads is within. The way forward is through the interior, not through the external drama. Tune in.

The Moon squares Eris to close the day — tables still turning, within and without.

Three major events. One day.

At 5:01am Eastern, the Moon enters Aquarius — back in bounds, or very close to it, stepping into the sign of the future.

At 5:04am Eastern, Mercury conjuncts the South Node. The drain. The third major personal planet to cross this threshold since the South Node met Regulus at 0° Virgo.

First Venus crossed — love, values, our relationship to all things, our social and material world. Then the Sun — the very core of our solar system, our identity, the ego and the heart simultaneously. Now Mercury — the mind, the voice, communication, the messenger between worlds.

Three, in succession. All releasing through the drain. All letting go of old ideas, old beliefs, old ways of thinking about leadership and hierarchy and who gets to be on a pedestal.

And then: at 7:04am, Mercury enters Virgo. Crossing from Leo (the voice of the heart) into Virgo (the meaningful, discerning, humble voice). Mercury is strong in Virgo — curious, detail-oriented, wanting to find the meaning, wanting to get it right not for praise but because doing the right thing matters.

At 9:26am, Mercury conjuncts Regulus at 0° Virgo.

Three planets. Venus. Sun. Mercury. All having now crossed Regulus in Virgo for the first time since the South Node met it. All going down the drain of the age of kings, and emerging — more humble, more curious, more Virgo. Kings in rags. Future stewards of the Earth and planets. The goddesses.

I am just like... I love astrology. And I love Michael Lutin for seeing this.

The Moon in Aquarius then squares Haumea, trines Sedna (adapt or die, but also — so many kinds of death), and conjuncts Pluto — the basket activation again. The Moon carries the collective emotional energy through the 4° basket degree, four legs of stability, and we are held.

At 2:01pm Eastern, Vesta stations retrograde. Vesta — the inner flame, focus, commitment, sacred devotion — goes retrograde. And look at the Aries cluster now: Neptune retrograde, Manwë retrograde, Saturn retrograde, Pallas Athena retrograde, Eris retrograde, and now Vesta retrograde. All those Aries energies — the new beginning, the identity in the emerging aeon — going back, reviewing, revisiting. We are not finished with what Aries has been teaching us about who we are becoming. The retrograde does not cancel the flame. It turns it inward to assess what it’s actually devoted to.

Mercury in Virgo trines Chiron — and I want to sit with this one. Virgo, in the older traditions, was the healer, the witch, the medicine carrier, the one with the pouch of herbs who knew how to tend bodies and communities. Chiron is the wounded healer, the shaman, the one who becomes medicine through the wound. Together: be the medicine. Not just know about healing. Embody it.

The Moon then trines Uranus — the basket activates again, and we are held in it. Still. Despite everything.

The Aquarius Moon opposes Jupiter and Hygieia in Leo — and I find this potent. Jupiter in Leo is the expander in the sign of kings, of leaders, of the performer. And now the Moon — the people, the collective emotions — is directly across from it, in the sign of the future.

What we’re starting to see, I think, is not just the fall of individual gurus and leaders. We’re starting to see the shadow of how we’ve participated in putting them there. Not just in them, but in us. The energy of wanting someone to tell us the answers. The hunger for authority figures. The guru culture, the cult-of-personality culture, the tendency to surrender our inner judge to someone else’s version of truth. Jupiter expanded all of that. Now we’re looking at it clearly.

Jupiter will go retrograde at some point soon, which means it will turn back to review that Leo territory more carefully. Watch that.

The Moon sextiles Saturn — self-limiting beliefs, old structures. Let them go. And Mercury sextiles Haumea — the Great Mother of regeneration. All three personal planets are now moving toward Scorpio, toward the Venus Star Point, toward the Venus and Mercury retrogrades. It is going to be intentional. The Venus class exists to help you work with this from the inside out — the meditations are channeled, not scripted, so each journey is genuinely different.

The Moon moves through Aquarius — sextiling Pallas Athena (strategy), conjuncting Chariklo (the cosmic doula is holding space for the story we’re weaving), sextiling Eris and Vesta (burn things off, from devotion and inner flame) — and then meets Hecate at the crossroads. Always. She is always there.

