The morning star always returns
Sky and sea. Tomonoura, Japan.
Path friend,
It’s been a while! I’ve missed writing to you.
I’m writing from home in Cascais, a few days before I fly to Japan. I’m drinking a tulsi infusion with local honey. My backpack has been packed for over a week and I can’t wait to go back to my happy place.
The last time I wrote to you was back in February, when the sky was cracking open. Saturn and Neptune were meeting at the very first degree of Aries, and I told you we were falling into place, not falling apart. I didn’t know how that would play out exactly, but I was sure it would demand readjusting to the BIG changes.
Between January and June, 4 big players moved into new signs: Neptune, Saturn, Uranus, and Jupiter. With 2 of them meeting in February. All of this while Pluto is still relatively fresh in Aquarius. This is a massive recalibration of life. Those 6 months were not supposed to be soft & easy.
For me those months felt like a year or two, and by the peak of Summer I felt like an entirely new person. It’s been so good to take the time to rest as much as possible and give myself the space to realign with the present moment. Astrology is so amazing in how it can reassure you about the dimension of the transformation at hand, and can point you to the areas of life which will be affected, but it can never tell us exactly what will happen. And that opens the space for the mystery of life to unfold.
Get ready, this letter is a little longer than usual.
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After coming back from India, I had a lovely February at home. Then, at the end of the month, a beloved family member passed away. I delayed my flight to Japan to be at the ceremonies, and left with a grieving heart. That’s how my eighth or ninth journey to Japan began, and it turned out to be such an inspiring one.
Japan, as always, offered me so much. There were new places, and some old favorites, people who deeply touched me, beautiful temples and shrines, a lot of art, and many cups of tea. For the first time, I went to Shikoku and visited the first three temples of the 88-temple pilgrimage.
Early on the trip I returned to the art islands Naoshima & Teshima, where I immersed myself in artistic inspiration for 5 days - I can’t even describe what those days did to my soul. Five days of pure beauty can change you.
Soon after, I discovered Onomichi, where I reconnected with the landscapes I had seen in the film Tokyo Story when I was a teenager. It was such a surprise! I had the most beautiful traditional bedroom overlooking the gentle harbour city. I sat down often at my favorite tea house. From Onomichi I crossed many bridges over the Setouchi sea, traveled from island to island, and was awakened to parts of life I didn’t know could light up. Like internal bridges were being created too.
And just when I thought Japan couldn’t get any better, I traveled to a region that made me feel excited from the first time I heard about it. I quickly fell completely in love with Yamaguchi prefecture. It’s just so special! Isolated in the best possible way - the way that preserves what matters and filters out the nonsense & the noise. I loved its quiet beauty, the lovely coast, the Hagi Ōkan path, the old towns, an impressive Japanese garden, the best soba with tempura, a guesthouse that felt like home, the gentle caring Yamaguchi people, and the inspiring soft pace. My heart was touched there in ways I’m still discovering. (And I can’t wait to go back soon!)
For 2 weeks I also guided a group. This was my first time guiding a group for another person. What an experience! I’m really glad I tried it, and I love the itinerary I designed for them. Every Japan trip touches people so deeply. I am always delighted with that. That trip also taught me discernment, appreciation for my intuition, and many lessons regarding friendship. What a rich learning moment!
Then I came home for three weeks, and soon left for Tibet! This trip was my dream come true!! We went for Saga Dawa, and it was so very special! My absolute dream group, with an itinerary that I designed uniquely for us. Every person in the group carefully chosen, everyone attuned. It was wonderful. I love how easy and gentle the journey becomes when a group shares the same intention, and how much deeper we can all go together. I learned so much!
However, on that trip I hurt my back. Please don’t worry, it was something muscular and nothing too serious. But it took four months to heal that injury. And I got back more tired than I have ever been in my life - having a back injury and going to Everest base camp while having a group under your care is quite tough. I clearly needed a lot of rest. I was happy to cancel other trips I had planned, and was delighted to stay at home for a while. I rested, slowed down, and took care of my foundations. I used the time to nourish relationships here and abroad. I read so many Japanese novels. And I enjoyed having a warm, steady base for my one-on-one work with clients, which I’ve been loving so much.
Rest is not a pause from life. It is an essential part of it.
