NEW MOON at 26 SCORPIO 19
NOVEMBER 18, 2017
6:42am EST, 3:42am PST, 11:42am GMT, 10:42pm AEDT
Image: “Maiden and Frog,”
sketch by author.
PERSEPHONE
Wind-blown, rooted in stone,
I slip in and out of death.
The lure of the unknown,
Like a candle in a cave,
Sparks the quest to the chamber of fire.
I hold to the growing light.
—poem fragment by author
This Scorpio New Moon, perhaps the deepest and darkest dark Moon of the year, lures us into our inner depths. In the northern hemisphere, we truly are in the darker season, more dark than daylight. I wonder with the growing spring light, how this dark and deep sign is experienced in the southern hemisphere. [I’d love to hear from some folks down under.]
With Venus and Jupiter are still close together in Scorpio, barely visible in the predawn sky. The love-wisdom pairing of these two brightest planetary lights invites us even deeper, even as we lose sight of Venus. She is melting into the sunlight on the far side of our star for many weeks. This is her renewal and we are invited. Neptune in Pisces adds more oceanic sensations to the depths of the Scorpio planets, more felt sense of our interconnectedness. We have more influence than we realize on the larger collective experience, and be of real service the more we can consciously radiate love and hope and call for angelic guidance. To do so, we need to clear the pollution of fear and anxiety that is so easy to pick up, like a global virus. This truly is an act of great service in these times. Don’t underestimate the impact. Take the time you need to remain clear and filter out stress and worry.
“Dive into your increasing depth
Where life calmly gives out its own secret.” —Rilke
The process can be intense, ecstatic, painful, glorious—and secret. Words are scarce and not adequate to express the complexity of such experience. Therefore poetry, art, song. Rationality is cast to the wind, as it can short-circuit the emotional alchemy in progress. What would happen if the snake stopped slithering out of its old, drying skin, resisting the fresh, vulnerable aliveness and sensitivity that promises survival? What are you letting go of that feels stale and tasteless, stressful and tight?
As the world seems to go crazy, with reality tentative and chaotic, perhaps we are witnessing the Earth in the process of shedding an old skin, an outworn expression that holds little promise of joy and delight. Scorpio evokes the agony and the ecstasy of being alive, sometimes to the contrary of what appears to be happening. We just can’t see what is happening beneath the surface, even in our own souls, without looking inside to empower our true spiritual essence, so that we can hold to the growing light. What greater gift or service can we offer?
As this New Moon waxes toward its Full Moon blossoming, there are lovely and magical alignments and ongoing harmonies between the water signs of Scorpio and Pisces. This is deep and dark Scorpio Time. The Sun-Moon at 26 Scorpio are coordinated with Chiron at 24 Pisces, allowing waves of healing energy to wash away the dross of regrets, anger, resentment, denial through compassion and forgiveness, including self-compassion and self-forgiveness. Chirotic Time, time beyond tick-tock time, marks the fearless rhythm of the cosmic yin-yang, Shakti-Shiva dancers in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The arrow of the Sagittarian Archer points to that very Galactic Center. Saturn is now at that arrow tip, 26 Sagittarius—look! set your sights, inspire your vision with what is essentially true. Only you can know what that is for you, and you can only find that deep inside yourself, from what feels true from the inside out.
Singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen is one who knew the Scorpionic despair of the soul for this depth of love. In “The Guests,” he follows the mystic tradition of Rumi in evoking the lost feeling we often have in life, when our expectations are for more that can only be satisfied on a soul/spiritual level.
It was this version by Nana Mouskouri that really pulled me in, “Oh, Love, I need you, I need you, I need you, I need you now…”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKjNmldYn4M
Then I found this, with Cohen talking about the song’s meaning while the song is played in the background…..
Black Moon Lilith stands close to Saturn at 29 Sagittarius, just at the cusp of Capricorn. Imagine the Unicorn, a magical, mythical beast like the Goat-Fish of Capricorn, with its shining one pointed horn, like the arrow of Sagittarius. There is deep ancient wisdom here, with that shaft of truth shining in from the Galactic Center. And Uranus, at 25 Aries, throws some fireworks into the mix, sparking dormant brain cells into exciting dimensions, fresh as the morning dew, simmering spidery webs or radiant white frost.
Action-oriented Mars in relational Libra is compelled to cut ties or join into powerful alliances by Pluto’s agenda for global restructuring, polarizing dynamics to an elastic snap point, like the cracking of an eggshell. What new life emerges from that egg may be such a surprise—who would have thought! Can you believe it? What do you believe? Are you willing to open your heart from a deeper, more vulnerable and fearless soul-source? “Follow your Heart” is not an old hippie motto, but a true calling to the best you can be. Listen to the deep drumbeat, the music of your heart. Who belongs in your life? Who are you dancing with? What is the will of your highest self?
Mercury alert! going retrograde on the next Full Moon. We’ll have time to recalibrate what comes in through the Galactic Center. By then the Sun is in intuitive and visionary Sagittarius, changing on the 21-22, even as Neptune is turning forward, fine-tuning this mystic moment. From then until the December 3 Mercury retrograde, all planets except Uranus will be in forward motion. Motivation is high—a good couple of weeks to move things along.
Hearken to the Seasonal Holy-Days. A NEW YEAR beckons.
THE CAULDRON
The world is poured into me
And born out of me
Again and again
I am emptied to be filled
Played like a hollow reed
Whispering melodies
Echoed through tunnels
Caverning the earth
With primordial hands
I store messages
Of our beginnings
Where bats wing in
Sightless
To wait the night.
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