The Week Ahead, The Chosen Moment & Self Reflection
Jan 25, 2026 12:31 am
Dear Friend,
The end of the year was quite hectic for me, and I was glad that I managed to complete the Saturn in Pisces booklet in time for you. At the same time, there was something else I wanted to work on, but I simply did not have the time for it then. I finally found the time to return to it, and I’m happy to share that I’ve now prepared a simple Nakshatra-based lunation calendar kit for you.
This kit includes a PDF and an .ICS file. The PDF contains a list of all the New and Full Moons in 2026, the Nakshatra in which each lunation occurs, and a few keywords to help you understand the underlying nature of the lunation, which can set the tone for the entire fortnight.
The .ICS file includes lunation alerts along with these keywords, helping you to stay connected to the lunar cycle wherever you are through calendar notifications on your phone or computer. All you need to do is open the file and import it into your calendar.
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I have opened 20 slots for personal consultation sessions for February 2026. If you are interested in a session, I’d be privileged to work with you.
Along with my friends and astrologers MuthuVijayan Elango and Karthik Ritty Sudharshan, I am exploring the possibility of organising a small in-person immersion in India called Self Alchemy – An Indian Immersion Retreat. It is envisioned as a carefully guided experience bringing together personal astrology consultations, Ayurveda, yoga and meditation, conversations around rituals, and visits to spiritually significant places, with an emphasis on clarity, self-reliance, and practical application in daily life. To begin with, I’ve shared a short expression-of-interest form below to understand whether this resonates. This will helps us in many ways to efficiently organise this program to serve you well. There is no obligation in responding.
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The Chosen Moment
We have an election or a chosen moment for the upcoming week and please get it for your time zone by using the below button.
This is a very practical and grounded moment and it is a good time to begin something that needs discipline, responsibility, and effort, especially related to work or public life. From a spiritual perspective, it is good for making a simple personal commitment such as starting a daily meditation, prayer, or disciplined routine that you look to follow without any expectation. This is a very good time to start or formally announce work related to your career, take on responsibility, or put your skills out into the world in a serious way in a way that makes you accountable. Understand that the reward will not be immediate; it will require time.
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Astrological Commentary - The Week Ahead
We are in a phase of unburdening with Saturn in Pisces, and each time the transiting Moon conjoins Saturn, it can bring up a familiar feeling that there is still something more we need to release. The Moon acts as a trigger point, awakening us to emotional or psychological weight that may no longer be necessary. When the Moon also squares the lunar nodes, it becomes a period of unburdening. Unless, Saturn actually transits someone’s 12th house, it might not always be about shedding, but when Saturn transits Pisces, we all are constantly in the process of releasing something and we will be having windows along the way to realise and process.
As the Moon moves from Rahu to Ketu, following the zodiacal order, it is a period of gaining impressions, and experiences. The release begins when the Moon moves after its conjunction Rahu. While the Moon is in conjunction with Ketu, we can sense an absolute dissolution. From there, as the Moon falls on the bending in its passage towards the Rahu, opening up an opportunity to add something new. The sky naturally offers us opportunities to release what is no longer required, allowing something new to enter. Astrology helps us recognise this pattern and understand this meaningful progress.
In the upcoming week, the Moon will be in Taurus while it is at the bending, making this an especially important time to recognise what we do not need. This may manifest through changes in our eating habits, such as realising that certain foods need to be reduced or removed, or through a clearer understanding of how we manage our finances, what we truly need to spend money on, or how we might rethink our financial strategies. It can also show up as small but significant changes in our domestic environment, involving family or family members. Being true to ourselves, without emotional attachment or reactive responses to situations, will be of great help during this period.
The New Moon in Capricorn indicated a strong beginning to the year in terms of structure, responsibility, and long-term direction. While external work continues according to our calendars and commitments, it is worth asking what is happening with the inner work we need to do for ourselves. With the Moon in Taurus on January 28 and 29, we may find ourselves standing at a crossroads between what we want and what we no longer want, especially in relation to resources and security. The burden of having to decide can feel heavy, and because of this, it becomes important to focus on consciously maintaining composure.
With Saturn aspecting the Moon, this composure does not arise effortlessly. It requires deliberate attention and sustained effort. Yet it is precisely this conscious effort that allows us to stabilise ourselves internally and continue to make progress.