And then the Mercury Cazimi — the Sun and Mercury meet exactly, in a superior (exterior) conjunction at 4° Virgo. Mercury is behind the Sun from our perspective, meaning it’s on the far side — gathering information from outer space, which it then channels through the solar core. These exterior Cazimis are often moments of receiving rather than transmitting: something is coming in that Mercury will carry forward toward the coming retrograde.

4° Virgo. The basket degree, again. Four legs of the table. When the basket peaked in July, the Moon at 4° of Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn each activated the whole configuration in turn. Now Mercury and the Sun meet at 4° Virgo. The messenger is filled with what it needs to carry toward the Venus retrograde and then into its own retrograde in Scorpio. Information from the far side, encoded in the cauldron, to be distilled in the descent to come.

At 3:03pm Eastern, the Moon enters Pisces — and the emotional waters deepen as we move toward the eclipse tomorrow. The Moon sextiles Chiron and trines Haumea — a water grand trine still operational, eroding, regenerating. The Moon squares Sedna — adapt, or be changed. The Moon conjuncts the North Node — the Aquarian future, the care-for-each-other energy, the people rising up. Forget the labels. Just vote for the person who genuinely wants to care for people. They are human. They will not be perfect. But listen to what they say.

The full lunar eclipse post and video cover all the detail — please do go and read/watch those. But here’s what matters from this forecast’s perspective.

The eclipse is at 4° Pisces/Virgo — the basket degree, the number of stability. Four legs. We are held.

Mars moves back in bounds on this day. He’s been out of bounds since August 3rd — erratic, sensitive, defensive, more extreme than usual. Now, at last, he comes back within the established range. You may notice a very slight settling of some of that reactive, overly self-protective energy. Mars in Cancer at its highest is the fierce guardian — protective of home and family, yes, but from love rather than fear.

Mercury square Uranus exactly at 5° — number of change. Radical shift in perceptions. Could come as shocking news, shocking falls, or shocking good news. The Uranian energy doesn’t telegraph which. Stay awake.

The Moon in Pisces trines Ceres — amid eclipse energy, Ceres in Cancer says: meet your needs. Take care of yourself. Your family and community. There may be grief around ancestors, around family, around inheritance. Let the water move through.

The Sun in Virgo sextiles Ceres and squares Uranus — more eclipse activation, more radical change in the practical, meaningful sign of Virgo. This is the call to do things differently in the everyday, the ordinary, the somatic. Virgo is the medicine carrier. Be the medicine.

The Moon trines Mars (now back in bounds) — water to water, Cancer and Pisces. The guardian and the depths. The eclipse is very emotional. Let it be. Surrender. The Hanged Goddess is upright this week precisely because we need her permission to pause.

The Moon also trines Asteroid Lilith — talk to the hand. We are not going back to the old way.

The Moon in Pisces closes the week quietly — meeting Nessus (the poisons, the inherited patterns, a last look at what we’re releasing in this eclipse), then sextiling Juno (contracts, the renegotiating continues).

And then, at 10:37pm Eastern, the Moon enters Aries — and we end the week with the Moon about to move through that entire retrograde cluster: Neptune, Manwë, Saturn, Pallas Athena, Eris, and Vesta, all revisiting, reflecting, reviewing, in the sign of new beginnings.

As the week closes: Venus, the Sun, and Mercury are the only major planetary bodies on the Virgo side of Regulus and the South Node. All the rest are still coming. It will take a while. This is a turning of a great wheel, not the flipping of a switch.

But the three most personal planets are leading the way. Be more meaningful. Be more curious. Be more humble. Be the medicine.

The Hanged Goddess — I Am Paused (upright this time):

In the Red Seeds Tarot by Linda Hill (find her on Etsy, UK), the Hanged Goddess is Demeter — the Great Mother who, in the myth, became weary of both mortals and gods and withdrew to her newly built temple, closing the door to everyone. She knew that to invoke the powers of healing, she would need silence and isolation. And so she paused.

“A change of perspective is much needed. The complexity of life can imbalance us at times, leaving us feeling lost, drained, exhausted. Confusion surrounds us, and we can’t see the wood for the trees. Have we forgotten who we are? What has brought us to this point? Is it time to stop and pause? Old cycles, habits, poor self-care may have blocked our way. It’s time to surrender to the self and allow the depths of our being to open gently. It is not necessary to hurry or try to direct what should happen next. There is really nothing for us to do but wait. Such a position helps us to see things in a very different light. New perspectives will arise. There is much to come from this.”

