NEW MOON IN SCORPIO

We are in the midst of Fall season. The Sun and Moon are in the sign of Scorpio. It is a Dark Moon just before the New Moon in Scorpio on November 11. Regeneration is the word.

The sign of Scorpio is often associated with the darker side of life. There is self-control and the emotional nature of this Fixed water sign is often compared to very deep waters with a calm surface; powerful and quiet.

Wherever Scorpio falls in your natal chart, is a part of life where you meet your shadows. Where the deeper undercurrents of obsession, passion and intense emotions get stored. Where you can be preoccupied with survival and control and where there is a tremendous well of will and resilience.

Interesting that both the sign of Scorpio and the scorpion, rely on vibrations from their surroundings to help them determine what is taking place in their environment. The primary concerns being protection, defensiveness and survival at all costs.

NEW MOON IN SCORPIO ON NOVEMBER 11, THE MOULTING.

The best way to work with the energy of a New Moon is to set some intentions for the month ahead. Let’s look at the major aspects and themes for this New Moon happening at 18º-19º Scorpio, known as one of the most fixed place in the zodiac.

A few hours before the Moon conjoins the Sun (what is known as a New Moon), she will meet up with Mercury at 15º of Scorpio. This might come in the form of strong intuitions or piercing but subtle revelations. The qualities of Mercury in Scorpio is comparable to the ones of a detective. The Moon passing Mercury on her way to the Sun means she will pick up important information on how this renewal needs to happen.  I would suggest paying close attention to your intuition and gut feelings, what is said to you and the meanings behind it. The other less pleasant side of Mercury in Scorpio can be: obsessive or paranoid thinking and seeing a threat where there is none. So you don’t want to over do it either.

The planet Uranus and Chiron are involved with this New Moon which could represent a want to break free of an insecurity. Uranus is often associated with sudden revelations, rebellion, erratic and bizarre behavior, unexpected discoveries, progressive thinking and rebelliousness. Chiron symbolises the ongoing process of learning to trust the inner teacher on our healing journey.

This New Moon in Scorpio is coloured by our very private need to break free of something that is keeping us stagnant, weak or insecure. The sign of Scorpio represents regenerative powers and renewal. The image of shedding an old skin is very strong.  Something that is keeping you in an old way of being is ready to pass from your existence and you might be holding the key.

Because Uranus is in somewhat of a hard aspect to this New Moon and Scorpio is a fixed sign, you could initially resist the change that YOU KNOW need to happen because of its unsettling nature. But Jupiter at 18º of Virgo, in an exact sextile to the New Moon gives us the faith and optimism we need on our moulting journey. Jupiter in Virgo connects us back in a very practical way to our immediate physical needs. It could be as simple as letting go of a bad habit, an insecurity, an old wound.

Mars, the ruler of this New Moon will be at 29º Virgo emphasizing the ability to perceive the weakness in structures. It is in the last decan of Virgo that Mars finds his power to disassemble. (1)

Artwork by Deprise Bescia

”Many important elements of your life may come to an end and pass out of existence now. Let them go, for it is the right time for this to happen, and it will ultimately be good. This is a time to renounce those things, for you will soon discover that you do not really need them anyway. As the old saying goes, we are naked when we come into this world and when we leave it. Therefore what we have inside is important. Now is the time for you to find the strength of what you have inside.”

I wish you a happy New Moon and blessings on your moulting journey!

Reference: 
1. The 36 Faces by Austin Coppock. History, Astrology and Magic of the Decans.

Let’s talk about endings

I want to explore death, pain and loneliness.  So if you are into positivity and fluffy unicorns these days, you might want to go here instead.

Saturn in  retrograde motion is about to go back into the sign of Scorpio until September. I hadn’t put much thinking into it, until a conversation with Ichrak Dahou sparked my interest and  got me thinking about all things below ”my belt”. Underneath, hidden, darkness, stillness, power, paranoia are powerful words associated with Scorpio.  The sign that we most often connect with decay and the deep transformation that happens when something has reached the point of no return.

What happens when you add Saturn to the mix? Astrologers have spoken extensively on the subject since Saturn just spent the last two and a half years in Scorpio.  Austin Coppock does a great job at covering the territory in his 2013 Astrological Almanac and he elegantly navigates from sex  to politics in the most eloquent manner.

