After Eclipse Season, Before Venus Retrograde
Aug 31 - Sept 6
TRANSITS
We may be out of eclipse season, but we are still reeling from its aftermath. When I wrote last week’s Pisces Lunar Eclipse article, I said that it felt quieter than I had expected.
I may have spoken too soon.
I wrote the article a few days before the eclipse reached its peak. But in the days immediately before, during, and after it, the atmosphere became harder to ignore. The rains were relentless, the news carried stories of disruption and loss, and around me, people seemed to be releasing emotions, relationships, expectations, and versions of the future they had been holding onto.
I felt that shift too.
My understanding of a particular situation continued to evolve. There was no single revelation that suddenly made everything clear. The meaning kept changing while the story itself was still unfolding.
This was fitting for an eclipse preceded by a Mercury cazimi and unsettled by Uranus. Just hours before the eclipse, Mercury brought a message, realization, conversation, or missing piece of information into focus. Yet with Uranus pressuring Mercury, the Sun, and the Moon, whatever emerged could also change the context or raise a different set of questions.
We may have learned something important without immediately understanding what it meant. An eclipse can mark the moment a story changes, but rarely the moment we understand everything it has changed.
The August 28 Pisces Lunar Eclipse did not unfold in isolation. It followed the August 13 Philippine-time Total Solar Eclipse in Leo and concluded a series of three Pisces lunar eclipses that began in September 2024. Leo opened a new possibility; Pisces changed the emotional or psychological context around it.
Now the astrology asks what can realistically grow from here.
The Week Ahead: What Looks Possible Now?
On September 1, Jupiter in Leo trines Saturn retrograde in Aries. Jupiter expands, while Saturn defines. Jupiter sees what could grow; Saturn asks whether it has enough structure to last.
Their trine allows possibility and practicality to work together. An idea may become more credible, support may appear, or a plan that once felt distant may begin moving into a form we can actually work with.
Jupiter remains in Leo, continuing the themes opened by the August 13 Solar Eclipse. What develops now may be connected to a possibility, desire, or direction that first became more visible around that time.
Because Saturn is retrograde in Aries, however, the obstacle may not be entirely new. An earlier decision, unfinished responsibility, or boundary we thought was already settled may need to be reconsidered before the plan can grow.
There is promise here, not because every problem has disappeared, but because we may finally see how something could be built.
This May Not Be a Quiet Week
Later that day, Mars in Cancer squares Saturn retrograde in Aries. Mars and Saturn are the two traditional malefics, and both are in their fall. The aspect creates pressure where movement meets an existing limit.
A home or family concern, emotional reality, private responsibility, or need for security may complicate a plan that otherwise appears promising. This is where the exciting possibility meets the existing commitment, and the future we are beginning to imagine meets the life we are still building.
The Venus story beginning now will take time.
Venus rules love, but her symbolism extends well beyond romance. She also describes money, attraction, pleasure, reciprocity, self-worth, trust, and the agreements we make because we believe something, or someone, is worth what it asks of us.
Pay attention to what starts becoming important now. A relationship may begin changing form. A financial decision could reveal what you truly value. An attraction may raise unexpected questions. An agreement may need to be reconsidered once its emotional or practical implications become clearer.
The pre-retrograde shadow does not mean that everything beginning now will reverse. It means we are entering the story before we know its final terms.
What feels fair now may not feel fair later. Something we once wanted may become less desirable under the conditions attached to it. The opposite can also happen: a connection or opportunity we initially dismissed may acquire greater value once we see it differently.
Venus retrograde does not only bring people or issues back. It brings us back to the values behind our choices and the reasons we agreed to something in the first place.
The obstacle may reveal an unrealistic timetable, unequal responsibility, or a condition that was never fully considered. We may want the outcome but not the conditions attached to it. Or we may want it enough to admit that something else will have to move.
Saturn makes the limit visible. Mars makes it difficult to ignore.
Mercury in Virgo sextiles Mars later that day, helping us identify the detail behind the pressure. A direct conversation, clearer division of responsibility, or practical adjustment may not settle the whole story, but it can show us what needs to happen next.
Before Venus Retrograde
As all of this unfolds, Venus enters her pre-retrograde shadow in Libra on August 31.
Venus is not retrograde yet.
The shadow begins when Venus crosses the degree to which she will later return during her retrograde. She will turn retrograde in early October, travel backward from Scorpio into Libra, turn direct in November, and finally leave the shadow in December.
Collective astrology describes the larger weather. Where the story unfolds for you depends on the houses, planets, and angles activated in your birth chart. For an individualized look at the cycles ahead, you may also book a Timing & Forecasting consultation with Monica Morales of OM.MNL.
What This Could Set in Motion
There is a reason these transits arrive together. Jupiter and Saturn show us that a possibility may be worth developing. Mars and Saturn expose what cannot be ignored. Mercury and Mars help us name the adjustment, while Venus begins a longer review of whether the arrangement still reflects what we genuinely value.
We may know enough to begin, but not enough to reach a permanent conclusion. What starts as a possibility in September could be reconsidered in October, renegotiated in November, and understood differently by December.
Its wider consequences may continue into early 2027, particularly where the eclipses have activated an important planet, angle, or sensitive area of the birth chart.
This is why astrology is more useful when we follow the cycle rather than isolate a single date. The question is not only, “What will happen this week?”
It is also: What is this week beginning, and how might it shape the months ahead?
Read Your Weekly Horoscope
Read your Sun, Moon, and Rising signs in Monica Morales of OM.MNL’s complete August 31–September 6 weekly horoscope on PhilSTAR L!fe.
Navigate the Rest of 2026
If eclipse season has already changed something in your life, or left you wondering what has been set in motion, the story does not end with the eclipses themselves.
In my upcoming webinar, After the Eclipses: What They Set in Motion for the Rest of 2026, we will map the major astrological cycles ahead, examine how the recent eclipses may continue activating different areas of your birth chart, and identify what to watch as you navigate the rest of 2026 and prepare for early 2027.
Weekly horoscopes reflect collective astrological themes. For guidance based on your individual birth chart, current transits, and personal timing, explore a personalized astrology reading.
Author Bio
Monica Morales is the founder of OM.MNL, a professional astrologer, wellness advocate, speaker, and strategic consultant. Internationally trained in both traditional and modern astrology, she has interpreted more than 1,000 charts and has advised entrepreneurs, executives, business leaders, professionals, and public figures.
Drawing from over a decade in corporate leadership within the medical and biotechnology industries and her background in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Monica brings a uniquely holistic and practical perspective to her work. Passionate about her advocacy of real astrology and mind-body-spirit wellness, she is committed to teaching astrology beyond superstition and Sun signs alone - bridging ancient astrological wisdom with practical, modern application to help people make more informed decisions and better understand life’s timing.
Discover your cosmic blueprint. Time your best life.
For astrology readings, consultations, courses, webinars, workshops, professional astrology certification programs, speaking engagements, or wellness collaborations, connect with Monica via OM.MNL on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, or email ommnl88@gmail.com
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