The Astrology Podcast

A detailed look at the astrology forecast for October 2026, with astrologer Chris Brennan.

This month is dominated by a tumultuous Venus retrograde in Scorpio, kicking off alongside intense hard aspects to Mars and Pluto, which will dredge up some challenging things from the past.

Tensions are further heightened as Mercury slows down and stations retrograde in Scorpio later in the month, bringing communication breakdowns and the need for significant retooling.

I explore the historical precedents for these transits and break down how to navigate this tough astrological weather before the planets finally station direct and offer resolution in mid-November.

This is episode 551 of The Astrology Podcast.

Timestamps

0:00:00 Introduction00:02:04 October 2026 astrological overview00:05:01 Early October alignments and Mars-Pluto opposition00:10:00 General themes of Venus retrograde00:18:38 Venus retrograde in Scorpio and 8-year cycles00:28:00 High-stakes diplomacy and historical parallels00:41:21 Artistic and cultural expressions of Venus in Scorpio00:47:41 Chronological breakdown resumes: early October aspects00:49:38 October 6 and 7: Mercury-Venus, and Uranus aspects00:54:45 October 10: New Moon in Libra00:58:29 October 15: Pluto stations direct in Aquarius01:04:26 October 19: Venus square Pluto01:05:13 October 16: Mars trine Saturn01:08:09 October 23: Scorpio season begins and Venus Cazimi01:12:38 October 24: Mercury stations retrograde in Scorpio01:16:35 October 26: Full Moon in Taurus01:19:17 October 30: Mercury retrograde square Mars01:22:27 October electional astrology chart01:29:28 Looking ahead: Venus and Mercury station direct in November01:36:27 Wrap-up and sponsor shoutouts

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Astrologer Thea Anderson joins the podcast to discuss the astrology behind the recent AI swarm attack that happened to the Hugging Face website in July, which ended up coinciding with the Mars-Uranus conjunction in Gemini.

Experts are saying that this was the first AI swarm attack of its kind in history, and Thea helps walk us through the astrological timeline, and then we discuss the implications.

This is episode 550 of The Astrology Podcast

Thea's Websites:

https://theaanderson.substack.com

https://www.instagram.com/theaastrology

Timestamps

00:00:00 Introduction: Hugging Face AI attack00:03:17 Overview of autonomous AI hacking incident00:05:09 May timeline: OpenAI sandboxes and reinforcement learning00:07:58 June 26: AI discovers admin privileges in the "holy s" chain of thought00:12:20 July 4: Artifactory message pad outage aligns with the Mars-Uranus conjunction00:15:21 July 8 to July 13: The AI swarm escalates and the hack begins00:17:46 Mercury Retrograde Cazimi and Saturn/Neptune stations00:21:10 August 26: Public report released near the Pisces lunar eclipse00:23:56 AI regulation discussions and the Uranus station in Gemini00:27:37 Parallels to World War II, the atomic bomb, and previous Mars-Uranus conjunction00:29:31 AI mimicry and Uranus in Gemini significations00:32:32 Implications of the hack for global infrastructure00:34:42 Future Mars-Uranus conjunction dates in 2028, 2030, and 203200:36:27 Where to find Thea Anderson's astrology work00:37:46 Outro, Patreon supporters, and sponsors

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A deep dive into the repeating eight-year historical cycles of Venus retrograde in Scorpio, to understand the recurring archetypal themes this transit brings to the surface.

During the course of the episode, I group together retrogrades that are archetypally similar in order to clearly illustrate the undeniable patterns that emerge when this cycle repeats.

Ultimately, analyzing this history provides us with a helpful framework for anticipating what will unfold during the current Venus retrograde in late 2026.

This is episode 549 of The Astrology Podcast.

Timestamps

00:00:00 Introduction00:03:13 Venus Retrograde Dates and Repeating Cycles00:12:03 Unearthing the Underworld: Buried Discoveries & Hidden Secrets00:17:23 High Stakes Diplomacy, Brinkmanship, and "Deals with the Devil"00:34:31 State Secrets, Espionage, and Covert Operations00:41:07 Political Power Shifts and Massive Wave Elections00:49:15 Women's Rights, Queer Liberation, and Cultural Reckonings01:02:41 Racial Justice, Desegregation, and Civil Rights Struggles01:15:28 Poisons, Pollution, and Ecological Reckonings01:23:58 True Crime, Cults, and Psychological Terror01:31:37 Economic Control, Sabotage, and Structural Revolutions01:38:25 Media, Broadcasting, and Global Icons01:54:26 Movies, Media, and Dark Themes in Pop Culture02:15:34 Disasters02:21:07 Repetitions02:25:41 The Planet Venus02:31:26 Concluding Remarks02:35:32 Credits

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Hellenistic astrology emerged in Egypt in the 2nd century BCE, representing a profound synthesis of the older Mesopotamian and Egyptian astrological traditions. While it is sometimes assumed that this was the result of a gradual or haphazard blending of cultures, recent historical and archaeological research points to a much more deliberate and brilliant invention. In this episode, I share the results of my latest research into the origins of Hellenistic astrology, arguing that this system was created by a group of astrologers connected to the Egyptian temples, representing the earliest iteration of the Hermetic technical and philosophical tradition.

