Hello, gentle souls.
We are transitioning into the fall season, naturally inviting us to slow down, turn inward, and listen more closely to what is happening within us. We can feel the change in our bodies before we have words for it: the cooler, crisp air, the dimming light, the instinct to put on an extra layer before heading outside. There is a particular clarity that arrives with this shift. We open our windows and let the stale air move out of our homes, clearing what has accumulated over the warmer months before we begin preparing for the cold days of winter.
Fall is a season of harvest. It is the time of gathering what has grown, enjoying the last lingering evenings outdoors, and preparing for a different rhythm. The movement is gradual but unmistakable: from outward expansion toward inward warmth.
I can’t help but think about the animals during this transition. Bears begin preparing for hibernation after spending the warmer months nourishing themselves. Squirrels scurry around gathering and storing food. Animals begin growing their heavier coats in preparation for the cold. Their bodies instinctively know what is coming, and they respond by preparing, conserving, and creating warmth.
Perhaps there is something here for us to learn.
As the animals grow their heavier layers, we reach for our own. We pull out wool sweaters, scarves, heavier quilts, and coats. Maybe there is something in your closet, passed down from someone in your family. Perhaps you can bring that piece out – a gift from a grandmother, aunt, parent, or someone who has already passed on, and wrap it around yourself. Let it become a physical reminder of warmth, care, and unconditional support this season. When you feel its warmth and coziness, imagine yourself being held by the love that came before you.
There is something powerful about remembering that we come from a line of ancestors to pull us through the colder and darker seasons ahead.
Fall, Grief, and the Ancestors
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, autumn is associated with the Metal element, the lungs, and the experience of grief and letting go. The symbolism of fall shows us that the trees do not cling to their leaves simply because they have grown accustomed to them. When the season changes, they release what is no longer needed.
Fall can therefore become a natural time for reconnecting with our ancestors, our family trees, and our roots. Food is one of the simplest ways to do this. Our sensory memories (taste, smell, and texture) can create a bridge between the present and those who came before us.
Something as ordinary as a potato can become an ancestral practice.
Imagine holding a potato and peeling it slowly. Countless hands before yours have performed this same simple task. Someone stood in a kitchen preparing dinner after a long day of work. Someone boiled water, salted a pot, and fed the people they loved. You may never know their names or see the kitchens where they lived, but through this ordinary act, you participate in something that stretches across generations.
This is one of the quiet gifts of fall: remembering.
We remember the people who made our lives possible. We remember the foods they prepared, the traditions they carried, the hardships they survived, and the ways they nourished one another. We can allow our senses to bring those memories closer, giving us a felt connection to the lineage behind us.
I especially bring this forward because remembering where we have come from may provide us the support we can draw from during this astrological transit unfolding over the next several weeks, that could dredge up old stories in your relationships, work, and finances.
From October 3 through November 13, 2026, Venus will be retrograde, moving through Scorpio and Libra. On October 24, Mercury will also retrograde in Scorpio until November 13. Together, these cycles create about a six week period of reflection governing deeper patterns operating beneath the surface.
Given these astrological and seasonal shifts, I wanted to offer a supportive message and tarot reading for reflection – not as a prediction of what must happen, but as an invitation to become more conscious of what may already be asking for our attention.
A Collective Tarot Reading for the Venus and Mercury Retrograde Period
I pulled five cards for this period, asking five questions:
What is the general message for this retrograde period?
What does Venus retrograde want us to understand?
What does Mercury retrograde want us to understand?
What resources can support us?
What will we have gained when this period is over?
I invite you to draw your own cards using these questions to see how this period will affect you more personnaly.
At a glance, the overall message is guiding us to pause and go inward to face and release any issues that arise during this period.
General Energy – At the Center, Eight of Pentacles: Keep tending to what you’re building, but pause to ask whether your work, goals, and investments still align with who you are becoming. Venus Retrograde offers a time to refine, reassess, and recommit, or release anything that is outdated, so that we may build upon something more meaningful and inspiring. While Mercury Retrograde provides a timely pause and respite to support this inner work.
Venus Retrograde – Left, Nine of Swords: Fears around love, money, security, worth, and relationships may become louder. Don’t let anxiety run the story. Bring what has been hiding into the shadows into the light so you can distinguish between real problems and fears that have grown larger than reality.
Mercury Retrograde – Right, Four of Swords: Slow down. Rest. Don’t force answers or rush difficult conversations. Give your mind and nervous system space to process what is coming up. Sometimes clarity arrives when we stop trying so hard to find it.
Your Resource – Below, Page of Wands: Stay curious. Approach uncomfortable revelations with openness rather than fear. Let yourself see things differently, have honest conversations, and remember that there is still creativity, hope, inspiration, and possibility available to you.
What can be Gained – Above, Six of Wands: We come through it and shine! The hard and earnest work is rewarded. By facing what surfaces with courage and curiosity, we can regain balance, recognize our own growth, and emerge with greater confidence. This is also a card of community, belonging, generosity, and leadership. What is learned through our own process can ultimately become something we offer to others.
From the Inner Depths, Into the Light
As we move through this retrograde season of deeper reflection, may we remember that going into the depths is not the same as getting lost in the darkness. Sometimes we have to be willing to look honestly at what is beneath the surface before we can understand what is asking to change. The shadows we encounter can become teachers, and the truths we uncover can ultimately return us to ourselves with greater clarity, compassion, and purpose.
Allow this fall to bring clarity where there has been confusion, warmth where there has been loneliness, courage where there has been fear, and a renewed understanding of what is truly worth carrying forward.
Take time to remember our roots, tend to our inner fires, and make room for what is ready to grow.
And above all, my friends, lead with love and an open heart.
As always, I’m here to support you through any part of your healing journey. Reach out if you’re in need of insight and deeper understanding. Through Shamanic and Reiki Healing, Tarot, and Astrology, I offer these tools as gifts for reflection, healing, and greater self-awareness.
Book a session with me and give yourself the space to pause, reflect, and gain clarity around what is unfolding for you. You don’t have to have all the answers before you begin. Sometimes the first step is simply creating a little space to listen to what your inner wisdom has been trying to tell you.
May you move through these coming weeks with curiosity instead of fear, courage instead of avoidance, and compassion for yourself as you grow.
And when you reach the other side, look back and recognize just how much strength, wisdom, and light you carried with you all along.
Keep on Dancing!
