The Flow State Herald: Edition 3, the Astronomer (Aquarius rising)
The Flow State Herald
24 to 31 October 2026 · Edition 3 · Vol. I · No. 3
The Astronomer's edition, for Aquarius rising
All things are but alter'd, nothing dies.
Ovid, Metamorphoses XV, Pythagoras's speech (translation by Dryden and others; wording as given in that edition)
Read this first
- The week: Venus backs into Libra on Sun 25 Oct; the Full Moon in Taurus and the Sun-Pluto square land on Mon 26 Oct.
- For you: Your 10th house, the Throne Room, is busiest: the Sun, Mercury and the Full Moon all touch it.
- Dates: Sun 25 Oct, 5:09 am ET; Mon 26 Oct, 12:11 am and 8:11 am ET.
New here? Your chart is a castle of twelve rooms, explained on the castle page.
Album of the week
An Electric Storm, White Noise, 1969. 35 minutes. An Electric Storm, Wikipedia.
David Vorhaus, Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson built it from tape manipulation and homemade electronics, working from the Kaleidophon studio they set up in Camden Town. Island Records released it in 1969, and it sold poorly at first.
The Star Chart: your sky this week
You are the Astronomer: Venus backs into your 9th house on Sunday, and on Monday a Full Moon and a Sun-Pluto square land across your 4th, 10th and 1st houses.
Venus, retrograde, crosses back from Scorpio into Libra early on Sunday, moving from your 10th house of work and reputation into your 9th house of study, travel and belief. Early Monday the Full Moon in Taurus falls in your 4th house of home and family, with the Sun in Scorpio opposite it in your 10th house, so the pull between household and career is at its peak. At 8:11 am ET the same day the Sun squares Pluto: the Sun in your 10th house, Pluto in Aquarius, in your 1st house. Mercury is also retrograde in your 10th house all week, so titles, contracts and job descriptions deserve a second reading before anyone signs them.
Which part of what you're known for would you still pick up today?
Sun 25 Oct
Venus returns to Libra · Sun 25 Oct, 5:09 am ET (09:09 UTC)
THE OBSERVATORY TOWER · 9th house · travel, beliefs, higher learning and the big picture
Your 9th house covers travel, belief and higher learning, and on Sunday morning retrograde Venus slips back into it. She re-enters Libra, retreating from your 10th house of work and reputation.
In the Observatory Tower, the course, trip or qualification you shelved comes back for a second look. While Venus is retrograde, reread the syllabus, the itinerary or the old notes before paying for anything new.
♀︎ Venus (retrograde) in Libra, your 9th house
Mon 26 Oct
The Full Moon lights home and career · Mon 26 Oct, 12:11 am ET (04:11 UTC)
THE BEDCHAMBER · 4th house · home, family and roots
THE THRONE ROOM · 10th house · work, reputation and what you are known for
A Full Moon in Taurus lights your 4th house, which covers home, family and roots. Opposing it, the Sun in Scorpio stands in your 10th house of work and reputation, so both houses are engaged together.
In the Bedchamber, the hours the Throne Room takes from home are easy to count at a Full Moon. Expect a conversation about late emails, the commute or the phone at the table, probably started by whoever is waiting on you.
☽︎ Moon Full Moon in Taurus, your 4th house, opposite ☉︎ Sun in Scorpio, your 10th house
Mon 26 Oct
The Sun squares Pluto · Mon 26 Oct, 8:11 am ET (12:11 UTC)
THE THRONE ROOM · 10th house
THE DRESSING ROOM · 1st house · how you present yourself and start things
Pluto in Aquarius occupies your 1st house, which covers how you present yourself. The Sun in Scorpio, in your 10th house of work and reputation, squares it: an angle that sets the two houses at odds.
In the Throne Room, your job title meets the Dressing Room mirror, where Pluto sits. The title in your email signature or on your profile may describe a role you've already outgrown, and Monday is when the gap is easiest to spot.
☉︎ Sun in Scorpio, your 10th house, square ♇︎ Pluto in Aquarius, your 1st house
While Venus is retrograde, reread the syllabus, the itinerary or the old notes before paying for anything new.
Tarot
Belonging, contentment, family. The Ten of Cups is the card of belonging: a settled happiness shared with the people you love. Upright, it is real and quiet. With Venus back in Libra on Sunday, what you observe is how much of your wellbeing is already at home.