I found a painting by Swiss Symbolist artist Arnold Böcklin (1827–1901) that strongly conveys what arises in me when I think of Saturn in Scorpio:

Isle of the Dead (German: Die Toteninsel) ”Isle of the Dead depict a desolate and rocky islet seen across an expanse of dark water. A small rowboat is just arriving at a water gate and seawall on shore. An oarsman maneuvers the boat from the stern. In the bow, facing the gate, is a standing figure clad entirely in white. Just behind the figure is a white, festooned object commonly interpreted as a coffin. The tiny islet is dominated by a dense grove of tall, dark cypress trees—associated by long-standing tradition with cemeteries and mourning—which is closely hemmed in by precipitous cliffs.

There is a desolation that comes with the scorpionic understanding that all things have an end. There is a fatality with Scorpio: ”Life’s a bitch and than you die”. With experience and age  which is part of  Saturn’s realm, we come to grasp with the multitudes of life’s endings that shape our inner landscape.

Have you ever met someone that has so much pain in their eyes, you can see their soul is burning? Not accepting the natural process of decay creates more suffering.  Holding on to the pain somehow can feel safer but it will eventually eat you from the inside out. Using the hurt as the great teacher that it can be is not only how you will polish the diamond but it is also what will make it precious.

I have a feeling that Saturn short stint  back into Scorpio for the rest of the summer  will have us finally closing some files that we probably should have burned some time ago. But for some reason we decided to hold onto to them. Either because we love to indulge in the familiar or we were just not ready to embrace the change that comes with a new skin.    What kind of ”business” and especially ”personal business” do you still have floating around  from the last two and a half years which need finalising?  Scorpio is a fixed sign, so the process of letting go can be a difficult and complicated one and Saturn’s revisiting last summer’s territory goes to show that there might be more dislodging that needs to happen in order for the light to enter and new life to be born.

In Saturn’s book, after the struggle and endurance test comes refinement and maturity. If you do your homework.

There is something tragic about endings that doesn’t sit well with our need to remain  comfortably  entrenched in the familiar grooves, but it is a necessary passage in order to bring change and growth. Fear can cripple. Insecurities can become a way we respond to situations, especially in the realm of personal relationship. Saturn returning into Scorpio is the opportunity  to take the teachings associated with our suffering and self-protective responses when we feel threatened and use that pain to grow up.

“The true light never hides the darkness but is born out of the very center of it, transforming and redeeming. So to the darkness we must return, each of us individually accepting his ignorance and loneliness, his sin and weakness, and, most difficult of all, consenting to wait in the dark and even to love the waiting… ” -Helen M. Luke

Decay and Pluto

The Moon in Cancer is applying to oppose Pluto in Capricorn in a few hours…

Pluto is associated with the process of decay, destruction, transformation and rebirth. Issues of power and the abuse of power are parts of Pluto’s domain.

His influence is on the collective.

I’m going to skip the astrological lingo for today and focus on the bigger picture.

Here is the thing:

We are killing everything. The earth that sustains us and all the living creatures on it. Everything is dying, the ocean’s are poisoned, our food has become toxic, we brutalise living creatures for mass consumption and the worst part is that we know all of this. (But bacon is sooo good right?)

We are witnessing the downfall and the disintegration of our modern world.

The people that make important decisions for us collectively are corrupt and power hungry. We have lost faith, and most of us don’t trust that our governements have our best interests in mind. Everyday we loose our freedom. The more we disconnect from the natural world, the more we become dependant on the unsustainable machine that runs on credit and oil.

We are searching for simplicity, validation and connection in a complex virtual reality while dissociating ourselves from the natural world. We convince ourselves that we are centered and wholesome because at the end of the day, we buy organic and meditate or post a spiritually enlightened quote on facebook, twitter, instagram and the likes. It helps us cope. Good job!

We spend a week in nature ”disconnecting” which gives us the impression that it is everyone else who has blinders on, not us.

But we are all very sick. And in order to see the changes that we want to see, we will need to go into the darkest corners of ourselves and face the reality:

We are the corrupted, we are the power hungry, we are the abusers, we are the destroyers.