The Flow State Herald: Edition 1, the Architect (Capricorn rising)
The Flow State Herald
10 to 17 October 2026 · Edition 1 · Vol. I · No. 1
The Architect's edition, for Capricorn rising
Read this first
- The week: The New Moon falls on Sat 10 Oct, Venus squares Mars the same day, and Mars trines Saturn on Fri 16 Oct.
- For you: Your 10th house, the Throne Room, gets the New Moon: a good week to choose which work to put your name to.
- Do this: On Sat 10 Oct, describe what you do as a stranger would, and notice the part that is not quite true.
- Dates: Sat 10 Oct and Fri 16 Oct.
Your birth chart is a castle: twelve rooms for twelve areas of life. Each week the planets open different doors, and this paper tells you which rooms are worth entering.
New to the rooms? They are explained on the castle page.
Album of the week
Through the Looking Glass, Midori Takada, 1983. About 40 minutes. Source for the story.
Midori Takada's first solo album came out in 1983 on RCA Japan: a four-track suite drawn from her study of African and Asian percussion, played with marimba and other instruments.
The Survey: your sky this week
You are the Architect: this week the Libra New Moon falls in your 10th house, the Throne Room, and Mars trines Saturn on Fri 16 Oct.
Which piece of your work is worth building on for the next ten years?
The New Moon draws a clean line under your work · Sat 10 Oct, 11:50 am ET
THE THRONE ROOM · 10th house · work, reputation and what you are known for
A new moon is a fresh start, and this one falls in your house of work and reputation. Before you start anything new, decide what you are willing to sign.
- Sat 10 Oct: Describe what you do as a stranger would, and notice the part that is not quite true.
☉︎ Sun and the New Moon in Libra, your 10th house, 11:50 am ET (15:50 UTC) Sat 10 Oct
Venus squares Mars between the Courtyard and the Vault · Sat 10 Oct, 5:31 pm ET
THE COURTYARD · 11th house · friends, groups and shared hopes
THE VAULT · 8th house · shared money, trust, what is kept private and what changes
Venus, retrograde until 14 November, squares Mars across your 11th and 8th houses: debts to your groups meet shared money and trust. An old arrangement may feel too tight; look at it carefully before you change it.
♀︎ Venus (retrograde) square ♂︎ Mars, Scorpio and Leo, 5:31 pm ET (21:31 UTC) Sat 10 Oct
Mars trines Saturn, and the Bedchamber foundations steady · Fri 16 Oct, 4:32 am ET
THE VAULT · 8th house
THE BEDCHAMBER · 4th house · home, family and where you come from
Mars trines Saturn across your 8th and 4th houses: shared resources support a repair at home, and a foundation steadies. Do not add a new project to it.
- Thu 15 Oct: Get the tools or papers ready for one unfinished job at home.
♂︎ Mars trine ♄︎ Saturn (retrograde), in Leo and Aries, 4:32 am ET (08:32 UTC) Fri 16 Oct
An old arrangement may feel too tight; look at it carefully before you change it.
Tarot
Look. A crowned queen in red sits on a stone throne, a gold coin in her lap, rose vines above.
Ask yourself. She holds her coin with care; what are you willing to put your name to?
Show the reading
Then read. Queen of Pentacles, upright, is a steward who builds comfort out of practical care. She agrees with the New Moon in your Throne Room: a foundation laid fairly.
Look. A hand from a cloud offers a large gold coin with a star, above a flowering garden and an archway.
Ask yourself. A single coin is offered from the cloud; what small start could you accept?
Show the reading
Then read. Ace of Pentacles, upright, is a plain gift, the start of something real. It argues gently with the Venus and Mars friction: bear it by starting small.
Look. A winged angel in white pours water between two cups, one foot on land and one in a pond.
Ask yourself. The angel pours between two cups; where could you blend effort with rest?
Show the reading
Then read. Temperance, upright, is moderation as a craft: two cups blended with care. It agrees with the Mars and Saturn trine, which also joins energy to structure without a fight.
The thread. Build on what you will sign. Start small. Balance effort with rest.
Cards: Pamela Colman Smith, Rider-Waite-Smith tarot, 1909. Drawn at random from one shuffle.
Planet of the week
In your chart. Pluto is in your 2nd house, the Treasury and Pantry, the room for money, what you own and what feeds you.
This week. Pluto stations direct in Aquarius on Thursday 15 October at 10:40 pm ET (Friday 16 October, 02:40 UTC); it has been moving backwards against the stars since 6 May. In Western astrology Pluto is the planet of deep change, power, buried resources and endings that clear the ground.
Egyptian. In Egyptian belief Osiris was lord of the dead. He oversaw the moment a dead person's heart was put on the scales against the feather of Maat, who stood for truth.
Mesopotamian. In an old Mesopotamian story, the goddess Inanna goes down into the underworld, giving up an item of clothing at each of seven gates. She dies there and is brought back with the food and water of life.
