JOURNAL
FROM EQUINOX TO EQUINOX:
The Celestial Forecast - September 2026
By Marianne Jacuzzi
M.A., E-RYT 500, Jyotish Visharada, Jyotish Kovid, Jyotish Brihaspati
The dark quadrant of the year begins with opportunity. On 26 September, just days after the equinox, Pitru Paksha commences, the fortnight of the ancestors. It’s a most sacred period in the Indian calendar. From Full Moon to New Moon, the night sky is progressively darker. With the autumnal equinox just crossed, the darkest period of Dakshinayana has also begun, with nights longer than days. Celebrated always in the month of Bhadrapada, corresponding to September or October, Pitru Paksha is a period of waning light, a fitting time to turn our awareness to our ancestors, those who gave us life but whose own lives have waned, those who have crossed the border of linear time, who have journeyed into the land of the dead . . . and beyond.
Maybe you had a troubled relationship with your parents? Maybe you don’t even know your ancestors? Pitru Paksha can bring them into sharp relief—imperfect beings, as all of us. No matter what heavy karma they might have been dealt, things about which you might never know, they gave life to you. And for that they are honoured, with reverence and gratitude. “Tout comprendre, c’est tout pardonner” . . . with understanding, all is forgiven. A reverent practice of Pitru Paksha can grant us the light of understanding, if not for particulars at least for a capacious awareness that all beings view reality according to the limitations of their conditioning.
I don’t need to tell you that the astrological weather in recent times has been extremely unsettled. The months ahead will continue with that theme. Spiritual practice is always the best antidote, the best way to release the Divine Grace hidden in adversity. Pitru Paksha offers a fortifying boon. We honour those who came before us, our lineage, our roots, our family, our parents. We remember with gratitude those who gave us human life, a most precious gift, which even the devas envy. Though daily life and future plans demand our attention, we stand on shaky ground without attending to the health of our roots. Just as roots penetrating deep into the earth nourish a tree, so do our lives flourish with a stable lifeline to our ancestors. Prayers of gratitude nourish that lifeline, upholding both them and us. We’ll need this sustenance as the happenings of the months ahead unfold.
Your practice can be very simple. No need to adopt elaborate Hindu rituals if they are foreign to your tradition. Pitru Paksha begins with the Full Moon in Uttara Bhadrapada, whose symbol is the back end of a funeral bed, shakti is the power to bring “rain”, and deity is Ahirbudhnya, serpent of the deep, of the cosmic waters of the underground. It culminates on 10 October with the New Moon in Hasta, whose symbol is the hand, shakti is the power to gain what we are seeking, and deity is Savitar or Surya, the giver of life. These nakshatras trace a symbolic arc, from the mystical depths of endings to the light of new life and handiworks. As we give to the ancestors in the cosmic realms, so they give to us here on terra firma.
Into your meditation space, place photographs of your loved ones who have passed on, illuminated by a ghee lamp or candle. Offer your practice to them. If you know the tithi at the time of their death, you can honour them particularly during that tithi of this Krishna Paksha. If not, the last day of Pitru Paksha is traditionally for honouring all the deceased. During the fortnight of the ancestors, do what you can to feed the needy, donate to charity, follow a simple sattvic diet, and cultivate a state of mind infused with prayer and contemplation. All those practices align with the spirit of Pitru Paksha when offered in the name of your ancestors.
Chart of 26 September, 2026. 12:00 noon. London, UK
Pitru Paksha Begins
On 26 September, Moon joins Saturn and Neptune in Pisces, where both are retrograde. My March 2026 article discussed this conjunction at length. Saturnine structure slowly erodes with the dissolving fluidity of Neptune, blurring boundaries and undermining stability. Retrograde intensifies the effect, highlighting unfinished business from the past. Briefly, Moon shares in the tension of those conflicting forces, which constitute one of the background features of the months to come. We’ve experienced the effect of this conjunction already in the world, with geopolitical instability, the toppling of leaders, unsettled politics, the weakening of once stable governments and institutions, as well as historically significant rainfall followed by unseasonable heat in much of the world. This is just one of the many forces contributing to the major transformation of the world we’re experiencing in this period. For individual charts, this conjunction impacts natives with Moon, Sun, Atma Karaka or Ascendent in Revati. Attend to Saturn’s slow transit over those last degrees of Pisces. Remember that Saturn can be a stern teacher, but he rewards with jewels in the end.
