Mercury goes retrograde today. Put down the pitchfork.
Mercury stations retrograde in Scorpio today and runs backward until mid-November. Before the group chat blames it for every dropped call, here's what I actually do with these three weeks:
Back up your phone. (You should anyway. Mercury is just the reminder.)
Re-read texts before sending, especially anything written after 11pm.
Lean into the re- words: review, revise, reconnect. Old friends tend to resurface. Let them.
Bonus: Venus has been retrograde since early October, so it's a lovely season for an honest conversation and a terrible one for an impulse tattoo. Not that I'd know anything about that.
Scorpio season, Thoth edition: its three decans map to the 5, 6 and 7 of Cups, titled Disappointment, Pleasure and Debauch. In that order. Most accurate forecast I've ever read.
Cheshvan, the month that smells like wet leaves
Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan today. Cheshvan has no holidays at all; after the whirlwind of Tishrei it's just... weeks. Some people call it Mar-Cheshvan, the bitter month.
But my study group spent last night in Sefer Yetzirah, which gives every month a letter, a sign and a sense. Cheshvan gets the letter Nun, the sign Akrav (Scorpio), and the sense of smell. And Berachot 43b says smell is the one pleasure the soul enjoys and the body doesn't.
So that's my practice for a month without holidays: noticing. Wet leaves on the walk to shul. Woodsmoke from the neighbor's chimney. Challah at 4pm on a Friday. Not a holiday, but holy enough.