Daily Astrology, Wednesday, November 4, 2026: Waning Crescent Moon in Virgo, a Mercury Day

Today the waning Moon stays in Virgo, and the work stays close and exact. Virgo does not want a grand gesture. It wants the account settled, the message written correctly, and the loose end tied off.

Daily basics, in short form:

• Moon: waning crescent, about 23 percent lit, in Virgo (Western tropical).
• Sun: in Scorpio, about 12 degrees (Western tropical).
• Mercury retrograde in Scorpio, Venus retrograde in Libra, both until November 13 (Western tropical). Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are also retrograde.
• Before dawn: the thin waning crescent stands in the east, with Mars and Jupiter as morning planets and Venus low in the east-southeast. Saturn is the evening planet.
• New Moon: Sunday, November 8, at 11:02 p.m. PST, in Scorpio (Western tropical).
• No Algol minimum is claimed for tonight. The next well timed evening minimum in this cycle is November 6.
• Wednesday is the day of Mercury.

Mercury hours for Vancouver, in PST: sunrise in Vancouver is 8:05 a.m. PST and sunset is 5:45 p.m. PST on November 4, with sunrise the next morning at 8:07 a.m. PST. Day hours are about 48 minutes each and night hours are about 72 minutes each, so they are not fixed 60 minute hours. The first hour after sunrise belongs to Mercury, and the hours then follow the Chaldean order Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, repeating, following Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy for the planetary hours method. Mercury hours on Wednesday, November 4, PST: 8:05 to 8:53 a.m., 1:43 to 2:31 p.m., 8:08 to 9:20 p.m., and 4:31 to 5:43 a.m. on Thursday morning.

In the Arabic tradition of the Mansions of the Moon, the Moon moves during the morning from the 13th mansion, Al-Awwa, into the 14th mansion, Al-Simak, which runs from 17 degrees 8 minutes Virgo to the end of Virgo. Al-Simak is the mansion of Spica, the bright star in Virgo. Traditional lore treats this stretch as favourable for useful work, trade, and friendship, and as a poor time for vague promises. That fits a Mercury day well: say it plainly, in writing, and mean exactly what you wrote.

Picatrix note, labelled as Picatrix: the Picatrix also lists these 28 Mansions of the Moon, so this crossing is a Picatrix timing a practitioner can actually use today, in a Mercury hour. No new Picatrix talisman election is claimed for today beyond the Mansion crossing itself. The next larger timing to note is the New Moon on Sunday, November 8, at 11:02 p.m. PST, in Scorpio.

Mercury is retrograde, so this is not a day to launch a new message into the world and hope it lands. It is a day to correct, finish, and send the message that has already been waiting, with its terms checked twice.

Magical use today: in a Mercury hour, settle one piece of unfinished business in writing, and send it. Write a single short instruction or settlement, in plain words: what is finished, what is owed or returned, and what is now closed. Read it aloud once, sign it, and send it by the route it needs, message, email, or letter, or file it where it belongs if it is a record, not a message. Then close the file, clean the working area, and speak a short licence to depart for anything bound to that matter. Do not reopen it to add a second thought. That is the work itself: a written word, sent in Mercury's hour, under a waning Virgo Moon, in the mansion of Spica, not a fresh promise made in a retrograde week.

A light general note: if the day feels fussy, keep the message short, and let the evening stay quiet.

System used: tropical Western, with the Arabic Mansions labelled as Arabic tradition, and the Picatrix note labelled as Picatrix.