Chinese. Since around the Tang dynasty, Chinese tradition has pictured the underworld as a government of ten kings who judge the dead, each in his own court; Yanluo Wang is the fifth.
Correspondences
Colour: black, with dark red from Scorpio
Modern astrologers give Pluto black, and dark red or maroon from Scorpio, whose co-ruler it is (a modern idea).
Metal: plutonium
The metal is a post-discovery pairing, since plutonium was named after the planet in 1940 to 1941.
Gems: red spinel, dark garnet, obsidian, black tourmaline
Gem retailers supply these pairings, which are modern and have no documented classical use.
Plant: the pomegranate
Hades hands Persephone pomegranate seed or seeds in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, and they tie her to the underworld for part of every year; later writers call the fruit Pluto's own.
Foods: pomegranate, onions and leeks
Myth gives the pomegranate; a modern list of Scorpio foods gives the onion and the leek.
Part of the body: the organs of elimination and reproduction
Modern astrology assigns these through Scorpio, Pluto's sign.
Altar suggestions
Ideas, not rules:
- A slab of obsidian or black slate
- Black tourmaline
- A leek
- A coin
- A stick of cedar or cypress incense
- A small stone from a path
Vedic astrology: no Pluto
The nine grahas of classical Jyotish are the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu, and Pluto is not among them.
The Instrument Case: the museum object
Look first. A brass half circle with numbers from 0 to 90 and back, set on a flat bar with a small sight at each end. A compass box is attached to the bar, and the maker's name is engraved along the bar.
Context. A semi circumferenter, a surveyor's tool for measuring angles on the ground, made about 1790 by John Potter in the United States from brass, cherry and white pine.
Notice. Look for the scale of marks engraved around the brass arc, the small round dial at its centre and the name along the bar.
Sources: The Met, object 8030.
The deep dive
In 1930 the name of a new planet was suggested at a breakfast table and sent by cable to Arizona.
Clyde Tombaugh found Pluto on photographic plates exposed at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff on 23 and 29 January 1930. He spotted the moving dot on 18 February with a blink comparator. A telegram carried the announcement on 13 March 1930.
Eleven-year-old Venetia Burney's grandfather, Falconer Madan, a former Bodleian librarian, read the news in The Times, and her suggestion was Pluto. Accounts differ on the breakfast date, between 11 and 14 March. Madan took the idea to Herbert Hall Turner, the Oxford astronomer, and it went by cable to Lowell, whose director, Vesto Slipher, announced the name on 1 May 1930.
Greek Plouton means 'the rich one', a polite title for Hades; Plato says in the Cratylus that people avoided the frightening name. The Roman Dis Pater, 'Rich Father', is probably a direct translation.
In 2006 the International Astronomical Union classed Pluto as a dwarf planet. Astrologers had no Pluto before 1930; its meanings were assembled mostly by the mid 1970s.
To think about: Which plan of yours carries a name chosen in a hurry?
Go further: How Pluto got its name, Smithsonian Magazine
Sources: APS News on Tombaugh's discovery; Smithsonian Magazine, how Pluto got its name; Wikipedia, Pluto (mythology); Universe Today on the 2006 IAU vote; LASP, Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter; The Met, object 397525.
Movement
Climb stairs or a hill at an even pace, or walk with a loaded backpack.
Look up. Mars rises about 1 am and passes in front of the Beehive Cluster on 11 October, good in binoculars. Jupiter rises around 2 to 3 am in Leo, and Saturn, just past opposition, is up in the east after sunset. Venus is too low in twilight to see.
This week's calendar
- Sat 10 Oct: Hindu: Mahalaya Amavasya, last new moon of the ancestors' fortnight.
- Sun 11 Oct: Hindu: Navratri begins (Ghatasthapana).
- Sun 11 Oct: Jewish: Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, first day.
- Mon 12 Oct: Canadian: Thanksgiving.
- Wed 14 Oct: Eastern Christian: Pokrova, feast of the Protection of the Mother of God.
Navratri days can vary by region; Bengali Durga Puja reckoning can differ by a day.
Eat & wear
Eat. Leeks braised in butter with white beans and pomegranate seeds. The pomegranate is Persephone's fruit in the Greek myth.
Wear. Stone, graphite and khaki: a long khaki coat with graphite wool trousers. Warm: add a wool waistcoat. Cool: the coat and trousers alone.
A line to keep
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
Ecclesiastes 3:1, King James Version
How this was made. The sky is calculated with the Swiss Ephemeris, tropical zodiac, whole-sign houses from the rising sign. Times are ET with UTC in brackets, for the window from Saturday 10 October 11:50 am ET (15:50 UTC) to Saturday 17 October 11:50 am ET. Tarot cards are drawn at random from one shuffle.
Pictures are public domain or CC0 from museum open access collections (met:8030, met:397525, met:364346, met:719420, met:557657, met:44507); the mother of pearl band is cropped from The Met object 40526.
The paper is for reflection and enjoyment and is not medical, financial or legal advice.