Since this is a Full Moon, Sun is opposite in Virgo. Mercury and Venus are together in Libra, a lovely pairing of intellect and creativity, very auspicious for the practices of Pitru Paksha. Drama is building in Cancer, however, where Mars has just entered. Though Cancer is his sign of debilitation, the presence of exalted Jupiter uplifts him, mitigating much of his propensity towards petulance and irritability. This is a complex conjunction: two friends, one exalted and the other debilitated, in the water sign of home, homeland, cultural roots, ancestry, land, and all that land signifies—ecology, food, water, oceans and rivers. Jupiter is Brihaspati, the priest or teacher. Mars is a ksatriya, a warrior—a conqueror or protector, an aggressor or defender. As every graha, Mars can vibrate at a high or low frequency. Here in conjunction with the priest exalted, he is capable of becoming a spiritual warrior, a defender of truth and justice. Mars can fight for the wisdom that Jupiter represents. This is the potential I see from this conjunction.
Jupiter provides the expanded vision, an inclusive consciousness that asks the right questions about all the indications of Cancer and the Fourth House. What is the meaning of home and homeland? What is of ultimate value? What is worth preserving? How can the good and true be nourished? Jupiter opens the field, makes possible integration, collaboration, brotherhood in the deepest meaning of that word. The wisdom of Jupiter has the potential to inspire Mars. Mars, not the conqueror, but Mars the protector of all that is of value, Mars who upholds justice and truth with the muscle of right action. Jupiter can reframe the Martian spirit. With major transformation a global theme, Jupiter’s exaltation ignited by Martian dynamism can orient the breakdown of old forms into renewal.
Chart of 2 October, 2026. 12:00 noon. London, UK
Yet as much as I believe in the power of this conjunction to reorient structural collapse towards constructive renewal, it’s not guaranteed. As Mars transits Cancer during this fortnight of Pitru Paksha, he’s inching ever closer to exact opposition to Pluto. On 2 October, right in the middle of the fortnight, Mars and Pluto are exactly opposite each other at eight degrees of Cancer and Capricorn respectively. In the chart of the USA, Pluto resides at 6°49 Capricorn, just two degrees off this transit. This is a Pluto return for the USA, its first. Since Pluto takes about 248 years to orbit the zodiac and the USA just celebrated its 250th anniversary, Pluto has returned to his birth position for the USA.
As an outer planet, Pluto becomes important only when in tight conjunction or opposition to a significant graha in a given chart or in return to his birth degree. For anyone with Moon, Sun, Atma Karaka or Ascendent at or very near this eight degree position of Cancer or Capricorn, this transit will matter for you. It matters for the USA! For the rest of us, we’ll feel its effects in the world, particularly as the chart of the USA is impacted. Pluto signifies transformation; he governs deep, hidden subterranean forces. As a planet of death and so also of rebirth, he partakes of qualities similar to Scorpio. Mars coming directly opposite Pluto will be a trigger for something. Significantly, the Nodes will change signs very soon also, so more confluence for sudden change. Their entry into Cancer and Capricorn is a Reverse Nodal Return for the USA. Major change ahead for the USA means major change for the world. Heartfelt devotion to the practice of Pitru Paksha can help us navigate the complex energy of this transit. Prayers for the renewal of our broken world can be powerful.
The Most Powerful Conjunction of 2026
At the end of October, planets begin to shift towards the most significant conjunction of 2026. For the world, questions about sovereignty and ultimate value are coming to the foreground. For individuals with major planets aligned with this conjunction, something profound could happen to you personally, reorienting life towards a new trajectory. The set-up begins on 31 October, when Jupiter crosses the gandanta point to enter Leo. Jupiter becomes unstable during the days he resides in the last degrees of Cancer and the first degrees of Leo. Gandanta points are gaps at the end of water signs and the beginning of fire signs. All other transitions between signs are linked by nakshatras straddling the border. Those nakshatras offer a ground. In gandanta, the ground gives way. Though often treacherous for worldly affairs, planets transiting gandanta points can bequeath spiritual gifts. For priestly Jupiter in gandanta, that potential is significant. Along the liminal bridge of gandanta, his Piscean qualities become dominant—otherworldly and transcendent rather than fraternal and righteous.
Those few days are a fitting prelude to what comes next. No longer exalted, Jupiter in Leo meets Ketu, who is slowly retrograding from Leo to Cancer. Jupiter and Ketu form a conjunction, a profoundly spiritual though complex combination of energies, which remains active for months. Meanwhile in early November, Venus retrogrades back to Virgo, where he is debilitated, though lifted by a Parivartana exchange with Mercury in Libra. Sun is also debilitated in Libra until the middle of November. That is the line up on 12 November, when Mars enters Leo to form a triple conjunction with Ketu and Jupiter. That powerful conjunction takes centre stage, with both Venus and Sun fallen in their signs of debilitation.
