It is not our job to remain whole. We came to lose our leaves Like the trees, and be born again, Drawing up from the great roots.
Robert Bly
The New Moon at 12 degrees Scorpio on November 4 gives us a swift push to stand up for what matters most. It is a time to shed the skin of who we have been, of what no longer serves, and be transformed by what we have learned. By focusing on what matters, we will naturally leave behind what does not.
There may be a sudden surprise or event that opens us to a depth of feeling and a core truth that has been hidden or lurking beneath the surface. We are to welcome the intensity of our feeling nature, to not minimize some truth we hold, and to court self-awareness. We are invited to let go of something, and the days following the New Moon there may be clarity about our resistance to change and why we have been holding on so tightly. The New Moon does not favor compromise, excuses or throwing of blame. This is a time to connect with and empower the most fundamental desires within ourselves and make the adjustments, or take the steps, to empower and fulfill the soul's purpose.
The Scorpio New Moon Heralds the Eclipse Season
The themes of this New Moon will continue to grow and build over the next months, carrying us into 2022. The steps we take now will position us for the shifts that will happen with the eclipses of November 19 and December 4. There is something we are ready to let go of and shed at the Lunar Eclipse November 19 that will ready us for a new sense of self, a new possibility that is seeded with the December 4 Solar Eclipse.
Scorpio is the complexity and depth of ourselves. There is a dawning awareness of ourself that is emerging from our engagement with what lies beneath the surface of our lives. This will come to a head a the November 19 eclipse. Our emotional response to situations will leave no room for grey area. There is no middle ground. We will love something or hate it. We will feel a strong desire to have something or to not have it, to find it or discard it. The month is about getting in touch with our soul's passionate urge and then to move in alignment with it.
The Scorpio Invitation
Scorpio is about Transformation. When we encounter a transformative experience, we come into deep intimate contact with the primal impulse and desire for life and growth. Contemplating anything in nature, we can see that change is a constant. From seed to bud to fruit, a strawberry is always a strawberry, but the strawberry is continual changing its shape on its journey to fulfill its seed potential. At our essence, we are who we have always been, but our life is a transformative journey that takes many shapes. We are to welcome the changes, the scorpionic transformations, that propel us towards the recognition of our soul nature and the realization of our seed potential.
We have not even to risk the adventure alone for the heroes of all time have gone before us. The labyrinth is thoroughly known... we have only to follow
the thread of the hero path. And where we had thought
to find an abomination, we shall find a God. And where
we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves. Where we had thought to travel outwards we shall come to the center of our own existence. And where we had thought to be alone we shall be with all the world.
Joseph Campbell
Scorpio is about Death. Throughout our lives, we are engaged in the dance of death and the process of opening to the new. Each evening when the sun sets, the day dies and we join in the dark mystery that will give birth to a new day. This dark mystery is the realm of Scorpio. Endings inevitably lead to new growth and possibility. Beginnings don't just arrive in the form of big things, such as the move to a new location, a change of jobs, or in burying a loved one, they come in small ways at moments throughout each day.
Scorpio is about Secrets and What is Hidden, the deep truths and primal desires that live beneath what is being said or presented. Scorpio is the most intense of the water signs as it can penetrate beneath the surface of things to see and name what is really going on. We are likely to have penetrating insight into our selves and our lives with the Scorpio New Moon.
Scorpio is about Wealth. The great riches of the modern world are found beneath the earth’s surface: gold, oil, gas, coal… Likewise, buried within us is great treasure. The hero who goes on the quest enters a dark forest of the unknown. The heroine who journeys to the underworld leaves all she knows behind. In their journey, they discover or recover something of great value. With the Scorpio New Moon, we do not need to venture into the forest or down to the underworld, it will be rising to the surface to gift us with its truth and potency. As Scorpio deals with wealth, with the earth’s resources, with the movement of wealth, the next weeks may bring surprise revelations within the financial market which may include more news about how wealth is being transferred, fluctuations in the stock market, or further issues with the distribution of world’s resources.
Scorpio is Focused and Determined. There is a drive in us much like a seed that is driven to root and sprout and fulfill its potential. Scorpio is a fixed sign, meaning it is resolute and not easily swayed from its course. Scorpio is one of 6 planets currently in fixed signs which fosters great persistence and resilience and perhaps a good dose of stubbornness. There are things we will not budge around. We are more likely to not yield to peer pressure or to doing what we are told to do. The transformative power of this New Moon is found when we can align with the North Star, our reason for being. We are to align with the values and the desire that has been with us all our lives, and to make decisions that affirm and empower this.
Mars trails the New Moon. Also in Scorpio and in a wide conjunction just behind the New Moon, Mars is firing up the intensity and passion of the Scorpionic urge. Mars in Scorpio is laser-focused, passionate, ambitious and and acts with conviction. We can easily find ourselves getting overheated, angry or impatient. It is the fire that propels movement. We have only to look to how to channel it.
Mercury enters Scorpio the day after the New Moon amplifying the scorpionic invitation to dive deep, to shine a light on what is hidden, to be responsible for the truth that lives within us, and move in a way where we are aligned with the truth of who we are. The Sun, Mercury and Mars will be traveling through Scorpio throughout the next two weeks unearthing truths, building self-awareness and providing the necessary ingredients for the November 19 eclipse.
There was nothing to do but wait.