Searching for purpose, choices, daydreaming. The Seven of Cups is the card of too many options and wishful thinking: fantasy mixed with real possibility. Upright, it asks which wish is real. The Full Moon on Monday lights them evenly, so test which one still shines when you look again.
Fear of leaving, stalled plans, indecision. The Two of Wands is the card of planning the next move from a safe position. Reversed, the plan stalls or the nerve to leave the comfortable spot goes missing. When the Sun squares Pluto on Monday, what needs adjusting is how public your plans are.
Cards: Pamela Colman Smith, Rider-Waite-Smith tarot, 1909.
Planet of the week
Venus is retrograde all week and returns to Libra on Sunday.
Jeremiah Horrocks, a young astronomer living at Much Hoole in Lancashire, worked out that Kepler's tables predicted a near miss for Venus in 1639. His own corrections said Venus would cross the face of the Sun in late November by the Julian calendar, early December by ours. Cloud covered much of the day. At about 3:15 pm he saw a black disc on the Sun's image, which he projected through a telescope onto a card, and he watched it for about half an hour until sunset. His friend William Crabtree, near Manchester, saw it independently. Horrocks died in 1641, aged about 22. Details: 1639 transit of Venus, Wikipedia.
Museum object
This is a portable sundial with its own compass. On a flat octagonal base, engraved with scrolling leaves, a compass sits under glass. Tilted up from it is a ring with Roman numerals, pierced with a dense pattern of leafy scrolls, with a toothed outer edge, and a bar across the front carries a small numbered disc.
The Met's record names Claude Dunod as the maker and dates it to 1714. It is gilded brass and silver, and measures about 16.5 by 14 centimetres. The museum acquired it in 1903 as a gift from Mrs. Stephen D. Tucker.
The compass is there because a sundial only gives the right hour once it faces north. Set the base level, turn it until the needle sits north, and the shadow can be read against the numerals.
The long read
In 1507, on the hill the Spanish later called Cerro de la Estrella, near Lake Texcoco, Mexica priests waited for one thing to cross the sky. It was the last Toxiuhmolpilia, the Binding of the Years, held every 52 years; earlier ones are dated to 1351, 1403 and 1455 (World History Encyclopedia).
What were they watching, and why that star cluster? It was the Pleiades, called Tianquiztli, usually glossed as 'marketplace'. When the cluster crossed the meridian, the north-south line overhead, at midnight, the cycle was judged complete and a new fire could be kindled. That the Pleiades were the signal is well supported; see an article on Nahuatl culture.
The 52 comes from two counts run side by side, a 260-day ritual count and a 365-day solar year. They line up again after 18,980 days, which is 52 times 365 and also 73 times 260. That arithmetic is certain, and Wikipedia's account says the ceremony was meant to secure another cycle of 52 years.
Fires were put out, hearths and old goods thrown away, houses swept, and bundles of 52 reeds tied for the years just ending. Sahagun's Florentine Codex, Book 7, records the fear: that the sun would not rise and the Tzitzimime, star-demons, would descend. Accounts say the fire was kindled on the chest of a sacrificed captive, and runners then carried torches to the Templo Mayor and to every hearth.
One reading, which is interpretation and not in the sources: the ceremony works as a check of a calendar against the sky. The count says a cycle has ended, the Pleiades confirm it, and only then is the fire lit. The cluster stands high at midnight in November, which fits the November date given by World History Encyclopedia.
Go further: Mexicolore: the New Fire ceremony
This week's calendar
- Sat 24 Oct: Jewish: Shabbat Lech-Lecha: Congregations read of Abram told to leave his country for a land he will be shown (Genesis 12:1 to 17:27). Source.
- Sun 25 Oct: Hindu: Sharad Purnima: Families leave kheer in the moonlight, eat it next morning and light lamps for Lakshmi. Source.
- Mon 26 Oct: Buddhist: Pavarana Day: Monks end the rains retreat by inviting each other to name faults, and laypeople offer robes. Source.
- Wed 28 Oct: Hindu: Karwa Chauth: Married women fast from sunrise until they sight the moon (Thu 29 Oct in India). Source.
Take this with you
Why did the priests wait for the Pleiades to confirm a count they could already make on paper?
Border: Box decorated with flowers and clouds, Korea, 18th century. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
How this was made
Times are Eastern (ET), with UTC in brackets. The sky is calculated with the Swiss Ephemeris. Pictures come from museum open access collections and are credited in each caption. For reflection and enjoyment, not medical, financial or legal advice.
