Scorpio New Moon: Treasure in the Dark
At times you got to find
the untouched parts
within yourself
to be able to discover
the true you
Etheria Divine
The New Moon on November 9, 2026, at 17° Scorpio
takes us to the root of our being. In this quiet, dark place a treasure awaits. Something is transforming within the deepest level of our being.
Truths are revealed and reconnect with what we love and where we want to dedicate that love next in our life. In the light of renewed creativity, passion or confidence, a heaviness around something we are carrying is illuminated. It is time to release what is no longer ours to carry forward.
Taking our cue from fall leaves, we can release what is worn out and fertilize the seeds for what will rise up soon enough.
New Moon Co-Ruler: Mars
square the New Moon
conjunct Jupiter and the South Node
trine Chiron
New Moon Co-Ruler: Pluto square Mercury
Venus Retrograde oppose Chiron
Mercury Retrograde conjunct the Scorpio New Moon
Mystic Rectangle with oppositions between Mars/Jupiter and the North Node, and with Venus and Chiron
The house in our natal chart where 17° Scorpio resides illuminates the area of life where are undergoing a change from the insight out. As we release outdated commitments or ways of operating in this area of life, we can experience a renewed aliveness and fresh start.
The optimal time set an intention for what we want to manifest over the month is within 24 hours after the exact moment of the New Moon, when the Moon has been quickened by the Sun and yet is still dark and not yet visible again in the night sky.
The unconscious hides our shadow,
but also, and more importantly,
the being we seek to create.
Paching Hoé Lambaiho
Reflection and Inner Illumination
Mercury and Venus Retrograde together until November 13
Retrogrades turn our attention inward. Dual Retrogrades with Mercury and Venus direct us to pause what we are doing and not continue to move forward with decisions or new projects. This is a time of discovery and deep shifts that want to take place from the inside out. If decisions need to be made, make them from a calm and informed place. Avoid giving into a false sense of urgency or doing something impulsive with the intention to relieve the pressure.
Mercury is in Scorpio and Venus spent much of her retrograde in Scorpio. Until November 17, Pluto, ruler of Scorpio and co-ruler of the New Moon, is square Mercury. Our thoughts are pulled into the deepest part of our being, into the source of what motivates or inhibits our actions and behaviors.
Add the Scorpio New Moon into the mix and we have a load of Scorpionic energy that is pulling us deep within. As the sign of death and transformation, the Scorpio signature of this New Moon catalyzes some fundamental change at the core of our lives.
Scorpio rules the key things that stir our deepest, most intense feelings: sex, death, money, power. Scorpio’s realm is all that is hidden beneath the surface: desires, fears, intimacy and trust issues, and reveals where we feel powerless and how we reach for power. We are compelled to give our attention to what is stirring within us: truths, learnings, yearnings. The change happening deep within will translate into some action or declaration when the process is complete sometime in the latter part of November.
A Personal Reflection
Years ago, I was undergoing a major life change with a move from the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts to Asheville, NC. A sweat lodge was scheduled the week of before my move, and women who I had sweated with monthly for years were coming to honor and give prayers for my passage into a new life.
I arrived before the others to prepare and light the fire that would heat the stones for the lodge. As I pulled back the tarp that covered the woodpile, a small snake perhaps 18 inches long was exposed. She didn't move. I stopped moving. She stared at me and I stared back. She held my gaze for what felt like an eternity before he slowly shifted, and slowly then suddenly slid out of sight. In her wake, she had left her old skin. I took the skin as a gift that affirmed how I too was leaving a whole life behind. In shedding an old skin, a new one was emerging.
Your Shadow is all of the things,
'positive' and 'negative',
that you’ve denied about yourself
and hidden beneath the surface
of the mask you forgot
that you’re wearing.
Oli Anderson
Our New Skin is Ready to Emerge
I shared with you my personal story evoked by the Scorpio New Moon dynamics because we are all asked to identify with and see how we are like the snake in the woodpile.