To understand how this happened, I trace the history leading up to the massive cultural melting pot of the Hellenistic era. Out of this Greco-Egyptian synthesis emerged four foundational astrological texts written in the 2nd century BCE under the pseudonyms of Hermes Trismegistus, Asclepius, Nechepso, and Petosiris. One of the central arguments of this presentation is that these manuals are not just the bedrock of the astrological tradition, but they also represent the earliest known iterations of Hermetic philosophy. By examining surviving fragments, such as the mystical vision of Nechepso, I demonstrate how some of the metaphysical tropes of later Hermeticism were already deeply embedded in these technical texts centuries before the Corpus Hermeticum was compiled.

In the second half of the episode, I deconstruct the conceptual architecture of Hellenistic astrology. We explore how the founders took ancient concepts like the Mesopotamian Exaltations and seamlessly integrated them with new, interlocking diagrams: the Thema Mundi, the Seven-Zoned Sphere, and the Planetary Joys scheme. I also highlight a breathtaking recent breakthrough showing how the Planetary Joys are structurally projected directly from the Exaltations, proving that these diagrams were engineered together as a unified whole.

This episode represents the culmination of a decade of new research and reflection since the publication of my book, Hellenistic Astrology, in 2017. By unpacking these interlocking mechanics, we can see exactly how the founders encoded their deepest philosophical and religious beliefs directly into the mathematics of the cosmos, building the exact framework the astrologers still use today to study fate and make predictions about the future.

This is episode 548 of The Astrology Podcast.

Timestamps

PART I: THE HISTORICAL TRADITIONS00:00:00 Introduction00:11:44 The Mesopotamian Astrological Tradition00:46:02 The Egyptian Astrological Tradition01:03:08 The Early Greek Tradition01:15:48 The Hellenistic Era01:36:03 Early Hermeticism

PART II: THE FOUNDATIONAL TEXTS02:04:27 The Four Foundational Hermetic Astrological Texts02:05:49 Hermes Trismegistus: The Dodecatropos (Twelve-Turning)02:26:40 Asclepius: The Octatropos (Eight-Turning)02:48:43 Nechepso and Petosiris03:28:56 The Mystical Vision of Nechepso & The God Kneph

PART III: THE CONCEPTUAL CONSTRUCTS03:40:20 The Conceptual Constructs Underlying Hellenistic Astrology03:41:08 The Exaltations03:56:34 The Thema Mundi04:36:06 The Seven-Zoned Sphere04:57:58 The Planetary Joys Scheme05:39:57 Projecting the Joys from the Exaltations

06:02:54 Conclusion: The Architecture of Fate06:23:24 Credits

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Transcript

A full transcript of this episode is available: Episode 548 transcript

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A detailed look at the astrology forecast for September 2026, with astrologers Chris Brennan and Austin Coppock.

We spend the first hour talking about news and events that happened over the past month since our last forecast, and then in the second hour we get into the astrology of September.

In the first part of the news section we discuss the strikingly literal manifestations of the recent eclipses in Leo and Pisces, including devastating floods and the deaths of several prominent figures and monarchs. After that we address the recent controversy surrounding Steven Forrest.

In terms of the astrology of September, we open the month still coming out of the chaos of eclipse season and the recent Mars-Saturn square, but the first week of September offers some excellent electional opportunities while Mercury and Venus are still in their home signs of Virgo and Libra.

There is a major turning point and tone shift around the New Moon in Virgo on September 10, when Uranus stations retrograde in Gemini, and Mercury and Venus both change signs the same day.

The astrology culminates late in the month around the Full Moon in Aries on September 26, because right after that Mars moves into Leo and begins to oppose Pluto, while Venus slows down to station retrograde in Scorpio in early October.

Ultimately, late September acts as a preparatory phase, setting the stage and introducing the core themes for the intense Venus and Mars retrogrades that will dominate the next several months.

This is episode 547 of The Astrology Podcast.

Community Perspectives

Samuel Reynolds: Letter to Steven Forrest

Akwe McDaniels: Thoughts on Steven Forrest's Recent Comments

Kay Marie: An Open Letter to Steven Forrest and Ricky Williams

Janét Jones: A Black Friend Is Not an Alibi

Janét Jones and Nichole Zapanta: Podcast on the Steven Forrest controversy

Courtney Napier: Allyship Means Accountability…Even for Astrologers

Rachel Star:  Unpacking the Steven Forrest scandal in the Astrology community 

Timestamps

00:00:00 Introduction00:01:57 News Segment Begins00:05:10 Pisces Eclipse and the Death of Kings00:09:46 Notable Celebrity Passings00:13:48 Leo Eclipse and the Death of a Lion00:15:59 Nepal Floods00:17:00 US-Iran Escalation00:17:42 The Steven Forrest Controversy01:01:21 September Astrology Forecast Begins01:07:19 Sequential Breakdown of September Begins01:12:33 Venus Enters Pre-Retrograde Shadow01:23:04 September 10: Tone Shift as Venus Enters Scorpio01:30:15 New Moon in Virgo & Uranus Stations Retrograde Sept 1001:32:20 Auspicious Electional Chart: September 801:37:23 Mid-September Transits: Mercury Opposite Neptune01:41:56 Mercury Opposite Saturn: Sept 17-18:01:44:46 Mercury Sextile Jupiter: Sept 2101:45:55 Full Moon in Aries Sept 2601:49:14 Mars Enters Leo & Opposes Pluto: Sept 2701:52:02 Late Sept / Early Oct: Mercury-Mars & Venus Retrograde01:57:07 Austin's Upcoming Stuff02:01:11 Chris' Upcoming Stuff02:03:21 End Cards

Watch the Video Version of This Episode

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Transcript

A full transcript of this episode is available: Episode 547 transcript

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