It is always like this for naturalists, and for poets--
the long hours of travel and preparation, and then
the longer hours of waiting. All for that one electric,
pulse-revving vision when the universe suddenly declares itself.
―Diane Ackerman
The Scorpio New Moon Stimulates the Saturn/Uranus Square
As shared in previous newsletters this year, the key astrological dynamic that runs through all 2021 is the square between Saturn and Uranus. These two planets form a square creating a dynamic tension between the old, familiar ways and the vision for something new, between giving ourself to fresh ideas versus stabilizing what we already have. The third and final exact square between them will occur on December 24.
The Scorpio Moon is in Exact Opposition to Uranus. Uranus’ engagement with the New Moon can result in sudden revelations, secrets being exposed, and unexpected developments. Uranus is fast, light lightening and can have us feeling shocked by what is introduced. We are being opened to our depths, to truth, to what has been stifled. Uranus is looking for a way to fast track the impulse of the Scorpio New Moon and get the energy moving in a dynamic, even volatile way. The Uranus energy here wants to release what has been held down or held back, so that we can break free from what has been suppressed.
The Scorpio Moon in a separating square with Saturn. The Sun and Saturn were in an exact on October 30, having us feel inhibited or restrained from forward movement. There is a situation or outer authority that may be impeding us in some way. This experience may continue through November 11 as Mars runs into a square with Saturn. Being restrained amplifies our desire and affords us the ability to gather our strength and resolve. We are encouraged to be patient, persistent and stay the course. The situation can break open or we may break free of it when Mars opposes Uranus on November 17.
Economic Shifts and Instability
The theme of money, finances, currency and the availability of resources will be themes throughout November, December and into January. We are already seeing the breakdown of the supply chain, the potential economic crisis in China with the collapse of Evergrande, power outages around the world due to lack of coal, and the U.S. facing another deadline for passing a resolution to raise their debt ceiling once again. In our own lives, we may experience the results of what is happening on a large scale and there are several astrological alignments that point to this:
Sudden and surprising changes involving food production, agricultural practices, and distribution of resources (Uranus in the sign of the earth, Taurus (2018-2026).
potential economic instability as part of a movement to change away the irresponsible financial practices to better align with the natural rhythms of life. (The final Uranus/Saturn square on December 24)
Deep questioning of our core values juxtaposed to our relationship with money and where something essential has been compromised for the sake of money. (Venus, ruler of Taurus, is associated with financial stability. She turns Retrograde on December 19 conjoined with transiting Pluto, the other planet of wealth, and the two will be conjoined with the U.S. Natal Pluto. Transiting Pluto, as it has ventured through Capricorn over the last decade has sought to deconstruct systems that are not working or unhealthy.)
The U.S. will enter a transformational process around in regards to finances, the economy, its constitutional values and this can have ripple effects felt across the world (The US. Pluto Return 2022-23 - more will be said on this in an upcoming newsletter)
In 2022, we look to produce what creates real, lasting value and sustainability. To do this, we will be shedding compulsions and childish desires about who we are and what we need. We will look to how to live more simply and give attention to our basic needs. (North Node in Taurus in January 2022 - July 2023)
There are deep truths that perhaps we all knew and now need to be faced as we all look for a sustainable way to live on this planet. There has been a collective denial or deferment of being accountable for the consequences of how living in the modern industrial world has put ourselves and the world in peril for its own survival. The Scorpio New Moon will reveal truths to us that we are to face and move with so we can set a course for a future that is possible and doable.
You start dying slowly
if you do not travel, if you do not read,
If you do not listen to the sounds of life,
If you do not appreciate yourself.
You start dying slowly
When you kill your self-esteem;
When you do not let others help you.
You start dying slowly
If you become a slave of your habits,
Walking everyday on the same paths...
If you do not change your routine,
If you do not wear different colors
Or you do not speak to those you don’t know.
You start dying slowly
If you avoid to feel passion
And their turbulent emotions;
Those which make your eyes glisten
And your heart beat fast.
You start dying slowly
If you do not change your life when you are not satisfied
with your job, or with your love,
If you do not risk what is safe for the uncertain,
If you do not go after a dream,
If you do not allow yourself,
At least once in your lifetime,
To run away from sensible advice…
Martha Medeiros
(Often attributed to Pablo Neruda)
The Invitation of November, The Scorpio Season
Each year, November begins with The Day of the Dead, a Mexican/Nahautl celebration. Catholics call this day: All Soul’s Day. Europeans honored the last day of October as Hallowmass. Cultures thoughout history have recognized this time of the year as one where the veils are thin and we can more readily interact with spirits and ancestors. What is beyond reach when the world is full of light and activity, now rises.
There is a recognition of death as part of life, and we become focused on the mystery of what happens after we pass out of this world. Death is more in our thoughts as the summer leaves fall and the world return to seed. We do not have to fear death, but to embrace it. The death of a year, a dream, a belief system, a relationship are times we can mourn, but we can also look to what has been learned and the transformation taking place for a whole new shape of life to emerge. Reflect on the image of the strawberry at the top of this post. At what stage does it become a strawberry? The truth is at each stage it is a strawberry, but its form changes to accommodate growth and to fulfill its seed potential. We are no different. If we can attune to and align with the truth of our own soul nature, than we can easily welcome the transformation of who we were to who we are becoming.