Firstly, the snake found a dark place hidden from the world to undergo the change she instinctively knew was taking place. We, too, are to withdraw into ourselves, find the quiet place where the world will not intrude. There are illuminations and shifts happening that are not readily visible to the world and we might miss them if we are overscheduled or caught up in worldly issues.
Secondly, the change requires stillness. At the time the snake and I were in a staring match, I imagined the snake was transmitting a message or blessing. But there was something else going on. The truth is I had disturbed the snake right at the moment of the big change, the change that was supposed to take place in secrecy and under the cloak of darkness.
At this big moment, the snake was not able to move. She was at the mercy of her own transformation. I understand now that right before the snake shed her skin, her whole being was experiencing an intense movement, and because of this her body was stilled. She could not move. What looked like no movement from the outside was in fact an intense moment of mystery, miracle and renewal.
We can take the snake’s cue and find ways to allow the stillness need for the shifts to happen. We are taught to make things happen, to be actively engaged in creating or healing or stabilizing or carrying our life forward. And there is a time for this. Right now, we are invited into stillness and surrender so the mystery of renewal can unfold. And if we can give attention to this, truths about ourselves and life will be shown us.
Thirdly, We may feel heavy or experience a sense of stuckness. I invite us to relate these feelings to moment when the snake cannot move, even though she most likely wished to slither away into some corner of the woodpile where she could re-establish a womb-like environment of darkness and protection. The intensity we may be experiencing about the change we wish to happen, or find happening, may have us feel frozen. We can trust that we are not to do something. What needs to happen to release the old skin is in process.
Fourthly, a deep secret or truth may come to light. Just as I suddenly and unwittingly removed the tarp from the woodpile, we may experience the light of truth or a secret that comes to light. Similarly, we may need to pull back the curtain and speak something that we have kept hidden.
Finally, there is a skin to be shed. How this will show up in our lives may be as simple as getting ready to say goodbye to the year and putting 2026 to bed. It could be in going through our wardrobe and thinning it out. Or it can be life-changing, akin to the 1,000-mile move I did at the time I encountered the snake.
It's on the strength
of observation and reflection
that one finds a way.
Claude Monet
An Inner Light Guides us Through the Dark Passage
Mars, Jupiter are the South Node are conjunct in Leo trine Chiron in Aries
The dark hidden nature of Scorpio, and the call to enter the dark time is only one part of the Scorpio New Moon invitation.
The Full Moon is square its co-ruler Mars, producing a dynamic tension-ridden relationship between the urge to move into the light of day (planets in Leo) countering the urge to go into the darkness of nights (Scorpio New Moon and the Retrogrades).
The riches of Scorpio are found in darkness, in the shadows, and in what is secreted away.
The beauty of Leo is found in the full light of day in what we express and create. With multiple planets in Leo, ruler of the heart, our love is activated.
There is a building desire to pour our love into the world, into a project, into our life. We may feel an earnestness to get on with it, to be courageous and take the lead to manifest our heart’s desire.
But the square to the New Moon says, "Wait."
"Hold on a moment. Something needs to happen before we can do this. There is something to complete first. There is a skin that needs to be shed. And we must be patient for the new skin to reveal itself."
The impulse to create, to love, and to more fully give ourselves over to some aspect of life is also lighting up what stands in the way of our ability to do just that. We are seeing clearly what needs to be shed now so we can move forward without feeling the drag of what holds us back. Chances are we have been pondering this for some time, and we are coming to the point of release, where we can say goodbye to it once and for all.
A Healing Fire
Chiron in Aries (April 2018 to April 2027) trine Jupiter, Mars and South Node in Leo
Saturn and Neptune in Aries.
There are multiple planets in fire signs that accompany this dark time of the Scorpio New Moon. In addition to the planets in Leo, we have three in Aries. This is a lot of fire to galvanize and illuminate what is to be released so that we can grasp what is calling us forward.
