Energy Review: 23–29 October 2026
Oct 30, 2026 · @Mark Bind
This was a quiet week outside and a busy one inside. The Sun calmed right down, Earth's magnetic field stayed settled, and by the 29th the Sun showed no numbered sunspots at all. Yet many of us felt tired, reflective and emotionally stirred, with Mercury and Venus both retrograde and a Full Moon on the 26th.
If you felt you were processing a lot while nothing much seemed to happen, you weren't imagining it. Here's what the week looked like.
The Sun: a deep exhale
Solar activity stayed low to very low all week, with no strong (M- or X-class) flares in the daily reports. It was a big contrast to earlier in October, when an M6.7 flare on 8 October and a G3 storm on 10 October lit up the skies.
Date
What happened
29 Oct
Only weak B-class flares. The first day with no numbered sunspots since 18 September. A huge plasma prominence, around 500,000 km long, lifted off the Sun's edge
28 Oct
Very low activity; the strongest flare was a small C1.0
27 Oct
A large coronal hole rotated into view, aiming fast solar wind toward Earth for the weekend
26 Oct
The week's strongest flare, a C2.8 from region AR4561. A filament eruption that evening launched a CME, mostly passing behind Earth
25 Oct
Two CMEs, neither Earth-directed. High-energy electrons around Earth reached high levels
23 Oct
Active magnetic conditions (Kp 4), the tail end of a brief G1 storm on the night of 21 October
Earth's magnetic field stayed quiet from the 24th onward, mostly between Kp 0 and 3, and the solar wind ran slow. In energetic terms, the week was a pause between waves rather than a surge.
Sources: EarthSky daily sun news, XRAS flare list for 26 October, Izvestia on the prominence, The Daily Galaxy
Schumann resonance: quiet, with bursts
The Tomsk spectrograms were mostly calm this week, punctuated by short bursts of activity rather than big sustained spikes. Intuitive reader Jules Scott, who tracks the charts daily, noted brief bursts on 24 and 25 October and an unusually strong pattern on the electromagnetic graph on the 27th.
On the morning of 27 October a black vertical line appeared on the spectrogram. Many intuitives read these as "timeline jumps." It's worth knowing that Tomsk's own guide describes black bars as moments when no data was recorded. Whichever way you read it, by 28 and 29 October the charts had settled into what felt like an integration phase.
Sources: Jules Scott, 25 Oct, 27 Oct, 29 Oct
The sky: retrogrades and a Full Moon
The week's defining feature was retrograde motion. Mercury and Venus were both moving backward, alongside the slower outer planets.
23 Oct, Venus cazimi: Venus sat in the heart of the Sun at 0° Scorpio, traditionally a moment of renewal for matters of love and value.
24 Oct, Mercury retrograde: Mercury turned retrograde at 21° Scorpio, where it stays until 13 November. Scorpio retrogrades favour honest inner review over new starts.
25 Oct, Venus enters Libra: Still retrograde, Venus moved back into Libra, turning the focus to relationships and balance until 13 November.
26 Oct, Full Moon: The Hunter's Moon reached fullness, opposite the Sun in Scorpio. Full Moons often bring things to the surface and to completion.
Outer planets: Uranus (in Gemini) and Neptune (in Aries) remained retrograde throughout. Elizabeth Peru counts six retrogrades in effect this week.
In numerology, 2026 is a 1 Universal Year (2+0+2+6 = 10 = 1), a year of new foundations. As Elizabeth Peru put it this week, we're laying groundwork for the coming nine-year cycle.
What it meant for us
The common thread was looking back to move forward. With so much retrograde energy, many people found themselves replaying old scenarios, revisiting past relationships, or feeling tired and unsettled without a clear reason.
Elizabeth Peru described the week as mentally and emotionally intense, with old memories surfacing so we can clear what we don't want to carry into 2027. She also noted a positive side: a strong pull toward being real and authentic. After the Full Moon, she observed, certain people may keep popping into your thoughts.
If that was your week, it fits the pattern. This is a time for reflection, rest and honest review rather than forcing new beginnings. Be gentle with yourself and others.
Lots of people reported having good sleep towards the end of the week.
Looking ahead
The quiet is about to break. Fast solar wind from a recurring coronal hole, plus a possible glancing blow from the 26 October CME, reaches Earth late on 30 October. NOAA's latest forecast puts the peak at Kp 5, a G1 (minor) geomagnetic storm, in the early hours of 31 October: roughly 2am to 8am South African time. Conditions should stay unsettled through Saturday and then ease. The chance of a solar radiation storm or radio blackout is only 1%.
31 Oct (Halloween): G1 geomagnetic storm expected, with a 30% chance of reaching G2. Expect a livelier energetic weekend.
4 Nov: Mercury cazimi in Scorpio, a moment of clarity in the heart of the Sun mid-retrograde. Venus, still retrograde in Libra, sextiles Jupiter in Leo on the same day.
5 Nov: Mars enters its pre-retrograde shadow, ahead of its retrograde in Leo and Virgo from 10 January 2027.
8 Nov: New Moon in Scorpio, a fresh start for intentions.
13 Nov: Mercury and Venus both turn direct, releasing much of the backward pull.
10 to 12 Dec: Neptune turns direct in Aries. Sources give slightly different dates.
Elizabeth Peru calls November a "power month." After this week's inner work, it may be a good time to act on what you've realised.
Sources: NOAA 3-day forecast via SpaceWeatherLive, EarthSky, The Daily Galaxy, Astrology.com, November 2026, AstroTwins retrograde calendar
Closing note
Quiet weeks matter as much as dramatic ones. They give us room to absorb what came before. Take some time this weekend to ground yourself before the next wave arrives.
See you next week.
How was your sleep Wednesday 28th - Friday 30th
0%Amazing
0%Normal
0%Worse than normal
Thanks Mark for putting that together.