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Inward Glance
Epictetus' Discourses: A Retelling
Book I, Chapter 7, 1.7.25 to 1.7.33
In the last portion of chapter 7 of book I, Epictetus brings the argument to its edge and shows why this training in reasoning is moral.
He imagines someone saying, “I will make you accept something reasonable at first, and then lead you to something absurd.” The question is not whether such traps exist. The question is how a wise person should respond to them.
Epictetus says the wise person cannot refuse dialogue altogether. If we avoid questioning and answering out of fear, we abandon reason itself. But at the same time, the wise person cannot argue carelessly or lazily. Engaging without attention is just as bad as refusing to engage. Logic is a tool that demands discipline.
If someone is trained, they will notice when an argument shifts its ground. They will see when a premise is changed, when a word changes meaning, or when something new is smuggled in without permission. That is what sophistry really is: not deep thinking, but sneaking in changes while pretending nothing has changed.
Epictetus asks what kind of person we expect the philosopher to be. Someone confused and sloppy in an argument? Someone who nods along and only realises the problem at the end? That would make all training pointless. The whole purpose of preparation is to prevent exactly this kind of confusion.
As long as the premises remain the same, we are bound to accept what follows from them, even if we dislike the conclusion. Intellectual honesty demands it. But the moment the premises change, the obligation ends. We are no longer bound, because we never agreed to these new terms.
This is why Epictetus insists on vigilance. We must constantly watch what we are granting. Not just the final claim, but every small admission along the way. Most people are deceived simply because of inattention. They agree too quickly, forget what they agreed to, and then feel trapped by conclusions they never truly accepted.
Reasoning is a moral practice. To think carelessly is to live carelessly. To guard our judgments is to guard our character. A philosopher does not fear arguments, nor does a philosopher surrender to them blindly. A philosopher stays awake, remembers what has been granted, withdraws what was wrongly given, and stands firm where agreement was genuine.
That is why Epictetus ends with responsibility. Our life follows the same rule as arguments. What we allow in at the beginning decides where we end up.
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What follows is an extension or a reflection from my own life.
If you are not interested, please feel free to ignore.
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Personal Self Reflection of Saturn in Pisces
Saturn’s transit through Pisces has a way of stripping life down to what is essential. It indicates dissolutions that slowly alter the course of our lives in a typical Saturnian fashion.
In late February 2025, I was working in the office just like every other day when, suddenly, blood started flowing from my nose. That moment marked the beginning of a difficult period. Before I fully understood what was happening, I was dealing with permanent nerve damage, followed by my liver beginning to malfunction. By the end of March, I no longer had the strength to walk even a hundred metres without needing to stop or sit down to avoid falling. On May 12, during the Full Moon, I resigned from my job, bringing a fourteen-year chapter of my life to an end. After reviewing my medical reports, it was clear that I could not continue working in the manner I was working.
It was a challenging phase, not only physically but emotionally as well. Some people I once stood firmly during their dark times started treating me as if I was a stranger. Saturn in Pisces had completely altered my social circles, and with that, a process of letting go had begun. I came to realise that I had often stood alone during some of the most difficult phases of my life. Yet it was in that solitude that I found strength, and eventually or almost inevitably (with complete humility), a meaning!
That meaning came through the people who joined my course. They are not merely students; they are companions with whom I am walking this shared path of transition and transformation.
Now, as Saturn has turned direct and is once again transiting the same degrees in Pisces, this is not an indication of something negative returning. I feel this is a reminder to what we can do if we are pushed to corners. We will have moments of reassurance as Saturn transits through Pisces over the next 3 months. If we look back at 2025, many of us will find clear answers about what changed in our lives and why those changes were necessary. The meaning is often right in front of us. Not always in what we visibly see, but in what we already accepted and moved forward from. This phase is for us to continue progressing along the path we have chosen, without turning back.
I recently wrote a 38-page booklet discussing various aspects of Saturn’s stay in Pisces until May 2027. One of the central themes is simple: the effort we put in now will materialise at some point in the future. For some, this may happen before Saturn leaves Pisces; for others, it may take longer, depending on individual charts. Either way, the essential work remains the same.
With Jupiter currently retrograde in Gemini, we can return to learning, gathering information, and refining knowledge that can help us navigate Saturn’s transit through Pisces. Before Jupiter turns direct on March 11, it may be worthwhile to spend time in self-reflection and introspection.
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Until Next Letter,
Love,