Chiron is bringing a nine year healing process to culmination over the next five months. We have been undergoing a process to heal what has wounded our confidence and belief in ourselves. In these months, as it trines Jupiter and the South Node, we are being supported to make strides in reclaiming ourselves, remembering our gifts and connecting with what we bring to the world.
Saturn, still Retrograde, has returned to a wide conjunction with Neptune. In February, 2026 when both these planets entered Aries, a new dream and a new life was catalyzed. We are being reminded of what was kindled. As the year comes to a close, we are better able to name what is opening up and how to best pursue it.
Like water
which can clearly mirror
the sky and the trees
only so long as its surface
is undisturbed,
the mind can only reflect
the true image of the Self
when it is tranquil and
wholly relaxed.
Indra Devi
Deep Shifts in Relationships
Venus Retrograde: From Scorpio to Libra
Venus Retrograde highlights what is working and what could work better in our relationships. In Libra, Venus brings attention to what is out of balance, out of harmony. We are looking at what is fair or unfair in our relationships and if there is equal give and take, and mutual respect. We may discover that we have been overly compromising and accommodating another’s needs and wishes. Or perhaps we have taken advantage of another’s desire to serve us and it is time to reciprocate in kind. Understanding that the agreements we keep with others establishes and strengthens trust, we are compelled to address the agreements that are not being kept or ones we no longer wish to keep.
The Persian Goddess Inanna is associated with the planet Venus. The epic poem and story about her, written over 6,000 years ago, is perhaps the oldest story that has survived into modern times. Her story reflects the observed movements an patterns of Venus as she moves in the heavens. In her story, Inanna undertakes a journey to the underworld. The elements of this story are reflected in the key elements that make up a Venus Retrograde.
In this story that has survived millennia, Inanna hears the cry of her sister coming from the underworld. Suddenly remembering her sister, Ereshkigal, Queen of the Underworld, she wishes to visit her. To travel to and be given permission to enter the underworld, Inanna must shed her garments and all symbols of her power. She does and arrives naked at her sister's doorstep. Her sister immediately kills her and hangs her on a meat hook to rot.
Her sister is not an evil goddess, just a forgotten one. Ereshkigal had received no news and no visitors for such a long time. She had been forgotten and left to the dark while her sister enjoyed the light of heaven and hearth. The end of the story both Inanna and her sister, Ereshkigal experience a rebirth.
In contemplating this story, we may recognize parts of ourselves that have been forgotten or closeted away. We are to take the time to be present to them, and extend our love to them. In this, we become reconnected to some vital part of ourselves, and experience renewed vitality. It is an act of re-membering ourselves and more of who we are. Taking time out of our lives to be with what has been secreted away within opens us to a hidden treasure we forgot was there. And one where we may need to experience a small death, a shedding of the skin, in order to reclaim. This is what a Venus Retrograde is all about.
In the epic poem, Inanna can only re-emerge from the underworld if she sends someone to take her place. When Venus re-emerges from her Retrograde on November 13, she will be a shining morning star. Each day she will move towards a conjunction with Mars. Then Mars will begin his descent and on January 10, 2027, Mars will go Retrograde, essentially beginning his underworld journey. When Inanna emerged from the underworld, her whole kingdom showed up to celebrate her return, all except one person. Her husband Dumuzi was notably absent. He rather liked ruling alone and found her return unwelcome, so he didn’t come to greet her. So, she found him and declared that he was the one that would take her place in the underworld.
After the current Venus Retrograde ends, we may find ourselves someone in our lives to change, to undergo a process that will result in the relationship becoming more vital and life-giving. It will assuredly point to further inner work we will be called to do this winter so that we are better prepared to bring our love and full self to the next phase of our life.
Leo is the sign of the Lion, courageous and bold. Inanna was called the Lady of the Lions and was thought to be a lion. Similarly, let us look to bringing the light of our love and our heart's desire into our contemplations and quiet time. Let us embrace the truths that are illuminated. May we remember ourselves and who we came here to be.
If you enjoyed this newsletter, press 'Like' or leave a comment at the bottom of the post.
Comments