Chart of 14 November, 2026. 12:00 noon. London, UK
On 14 November, Mars, Ketu and Jupiter form a tight conjunction, all residing in the first degree of Leo, so gandanta and in the nakshatra of Magha. Mars and Ketu are both highly pitta, in combination fiery and potentially explosive. The French Revolution broke out during a Mars-Ketu conjunction in Taurus, with Jupiter exalted in Cancer at the time and conjunct Venus, Sun, and Mercury retrograde. Though I wouldn’t rule out a cataclysmic event at the end of this year, Jupiter’s presence in this conjunction tempers the explosiveness. As a luminous planet indicating higher knowledge and truth, Jupiter focuses Ketu, tempering his fire and orienting him towards his higher vibration as a visionary planet of keen intuition. With Ketu less detached and distracted, together they direct the philosophical discourse towards the challenging questions facing societies, to which Mars adds dynamic fire, a revolutionary spirit.
Leo is the sign of the king, of royalty. Magha is a Ketu nakshatra whose shakti is the power to leave the body and deity is the Pitris, deified ancestors. This medium will highlight issues around leadership, sovereignty, and heritage. Not necessarily the toppling of regimes—though that could happen—but heated debate about just rule and tradition. As AI eliminates more and more livelihoods and data centres put pressure on the water supply for local communities, the tech moguls may find themselves on the chopping block. Though literal revolt is indeed a possibility, even without it the collective myths that uphold systems will break down.
Out of the scattering, new myths to align with contemporary insights will form, but so will a harkening back to older traditions, to the wisdom of ancestors. The power to leave the body does provide fresh vision on the status quo. Perhaps the various echo chambers that so many people inhabit will also lose their hold, boundaries softening, nuance replacing dogmatism. In the wake of all the upheaval in the world, this conjunction marks a turning point. Its effects will reverberate for months to come, transforming the beliefs underpinning societies as individuals everywhere find their own ego-identities under pressure.
This conjunction adds confluence to the other astrological alignments of this transformative period—2020 to 2040. The factors add up: Pluto provides the backdrop portending deep changes. During the momentous solar eclipse of December 2019, he resided at the last degrees of fiery Sagittarius, conjunct six other planets. That extraordinary lineup initiated the Covid pandemic. Shortly after the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in Capricorn in 2020, Pluto entered Capricorn, his first return to his birth position for the USA. Pluto’s twenty-year transit through a sign corresponds to the twenty-year cycle of the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, so both are impacting the years from 2020 to 2040.
That transformative karma is ripening now, both for individuals and the world. Faster moving planets, conjunct or opposite Pluto to the degree, trigger his metamorphic force. That has happened a number of times over the past few years and will happen again powerfully this year. The nearly three-year conjunction of Saturn and Neptune in Pisces provides another background feature portending change. Saturnine structures and institutions cannot maintain stability against the eroding forces of watery Neptune in watery Pisces. They become fluid, vulnerable, pliable. Though the old forms need revision, the new forms remain indistinct, unsettled, obscure. Nothing is anchored.
Significantly, this triple conjunction of Jupiter, Ketu and Mars has unusual longevity. Not only does it form in Leo in early November, but the three planets continue to dance together for months. In January 2027, Jupiter retrogrades back into Cancer, back into exaltation, joining Ketu who has already retrograded into Cancer. Mars also turns retrograde and joins them in early spring. So after its Leonine expression, the same triple conjunction will manifest again through the medium of Cancer.
It plays a dominant role well into the spring of 2027. With both Jupiter and Mars retrograde and in conjunction with Ketu, unresolved tensions from the past become the dominant theme for the early months of 2027. Ketu carries the repository of past-life karma, often traumas or insights or lessons repeated over many lifetimes. Retrograde planets highlight tense psychic knots from the past. Together they suggest—in the best-case scenario—wisdom gleaned from revisiting history. Yet Ketu is essentially headless, so, despite Jupiter’s influence, is also disengaged, prone to worldly error, prone to erratic mental disturbances, particularly with Jupiter being more introspective during his retrograde phase. The collective ego of nations will mutate under this influence, the direction that mutation will take dependent upon the breadth of Ketu’s awareness.
The Nodes Change Signs
Ketu moves into Cancer on 25 November while Rahu moves into Capricorn. The Nodes changing signs always indicates a major shift in the cultural zeitgeist. For its impact upon you, pay attention to where the transiting Nodal Axis is falling in your chart. If it’s over your 1H and 7H, you can expect something transformative happening around self and partnership. If it’s the 4H and 10H axis, something to do with career and home will shift. If the Moon and or Atma Karaka are involved, that too is significant. Many factors can colour how the Nodal Axis affects individuals. Each chart needs careful analysis. But for all of us as individuals—and particularly for the world—this shift means the Nodes will be activating moveable signs for the next year and a half.
