9:07 pm PST, 11/14/20

4:07 am UTC, 11/15/20

Super New Moon in Scorpio

November always seems to be the darkest month. Perhaps it’s because in the past several family members have passed during this month. Also, it’s a month where usually the New Moon cycle is a Scorpio New Moon. Scorpio famously rules all areas of what is usually hidden from conscious view: Death, sex, the “occult,” things that operate under the surface of our normal attention, other people’s demands upon our resources like taxes and inheritances. All these draw our attention inward, often toward what we’d rather just “think about tomorrow.” Often we experience them as deeply feeling and unchangeable, as Scorpio is a fixed water sign.

This month’s Scorpio New Moon, a super Moon at perigee, comes just after Mars has gone into direct motion. Finally after a two-month retrograde period of the planet that rules our take-action energy, we are beginning to move forward bit by bit. And since Mars is the co-ruler of Scorpio, along with Pluto, the exposer, we are headed toward a deepening focus on our more darker issues personally, as well as a potential for the uncovering of some truly nefarious shenanigans at the governmental levels in the US. There are indicators that Trump is covering up something pretty indicting with all of his latest antics. Doing so under a Scorpio New Moon cycle with Pluto so active is rather unwise from an astrological POV.

Pluto, Saturn and Jupiter have just undergone their latest ménage a trois, the indicator of great seismic changes in the structures of our world. The fallout of these changes will take months, if not years to have deep manifestation, or, given the times, it may happen much more quickly, we shall see. With Mars the activator now direct and moving toward another round of challenging square aspects (90˚) to Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto (Dec 23 through Jan 22) we’re in for a period of exposure and divisive upheaval.

I believe it’s important to remember that a lot hangs in the balance here, not only politically, but in terms of global consciousness. With a highly developed communications system now available worldwide, we are more in touch with each other than ever before. And with the fear-based or greed-based systems vying for control as the old paradigm slips inevitably away, it’s doubly important to remember that what we concentrate upon becomes our reality. We need to look at what’s happening, yes, while also holding our vision of how what is happening is the path toward our future, a future where we are working together to heal our history of trauma, slavery, abuse, and war.

Athena is an asteroid in orbit between Mars and Jupiter. Her presence alongside Jupiter is an important ingredient in the transformational mix of Jupiter/Saturn/Pluto. Representing the principle of heroic endeavors, her mythic role is also being redefined not as the goddess of war, but like the heroes on the front lines of the pandemic, the health care workers worldwide, she is holding for us a version of the heroic archetype which shows us who the real heroes of our time are.

With Venus in opposition to Eris, we are seeing how the feminine archetype is in battle for its integrity on this planet. Without our sensitivity to others around us, we become like slaves to duty, rather than willingly, consciously accepting our responsibilities. If we close off our feminine receptivity (an inherent quality of all human souls, male or female) we lose our vulnerability, our openness to being connected to all of life. A patriarchal society demands that we denigrate these qualities in ourselves, in order to blindly follow its demands and controls, numbing our innate human sensitivity.

This is what is at stake. Ignoring our feminine is ignoring caring for the Earth. This Jupiter/Saturn/Pluto conjunction has not happened like this for over 700 years. We are up against the wall with our values and our official standards of behavior that are at once childish and dangerous. This Scorpio New Moon with its themes of death and rebirth is asking us to face the music, to look at ourselves deeply and work to, as Carl Jung said, “eat your shadow.” We can look at Trump and blame him for who he is, and what he’s done, but he is also a representative of our collective shadow, a greedy and overly controlling value system that has left us without true democracy, in a system ruled by avarice and fear.  Can we look within ourselves and become aware of where fear and greed operate in our psyche, causing us to act in unconscious ways?  Can we look within ourselves, into the dark and recondite places, and see where we are complicit with the obdurate narcissism of our culture?

These are difficult questions that demand we be ruthless with ourselves, using the laser-sharp focus that Scorpio can give us. We can always blame someone else or something else, and in that way contribute to the ongoing pass the buck game. That this New Moon is also conjoined with another asteroid, Juno, gives us a clue to a way through: she is the holder of relationship, goddess of community and partnerships. What relationships often reflect to us is our shadow material. What we most object to in another is that aspect of ourselves we need to understand and examine, and ultimately, learn to love.  Juno is also exactly trine to Neptune, the higher octave of Venus. This further illustrates that if we are in touch with our deepest instincts and our dreams, we can learn what drives our actions, and open ourselves to a vision of a more loving self, and therefore the possibility of a more loving world. In the face of such chaos, perhaps holding this kind of love in our hearts is the most heroic act.