Herman Hesse: “Within you there is a stillness and sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.”

This is Demeter closing the temple door. This is the invitation: close the door. Just for a while. Let the silence in. Let the new perspective arise.

Two of Bees (Swords), reversed — Inner Turmoil:

This week there may be anxiety, inner turmoil, indecision. Everything feels tense inside. Reversed, this card asks for all the inner work — going within rather than pushing outward, balancing the nervous system, retreating, doing the self-care. The Hanged Goddess gave you the permission. Take it.

This is strong energy. The eclipses are strong. You do not have to perform having it together right now.

Queen of Seeds (Pentacles), reversed — Inner Pillars:

In this deck there are two Queens of Seeds, and they both came out this week. They embrace the Divine Feminine — nurture, healing, generosity, intuition, stability, and service. Like the Caryatids — the sculpted figures from the Eleusinian Mysteries who literally held up the sanctuary — these queens hold things up.

“We can be supportive and in service of those in need, whilst always remembering to nurture, support, and stabilize ourselves first. This feminine energy has agency: self-sufficient, strong, kind, empowered, and belonging to no gender. These queens held up the Eleusinian sanctuary for many years, on many levels. These queens hold us up. Know that we are supported and always cared for.”

Reversed this week, I read these Queens as pointing you toward the inner pillars of support — the ones that don’t require anyone else’s permission or presence. And to remember Michael Lutin’s words: future stewards of the Earth and planets, the goddesses. That doesn’t mean only women. It means the goddess energy — the nurturing, supportive, reciprocal, holding energy — within all of us.

The Companion (Witch Oracle):

Your body. The cauldron. It has appeared before and it keeps appearing because the message keeps being needed.

“Your body, like a cauldron, holds the energy of what you put into it. Are you putting shame, diminishment, or rejection into it? Or acceptance, appreciation, adoration?

Science would have you believe your body is an experiment. Religion would have you believe your body is a sin. A witch would have you believe your body is a marvel — a cauldron of celebration, home to spells of delight, healing, and wonder.

Your body is a sacred companion. She is the one entity that will never leave you during your journey as a human. She is always working on your behalf to restore, heal, and create the balance that allows you to participate in this life. This kind of loyalty deserves devotion, not diminishment.

Shed the weight of expectations. Trim down the thoughts of too much and not enough. Dance like your hips move mountains. Put some magic of unabashed self-approval in your cauldron, and witness how the steam of that self-esteem wafts out into the world — passing on permission for others to feel the same about their unique shape.

A witch understands that liking and loving herself, her body, just as it is, in a toxic patriarchy, is an act of rebellion.

Be the rebel.”

And here is what I want to add: your body is also the cradle. It is the basket. It is the cauldron that is being held in the larger cauldron of these four great outer planets at 4°. You are held. Your body is held. The transformation is happening inside it, and through it, and because of it.

Mercury crosses the South Node and meets Regulus. Vesta stations retrograde, joining the entire Aries cluster in reflection. The Mercury Cazimi at the basket degree of 4° Virgo brings through what needs to be carried toward the Venus and Mercury retrogrades. Mars comes back in bounds on eclipse day. The lunar eclipse arrives at 4° Pisces — held, stable, held.

And four cards all pointing inward: pause. The turmoil is real, and it belongs inside where you can work with it. The inner pillars of support are there. Your body is the cauldron, the companion, the sacred rebel.

Three planets have now crossed Regulus in Virgo. Kings in rags. Future stewards of the Earth and planets. The goddesses.

We are in the birth canal, and we are pushing.

Go close the temple door for a while. Let the new perspective arrive.

— Louise

Venus Retrograde: Heroine’s Journey — price holds through end of August. Partial scholarships available: louise@louiseedington.com. louiseedington.com/VenusRetrograde2026

“Can We Let Evolutionary Astrology Evolve?” — now on Substack. Subscribe free for all posts.

AstroTheoros — chart import/export, folders, notes, PDF printing, and growing asteroid support. Code COSMICOWL at astrotheoros.com.

Code COSMICOWL20 (20% off) or COSMICOWL30 (30% off $99+) at Otter Spirit.

Spiral Weave / Spiral Codex membership — $10/month or $90/year.