Chara signs precipitate change. They make for movement, a dynamic forward energy. The momentum for change, which has been building up during 2026, accelerates at the end of the year as the Nodes activate Cancer (moveable water) and Capricorn (moveable earth). Rahu in Capricorn is slowly moving towards Pluto in 2027 and into 2028. Though their exact conjunction is a way off, it will generate more stimulus for the deep transformative energy of Pluto to manifest. In mid-December 2026, Saturn and Neptune turn direct. Their long retrograde phases have reinforced the dissolving of structures from the past. Now their forward motion will direct that energy towards something new.
More confluence during this period for change comes from Mercury. Mutable, restless, mercurial Mercury is retrograde in air signs. His long sojourn in air signs intensifies the moveable theme. In October and November 2026, he is retrograde in Libra. In February 2027, he’s retrograde in Aquarius. Air signifies movement. Light, diffusive, insubstantial and formless, it becomes wind when energised. The proverbial “winds of change” will blow as we move into 2027.
Jupiter turns retrograde on 13 December, hovering on or near Ketu for January, February and well into March, most of that time in the gandanta degrees of first Leo and then Cancer. Mars turns retrograde on 10 January from his position in Leo. Not until 10 March does he retrograde into Cancer. So for the early part of the year, Ketu and Jupiter alone are in conjunction, and that conjunction remains tight throughout. Higher knowledge blends with spiritual intuition. A devoted practice of Pitru Paksha in September can do much towards orienting this conjunction towards its highest expression. Ketu’s otherworldliness can release Jupiter from his tendency towards dogmatic self-righteousness. Jupiter’s ethics can counter Ketu’s detachment. Together they can distil a wisdom of both ultimate truth and healing balm towards a broken world. But that’s not the only way they can combine. Ketu could detach into the ethereal realms or erupt into mania, and Jupiter could become arrogant about worldly absolutes. How this manifests for the world depends a lot upon how certain key individuals of power integrate this energy. As ordinary citizens, we have the power of our spiritual practices, which together can generate a powerful momentum for purification and renewal.
As the conjunction moves into Cancer, the focus shifts. Leo posed prominent questions about sovereignty and leadership, but the concerns of Cancer are more intimate and personal. Cancer signifies the home and the homeland, ancestral land and traditional roots, oceans and the rushing waters of springtime, motherhood, milk and the moon. Cancer moves the discourse into the beating heart of individuals, who together form the emotional heart of societies, upholding its myths, its values, its identity. The change generated from the Cancer placement of this conjunction goes deep. It began months ago with the first appearance of the conjunction, refined and purified now in Cancer, into something truly transformative because penetrating to the heart.
Chart of 19 March, 2027. 12:00 noon. London, UK
On 19 March 2027, Moon joins the conjunction, once again a triple conjunction of Mars, Ketu and Jupiter. Just a day before the vernal equinox and the quadrant of most expanding light, these four grahas are conjunct in the nakshatra of Ashlesha, with Mars and Jupiter both retrograde again. The symbolism of Ashlesha is highly evocative: a coiled snake. Ashlesha is a place of deep mystical power. Its deity is the Nagas, deified serpents, part human and part snake. Snakes symbolise metamorphosis. As they shed their skin, they are reborn, transfigured symbolically into something unprecedented. Ashlesha signifies psychological depth, the dark undercurrent of occult and mysterious forces buried deep in the psyche. To some degree, the shedding of the old skin lays bare that which has been hidden. With Ashlesha, things happen in secret. Slippery and seductive as a serpent, it signifies also the power of the kundalini, rarefied energy of spiritual transformation or explosive psychic breakdown.
With the triple conjunction of Jupiter, Ketu and Mars expressing itself through this mystical place of both darkness and light, Moon joins them for a few powerful days. Moon is in the twelfth tithi of Shukla Paksha on the 19th, coming up to the Full Moon and the precise moment of the Equinox. On 20 March, 2027, light and dark are equal all over the planet. Always a sacred day, this vernal equinox—which coincides with the triple conjunction in Ashlesha—becomes even more sacred, more infused with the power of inner metamorphosis.
A devout practice of Pitru Paksha at the autumnal equinox of 2026 fortified the half year that culminates here. The celestial intensity of early 2027 breaks new ground, triggered in particular just around the Vernal Equinox. It creates a rare potential for metanoia, generating a pure and rarified energy for refinement of hearts, both individual and collective. Take your practice into the wilderness if at all possible, into forests, mountains, riverbanks or sea cliffs. Cancer is the sign of the Mother. The closer we can get to our root in the natural world, the more sustenance we can draw from Earth, mother of our incarnation; and the more graces will flow—both personal and universal. Our collective efforts can become a powerful force for extracting the spiritual jewels promised by this extraordinary time.
Jai Ma!