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From those quiet months, a wish appeared from stillness: to go back to Japan this autumn, and walk the Shikoku pilgrimage. 88 temples, 1,200 km, following the footsteps of Kōbō Daishi - the monk also known as Kūkai.
Planning it was a logistical nightmare! Imagining days I haven’t lived yet, guessing distances, anticipating tiredness, and making sense of the route, so I could book accommodation. I had a small map and it served me well! I’m really proud of the plan I made - but let’s see how it works in real life. Stay tuned!
In the process of planning it, my intention shifted. During the pilgrimage, it will be twenty years since the death of a man I loved. At first I thought it would be mostly about him. With time, I feel it’s more about catching up with myself. Being here, now: meeting who I’ve become, and honouring what love and loss have taught me.
And part of that is learning to receive. I’m used to holding space for others. On this path, I want to let myself be held: by the land, by the temples, by the kindness of strangers. To walk with empty hands, and an open heart.
Shikoku has a beautiful tradition called osettai (お接待). Local people offer pilgrims tea, fruit, snacks, lifts, small gifts along the way. Doing so grants spiritual merit. Pilgrims walk with the words dōgyō ninin on their backs, “two walking together”, because Kōbō Daishi is said to walk beside every pilgrim. People also believe that each pilgrim is Kōbō Daishi. So when people support a pilgrim, they are giving to him too, and sharing in the pilgrimage, as if a part of them were walking as well.
As always, I’ll be praying as I walk. For friends and family, for clients, for people I know and people I don’t, people I like and people I don’t. For countries and continents and planets and galaxies. For all beings of the three times, human and non-human.
If you’d like to do osettai too, you can make a donation to my Wise account (@ritat190), or via PayPal (ritatojal@gmail.com). I’ll receive it with deep gratitude, and you’ll be with me along the way.
✨
The sky this autumn is asking us to slow down too.
On October 10th we had the New Moon in Libra. Traditionally, this is a harmonious moon. But this year its ruler, Venus, is retrograde in Scorpio, far from Libra’s harmony, deep in the underworld. So this New Moon isn’t about keeping the peace. It’s about honesty, even if it brings disruption.
Venus, the planet of love and of what we value, is retrograde in Scorpio and Libra until mid-November. Mercury joins her from October 24th to November 13th. Two planets looking back at the same time: a season to review what we love, what we value, and how we speak about it. Old stories may return to be completed. It’s not a time to force decisions. It’s a time to listen. Deeply.
Some questions for you to sit with:
Where am I still loving out of habit, rather than out of truth?
What have I been feeling but not saying? And what do I need that I haven’t yet asked for?
Is there a sense of equilibrium in my closest relationships? Is there a balance of give and take, or has one side been carrying the weight for too long?
The last time Venus walked these same steps was in the autumn of 2018. What was I loving, losing or choosing then? What has it become?
What old story is asking to be completed, and what would completing it with care look like?
Astronomically, Venus is passing between the Earth and the Sun. She disappears in the Sun’s light, and then reappears as the morning star before dawn. I love that she will be returning to the morning sky as I walk past Cape Muroto, where the young Kūkai had his awakening. The legend says that Venus as a morning star flew into his mouth.
Like Venus, we can let ourselves rest in the dark for a while. In December, things pick up speed again. Saturn and Neptune, who met in February to seed this new cycle, both turn direct around December 10th–12th. What we’ve been dreaming of starts asking for a form.
2027 will bring a very different energy. The great dance of the outer planets changing signs together is over for now. Next year only Jupiter will move into a new sign, as it does every year. Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto will all stay in the same signs. So 2027 is a year to ground things, to build, to take concrete steps. Some of what we’re living now will only make sense then.
Because of this, from December, I’ll be offering a special session: Grounding the New. Two and a half hours together on Zoom, looking at your birth chart and the sky of 2027, with psychological astrology, spiritual mentoring and the Findhorn Intuitive Solutions cards. Together we’ll see what’s asking to be built in your life, and work on your next grounded steps. You can read about it here: ritatojal.com/2027
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So, Path friend, as the year slowly closes, be gentle with yourself. Rest whatever in your life is asking to rest. Let what you truly love come to the surface. Speak your truth, walk your truth, live your truth, be your truth. But remember, there’s no rush. Don’t force anything. Trust that all is happening in due time.
The morning star always returns.
I’ll soon be walking in Shikoku, one step at a time, and thinking of you 🩵
With love,
Rita
